Aqtöbe

Formerly  Aktyubinsk,   city, northwestern Kazakstan, on the Ilek River. It was founded in 1869 as Aktyube (“White Hill”), a small Russian fort; the first Russian peasant settlers arrived in 1878. In 1891 it became the capital of an uyezd (canton) and in 1932 of an oblast (province). During World War II a ferroalloys plant was built to smelt the nickel and chromium ores of the Mughalzhar (Mugodzhar) Hills. Now an important