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62-503: Köýtendag is located at an altitude of 265 meters on the banks of the Amu-Darya River, which forms the border with Jowzjan Province , Afghanistan . The Afghan town of Qarqin is on the opposite side of the river. Köýtendag is near the eastern end of Lebap Province, and indeed all of Turkmenistan. The plains surrounding the river are quite flat. Near the river the land is quite fertile and arable, supporting some farming, but further from

124-624: A $ 720 million four-year investment deal with the Taliban government of Afghanistan for extraction on its side of the Amu Darya basin. The deal will see a 15% royalty given to the Afghan government over the course of its 25-year term. The Chinese see this basin as the third-largest potential gas field in the world. The clashing noise of battle reached the sky The blood of the Bengalees flowed like

186-464: A league The shorn and parcelled Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles — Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere , A foiled circuitous wanderer: — till at last The longed-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon

248-475: A mean discharge of around 97.4 cubic kilometres (23.4 cu mi) of water per year. The river is navigable for over 1,450 kilometres (900 mi). All of the water comes from the high mountains in the south where annual precipitation can be over 1,000 mm (39 in). Even before large-scale irrigation began, high summer evaporation meant that not all of this discharge reached the Aral Sea – though there

310-515: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Amu-Darya The Amu Darya ( / ˌ ɑː m uː ˈ d ɑːr j ə / AH-moo DAR-yə ), ( Persian : آمو دریا ) also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( / ˈ ɒ k s ə s / OK -səss ), is a major river in Central Asia , which flows through Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan and Afghanistan . Rising in

372-405: Is breaking down, with no conclusive cooperative arrangement yet. Fuel deliveries from downstream nations have been getting less reliable and more expensive, and impoverished Tajikistan cannot adapt by increasing winter hydroelectric generation since this would jeopardize irrigation and electricity exports in the summer. This dependence has caused energy crises in the winters of 2008 and 2009, in which

434-458: Is said to have come from the medieval city of Āmul (later Chahar Joy/Charjunow, and now known as Türkmenabat ) in modern Turkmenistan , with Daryā being the Persian word for 'lake' or 'sea'. Medieval Arabic and Islamic sources call the river Jeyhoun ( Arabic : جَـيْـحُـوْن , romanized :  Jayḥūn ), which is derived from Gihon , the biblical name for one of the four rivers of

496-642: Is some evidence the large Pamir glaciers provided enough meltwater for the Aral to overflow during the 13th and 14th centuries. Since the end of the 19th century, there have been four different claimants as the true source of the Oxus: A glacier turns into the Wakhan River and joins the Pamir River about 50 kilometres (31 mi) downstream. Bill Colegrave's expedition to Wakhan in 2007 found that both claimants 2 and 3 had

558-659: The Amu Darya river. The Vakhsh flows through the Pamirs , passing through very mountainous territory that frequently restricts its flow to narrow channels within deep gorges. Some of the largest glaciers in Tajikistan, including the Fedchenko and Abramov glaciers (the former being the longest glacier in the world outside of the polar regions), drain into the Vakhsh. Its largest tributaries are

620-555: The Aral Sea . ~ Matthew Arnold , Sohrab and Rustum Vakhsh River The Vakhsh ( / ˈ v æ k ʃ / VAKSH ; Tajik and Russian : Вахш ), also known as the Surkhob ( Tajik : Сурхоб ) in north-central Tajikistan and as the Kyzyl-Suu ( Kyrgyz : Кызыл-Суу ) in Kyrgyzstan , is a Central Asian river and one of the main rivers of Tajikistan. It is a tributary of

682-598: The Baipaza Dam has blocked the river twice (in 1992 and 2002) ever since this dam opened in 1985. Both blockages were immediately blasted to clear the river channel, since they threatened to raise the water level high enough to flood the dam. Such an event could potentially have serious economic consequences by disrupting power generation, stopping production at the Tajik Aluminum Company , and cutting off supplies of drinking and irrigation water for downstream users. In

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744-695: The Basmachi movement and killed Ibrahim Bek . A large refugee population of Central Asians, including Turkmen, Tajiks, and Uzbeks, fled to northern Afghanistan. In the 1960s and 1970s the Soviets started using the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya to irrigate extensive cotton fields in the Central Asian plain. Before this time, water from the rivers was already being used for agriculture, but not on this massive scale. The Qaraqum Canal , Karshi Canal, and Bukhara Canal were among

806-454: The Fedchenko , which is melting at a rate of 16–20 meters/year. According to Oxfam International , up to 30% of Tajikistan's glaciers could shrink or disappear completely by 2050. The reduction in river flow could lower the Vakhsh's hydropower production, and harm agriculture dependent on its waters for irrigation. Furthermore, if climate change affects precipitation patterns, it could cause more floods, landslides, and other natural disasters in

868-623: The Garden of Eden . The Amu Darya passes through one of the world's highest deserts. Western travelers in the 19th century mentioned that one of the names by which the river was known in Afghanistan was Gozan , and that this name was used by Greek, Mongol, Chinese, Persian, Jewish, and Afghan historians. However, this name is no longer used. The river's total length is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) and its drainage basin totals 534,739 square kilometres (206,464 sq mi) in area, providing

930-651: The Levant through Persia to Afghanistan , with the Oxus as his stated goal, "to see certain famous monuments, chiefly the Gonbad-e Qabus , a tower built as a mausoleum for an ancient king." George MacDonald Fraser 's Flashman at the Charge (1973), places Flashman on the Amu Darya and the Aral Sea during the (fictitious) Russian advance on India during The Great Game period. But

992-663: The Muksu and the Obikhingou  [ de ] ; the Vakhsh proper begins at the confluence of the Obikhingou and Surkhob rivers. After it exits the Pamirs, the Vakhsh passes through the fertile lowlands of southwest Tajikistan. It ends when it flows into the Panj to form the Amu Darya, at the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan . The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve , which was the last habitat of

1054-680: The Pamir Mountains , north of the Hindu Kush , the Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, in the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan , and flows from there north-westwards into the southern remnants of the Aral Sea . In its upper course, the river forms part of Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan , and Turkmenistan . In ancient history ,

1116-628: The Pamirs passing the Tajikistan–Afghanistan Friendship Bridge . It subsequently forms the border of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan for about 200 kilometres (120 mi), passing Termez and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge . It delineates the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan for another 100 kilometres (62 mi) before it flows into Turkmenistan at Atamurat . It flows across Turkmenistan south to north, passing Türkmenabat , and forms

1178-626: The Rogun Dam . The Rogun Dam began construction in Soviet times but remains uncompleted; now Tajikistan has recommenced the project with financial support from the Russian Aluminum Company . If constructed to its full planned height, it will supersede the Nurek as tallest in the world. This project has caused great controversy. Just as energy dependence threatens Tajikistan, so water dependence threatens

1240-480: The Transcaspian Canal . The 534,769 square kilometres (206,475 sq mi) of the Amu Darya drainage basin include most of Tajikistan, the southwest corner of Kyrgyzstan , the northeast corner of Afghanistan, a narrow portion of eastern Turkmenistan and the western half of Uzbekistan. Part of the Amu Darya basin divide in Tajikistan forms that country's border with China (in the east) and Pakistan (to

1302-465: The reservoirs behind them, were also built with the purpose of providing water for agriculture. The Soviet Union promoted cotton farming in the Vakhsh Valley, as well as vineyards and orchards , and drew water from the Vakhsh for irrigation. The Vakhsh Valley Canal Project, which expanded farmland along the river's lower reaches, predated the dams, having been completed in 1933. In the 1960s, after

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1364-523: The Amu Darya basin. During the Soviet era, a resource-sharing system was instated in which Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan shared water originating from the Amu and Syr Daryas with Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan in summer. In return, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan received Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek coal, gas, and electricity in winter. After the fall of the Soviet Union this system disintegrated and

1426-466: The Amu Darya would not exist—because it rarely rains in the lowlands through which most of the river flows. Of the total drainage area, only about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi) actively contribute water to the river. This is because many of the river's major tributaries (especially the Zeravshan River ) have been diverted, and much of the river's drainage is arid. Throughout most of

1488-528: The Central Asian nations have failed to reinstate it. Inadequate infrastructure, poor water management, and outdated irrigation methods all exacerbate the issue. The Caspian tiger used to occur along the river's banks. After its extirpation, the Darya's delta was suggested as a potential site for the introduction of its closest surviving relative, the Siberian tiger . A feasibility study was initiated to investigate if

1550-505: The Empire of Russia, which at the time wielded great influence over the Oxus area, would overcome these obstacles and find a suitable route through which to invade British India – but this never came to pass. The area was taken over by Russia during the Russian conquest of Turkestan . The Soviet Union became the ruling power in the early 1920s and expelled Mohammed Alim Khan . It later put down

1612-708: The Mongols came to the area, they used the water of the Amu Darya to flood Konye-Urgench . One southern route of the Silk Road ran along part of the Amu Darya northwestward from Termez before going westwards to the Caspian Sea . According to the Quaternary International, it is possible that the Amu Darya's course across the Karakum Desert has gone through several major shifts in the past few thousand years. Much of

1674-472: The Rogun Dam. "Go ahead and build it, but we hold to certain guarantees in accordance with these conventions that have been signed by you," Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov said in a televised appearance on July 5, 2018. Intensive agriculture in the Vakhsh basin has left the river polluted with fertilizers, pesticides, and salts. Also, chemicals have leached into groundwater from the heavy industries near

1736-459: The Vakhsh is fed mostly by melting snow and glaciers , these flow rates have great seasonal variability between winter and summer. Measurements at the Nurek Dam indicate that winter flow rates average around 150 m /s, whereas flow rates during the summer months can exceed 1500 m /s – a tenfold increase. The Vakhsh has been intensively developed for human use. Electricity, aluminum, and cotton are

1798-424: The Vakhsh's dams, which has in turn contaminated surface water. However, ever since Tajikistan lost their Soviet agricultural subsidies with the breakup of the Soviet Union , farms have not been able to afford as many fertilizers or pesticides as before, thus decreasing levels of pollution in the river. The 2008 financial crisis has further increased poverty, which in turn has further decreased pollution. Since

1860-408: The area is suitable and if such an initiative would receive support from relevant decision makers. A viable tiger population of about 100 animals would require at least 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi) of large tracts of contiguous habitat with rich prey populations. Such habitat is not available at this stage and cannot be provided in the short term. The proposed region is therefore unsuitable for

1922-468: The border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from Halkabat. It is then split by the Tuyamuyun Hydro Complex into many waterways that used to form the river delta joining the Aral Sea, passing Urgench , Daşoguz , and other cities, but it does not reach what is left of the sea any more and is lost in the desert. Use of water from the Amu Darya for irrigation has been a major contributing factor to

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1984-530: The canal with the Taliban. The Taliban has made the canal a priority, with images supplied by Planet Labs demonstrate that from April 2022 to February 2023, more than 100 km of canal was excavated. According to the Taliban, the initiative is expected to convert 550,000 hectares of desert into farmland. In January 2023, the Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company (aka CAPEIC) signed

2046-568: The capital, Dushanbe , lost power and heating. Heightened nationalism and border disputes further complicate the search for a solution to Central Asia's water needs, according to a study conducted by the International Crisis Group . Tajikistan is therefore pursuing a course of action to increase hydroelectric capacity by building more dams on the Vakhsh, in order to promote economic growth and move towards energy independence. Another four dams are planned or under construction, including

2108-515: The communities of "the vassal Khanates of Maimene, Khulm, Kunduz, and even the Badakshan and Wahkran." An Englishman, William Moorcroft , visited the Oxus around 1824 during the Great Game period. Another Englishman, a naval officer called John Wood , came with an expedition to find the source of the river in 1839. He found modern-day Lake Zorkul , called it Lake Victoria, and proclaimed he had found

2170-413: The downstream nations. For this reason, Uzbekistan was highly critical of the Rogun Dam, claiming that it would “put it [Tajikistan] firmly in control of the river”. The World Bank responded to these tensions by launching investigations into the social and environmental impacts of the dam. However, following the death of its former leader Islam Karimov in 2016, in 2018 Uzbekistan dropped its opposition to

2232-694: The far east of Turkmenistan, and then back to Termez in Uzbekistan and finally Dushanbe in Tajikistan . Köýtendag is one of three stations on this line in Turkmenistan, along with Amydarya and Mukry . That rail line is connected to the Turkmen rail network at the Kerki junction. The P-37 highway connects the city to Kerki to the west and the border with Uzbekistan in the east. This Turkmenistan location article

2294-522: The highest hydroelectric power producer per capita in the world. ) Hydroelectricity powers the aluminum production at the Tajik Aluminum Company in Tursunzoda , a major source of Tajikistan's industrial output and export revenue. As for cotton, Vakhsh water irrigates much of Tajikistan's crop; about 85% of the water taken from the Vakhsh goes toward irrigation. The leaders of the Soviet Union stressed

2356-590: The importance of developing the country's under-developed regions, such as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (which was the predecessor to modern-day, independent Tajikistan). Not only did Vladimir Lenin ’s ideology identify the decentralization of industry as a way to counter the colonial exploitation of indigenous peoples, but the USSR had strategic aims as well, especially in World War II when industry

2418-562: The largest of the irrigation diversions built. However, the Main Turkmen Canal , which would have diverted water along the dry Uzboy River bed into central Turkmenistan, was never built. In the course of the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1970s, Soviet forces used the valley to invade Afghanistan through Termez . The Soviet Union fell in the 1990s and Central Asia split up into the many smaller countries that lie within or partially within

2480-504: The main stem and the Uzboy. But in the 18th century, the river again turned north, flowing into the Aral Sea, a path it has taken since. Less and less water flowed down the Uzboy. When Russian explorer Bekovich-Cherkasski surveyed the region in 1720, the Amu Darya did not flow into the Caspian Sea anymore. By the 1800s, the ethnographic makeup of the region was described by Peter Kropotkin as

2542-490: The mainstays of Tajikistan's economy, and the Vakhsh is involved with all three of these sectors. Hydroelectricity provides 91% of the country's electricity as of 2005, and 90% of that total comes from the five completed dams along the Vakhsh, dominated by the world's second tallest dam, the Nurek . The other four dams, downstream of Nurek, are Baipaza , Sangtuda 1 , Sangtuda 2 and Golovnaya Dams . (These dams make Tajikistan

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2604-442: The majestic River floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty starlight, and there moved, Rejoicing, through the hushed Chorasmian waste, Under the solitary moon: — he flowed Right for the polar star, past Orgunjè, Brimming, and bright, and large: then sands begin To hem his watery march, and dam his streams, And split his currents; that for many

2666-451: The now-extinct Caspian tiger in the former USSR , is located at the confluence of the Vakhsh and the Panj. The catchment area of the Vakhsh is 39,100 km , of which 31,200 km (79.8%) lies within Tajikistan. The river contributes about 25% of the total flow of the Amu Darya, its parent river . Its average discharge is 538 m /s, with an annual discharge of 20.0 km . However, since

2728-402: The reintroduction, at least at this stage. Since March 2022, the building of the 285 km Qosh Tepa Canal has been underway in northern Afghanistan to divert water from the Amu Darya. Uzbekistan has expressed concern that the canal will have an adverse effect on its agriculture. The canal is also expected to make the Aral Sea disaster worse, and in 2023 Uzbek officials held talks on

2790-490: The reservoirs had been constructed, engineers dug tunnels through the surrounding mountains to irrigate other valleys. Water storage in the reservoirs also helped control the river's flow, so as to provide a more reliable water supply for downstream users in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan . Soviet Central Asia had a centrally planned economy in which the different republics supplied resources to each other at different times of

2852-640: The river Jaihun . ~ Mirza Nathan describing a battle between the Mughals and Musa Khan of Bengal (translated by M. I. Borah) The Oxus river, and Arnold's poem, fire the imaginations of the children who adventure with ponies over the moors of the West Country in the 1930s children's book The Far-Distant Oxus . There were two sequels, Escape to Persia and Oxus in Summer . Robert Byron 's 1937 travelogue, The Road to Oxiana , describes its author's journey from

2914-526: The river is also referred to as Vakṣu ( वक्षु ). The Brahmanda Purana refers to the river as Chaksu which means 'an eye'. The Avestan texts too refer to the river as Yakhsha/Vakhsha (and Yakhsha Arta ('Upper Yakhsha'), referring to the Jaxartes / Syr Darya twin river to Amu Darya). In Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian period the river is known as Wehrōd (lit. 'good river'). The name Amu

2976-522: The river the land is arid. To the northeast the Köýtendag Range rises dramatically, including Turkmenistan's highest mountain, Aýrybaba , at a height of 3,138 metres (10,295 ft). The name is a compound of Köýten plus the Turkmen word dag ("mountain"). Köýten is in turn a Turkified version of the Persian compound Kuhi tang , kuhi - "mountain" and tang - "narrow". The name previously applied to

3038-443: The river valley. The Vakhsh is located in a seismically active region, and earthquakes , in addition to high groundwater levels (especially during the wet season), cause hundreds of landslides per year. These landslides occasionally block the river and form landslide dams . Such blockages pose a significant threat to the river's dams and hydroelectric power generation. A large landslide 8 kilometers (5 mi) downstream from

3100-513: The river was regarded as the boundary of Greater Iran with Turan , which roughly corresponded to present-day Central Asia. The Amu Darya has a flow of about 70 cubic kilometres per year on average. In classical antiquity , the river was known as the Ōxus in Latin and Ὦξος ( Ôxos ) in Greek — a clear derivative of Vakhsh , the name of the largest tributary of the river. In Sanskrit texts ,

3162-609: The same source, the Chelab stream, which bifurcates on the watershed of the Little Pamir, half flowing into Lake Chamaktin and half into the parent stream of the Little Pamir/Sarhad River. Therefore, the Chelab stream may be properly considered the true source or parent stream of the Oxus. The Panj River forms the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan . It flows west to Ishkashim where it turns north and then north-west through

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3224-409: The shrinking of the Aral Sea since the late 1950s. Historical records state that in different periods, the river flowed into the Aral Sea (from the south), into the Caspian Sea (from the east), or both, similar to the Syr Darya (Jaxartes, in Ancient Greek ). Partly based on such records, first Tsarist and later Soviet engineers proposed to divert the Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea by constructing

3286-402: The source. Then, the French explorer and geographer Thibaut Viné collected a lot of information about this area during five expeditions between 1856 and 1862. The question of finding a route between the Oxus valley and India has been of concern historically. A direct route crosses extremely high mountain passes in the Hindu Kush and isolated areas like Kafiristan . Some in Britain feared that

3348-411: The south). About 61% of the drainage lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while 39% is in Afghanistan. The abundant water flowing in the Amu Darya comes almost entirely from glaciers in the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan , which, standing above the surrounding arid plain, collect atmospheric moisture which otherwise would probably escape elsewhere. Without its mountain water sources,

3410-408: The steppe, the annual rainfall is about 300 millimetres (12 in). The ancient Greeks called the Amu Darya the Oxus . In ancient times, the river was regarded as the boundary between Greater Iran and Ṫūrān ( Persian : تُوران ). The river's drainage lies in the area between the former empires of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great , although they occurred at very different times. When

3472-401: The time – most recently from the 13th century to the late 16th century – the Amu Darya emptied into both the Aral and the Caspian Seas, reaching the latter via a large distributary called the Uzboy River . The Uzboy splits off from the main channel just south of the river's delta. Sometimes the flow through the two branches was more or less equal, but often most of the Amu Darya's flow split to

3534-428: The valley as well as the mountains. According to Atanyýazow, Çarşaňňy is the name of a Turkmen tribe. Köýtendag has a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ), with cool winters and very hot summers. Rainfall is generally light and erratic, and occurs mainly in the winter and autumn months. Köýtendag is on a branch of the Trans-Caspian railway that leads from Samarqand in Uzbekistan , through

3596-425: The waters of the Vakhsh eventually flow into the Aral Sea , pollution in the Vakhsh contributes to eutrophication there. The Vakhsh is fed by the glaciers of the Pamirs, one of the world's most susceptible regions to climate change. Tajikistan as a whole has experienced a rise in temperatures from between 1.0-1.2 degrees Celsius between 1940 and 2000, and many glaciers that feed the Vakhsh have retreated, including

3658-437: The west and flowed into the Caspian. People began to settle along the lower Amu Darya and the Uzboy in the 5th century, establishing a thriving chain of agricultural lands, towns, and cities. In about AD 985, the massive Gurganj Dam at the bifurcation of the forks started to divert water to the Aral. Genghis Khan 's troops destroyed the dam in 1221, and the Amu Darya shifted to distributing its flow more or less equally between

3720-516: The year. During the summer, when river flows were greatest, Tajikistan (located upstream) released water from its reservoirs on the Vakhsh and exported the hydroelectricity to power irrigation pumps downstream, in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, along the Amu Darya. In winter, Tajik dams accumulated water, and the fossil-fuel-rich downstream nations supplied Tajikistan with oil and gas to compensate for forgone hydroelectricity generation. However, with increasing regional tension post-independence, this system

3782-406: Was evacuated eastward away from the German front. This industrialization would be fueled by exploiting Tajikistan's enormous hydropower potential. It took until the 1950s, however, for dam construction to begin on the Vakhsh. The Perepadnaya power station, was the first to be commissioned in 1959. It is situated on a canal off the Golovnaya Dam which was commissioned in 1963. The giant Nurek dam

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3844-470: Was constructed between 1961 and 1980. Baipaza Dam was completed in 1983. To build transmission lines over the Pamirs would have been prohibitively expensive, so, in order to take advantage of the electricity produced by these dams, the Soviet Union built many industries nearby. The Tajik Aluminum Company plant is a prime example. Other industries established locally were chemical plants, nitrogen fertilizer factories, and cotton gins. The dams, particularly

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