The End of the Steppe

Almaty is in the transition zone between the steppe and the mountains. The area is more fertile because the gradual melting of snow in the mountains supplies a number of streams that have water all summer. A constant water supply keeps the natural steppe shown in the photo, and farms, quite green. Areas further north rely only on summer rains, which are often few and far between.

The steppe is grassland, usually flat or with small hills and valleys. It extends from southeastern Kazakhstan north and west across all of Kazakhstan and into Russia and Ukraine. At least during the Spring and Summer, it was the perfect path for the nomadic, horse-riding peoples and invaders that moved west from China/Mongolia toward Europe. The thousands of people and animals, and two-wheeled carts, could move with relative ease across the terrain, finding the necessary water and pastures along the way. Of course, the invasions and migrations did not move very fast. While armies like Gengis Khan's did move fast (one thing that allowed them to conquer such large areas), the support and supply trains moved much slower, stopping at favorable locations, then moving on as the pastures were depleted or dried out.   The relatively flat terrain also continues north along both the east and west sides of the Ural Mountains, all the way to the Arctic Ocean. But as one moves north the amount of precipitation increases so that the northern edge of Kazakhstan is another transition zone. There, the steppe gives way more gradually to the forests of Russia.