Aktobe Region

Aktobe Region (Kazakh: Ақтөбе облысы, romanized: Aqtöbe oblysy; Russian: Актюбинская область, romanized: Aktyubinskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The name Aktobe comes from Kazakh aq 'white' and töbe 'hill' or 'top (of something)'; supposedly, Aktobe's initial settlers were able to see white mountains far to the north. The Aktobe regional capital is the city of Aktobe. The region is located in the western part of Kazakhstan. Its area is 300,629 km² (largest in Kazakhstan), which is 11 per cent of the territory of Kazakhstan. The population is 909 673 as of June 1, 2022.

It was formed as a result of the administrative-territorial reform on March 10, 1932 as part of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Historically, it was preceded by the Aktobe gubernia (province), which existed in 1921-1928 and the Aktobe Okrug (district) that existed from 1928-1929. In 1936, the region became part of the Kazakh SSR separated from the RSFSR and since 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, as part of the independent Republic of Kazakhstan.

The region is bordered to the North by the Orenburg Oblast of Russia, to the northeast by the Kostanay Region, to the Southeast by the Karaganda and Kyzylorda regions of Kazakhstan, to the South by the Republic of Karakalpakstan of Uzbekistan, to the southwest by the Mangystau Region, to the West by the Atyrau Region and to the Northwest by the West Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan.

The administrative center is the largest city of Western Kazakhstan, Aktobe (from 1891 to 1999 — Aktyubinsk hence the name of the region).