Syr Darya
Map of area around the Aral Sea. Aral Sea boundaries are circa 1960. Countries at least partially in the Aral Sea watershed are in yellow.
Origin	Naryn and Kara Darya rivers
Mouth	Aral Sea
Basin countries	Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
Length	2,212 km
Avg. The Naryn River (Нарын rises in the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, flowing west through the Fergana Valley into The Kara Darya or Qaradaryo (Kapaдарья is a river in Central Asia, flowing through the Fergana Valley, where it is used for Irrigation The Aral Sea ( Kazakh: Арал Теңізі Aral Tengizi, Orol dengizi Russian: Аральскοе мοре Tajik / Persian: Daryocha-i A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Tajikistan (təˈdʒɪkɨstæn or /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/ Тоҷикистон tɔʤikɪsˈtɔn or, Persian تاجیکستان‎ taajikestaan officially the Republic of discharge	703 m³/s (near mouth)
Basin area	219,000 km²

Syr Darya (Kazakh: Сырдария; Tajik: Сирдарё; Uzbek: Sirdaryo; Persian: سيردريا, also transliterated Syrdarya or Sirdaryo) is a river in Central Asia, sometimes known as the Jaxartes or Yaxartes from its Ancient Greek name ὁ Ιαξάρτης. In Hydrology, the discharge or outflow of a River is the volume of Water transported by it in a certain amount of time Kazakh (also Qazaq and variants natively kk Qazaq tili, kk Қазақ тілі; pronounced tˈlə is a Turkic language closely related to The Tajik language, or Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, (sometimes written Tadjik or Tadzhik; тоҷикӣ, tg-Latn ''tojikí'') is a modern Uzbek ( O‘zbek tili or O'zbekcha in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script; أۇزبېك ﺗﻴﻠی in Arabic "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c The Greek name is derived from Old Persian, Yakhsha Arta ("Great Pearly"), a reference to the color of the river's water. The Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages (besides Avestan) In medieval Islamic writings, the river is uniformly know as Sayhoun (سيحون) - after one of the four rivers of Paradise. (Amu Darya was likewise known as Jayhoun, the name of another one of the four). The Amu Darya (formerly Oxus River the Greeks (Ptolemeus called it Oxiana palus) is the longest river in Central Asia.

The name, which comes from Persian and has long been used in the East, is a relatively recent one in western writings; prior to the early 20th century, the river was known by various versions of its ancient Greek name. It marked the northernmost limit of Alexander of Macedon's conquests. Alexander of Macedon may refer to Alexander I of Macedon (d 454 BC ruled from 498-454 BC Alexander II of Macedon (d Greek historians have claimed that here in 329 BC he founded the city Alexandria Eschate (literally, "Alexandria the Furthest") as a permanent garrison. Events By place Macedonian Empire From Phrada, Alexander the Great presses on up the valley of the Helmand River, Alexandria Eschate ( Greek, Latin Alexandria Ultima English meaning "Alexandria the Furthest" was founded by Alexander the Great in August 329 BCE The city is now known as Khujand. In reality, he had just renamed (and possibly, expanded) the city of Cyropolis founded by king Cyrus the Great of Persia, more than two centuries earlier. Cyropolis ( The City Of Cyrus) was founded by king Cyrus the Great of Persia in northern Tajikistan in 544 BCE to mark the northeastern border The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia

The river rises in two headstreams in the Tian Shan Mountains (ancient Mount Imeon) in Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan -- the Naryn River and the Kara Darya River -- and flows for some 2,212 km (1,380 miles) west and north-west Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan to the remains of the Aral Sea. The Tian Shan (天山 Pinyin: Tiān Shān "celestial mountains" also commonly spelled Tien Shan, is a Mountain range located in Central Mount Imeon is an ancient name for the Central Asian complex of mountain ranges comprising the present Hindu Kush, Pamir and Tian Shan, extending Kyrgyzstan (ˈkɻ̩gɪztɑn (AmE or /'kɝgəztan/ (BrE Kyrgyz: Кыргызстан; Russian: Киргизия or Киргизстан or Кыргызстан Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly The Naryn River (Нарын rises in the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, flowing west through the Fergana Valley into The Kara Darya or Qaradaryo (Kapaдарья is a river in Central Asia, flowing through the Fergana Valley, where it is used for Irrigation Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the The Aral Sea ( Kazakh: Арал Теңізі Aral Tengizi, Orol dengizi Russian: Аральскοе мοре Tajik / Persian: Daryocha-i The Syr Darya drains an area of over 800,000 square kilometres, but no more than 200,000 square kilometres actually contribute water to the river. Its annual flow is a very modest 28 cubic kilometres (23 million acre feet) per year - half that of its sister river, the Amu Darya. An acre-foot is a unit of Volume commonly used in the United States in reference to large-scale water resources such as reservoirs, Aqueducts

Along its course, the Syr Darya irrigates the most fertile cotton-growing region in the whole of Central Asia, together with the towns of Kokand, Khujand, Kyzylorda and Turkestan. Kokand (alternative spellings Khokand, Khoqand; Uzbek: Quqon; Russian: Коканд:Куканд/کوکند; Chagatai Kyzylorda ( Қызылорда) (formerly Kyzyl-Orda) is a city in Kazakhstan, capital of Kyzylorda Province. Hazrat-e Turkestan (modern name Türkistan, یسی، حضرت ترکستان Kazakh: Түркістан a city in the southern region of

Map showing the location of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching Spacecraft, by analogy with Seaport for Ships or Airport for Aircraft

An extensive system of canals, many built in the 18th century by the Uzbek Khanate of Kokand, spans the regions the river flows through. The Khanate of Kokand ( Uzbek: Qo'qon Xonligi) was a state in Central Asia that existed from 1709&ndash1876 within the territory of modern Uzbekistan Massive expansion of irrigation canals during the Soviet period, to irrigate cotton fields, wrought ecological carnage to the area, with the river drying up long before reaching the Aral Sea which, as a result, has shrunk to a small remnant of its former size. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Cotton is a soft staple Fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant ( Gossypium sp The Aral Sea ( Kazakh: Арал Теңізі Aral Tengizi, Orol dengizi Russian: Аральскοе мοре Tajik / Persian: Daryocha-i With millions of people now settled in these cotton areas (and highly repressive post-Soviet regimes in power in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan), it is not clear how the situation can be rectified. Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly

See also

• Amu Darya
• Mount Imeon

References

• Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• [1]
• Livius.org: Jaxartes