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Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country in the Tian Shan and Pamir systems, rising to 24,409 ft (7,440 m) at Pobeda Peak on the Chinese border. Ninety-four percent of the country is over 3,300 ft (1,000 m) above sea level, with an average elevation of 9,020 ft (2,750 m). Lake Issyk-Kul lies in the northeast. The climate is extremely continental with great regional variations. The Kyrgyz, a Sunni Muslim, Turkic-speaking pastoral people, constitute more than half of the population; the rest are Russians (about 18% of the people), Uzbeks (more than 10%), Ukrainians, Germans, and other minorities. About two thirds of the population is rural. The Kyrgyz State National Univ. was established in 1951 and the Kyrgyzstan Academy of Sciences in 1954; by the late 1990s there were over 20 universities in the country.
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