Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is enormous. The ninth-largest country on Earth and the world's largest landlocked nation, it stretches from the Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains, covering an area bigger than all of Western Europe combined. And yet most people could not point to it on a map. That is slowly changing as this Central Asian powerhouse builds futuristic cities, hosts international events, and opens up landscapes that range from endless golden steppe to snow-capped peaks and surreal desert canyons.

The history here is the history of the horse and the open plain. Kazakhs were nomadic horsemen for millennia, and that heritage runs deep in the culture - from the eagle hunters of the west to the tradition of kumis, fermented mare's milk. The country is also where apples originated; the former capital Almaty literally means "father of apples." Modern Kazakhstan is a study in contrasts: Nur-Sultan (Astana), the gleaming capital, rises from the steppe like a science fiction set, while the Baikonur Cosmodrome has launched every crewed Russian space mission since Yuri Gagarin. It is a country caught between its nomadic soul and its ambitions for the future, and the tension makes it fascinating.