{"population":20139914,"blurb":{"text":"Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country situated primarily in Central Asia, with a portion of its territory extending into Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, and it has a coastline along the Caspian Sea. The capital is Astana and the country's largest city and principal cultural and economic center is Almaty, which served as the capital until 1997.","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan"},"vexillology":{"text":"The State Flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan is a turquoise banner consisting of a 32-ray gold sun above a soaring golden steppe eagle, with the hoist side displaying a national ornamental pattern \"qoşqar-müiız\". It was adopted on 4 June 1992, designed by Shaken Niyazbekov, and replacing the Soviet-era flag.","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Kazakhstan"},"flagDesign":{"text":"The national flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan has a gold sun with 32 rays (representing the 32 ethnicities of the Turkic people) above a soaring golden steppe eagle, both centred on a turquoise background; the hoist side displays a national ornamental pattern called \"koshkar-muiz\" (the horns of the ram) in gold; the blue colour is of religious significance to the Turkic peoples of the country, and so symbolizes cultural and ethnic unity; it also represents the endless sky as well as water. The gold and blue colours also evoke the former Soviet flag, reusing the gold from the hammer and sickle, and the shade of blue from the turquoise bar at the bottom of that flag. The sun, a source of life and energy, exemplifies wealth and plenitude; the sun's rays are shaped like grain, which is the basis of abundance and prosperity; the eagle has appeared on the flags of Kazakh tribes for centuries and represents freedom, power, and the flight to the future. The width of the flag to its length is 1:2.","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Kazakhstan"},"photos":["https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Aral_Sea_1989-2008.jpg/500px-Aral_Sea_1989-2008.jpg","https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Astana_Arena_2014-03-15.JPG/500px-Astana_Arena_2014-03-15.JPG","https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/A_Kazakh_Sukhoi_Su-27P%28modified%29.jpg/500px-A_Kazakh_Sukhoi_Su-27P%28modified%29.jpg","https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Astudio.jpg/500px-Astudio.jpg"]}