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93-598: Located on the south side of the Amu Darya River, Old Ürgenç was situated on one of the most important medieval paths: the Silk Road , the crossroad of western and eastern civilisations. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in Turkmenistan, lying within a vast zone of protected landscape and containing a large number of well-preserved monuments, dating from the 11th to the 16th centuries. They comprise mosques ,

186-513: A marsh . Konya-Urgench was soon built on or near the site of Jorjania. In 1221, Genghis Khan destroyed the city in the Mongol invasion of Central Asia , in what is considered to be one of the bloodiest massacres in human history. Most if not all the ancient Iranic Khwarazmian people were killed or pushed out, paving the way for the Turkification of Khwarazm. Despite the devastating effects of

279-624: 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

372-462: A cold desert climate ( BWk in the Köppen climate classification ), with long and hot summers. Winters are relatively short, but quite cold. Precipitation is scarce throughout the year, with an average of 109 mm (4.36 in). 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

465-428: A complex of monuments, all constructed in different periods of time, from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Ak-Kala is a fortress located southwest of the ruins of medieval Urgench. Its walls, whose height ranges from 6 to 8 meters, and which measure approximately 2 meters at the top, stretch on more than a kilometre. They were built with sun dried mud-bricks and their corners are decorated with semi-circular towers, whilst

558-400: A former madrasa constructed in the early 20th century. It was built as a mosque and it served as a madrasah before it was turned into a site museum in the 1990s. Its structure is mainly square, with a multitude of rooms opening into a large courtyard, and which now house various exhibits. The museum displays focus on the history of the site, on traditional arts and crafts of the region, on

651-464: 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

744-450: A massive round drum and a conical roof with an inner dome hidden under it. The dome is connected to the square walls it rests upon by an octagonal belt. The structure between the dome and the octagon is decorated with 16 shallow niches . Their form is not lancet-like as those commonly found in the Islamic architecture of Central Asia, but rather semicircular. This is a motif that can be found in

837-399: A vestibule. One of the most impressive architectural features of the mausoleum is the circular dome covering the main hall, whose surface is covered in colourful mosaic which forms intricate ornamental patterns consisting of flowers and stars, creating a visual metaphor for the heavens. No comparable contemporary parallels can be found at Urgench, as some of the architectural features, such as

930-431: Is a highly sophisticated work of architecture, both in its conceptualisation of spaces and in its engineering. Both are fully utilised in a conscious way to achieve a visual, aesthetic and spiritual effect. The original building was composed of two chambers: a large domed hall and a smaller one behind it. The large chamber is twelve-sided on the exterior and hexagonal on the interior, being preceded by an entrance portal and

1023-409: Is amazing in its beauty. On the entrance doors the date of construction - 1778-1782 years is preserved. But 210 columns of the mosque , supporting the roof , are much older - from XII to XV centuries. The columns are remarkable for their amazing slenderness, rich ornamental carving. They were brought here from other ancient buildings, so many columns are unique and do not resemble each other. At

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1116-624: 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 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

1209-495: Is protected by a thick mud-brick wall which dates back to the 10th to 14th centuries, and has been partially rebuilt after archaeological excavations. This complex is situated in the centre of the new town of Kunya-Urgench, within a Muslim cemetery. The Najm-ad-Din al-Kubra Mausoleum was erected in the first half of the 14th century, and derives its name from the philosopher, painter, physician, chess master and general Najm al-Din Kubra ,

1302-487: Is the twin hudjras - cells for living of students . Belts of colored brick sets and majolica facings decorate the building wonderfully. On the territory of Konya Ark (Old Fortress ) there is the palace of Muhammad Rahimxon I with rich and unusual interior decoration . The walls of the hall are decorated with ganch carving with coloring. The neighboring two-storied building is a harem . There are many rich chambers, living rooms. The Juma Mosque (X century, 1788)

1395-563: 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 the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from Halkabat. It is then split by the Tuyamuyun Hydro Complex into many waterways that used to form

1488-513: The Aral Sea . ~ Matthew Arnold , Sohrab and Rustum Khiva Khiva ( Uzbek : Xiva , Хива , خیوه ; other names ) is a district-level city of approximately 93,000 people in Khorazm Region , Uzbekistan . According to archaeological data, the city was established around 2,500 years ago. In 1997, Khiva celebrated its 2500th anniversary. It is the former capital of Khwarezmia ,

1581-648: The Hindu Kush and isolated areas like Kafiristan . Some in Britain feared that 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

1674-571: 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 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

1767-703: The Khanate of Khiva , and the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic . Itchan Kala in Khiva was the first site in Uzbekistan to be inscribed on the World Heritage List (1991). The astronomer, historian and polymath, Al-Biruni (973–1048 CE) was born in either Khiva or the nearby city of Kath . The origin of the name Khiva is unknown, but many contradictory stories have been told to explain it. A traditional story attributes

1860-604: 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

1953-723: 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 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

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2046-468: The Siberian tiger . A feasibility study was initiated to investigate if 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

2139-536: The USSR in 1924. The city of Khiva became part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic . Khiva is split into two parts. The outer town, called Dichan Kala, was formerly protected by a wall with 11 gates. The inner town, or Itchan Kala , is encircled by brick walls, whose foundations are believed to have been laid in the 10th century. Present-day crenellated walls date back to the late 17th century and attain

2232-405: 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 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

2325-422: 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 , 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 ,

2418-434: The throne room decorated with silver chasing on a red background. The building has a beautiful iwan with columns. The palace is also remarkable for its rich majolica wall lining with intricate ornaments . The Pahlavon Mahmud Memorial Complex was built in memory of the revered Khiva poet , who after his death was canonized as the patron saint of the city. Nearby is the 45-meter high Islomxo‘ja minaret topped with

2511-600: The "Khiva-Sharq Gavhari" magazine (since 2001) and the "Khiva Tongi" district newspaper. The town is a prominent center for global tourism, attracting over 200,000 tourists every year, including nearly 7,000 international visitors. "O'zbekTurizm" national company operates in the town, and several private guesthouses are in operation. A trolleybus line was established from Khiva to Urgench in 1997. Bus and minibus routes connect Khiva to Tashkent , Bukhara , Navoi , Samarkand , Urgench , Qo'shko'pir , Yangiariq , Bog'ot , Hazorasp , and other major cities and population centers in

2604-482: The "slave capitals of the world". During the first half of the 19th century, around 30,000 Persians and an unknown number of Russians , were enslaved there before being sold. A large part of them were involved in the construction of buildings in the walled Itchan Kala . In the course of the Russian conquest of Central Asia , in 1873 the Russian General Konstantin von Kaufman launched an attack on

2697-596: The 10th and 14th centuries as the Khwarezmian capital, replacing Kath . Gurjanu served as an important trading center, competing in fame and population with many other Central Asian cities, such as Bukhara . It had become highly prosperous due to its strategic location on the main trade routes from the south to the north, and the west to the east, vastly contributing to the development of science and culture in Central Asia. According to an 1893 writer Djordjania or Jorjania

2790-483: The 16th century, when it was replaced as a regional capital by Khiva and was ultimately abandoned. The area was later inhabited by the Turkmen people from the early 19th century, but they mostly developed outside the old town, utilising the latter as a graveyard . However, this use has now stopped, and efforts have been made to remove the decaying grave stones that can be encountered at the site. The new town of Urgench

2883-486: 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, 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

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2976-473: 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 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

3069-566: The Caspian Sea anymore. By the 1800s, the ethnographic makeup of the region was described by Peter Kropotkin as 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

3162-571: The Muslim world, and can be recognised in the structures and decorations of many buildings from the Timur period, both within Turkmenistan, and in regions such as Uzbekistan , Afghanistan , Transcaucasia , Turkey , Iran , Pakistan and India . For example, a multitude of buildings in Samarkand were erected by builders and architects employed from Kunya Urgench in the 14th century. The ingenuity and skill of

3255-575: The Qoraqum Scientific Research Station, pedagogical, medical, and tourism colleges, vocational lyceums, a gymnasium, 15 general education schools, a house of culture, 2 special boarding schools, a regional puppet theater, an art school, 2 libraries and their branches, and cultural and recreational gardens. The central hospital, polyclinic, maternity hospital, children's hospital, dental treatment center, central pharmacy, specialized clinics, and other medical facilities are available in

3348-636: The area between the former empires of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great , although they occurred at very different times. When 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

3441-493: The building served a different purpose from that of a mausoleum, such as, for example, a House of Government or a Palace of the Great Khwarzm-shahs. Kyrkmolla is a 12-meter-high (39 ft) mound which used to constitute a fortress. It is located in the north-eastern outskirts of Gurgench. It is particularly significant as the earliest ceramics discovered at the site, dating back to the 5th century BC, were located here. It

3534-468: The building tradition of Urgench, etc. The largest room is dedicated to the history and treasures of the old city, including a comprehensive miniature model of Gurgench and a variety of artefacts such as ceramic bowls, glazed tiles, children's toys, or Arabic texts. Another important room centres around the Dash Mosque and the history of its construction and use. Around the courtyard, behind the main building,

3627-408: The buildings, and the most substantial restoration work has been carried out in the past thirty years, during the soviet era, using traditional methods and materials. The Kutlug Timur minaret is perhaps the most striking structure here. It dates to the 11th and 12th centuries, and measures 60 meters in height, making it the highest monument in the park. Its diameter is 12 meters at its base, and 2 at

3720-530: 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

3813-683: The city of Khiva, which fell on 28 May 1873. Although the Russian Empire controlled the Khanate, it allowed Khiva to remain as a nominally quasi-independent protectorate . Following the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917, a short-lived (1920-1924) Khorezm People's Soviet Republic formed out of the territory of the old Khanate of Khiva before its incorporation into

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3906-649: The decorations mentioned above, do not appear in other monuments built during the lifetime of Turabek-Khanum, around 1330. Thus, it is difficult to date the building so early. These features do, however, appear in Central Asia later, during the reign of Timur , a warlord of Turco-Mongol descent. New technologies, such as mosaic faience, show up in Timur's earliest buildings, such as the Aq Saray palace in Shahrisabz , in Uzbekistan, which

3999-802: The district. Historical and architectural sites in the area include : the Sayd Alauddin mausoleum, the Pahlavon Mahmud Complex , the Juma Mosque , the Old Ark , Oqshayx Bobo's Palace, Toshhovli Palace , Nurullabai Palace , Muhammad Aminxon Madrasah , Muhammad Rahimxon Madrasah , Islamkhodja Madrasah and Minaret, Olloqulixon Madrasah , Qutlughmurad Inoq Madrasah , Olloqulixon Caravanserai and its market, Anushakhan Bathhouse, Oq Mosque , Polvon Gate , Ota Gate , Bogcha Gate , Tosh Gate , Hazorasp Gate, Kush Gate , and more. The town publishes

4092-412: The dome presents a tiling technique executed in turquoise glazed brick tiles, forming a geometric pattern. According to some of the latest scientific discoveries, one of the structure's functions, at a certain point, was that of storing water. This monument is dedicated to Ibn Khajib, one of Najm-ad-Din al-Kubra's talented disciples. It is located in the western part of ancient Urgench and it consists of

4185-533: The earliest existing Islamic mausoleum in Central Asia, the early 10th-century mausoleum of the Samanids in Bukhara , but instead of a hemispherical dome it has a faceted conical roof. The structure is decorated with a motif carved in relief into brick panels, a frieze containing an aphorism written in beautiful script, and with carved vegetal motifs displaying variations of an arabesque pattern. The decorative scheme of

4278-483: The early 17th century, Khiva had become the capital of the Khanate of Khiva. The khanate was ruled by a branch of the Astrakhans , a Genghisid dynasty. In the 17th century, Khiva began to develop as a slave market . For several centuries, the cities of Bukhara and Khiva were known as major centers of the slave trade, and the Bukhara slave trade , alongside the neighboring slave trade in Khiva , has been referred to as

4371-549: The early part of its history, the Aryan inhabitants spoke an Eastern Iranian language called Khwarezmian . Turks replaced the Iranian ruling class in the 10th century AD, and the region gradually turned into an area with a majority of Turkic speakers. Russia annexed some parts of the Khanate of Khiva in the 19th century, vassalising it into the Russian protectorate. The last khan from

4464-696: 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 the same source, the Chelab stream, which bifurcates on the watershed of the Little Pamir, half flowing into Lake Chamaktin and half into

4557-574: The fall of the Soviet Union this system disintegrated and 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,

4650-446: The form of Gurganj, a native of Khorezm....and -j, according to Yakut, mean[s] just like the word... abat , i.e., "village" and "city"...Given the ancient name of the word Gurgen..., then the toponym of Gurganj...has the meaning of "Gurgen city", "Gurgen city of the people". Later, the name Gurganj began to be used in the form of Urgench." To what Gurgen or Gurgan refer, however, remains unexplained. The exact dates when Kunya-Urgench

4743-560: The founder of the Kubrawiya Sufi order . This is one of the structures which was rebuilt during the Khorezm era of prosperity, and also after the Mongol invasion. The Mausoleum of Sultan Ali, who ruled in the 16th century, is located across. It is a hexagonal monument, with a dome measuring 9.5 meters in diameter. The Mausoleum of Piryar Vali, a contemporary of Najm al-Din al-Kubra, is located to

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4836-417: The gates of Polvon darvoza there is a whole ensemble of buildings. The main palace of Khiva khans Toshhovli occupies a special place here. The architecture of its numerous apartments and decorative furnishings are unique. There are ornamental wood carvings , majolica facings and figurative cartouches . The palace of Kurnysh-khan was intended for lavish receptions. Once there was a wooden throne in

4929-521: The gates of a caravanserai , fortresses, mausoleums and a minaret , and the influence of their architectural style and craftsmanship reached Iran , Afghanistan and the later architecture of the Mughal Empire of 16th-century India . Atanyyazow explains, "In the works of Chinese historians, the name Yue-Gyan, which occurs in Georgian forms in the works of Arab scholars of the 10th century,...was used in

5022-591: The height of 10 meters. Kalta Minor, the large blue tower in the central city square, was supposed to be a minaret. It was built in 1851 by Mohammed Amin Khan , but the Khan died and the succeeding Khan did not complete it. The old town retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, mostly dating from the 18th or 19th centuries. Djuma Mosque, for instance, was established in the 10th century and rebuilt in 1788–89, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures. Khiva

5115-408: The inner side of the fortress wall is sustained by buttresses. This is a quadrangular fortress, erected by Khan Muhammed Emin, measuring 400 by 500 meters, and was built in the mid-19th century in the south-western outskirts of Kunya-Urgench. It is surrounded by a high defensive wall which has been severely eroded by the passing of time. The museum is located in the brick structure the Dash Mosque,

5208-450: The inside, it is strengthened with 12 buttresses standing upon the internal dome. Although this might seem like a risky construction technique, the roof is not in bad condition: only the top is destroyed, and the blue majolica decoration slightly damaged. One of the special features of the building's architecture is its façade . It presents a high portal niche with the main archway, which has now lost its original form. The lancet arch of

5301-609: The invasion, the city was revived and it regained its previous status. It was described by the 14th-century Berber traveller Ibn Battuta as "the largest, greatest, most beautiful and most important city of the Turks. It has fine bazaars and broad streets, a great number of buildings and abundance of commodities". In 1373, Timur attacked Khwarezm, and its ruler Yusef Sufi of the Sufi Dynasty surrendered to Timur. In 1379, Yusef Sufi rebelled against Timur, who sacked Urgench, and Yusef Sufi

5394-426: The local craftsmen and architects can be seen in the exceptional construction details, such as structure, form or ornamentation, which have been perfected throughout time. Furthermore, traditional building techniques have survived to this day: for example, the kilns at Kunya Urgench are still used throughout the region for the production of bricks utilised in the reconstruction of historic buildings. Kunya Urgench has

5487-400: 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

5580-409: The marble 8th-century mihrab at the Baghdad Museum, and has seldom been used in Central Asia: another comparable case that can be found in Turkmenistan is that of the mihrab of Muhammad Ibn Zayd's 11th-century mosque, from Merv . However, the two are located too far away to be considered prototypes . The external conical roof is built of horizontal layers using the technique of a false vault . From

5673-410: The name to one of the sons of the prophet Noah : "It is said that Shem , after the flood, he found himself wandering in the desert alone. Having fallen asleep, he dreamt of 300 burning torches. On waking up, he was pleased with this omen, he founded the city with outlines in the form of a ship mapped out according to the placement of the torches, about which he had dreamt. Then Shem dug the Kheyvak well,

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5766-492: 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 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

5859-472: The period of Khiva Khanate of the late XVIII - early XX centuries. But archaeological excavations underway here show that at the base of a number of relatively "young" remains of buildings are ancient layers dating back to the III and even earlier centuries BC. Most of Khiva's architectural masterpieces are concentrated in its urban core - Itchan Kala . It is a "city within a city" surrounded by powerful fortress walls with four gates on each side of

5952-408: The portal is filled by a complicated system of stalactite -like forms, which is a decorative motif made of terracotta and fixed on wooden sticks within the brickwork. Research concerning this structure has given rise to speculations that the Mausoleum of Tekesh might have stood at the centre of some large construction that consisted of a multitude of buildings. Thus, certain scholars would argue that

6045-405: The region. Khwarazm occupies a special place in the list of values of universal importance as a major center of world civilization and one of the important centers on the Silk Road . The unique values of world significance include architectural monuments of Khiva, which has rightfully earned the title of "museum city". The image of modern Khiva is mainly formed by the architecture of

6138-413: The remaining smaller rooms, formerly the bedrooms of the students at the madrasa, have been converted into 19 displays explaining the traditional handicrafts of the region such as carpet making, pottery, Yurt construction, etc. Kunya Urgench has been, for a long period of time, a prolific school of construction masters. The knowledge and skills of this school have spread, throughout the centuries, amongst

6231-487: 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

6324-408: The river Jeyhoun ( Arabic : جَـيْـحُـوْن , romanized :  Jayḥūn ), which is derived from Gihon , the biblical name for one of the four rivers of 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

6417-436: 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 , 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

6510-431: 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 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

6603-456: 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 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

6696-527: The rivers was already being used for agriculture, but not on this massive scale. The Qaraqum Canal , Karshi Canal, and Bukhara Canal were among 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

6789-409: The ruling dynasty was liquidated a century later, in 1919. Thus Khiva became the capital city of the new Khorezm People's Soviet Republic . The Khorezm oasis was converted into a part of modern Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in 1924. The earliest records of the city of Khiva appear in Muslim travel accounts from the 10th century although archaeological evidence indicates habitation in the 6th century; by

6882-582: The ruling power in the early 1920s and expelled Mohammed Alim Khan . It later put down 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

6975-466: The short term. The proposed region is therefore unsuitable for 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

7068-489: The source of the river in 1839. He found modern-day Lake Zorkul , called it Lake Victoria, and proclaimed he had found 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

7161-576: 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 the Transcaspian Canal . The 534,769 square kilometres (206,475 sq mi) of the Amu Darya drainage basin include most of Tajikistan,

7254-532: 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 the south). About 61% of the drainage lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while 39% is in Afghanistan. The abundant water flowing in

7347-412: The top. On the basis of its decorative brickwork, including Kufic inscriptions, the minaret is thought to be an earlier construction, only restored by Kutlug-Timur around 1330. Named after Turabek-Khanum, the wife of Kutlug-Timur (ruled between 1321 and 1336), this structure is located at the northern part of ancient Gurgench. It is remarkable for its elegant design and stunning tile decoration, and it

7440-493: The town, activities such as the "KhivaCarpet" joint-stock company, cotton cleaning, ginning factories, carpet weaving, the "Khiva Gilami" joint-stock company, and other carpet weaving enterprises, as well as a bread factory, a farmer's market, cultural, trade, and service establishments are operational. There are branches of Urgench University specializing in agro-management, the Uzbek Academy of Sciences Khorezm Mamun Academy,

7533-639: 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 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

7626-403: 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 is some evidence the large Pamir glaciers provided enough meltwater for the Aral to overflow during the 13th and 14th centuries. Since

7719-570: The water from which had a surprising taste. It is possible to see this well in Ichan-Kala (an internal town of Khiva City) even today." Another proposal is that the name comes from the word Khwarezm , altered by borrowing into Turkic as Khivarezem, then shortened to Khiva. The town is also known as Persian : خیوه , Xīveh ; alternative or historical names include Orgunje , Kheeva , Khorasam , Khoresm , Khwarezm , Khwarizm , Khwarazm , Chorezm , Arabic : خوارزم and Persian : خوارزم . In

7812-548: The west of the latter's mausoleum, and was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is 6.5 meters high and measures 7.5 meters in length. Il Arslan is a magnificent piece of architecture, also known among the people as the Mausoleum of Kho-Rezmshah II Arslan, who ruled from 1156 to 1172. The mausoleum, dating to the 12th century, is the oldest standing monument in Gurgench. The building has a cuboidal structure of baked brick similar to

7905-520: The world. One of the main highways runs from the western gate to the eastern gate, along which the main monumental buildings are concentrated. From the observation tower of Ak-Sheikh-bobo Itchan-Kala can be seen like in the palm of your hand. The unusual silhouette of the Kalta Minor minaret attracts attention, as if cut down to the middle. Its massive trunk, exquisitely decorated with wide and narrow belts of glazed brick , indicates that it

7998-557: Was begun in 1379 but was still unfinished in 1404. This structure is the presumed Tomb of Sultan Ala al-Din Tekish , the founder of the Khwarazmian Empire and its ruler between 1172-1200. It has been identified as a mausoleum due to the tradition that each ancient Central Asian building is dedicated to a historical or mythical personage. The building is made of bricks and consists of a square hall with walls which are 11,45 meters high,

8091-531: Was conceived as a grandiose, majestic structure , the main vertical of the city. But after the death of the khan , under whom the minaret was built, it remained unfinished, receiving the name of Kalta (short). Very close to the Kalta Minar is the Muhammad Aminxon Madrasah , the largest of the preserved buildings of higher theological educational institutions . The peculiarity of its architecture

8184-425: Was developed to the southeast, in present-day Uzbekistan . Some of the first archeological research on the old city site was conducted by Alexander Yakubovsky in 1929. The urban layout of Kunya Urgench has been lost and only certain monuments remain standing to this day. These are authentic and rich examples of fine architecture and building traditions existing for centuries. The level of conservation varies amongst

8277-582: Was founded remain uncertain, but archaeological finds at the Kyrkmolla Hill (one of the main fortresses at the site) reveal that the town already had a strong structure in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Some of the earliest records show that Khwarezm was conquered by the Arabs in 712, who took the capital city of Kath of the Iranic Khwarazmian Afrighid dynasty. The city rose to prominence between

8370-519: Was home to a number of madrassahs (educational establishments), one of which, Sherghazi Khan madrassah, still stands today. It was built in the 18th century by slaves and is one of the oldest buildings in Ichan-Kala, which is the center of present-day Khiva. Among the renowned students of the madrassah were the Uzbek poet Raunaq, the Qaraqalpaq poet Kasybayuly, the Turkmen poet and sufi Magtymguly . In

8463-533: Was killed. In 1388, the Sufi dynasty of Urgench again revolted against Timur; this time Timur razed Urgench to the ground and massacred its population, destroyed the city's irrigation system, and had barley planted over the ground where the city had once stood, leaving only one mosque standing. This, coupled with the sudden change of the Amu-Darya River's course, constituted the beginning of Kunya-Urgench's decline until

8556-616: Was the "second capital" of the country. It was on the Wadak canal which seems to be the east end of the Kunya-Darya which seems to be the river bed that now leads to the Sarykamysh Lake . Just east of the town was the Gurganj Dam that irrigated the area and blocked the flow of the Oxus into the Caspian Sea . In 1221 both town and dam were destroyed by the Mongols and the surrounding area became

8649-441: 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 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

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