Where is the Amu Darya River located? Amu Darya on the map. The Aral Sea and the reasons for its death
The Amu Darya River is winding, long and, as the ancients called it, stubborn: on its way it overcomes high mountains and vast deserts, in which it is helped by numerous tributaries. The Amu Darya is the second longest river in Central Asia and the deepest.
The sources of the Amu Darya are on the slopes of the Hindu Kush, where melting glaciers and snowfields (the glaciation area in this area is about 10,000 km 2) and, first of all, the Vrevsky glacier create the Vakhandarya water flow, which in turn forms the Pyanj River. The Amu Darya river gets its name after the confluence of the Pyanj with the Vakhsh River, hydrologically being a continuation of the first.
Most of the river basin lies within the boundaries of the Pamirs. Descending from the mountains to the west of the Kugitang ridge, the river enters the Turan Lowland, where the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts come close to the river valley, and then carries its waters through these desert areas, often bending. These places are characterized by severe coastal erosion (deigish). The river valley expands significantly, reaching several tens of kilometers. In ancient times, the river actively “wandered” in a westerly direction: there is a version that this is confirmed by the dry bed of the Uzboy River and the ancient delta on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
The flow of the Amu Darya is mainly formed by the Pyanj and Vakhsh rivers. The Amu Darya receives tributaries only within 180 km of its sources. Below the city of Atamurat (Turkmenistan), the river no longer receives tributaries; its water is intensively used for irrigation, lost through evaporation and filtration, and its quantity gradually decreases downstream and changes throughout the year.
The water flow of the Amu Darya is also decreasing due to an increase in water intake into numerous canals.
Shortly before it flows into the Bolshoye, the river splits into branches, forming a delta. In some years, the Amu Darya does not reach the sea at all: since the late 1980s. the river in the delta began to dry up.
Previously, many lakes, channels, wetlands and tugai thickets formed in the delta, but they are also rapidly disappearing. The flood occurs in the spring-summer - the season of intense melting of glaciers, but since the water is intensively used for irrigation, the river flows into the Great Aral Sea only in especially “high-water” years.
Story
The first mention of the Amu Darya in written sources is found in the works of ancient Greek and Roman geographers and historians. In the I-II centuries. The Amu Darya was known to them as Oke or Oxus: this is how the local name of the river sounded to the ears of ancient authors - Okuz, which in turn came from the Turkic word “oguz” - river, stream.
From the XIV-XV centuries. The local name of the river is approved - Amudarya, formed from the name of the city of Amul located on the river (now Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan) and the Turkic “Darya” or “Daryo” - a large deep river.
The ancient states of Central Asia appeared in the Amu Darya basin: at the mouth of the river - Khorezm, in the middle and upper reaches - Sogdiana and Bactria. In the Middle Ages and later, along the Amu Darya there was a trade route from Rus' to Khorezm and Bukhara - through Astrakhan and Emba and then along the Aral Sea. During the reign of Peter I the Great, who showed interest in trade with Asian countries and India through the Amu Darya, maps were drawn up showing the Amu Darya flowing into the Aral Sea. However, systematic research of the river began only at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.
Since most of the territories with favorable natural and economic conditions for irrigated agriculture (Karshi steppe, Bukhara region, southern part of Turkmenistan) are located far from the main river bed, a unique canal system was built to deliver water.
If it were not for these sun-scorched lands of the Amu Darya, ancient states would hardly have arisen here, and now hundreds of thousands of people would live and agriculture would exist.
Nature
The nature of the Amu Darya is predominantly a tugai landscape, with characteristic plants: tamarisk, reed, turanga, willow, comb, chingil, licorice, and various saltworts. The tugai forest is the product of only one river: it creates soil by collecting sand and clay, fertilizes with silt and waters, washes away excess salt, and its flow brings seeds, rhizomes and young growth of trees and shrubs.
In the difficult areas of Badai-tugai there is a jackal; in the bushes there live a badger, a reed cat, a fox, a long-eared hedgehog, and a tolai hare. Among the ungulates, the wild boar and Bukhara deer live in the tugai. Common snakes along the river banks are the patterned snake and the arrow snake, the steppe agama lizard and the Central Asian tortoise.
The ichthyofauna of the Amu Darya includes 40 species of fish and is unique in its own way. In the waters of the river there are balding fish, asp, Aral barbel, catfish, bream, sabrefish, silverfish, grass carp, and silver carp. This is also the only habitat of the endemic Amu Darya shovelnose, which is on the verge of extinction.
To protect the nature of the river basin, several reserves have been created - Amudarya in Turkmenistan, Aral-Paigambar (part of the Surkhan reserve) and Kyzylkum in Uzbekistan.
The flow of the Amu Darya is regulated by 90% by the Tyuyamuyun and Takhiatash hydroelectric complexes.
The Amu Darya water is completely withdrawn for irrigating fields. The world's largest Karakum Canal (also sometimes called the Karakum River, 1445 km) accounts for almost half of the total water of the Amu Darya. The second after the Karakum canal in the Amu Darya basin is the Amu-Bukhara canal, which irrigates the territory of Uzbekistan.
Irrigated agriculture is widespread along the entire riverbed of the Amu Darya. The main crops are wheat in Turkmenistan and cotton in Uzbekistan, where in some years a fifth of all cotton in the world is harvested using irrigation.
Small hydroelectric power stations have been built on the Amu Darya - mainly in the upper reaches, where the current is strong, in Tajikistan, which exports electricity to all neighboring countries. However, in general, hydropower use of the Amu Darya itself and its tributaries is insignificant.
Industrial fishing is carried out in the lower reaches of the river, but less and less fish are being caught, and the reason is also the shallowing of the river, causing the reduction and disappearance of spawning grounds.
Regular shipping is carried out from the city of Turkmenabad (Turkmenistan) to the delta. The transport significance of the Amu Darya is small, due to the isolation of the Aral Sea basin, the river regime unfavorable for navigation, as well as progressive shallowing.
Once suitable for drinking along the entire length of the river, today the water of the Amu Darya is highly turbid and difficult to purify, and therefore it is used for irrigation and technical needs of cities along the banks of the river. The chemical composition of the Amu Darya waters is also changing: due to the influx of return irrigation waters, the river becomes significantly polluted in its lower reaches.
The location of the Amu Darya on the political map of the region is quite complex. Most of the Amu Darya flow is formed on the territory of Tajikistan (80%), partly in Northern Afghanistan.
Then the river rushes along the border of Afghanistan with Uzbekistan, crosses Turkmenistan in the middle course, returns to Uzbekistan, becoming the border of Turkmenistan with Uzbekistan, and then flows into the Aral Sea. 
general information
Location: Middle Asia.
States: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Source: confluence of the Pyanj and Vakhsh rivers.
Estuary: Great Aral Sea.
High water: end of March - beginning of July.
Nutrition: glacial-snow, partially rain floods.
Main tributaries: right - Kafirnigan, Surkhandarya, Sherabad; left - Kunduz (Surkhab).
Cities: Turkmenabad (Turkmenistan) - 648,000 people (2013), Nukus (Uzbekistan) - 303,800 people. (2016), Urgench (Uzbekistan) - 137,300 people. (2014), Termez (Uzbekistan) - 136,200 people. (2014), Atamurat (Turkmenistan) - 96,720 people. (2011).
Languages: Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Pashto.
Ethnic composition
: Turkmens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Pashtuns.
Religion: Islam.
Currency
: Uzbek soum, Tajik somoni, Turkmen manat, Afghan Afghani.
Numbers
Length: 1415 km (with Pyanj - 2336 km, with Pyanj and Vakhandarya - 2556 km).
Pool: 309,000 km 2 (without the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya basins).
Average annual flow of all rivers in the Amu Darya basin
(excluding Zeravshan): 74.22 km 3 .
Average water consumption
: about 2000 m 3 /s near the city of Atamurat, Turkmenistan.
Water turbidity: 3.3-3.6 kg/m3.
Area under irrigated crops
(without the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya basins and excluding Afghanistan): 12,600 km 2.
Climate and weather
Sharply continental, arid.Average air temperature in January : from +4°C in the south to -10°C in the north.
Average air temperature in July : from +22°С in the north to +32°С in the south.
Average annual precipitation : on the plains - 100-500 mm, in mountainous areas - 450-900 mm.
Relative humidity : 60%.
Economy
Agriculture
: irrigated agriculture (cotton, wheat), livestock farming (mountain pasture and pasture, sheep, camels, goats).
Channels: Karakum, Amu-Bukhara.
Water intake facilities
: Tyuyamuyunsky and Takhiatashsky (Uzbekistan).
Shipping: Termez, Atamurat and Turkmenabat marinas (Turkmenistan).
River fishing.
Services sector: tourist, trade, transport.
Attractions
Natural
Reserves Aral-Paigambar Island (Uzbekistan, 1960), Kyzylkum State Tugai-Sand Nature Reserve (Uzbekistan, 1971) and Amudarya State Nature Reserve (Turkmenistan, 1982)
Lower Amudarya Biosphere Reserve
Salt mountain Khoja-Mumin
Historical
Mausoleum of the Prophet Zul-Kifl (Aral-Paigambar island, XI-XII centuries)
Turkmenabad city (Turkmenistan)
Repetek Nature Reserve
Amul-Charjuy ancient settlement (X-XI centuries)
Mausoleums of Astana Baba and Allamberdar (XI century)
Kugitang Mountain Region
Jurassic Dinosaur Plateau
Caravanserai Dayakhatyn (XI-XII centuries)
Nukus city (Uzbekistan)
The ancient settlements of Dzhanbas-Kala, Ayaz-Kala and Mizdakhan (IV century BC)
Religious building Shylpyk (II-IV, IX-XII centuries)
Mausoleum of Shamun-Nabi (XVIII century)
State Museum of Art named after. I. V. Savitsky (1966)
Ship cemetery Muynak (Aral Sea)
Urgench city (Uzbekistan)
Settlement Toprak Kala (III-IV centuries)
Memorial complex of Jaloliddin Manguberda
Monument to "Avesta"
Atamurat city (Turkmenistan)
Mausoleum Alamberdar (XI century)
Buildings in the village of Astana Baba (XII-XVII centuries)
Curious facts
The name of the island Aral-Paigambar is translated from Uzbek as the Island of the Prophet. On it stands the mausoleum of the Islamic and biblical prophet Zul-Kifl, whose name is mentioned in the Koran as Zul-Kifl, and in the Old Testament as Ezekiel. According to legend, the prophet ordered his body to be placed in a boat and buried in the place where the boat would land on the shore. According to legend, the boat stopped in the middle of the Amu Darya River near the city of Termez (Uzbekistan). In this place, an island miraculously appeared, on which the remains of the prophet found eternal rest.
Presumably, after centuries of “wandering,” the Amu Darya finally began to flow into the Aral Sea at the end of the 16th century.
In 1887, near the city of Chardzhou (now Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan), a unique wooden bridge over 2 km long was built across the Amu Darya in just 4 months. The builders took into account the “wandering” nature of the river, and the bridge passed not only over the water part, but also over the entire floodplain. In 1902, the wooden bridge was replaced by an iron one.
In 1932-1939 the city of Turtkul was the capital of the Karakalpak ASSR as part of the Uzbek SSR. The city is located a few kilometers from the shore of the Amu Darya. In 1949, the river suddenly changed direction and several streets went under water. Subsequently, the river receded, the city remained in place, but the capital of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was moved to the city of Nukus.
In the Amu Darya basin near the city of Kulyab (Tajikistan) there is a salt mountain Khoja-Mumin with a height of 1334 m. The slopes of the mountain at the foot are steep, the height of the exposed salt walls reaches 500 m. The alternation of layers of salt is clearly visible: clean - 5-15 cm thick and dark clayey about 1.5 cm thick. Salt accumulated on the mountain for 20 thousand years. According to some estimates, there is from 30 to 60 billion tons of salt in Khoja-Mumin. The body of the mountain is penetrated by caves with arches up to 10 m high. In ancient times, rock salt was mined using special hammers, which made it possible to cut out bars about a meter long and 20-25 cm thick, which served as an exchange product.
Sediment flow (on average near the Turkmen city of Atamurat is 6900 kg/s) is the largest among the rivers of Central Asia and one of the largest among the rivers of the world.
Arab travelers of the X-XI centuries. in their notes about the Amu Darya they called it the Jeyhun River, which literally translates as “crazy.” In those days, the river current was much stronger, and it was much fuller.
In the middle reaches of the Amu Darya it freezes in very cold winters, but in the lower reaches, where it is shallow and slow, it freezes almost every winter in late December - early January.
There is a hypothesis according to which the sacred book of the Zoroastrians “Avesta” contains a mention of the Amu Darya, which is called Vakhsh, Raha, Ranha or Arankha. The latter name partly explains the historical confusion: the ancient Greek geographers and historians Herodotus, Xenophon, Polybius, Strabo and Ptolemy in their works mentioned the Amu Darya under the name Arake (confusing the Caucasian river Arake with Arankh).
The Amudarya shovelnose (large and small) is the smallest representative of the sturgeon family. The standard body length of individuals (without tail) reaches 50 cm, weight - 1 kg.
Far from the plains of Khorezm, in the Pamir and Gin-dukush mountains, at a huge altitude - 5 thousand m - are the sources of the Amu Darya. Actually, Amu Darya is not there. There is the Pyanj River. And only after the Vakhsh River flows into the Pyanj River does the Amu Darya get its name. There, in the mountains, the river has many tributaries, but when it reaches the plain, it has none. The Amu Darya is the largest river in Central Asia and one of the wildest and most volatile rivers in the world. It has one feature that distinguishes the river (as well as the other great Central Asian river - the Syr Darya) from most other rivers. There are two floods on the Amu Darya. One in April - May, during the period of rains and melting of low-mountain snows, the other in June - July, when the river is fed by powerful high-mountain glaciers and snow. The water of the Amu Darya is chocolate-colored. The river annually carries up to 200 million tons (0.2 cubic km!) of silt dissolved in its water. The Amu Darya water contains twice, and at the beginning of the summer flood, even three times more silt than the waters of the Nile (we note, by the way, that the Amu Darya silt is more fertile than the Nile). Sometimes in just one year, the river leaves a layer of sediment up to 20 cm thick on the surrounding plains. Over hundreds of years, both in the riverbed and valley of the river, and along it, such an amount of sediment accumulates that the river bed does not pass through the lowest place here, as in “ordinary” rivers, but along the crest of a huge, many-kilometer-wide shaft. It turns out that, contrary to all laws, the river flows as if along a watershed. This is the peculiarity of the Amu Darya. And if the river is not constantly kept in its channel, then during one of the floods it can slip out of it, roll down to a lower place and lay a new channel there. For centuries, the population living on the banks of the Amu Darya fought against the violent river. Tens of thousands of people, armed only with ketmen (Ketmen is an agricultural tool such as a hoe), erected many kilometers of ramparts along its banks. Dozens of traditions and legends are connected among the inhabitants of Khorezm with the Amu Darya. It is interesting that in the solemn mass prayers that took place earlier during the days of palace festivities in the Khiva Khanate, the words were repeatedly repeated in prayers: “May the Darya be abundant in water, may it flow in its own channel.” And this was not a simple traditional phrase. Residents knew very well that after a bad flood the canals would not function normally, the earth would dry out and crack. No wonder the old proverb says: “It is not the earth that gives birth, but the water!” But a change in the riverbed threatened no less trouble. The head parts of the canals no longer touch the river, the water does not flow to the fields. And where the riverbed went, there are destroyed ditches, washed away villages and gardens. Khorezm Uzbeks are familiar with the word “degish”. The river, pressed by its own sediments to one of the banks, begins to quickly erode it. Huge pieces of the shore, made up of loose sediment deposited by the same river, break off and fall into the water. This is “degish”. Day after day, month after month, the destructive work of the river continues. She does not spare anything that comes her way. The riverbed goes several kilometers to the side, and in its former place, on fertile and highly moist soil, tugai trees, dense, jungle-like bushes, grow wildly. “Degish tushty” - degish began to act - these words used to terrify the Khorezmians. At the end of the 10th century. The Amu Darya completely washed away the capital of the Khorezmshahs, the city of Kyat. And in 1932, she came close to the then capital of the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the city of Turtkul. Turtkul - then it was called Petro-Alexandrovsk - was founded in 1873. Fifteen years later it became clear that the location for the city was not very well chosen, and the authorities were warned about this. But the tsarist administration did not pay attention to this warning. The city continued to grow. And the river was getting closer. In one decade (1905 - 1915) in the area slightly below Turtkul, it moved the banks six kilometers to the east. And in the early thirties, immediate danger loomed over Turtkul. Work to strengthen the banks could have been successful if the river had not continued to actively destroy the areas above the fortified areas. It was irrational to erect expensive structures on a very large line. It was cheaper to build a new city in a new location. Here is what an eyewitness to the events, Tashkent archaeologist Professor Ya. G. Gulyamov, says: “The raging flow of water washed away the steep bank. A crack formed 3-4 m from the shore, which expanded every minute. A few minutes later, a large section of the coast covered by a crack collapses into the water with a roar. The surface of the water is covered with a cloud of dust. At the same moment, a roar is heard again: a few steps away, half of the destroyed house falls into the water. Logs, reeds and other remains of the building float in the raging waves. In another place, a huge tree goes under the water, shading a large sufa (Sufa is a low adobe pavement, in most cases wall-mounted, usually covered with a carpet or felt. Served for relaxation, tea drinking, etc.) on the bank of the hauz, where they usually rested on a hot afternoon collective farmers. An hour later there is neither house nor sufa left... 8 years have passed. In the summer of 1945, the author of these lines witnessed a new spectacle: steamships and kayaks (Kayuk - a large sailing boat) moored in the middle of the city's market square; The town's theatre, post office and former government building now no longer exist. The southern half of Turtkul has been washed away, the roar over the river continues. On the city’s coastline, work is in full swing day and night to dismantle buildings.” If a visitor now disembarks from the ship at the pier, then in half an hour he gets into the city by car. There are thick, shady greenery on both sides of the straight streets. There is a large cotton-growing district around the city. This is the new Turtkul, the regional center of the Turtkul region of the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. And “degish” is not so scary now. The capricious nature of the river has been well studied over many hundreds of years. And now dozens of researchers from different specialties continue to study it. The Khorezmians are armed in our time not only with ketmen; Modern technology came to their aid. Bulldozers and scrapers, excavators and dump trucks work along the river and on canals. Old irrigation systems are being reconstructed, new canals and other hydroirrigation structures are being built. Of course, even today it happens that the insidious “degish” can cause harm to coastal collective farms - wash away fields and melons. But they are already more relaxed about “degish”. And this ancient word was remade in a modern way. “The river is dehydrating,” they sometimes say now.
But where does the Amu Darya flow?
“To the Aral Sea,” you will answer without hesitation. Indeed, the delta channels of the river seem to have attached themselves to the southern tip of the Aral Sea with tentacles. The huge delta of the Amu Darya, heavily humidified and swampy, with lush tugai and reed vegetation, is cut into a giant triangle into the yellow desert plain. But the famous Greek geographer and historian Strabo writes about the Amu Darya as a large navigable river along which Indian goods are transported to the Hyrcanian Sea (in Strabo’s time this was the name of the Caspian Sea). But this, you say, was two thousand years ago. And can one completely trust a Greek geographer who has never seen the Amu Darya himself? It's right. But other scientists also wrote about this. The Khiva khan-historian Abulgazi, who lived in the second half of the 17th century, in his famous historical work “The Family Tree of the Turks,” argued that quite recently, in the 16th century, the Amu Darya flowed into the Caspian Sea, and on both banks of it, up to the Caspian Sea itself, “there were arable lands, vineyards and groves.” Only on the map of the Caspian Sea published in 1720 in Paris (only about 250 years ago!) is the Amu Darya not shown for the first time among the rivers flowing into it. Even the violent Amu Darya could not have changed its course so dramatically in such a short period of time and formed a new vast delta. And the archaeological sites in the modern delta date back to a fairly early period: some of them date back to the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. And they, without a doubt, were connected with living, deep channels. What's the matter? We will return to the question of whether the ancient writers are right or wrong, whether they can be completely trusted, below. And now let’s turn again to the deserts and modern Amu Darya. If we could take in at one glance the vast spaces to the west and east of the Amu Darya in its lower reaches, then we would see an extremely picturesque picture of the “travels” (or, as geographers say, migrations) of the river. We would see fragments of dry riverbeds, sometimes wide, sometimes making their way into a narrow canyon through rocky places, branching bunches of deltas. And all this is many tens and even hundreds of kilometers from the modern deep riverbed. As a matter of fact, the entire huge Karakum desert (and some part of the Kyzylkum desert) is the result of the activity of the Amu Darya. In the vast expanses of the desert, traces of ancient currents can be found almost everywhere: sand-filled valleys, coastal ramparts, basins of riverbed lakes. As scientists have established, the mineralogical composition of the sediments that make up the Karakum Desert is no different from the composition of the sediments of the modern Amu Darya. Geologists and geographers, scientists of many other specialties examined all the old rivers of the Amu Darya. To the east of the modern delta, Akcha-Darya stretches like two fans standing above each other. This now dead Amu-Darya delta begins from the city of Turtkul and, with its numerous channels, abuts the small Sultanuizdag mountain range in the north. Having stumbled upon the rocks, the river could not break through them. But she didn’t back down. The channels approaching Sultan-Uiz-Dag turned to the east and here, uniting into one stream, they made a narrow path to the north. The water ran for seventy-five kilometers along a narrow channel (this section of the delta is called the Akcha-Darya corridor) until it broke free and divided again into many branches. The northeastern branches join the old rivers of the Syr Darya, and the northwestern branches touch the modern delta. To the west of the modern river delta there is a huge Sarykamyshin depression. Its area is about 12 thousand square meters. km, and the maximum depth reaches 110 m. From the east, a dense network of dry channels of another ancient Amu Darya delta, Prisary-Kamysh, approaches Sarykamysh. From the southern bay of the Sarykamysh depression it originates and after 550 km ends at the Caspian Sea, in the Krasnovodsk region, the dry channel is Uzboy. For the most part, it is so well preserved, so “fresh” that it seems as if water flowed along the Uzboy yesterday. Uzboy is already a completely independent river, connecting two closed water basins - Sarykamysh and the Caspian Sea. The famous Soviet geographer E. Murzaev compares it with the Volkhov and Svir, rivers-channels between lakes. The channel of the Uzboy was once formed by the waters of the Amu Darya, which filled the Sarykamysh basin to such a level that the water began to overflow over its low, southern edge and rushed first to the south, and then to the east, to the Caspian Sea. Scientists - geographers, geologists, historians - have been interested in the mystery of dead riverbeds for a very long time. None of those who saw them had any doubt that they were once rich in water, if they were able to cross such vast spaces, saw through rocks, and fill large reservoirs without getting lost in the sands. But there are many dead riverbeds. It was clear that they could not all exist at the same time. No matter how abundant the Amu Darya is (it is estimated that it currently brings over 50 cubic km of water to the Aral Sea annually), even its reserves would not be enough for all known channels. And how many of them, filled with sediments and covered with sands, are hidden by the Karakum Desert! When were they laid, when did the rivers flow here and why did they disappear forever, leaving in their place a waterless sandy desert? Geographers and geologists, who have long and persistently studied the history of ancient riverbeds, have been able to answer many of these questions. However, some important details still remained a mystery. This was especially true of the final stages of the river’s history, when people settled on the banks of its numerous channels. Historians turned to the works of ancient authors. Perhaps an explanation can be found in ancient geographical descriptions, reports of campaigns, notes of travelers and merchants? After all, Amu Darya is often mentioned on the pages of works of this kind. The modern name of the river is of relatively recent origin. In ancient sources, the Amu Darya appears under several names. The main ones are the Greek - Oke and the Arabic - Jeyhun. The Amu Darya was first mentioned by the famous Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century. BC e. When describing the campaigns of the Persian king Cyrus, he reports that one of its branches, the Amu Darya, flows into the Caspian Sea. Other writers also report about the confluence of the Amu Darya into the Caspian Sea, including Strabo, whom we have already mentioned. However, many of those who studied the evidence of ancient authors were constantly faced with one circumstance that was strange at first glance. The further, the more contradictions accumulated in the reports that claimed the river flowed into the Caspian Sea and already provided some specific information about its lower course. Strabo, for example, pointed out that the distance between the mouths of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya is 2400 stadia, that is, approximately 420 km. And this corresponds to the distance between the modern mouths of these rivers along the eastern shore of the Aral Sea. Somewhat later, in the 2nd century. n. e., Ptolemy even gives the geographical coordinates of these mouths (again, in his opinion, Caspian), and again they approximately coincide in latitude with the modern Aral. Now the reason for such contradictions is clear to historians. The fact is that in the time of Herodotus, information about the deep Uzboy River flowing into the Caspian Sea was still alive and fresh in memory. However, the idea of the actual Aral mouth of the Amu Darya was gradually reinforced by new data. The struggle between old, traditional ideas and new, more accurate information, apparently received from Khorezm travelers and sailors, gave rise to some rather fantastic ideas about the Amu Darya, the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea. Ancient geographers themselves understood the contradictory nature of the information they knew. It was necessary to somehow explain them, to coordinate with each other. And so the idea of the Caspian Sea appeared as a huge water basin stretching not from north to south, as in reality, but from east to west. The Aral Sea seemed to them like a large eastern gulf of the Caspian Sea. Only in the 4th century. historian Ammianus Marcellinus clearly writes about the confluence of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya into the Aral Sea. However, the old tradition turned out to be very tenacious. In medieval sources, in the works of geographers and historians written in Arabic and Persian, completely reliable information about the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, often with detailed descriptions of settlements along it and the channels into which it was divided, is often combined with traditional ideas about its Caspian mouth But fresh and accurate information wins. And only after the Mongol conquest of Khorezm, when many cities and dams were destroyed and water flooded part of the country, contradictory but persistent information about the flow of the Amu Darya to the west, to the Caspian Sea, again appeared on the pages of works. The Khiva Khan Abulgazi, already mentioned by us, states in his work that only in 1573 did the Amu Darya completely turn into the Aral Sea. At the end of the last century, the famous Russian historian-orientalist Academician V.V. Bartold collected together all the evidence of ancient authors about the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and analyzed them. In 1902, his book “Information about the Aral Sea and the lower reaches of the Amu Darya from ancient times to the 17th century” was published in Tashkent. Having compared data from written sources, he came to the conclusion that during the period of the Mongol conquest, the Amu Darya, as now, flowed into the Aral Sea. But in the period between the XIII and XVI centuries. the river waters turned towards the Caspian Sea along the Uzboy riverbed. However, other researchers, based on the same data, came to slightly different conclusions, and some, for example, the Dutch orientalist De Goue, to the exact opposite. By this time, science already had quite abundant and interesting information about the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, received from specially organized expeditions. The question of ancient river beds began to acquire increasing practical interest. About the first of the expeditions, dating back to the beginning of the 18th century. and which ended tragically for its participants, I would like to tell you in a little more detail. In 1713, the foreman of one of the Turkmen clans, Khoja Nepes, was brought to St. Petersburg to Tsar Peter I. Having made his way to Astrakhan with Russian merchants, Khoja Nepes declared that he wanted to convey important information, but only to the Russian Tsar himself. This is how the Turkmen foreman ended up in St. Petersburg. Here Khoja Nepes spoke about the Amu Darya, which once flowed into the Caspian Sea, but then was allegedly blocked by a dam by the Khivans and diverted in the other direction. According to the Turkmen, along the banks of the Amu Darya there were rich deposits of gold-bearing sand. Peter I was more interested not in gold, but in the opportunity to build a water trade route to Khiva and Bukhara, and from there to Afghanistan and India. Therefore, in 1715 In St. Petersburg, an expedition was equipped with the task of “finding a water route to India.” The expedition was headed by Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky, a Caucasian prince who had been raised in Russia since childhood and had studied “navigation sciences” abroad. In the same 1715, Bekovich-Cherkassky explored the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. In a report to the Tsar, he claimed that he had managed to find the former mouth of the Amu Darya in the Aktam area, on the shore of Krasnovodsk Bay. The first expedition of Bekovich-Cherkassky was important in one respect - it was for the first time discovered that the Amu Darya flows not into the Caspian, but into the Aral Sea. In 1720, based on surveys carried out by order of Peter I by a number of Russian researchers, a map of the Caspian Sea was published in St. Petersburg. Peter, “in respect of his geographical information about Russia,” was elected a member of the Paris Academy, delivered this map to her. And in 1723, on the basis of a Russian map, the already mentioned map was published in Paris, where for the first time in the history of Western European science the Amu Darya was not shown among the rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea. In 1716, Bekovich-Cherkassky was again in Astrakhan. He is actively preparing for a new expedition. In his papers there are instructions from Peter I: “Go to the Khan of Khiva as an ambassador, and have a path near that river and diligently inspect the flow of that river, as well as the dam, if it is possible to turn that water back into the old pasture; besides, close the other mouths that go to the Aral Sea and how many people are needed for that work.” In the deep autumn of 1716, after sailing along the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, Bekovich-Cherkassky’s detachment reached the Krasnovodsk Bay and moved deep into the desert. However, he was unable to fully examine Uzba for a number of reasons. Leaving a large garrison in the Krasnovodsk fortress, he returned to Astrakhan. The following summer, a huge caravan leaving Guryev moved through Ustyurt towards Khiva. This was the embassy of Bekovich-Cherkassky to the Khiva Khan. The embassy consisted of a squadron of dragoons, two companies of infantry, two thousand Cossacks, five hundred Tatars and several cannons with servants and artillery officers. Two hundred Astrakhan merchants also traveled with the embassy. The path was difficult. People suffered from heat and thirst. There wasn't enough water. At each of the rare wells encountered along the way, each time it was necessary to dig several dozen more wells to water people, horses and camels. Camels and horses died due to lack of water and bad water. One night all the Kalmyk guides disappeared. The caravan had to be led by Khoja Nepes. In mid-August, the detachment reached the riverside lakes of the Amu Darya. It was no more than a hundred miles to Khiva. Warned by the fleeing Kalmyks, the Khiva Khan sent a twenty-four thousand horse detachment against the Russian caravan. We had to almost continuously fight off the fierce attacks of the Khivans. In Khiva, as the Russian detachment approached, panic began. They were expecting a siege of the city. But Bekovich-Cherkassky had no intention of conquering Khiva. And the strength for this was clearly not enough. Then the khan sent envoys to Bekovich, who stated that the military clashes allegedly occurred because Khiva did not know about the peaceful intentions of the Russians. Khan invited Bekovich-Cherkassky to his place, promising to receive him with honor. With a guard of five hundred people, Bekovich entered Khiva. The rest of the embassy was also lured there, with the Russians stationed around the city in separate small groups. At night, the Khivans attacked the fragmented Russian detachment and killed it. Not far from Khiva, Bekovich-Cherkassky himself was overtaken and hacked to death with sabers. Hodja Nepes and two of the Cossacks escaped by chance. The research of Bekovich-Cherkassky that ended so tragically was of great interest. The first reliable information that he and his comrades received about the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, in particular about the Krasnovodsk Bay and Mangyshlak, was of great importance for science. Russian geographers and engineers did especially a lot to study the old channels of the Amu Darya, in particular the Uzboy, in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. These studies were primarily related to practical interests - the expansion of irrigated agricultural areas, and issues of navigation. The book of one of the main researchers of Uzboy, A.I. Glukhovsky, was called: “The passage of the waters of the Amu Darya River along its old bed into the Caspian Sea and the formation of a continuous waterway from the borders of Afghanistan along the Amu Darya, Caspian, Volga and Mariinsky system to St. Petersburg and the Baltic Sea." Expeditions brought new material. Many issues previously considered controversial were finally clarified. And at the same time new disputes arose. In numerous articles by mining engineer A. M. Konshin, who worked a lot in the Karakum Desert, the idea that the Uzboy was once a river was categorically rejected. “No,” said Konshin, “these are traces of a large sea strait that once connected the Aral and Sarykamysh basins with the Caspian Sea.” The most prominent Russian geologist, Academician I.V. Mushketov, who, however, did not see Uzboy himself, was inclined to the same opinion. Konshin’s views were resolutely opposed by the then young researcher, future outstanding geologist and geographer V. A. Obruchev. In the third year of his work in the Karakum desert, he ended up in Uzboy. Subsequently, he wrote that, judging by the size of the channel, the excess of Amu Darya water flowing from Sarykamysh to Uzboy, being “significantly less than the amount of water in the Amu Darya, still exceeded several times the amount of water in modern Murghab.” Research that unfolded during Soviet times fully confirmed the point of view of V. A. Obruchev. A special role in this belongs to the tireless researcher of the Central Asian deserts and ancient rivers of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, geographer Alexandra Semyonovna Kes. But one of the main mysteries of the Amu Darya remained unsolved. It was unclear when these now dry riverbeds actually lived. Historians who studied the news of the ancients, as we have seen, did not come to a consensus: the sources were too contradictory and confusing. Scientists from other specialties also turned to the testimony of ancient authors. Here is what the famous Soviet geographer, expert on the Karakum and Uzboya V.N. Kunin writes about this with great humor: “Naturalists who used the same historical evidence always acted quite definitely. If this evidence coincided with their conclusions based on the study of the testimony of nature, they accepted them and strengthened their evidence with them. If this evidence contradicted their interpretations of natural data, they rejected this evidence as dubious and contradictory." So, the researchers of the Amu Darya, having studied the areas of the river’s “travels,” were faced with a seemingly insoluble problem. Geography and geology data were clearly not enough to finally resolve the issue. The study of ancient written sources in a number of cases only confused the matter. But how could one talk about the history of the Amu Darya without knowing the chronology of all its “travels”? Here we will open another page in the history of the study of the river, a page that, according to scientists, is extremely important and interesting.
Local residents call the Amu Darya “mad river.” And in fact, this river makes a rather strange impression on the person who first saw it. It flows through flat terrain, however, its current is stormy and swift, like a mountain river. The river is replete with whirlpools and waterways, the banks are constantly being washed away and falling, and all this is accompanied by a continuous roar.
In addition, the Amu Darya has one interesting feature. The flood on this river occurs at the end of April and lasts almost until mid-August. This is due to the glacial feeding regime of the river. Nevertheless, fishing in Amu Darya very popular among many sports fishermen and just fishing enthusiasts.
For sport and amateur fishing, among the fish that live in the Amu Darya, the most interesting are catfish, barbel, scaferingus and carp. Of particular interest to sports fishermen, among the listed fish species, skaferingus is of particular interest. In addition to the Amu Darya River, this fish lives only in the waters of the Mississippi River.
As for such fish as carp, in the waters of the obstinate Amu Darya, individuals weighing up to 10 kg, catfish up to 40 kg, and barbel up to 12-14 kg are often caught. So trophy fishing on the Amu Darya , can impress any experienced fisherman.
These trophies are caught using a tackle called “karmak”. It consists of a specially strong cord, which is attached to the end of a strong long pole. It is installed on the edge of the coastline at an angle of 45 0. Such a pole must spring back, and for this purpose a special support is installed. A huge bait in the form of barbel or carp weighing 1-3 kg is placed on the hook of this tackle!
As a rule, the pocket is installed in those places where catfish spawn. This fish usually carefully guards its clutches and fry and rushes at any other fish in order to drive it away from the forbidden spawning area.
Simply giant catfish are caught using this type of gear. Eyewitnesses claim that they have repeatedly seen catfish weighing about 120 kilograms or more being caught. Fishing for such a giant can last for several hours in a row. That's why Catfishing in the Amu Darya
This is not only gambling, but also a very spectacular action.
Mostly local amateur fishermen fish with bottom gear. The fisherman's assortment includes 3-4 donks equipped with bells and a pair of float rods. The most promising places for fishing are considered to be quiet backwaters where the current is very weak.
As for the river itself, they only fish there by dipping. The most common bait for catching carp and barbel is boiled dumplings, into which rye flour, earthworms and earthworms, mole crickets, and small grasshoppers are mixed. Catching barbel and carp in the Amu Darya , has its own peculiarity. In autumn, this fish is well caught with fry. The nature of Turkmenistan is very sparse, with reeds and thorny bushes along the river bank. And only occasionally can you see a grove of elm or elm. However, for a real fisherman there is no greater pleasure than spending the night with a fishing rod or donka near a quiet backwater.
After midnight, the most awaited time begins, the bite of large carp. And the battle with powerful and large fish will be remembered for a long time by any fisherman. In such a fight, the carp often becomes the winner; such fishing will be remembered for a long time and you will want to return again to the shores of the Amu Darya.
Now a little about barbel fishing. The most promising fishing in the Amu Darya for barbel
occurs in the lower reaches of this river. In addition to barbel, carp, asp and Amu Darya trout are excellently caught there. But let's return to the Amu Darya barbel. This large fish is always a desirable trophy for any angler who tries his strength and skills in the Amu Darya.
This fish deserves its name because it has small antennae on its snout. These are organs of charm that help the barbel find food. Usually barbel is caught on the Amu Darya using bottom tackle or half-bottom. The best time to catch barbel in this river is from May to October. In addition to bottom tackle, barbel is also caught using spinning baits; this type of fishing is best done from the second half of June to the end of August.
In conclusion, we can summarize that the obstinate and stormy Amu Darya can offer both fishermen and tourists a wide variety of adventures and unforgettable sensations. And there is no need to be afraid of this stormy and obstinate river, which is considered the stormiest river in Central Asia. Here you can excellently raft along difficult routes, and the main thing is to engage in high-quality and successful fishing. Amu Darya is waiting for you!
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Amudarya(mouth) Amu Darya) (Amudaryo tg, Amudaryo uz, Amyderýa tk, from آمودریا fa “Amu” - the name of the historical city of Amul and Daryo tg - “river”; other name: Greek “Oxos”, Latin “Oxus”, Arabic “Jeyhun”).) - a river in Central Asia.
Length 1415 km, basin area 309 thousand km² (up to the city of Kerki).
Formed by the confluence of the Pyanj and Vakhsh rivers, it flows into the Aral Sea, forming a delta. In the middle reaches, three large right tributaries (Kafirnigan, Surkhandarya, Sherabad) and one left tributary (Kunduz) flow into the Amu Darya. Further to the Aral Sea it does not receive a single influx.
The river is fed mainly by melted snow and glacial waters, so maximum flows are observed in the summer, and the lowest in January - February. Flowing across the plain, from Kerki to Nukus, the Amu Darya loses most of its flow to evaporation, infiltration and irrigation. In terms of turbidity, the Amu Darya ranks first in Central Asia and one of the first places in the world. The main flow of the Amu Darya is formed in the territory of Tajikistan (80%) and partly in Northern Afghanistan. The river then flows along the border of Afghanistan with Uzbekistan, crosses Turkmenistan and again returns to Uzbekistan and flows into the Aral Sea. Currently, the river waters do not reach the Aral Sea, as they are withdrawn for irrigation. This became one of the main reasons for the shallowing of the Aral Sea.
The average water flow near the city of Kerki is about 2000 m³/s. Amu Darya water is used for irrigation. The largest canals: Karakum, Amu-Bukhara, etc. In the early 1950s, it was also planned to build the Main Turkmen Canal, which would begin at Nukus and use the Uzboy channel, but the plan was not implemented. __NOTOC__
Economic importance
In the lower reaches there is fishing. Regular shipping from Turkmenabat. Near the Amu Darya are the cities of Urgench, Nukus, Termez, as well as the Amu Darya Nature Reserve. The waters of the Amu Darya are completely used for irrigation. The world's largest canal, the Karakum Canal, takes water from the Amu Darya and takes about 45% of its water. Also, the Kizil Canal departs from the Amu Darya, which irrigates the central part of Uzbekistan. Huge fields of cotton and wheat stretch along these canals and the Amu Darya itself (in Turkmenistan). Many dams have been built on the river (especially in Tajikistan) which generate electricity that Tajikistan exports. With the help of irrigation, Uzbekistan harvests about 10-20% of the world's cotton. But due to irrigation, for most of the year the Amu Darya does not reach the Aral Sea, which is why it is rapidly drying up.
It is the only habitat for the endemic Amu Darya shovelnose, which is on the verge of extinction.
Story
In ancient times, the river had several names. In the Avesta, the sacred book of the Zoroastrians, she is mentioned under the names “Vakhsh” (a cult term denoting the goddess of water and fertility), “Raha”, “Rankha” or “Arankha”. The Greek historians Herodotus, Xenophon, Polybius, Strabo, Ptolemy called it “Araks” in their works (this can be explained by the fact that ancient geographers transferred the more consonant name of the Caucasian river “Araks” from the little-known “Arankh”). In particular, Herodotus wrote about the Amu Darya that it is divided by 360 canals and 40 mouths are lost in swamps, and only one of the branches flows through open terrain and flows into the Caspian Sea. Subsequently, based on this information, researchers tried to prove that the dry bed of the Uzboy is this Caspian channel. However, research shows that the western branch of the Amu Darya reached only Lake Sarykamysh, and Herodotus’s information was based on ancient oral traditions of the prehistoric period.
During the campaign of Alexander the Great, the Greeks became acquainted with another local name for the Amu Darya river, which in the Greek interpretation sounded like “Oxos”. Found Kushan coins with the image of a water deity bore the inscription “Oksho” (sometimes “Ohsho”). In the works of medieval Khorezm authors, the river is called “Okuz”. From all this it follows that the name of the Amu Darya river was given by individual peoples who lived in different parts of it.
Amudarya River
(Tajikistan-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan)
The sources of this great Central Asian river lie, strictly speaking, outside the CIS. From the slopes of the sky-high Hindu Kush ridge in Afghanistan, from under a glacier located at almost a five-kilometer altitude, a stream flows, swift and turbulent due to the steepness of the fall. In its lower reaches, it has already become a small river and is called Vakhandarya. A little lower, Vakhandarya merges with the river The Pamir takes a new name - Pyanj, and for a long time becomes a border river, separating the three Central Asian republics of the CIS from Afghanistan.
Most of the right bank of the Pyanj is occupied by Tajikistan. The river gnaws through rocky ridges in this area, has a rapid current and is absolutely unsuitable for either navigation or irrigation. It’s just a stormy white stream in the abyss, and even the roads along it have to be laid in places on concrete cornices hanging over Pyanj.
The mountains of Tajikistan tirelessly feed the river with meltwater from glaciers flowing from their slopes. Gunt, Murgab, Kyzylsu and Vakhsh, having flowed into Pyanj, make it so full of water that below Vakhsh, having finally changed its name to Amu Darya, the river already carries more water than the famous Nile.
But even before this, the “Central Asian Volga” meets on its way the first curiosity that nature has scattered along its banks with a generous hand. On the right bank of the Pyanj, just above the confluence of the Kyzylsu, rises the unusual, one-of-a-kind mountain Khoja-Mumin, consisting of... pure table salt.
Geologists call such formations "salt domes." They are found in many places in the world: off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, in Iraq, in the Caspian region, but everywhere they are more like hills - their height does not exceed tens, or at most hundreds of meters. And KhojaMumin is a real mountain peak with steep slopes, gorges and even caves. The height of this extraordinary mountain is one thousand three hundred meters! Rising nine hundred meters above the surrounding plain, it is visible for tens of kilometers.
The surrounding residents have been mining salt here since ancient times. Now science has managed to unravel many of the secrets of this mysterious natural anomaly. Khoja-Mumin, it turns out, is a huge massif composed of salt, and at the top and in places on the slopes covered with a thin layer of soil formed from dust brought by the wind. At ground level, the area of the massif reaches forty square kilometers, and further down the salt column sharply narrows and goes to depth in the form of a column with a diameter of about a kilometer.
The slopes of the mountain are not white, as one might expect, but pale pink, greenish or bluish, depending on the impurities trapped in the salt layer. In some places they break off with sheer walls up to two hundred meters high. In some areas of the slopes, rainwater washed deep caves with huge halls and beautiful smooth-walled passages. And the places where the soil cover has formed are covered with low thickets of thorny bushes.
Hidden in the depths of the mountain are gigantic reserves of table salt - about sixty billion tons. If it were divided among all the inhabitants of the Earth, each would receive almost ten tons! Penetrating deep into the thickness of the mountain, rain streams dug long tunnels and wells into them and, having passed right through the mountain, emerge at its foot to the surface in the form of unusual salty springs. Their waters, merging, form many (more than a hundred!) salty streams running across the plain to the nearby Kyzylsu. In summer, under the hot rays of the sun, part of the water in the streams evaporates along the way, and a white salt border forms along their banks. As a result, a peculiar semi-desert landscape is formed, reminiscent of science fiction films about Mars: a brown, scorched plain along which poisonous-reddish watercourses with lifeless whitish banks meander.
Surprisingly, but true: on the flat top of Mount Khoja-Mumin there are several sources of absolutely fresh water! Geologists say that it is possible that layers of other, insoluble rocks are sandwiched within the thickness of the salt dome. It is along them that, under pressure from below, the water rises to the top, without coming into contact with the layers of salt and maintaining a fresh taste.
Thanks to her, grasses grow on the mountain (of course, only where there is soil). And in the spring, among the rocks sparkling with snow-white salt crystals, scarlet carpets of tulips appear on the top of the mountain.
Having left the borders of Tajikistan, the full-flowing Amu Darya receives the last major tributary, the Surkhandarya, on Uzbek territory and rapidly rushes further to the west. Behind us is the green city of Termez with its unique, southernmost zoo in the CIS. Here, at the latitude of India, the warm climate allows even elephants to live in the fresh air all year round, without knowing stuffy enclosures. True, polar bears have a hard time here. They are saved only by the icy mountain water in the pool.
Having parted with Uzbekistan, the Amu Darya soon says goodbye to the left-bank plains of Afghanistan, turning to the northwest and entering the territory of Turkmenistan on both banks. From here, two thousand kilometers, all the way to the Aral Sea, it flows along the border of the two main Central Asian deserts: Kyzylkum and Karakum. From the city of Chardzhou, where the first (and only) bridge across the wide river was built, motor ships are already running along the Amu Darya.
The countries lying along the banks of the river - Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan - use the waters of the generous Amu Darya to irrigate their cotton fields and orchards. To the right, to the Uzbek Bukhara, the Amu-Bukhara Canal is laid, and to the left, into the sultry sands of the Karakum Desert, the wide navigable channel of the Karakum Canal, or the Karakum River, as it is also called, goes.
The Karakum Desert occupies three quarters of the vast territory of Turkmenistan. When you fly over it on an airplane, below you see an endless sea of golden sands with green beads of oases scattered here and there.
And from the south, the border of Turkmenistan is high mountains. From there, two large rivers run down to the plain - Tedzhen and Murghab. They flow for several hundred kilometers across the country, irrigating the surrounding lands, until they are finally “drinked up” by numerous canals-aryks. Ancient agricultural civilizations existed in these places before our era; the most valuable fine-fiber cotton, luxurious melons, fragrant juicy apples and grapes are grown here and now.
Nature has generously endowed Turkmenistan with fertile lands, but, as the local proverb says, “in the desert it is not the earth that gives birth, but the water,” and that is precisely what is lacking. And hundreds of thousands of hectares of excellent land lay scorched by the sun, deserted and barren.
The Karakum River changed life in Turkmenistan. The canal route stretches for one thousand two hundred kilometers across the entire republic. He filled the Murgab and Tejen oases, Ashgabat, Bakharden, Kizyl-Arvat and Kazandzhik with Amudarya water. Further, to the oil workers' city of Nebit-Dag, water flowed through the pipeline. The land of the Karakum now produces cotton and vegetables, watermelons and melons, grapes and fruits.
And the Amu Darya runs further - to the fertile gardens and cotton fields of the ancient Khorezm oasis stretching beyond the horizon. The power and width of the huge water artery in these places is simply amazing, especially after a two-three-day trip by train or car across a dry, waterless plain.
Already near Turtkul the river is so wide that the opposite bank is barely visible in the distant haze. A gigantic mass of water rushes towards the Aral Sea with enormous speed and power. Slanting, some irregular, although quite high waves constantly rise on the surface of the Amu Darya. This is not a wave that is blown by the wind, it is the river itself that oscillates and boils from fast running along an uneven bottom. In some places the water boils, foams and bubbles, as if in a boiling cauldron. In some places, whirlpools form on it, drawing in fragments of boards or bundles of reeds floating along the river. In the evening, in the slanting rays of the setting sun, their ominous spirals are visible from afar from the deck of the ship on the river surface shining from the sunset light.
It is not surprising that the channel laid by the Amu Darya among the low-lying plain is not always able to hold this wayward flow within its banks. Here and there the river suddenly begins to wash away the bank, usually the right one. Block after block, huge pieces of loose rock that make up the plain begin to fall into the water. At the same time, they produce a deafening roar, reminiscent of a cannon shot. No force can hold back the furious pressure of the river.
The Amu Darya has long been famous for its whims. It is known that in the old days it flowed into the Caspian Sea. Then it changed its direction and began to pour into the Aral Sea. Its ancient channel, called the Uzboy, can still be traced in the sands of the Karakum Desert, and in the Krasnovodsk Bay on the Caspian Sea you can easily find a place where all the signs of a large river flowing into the sea have been preserved.
Even the Arab medieval historian al-Masudi said that in the 9th century large ships with goods descended along the Uzboy from Khorezm to the Caspian Sea, and from there sailed up the Volga, or to Persia and the Shirvan Khanate.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Amu Darya was divided in the area of the current river delta into two branches: one of them, the eastern one, flowed into the Aral Sea and the western one into the Caspian Sea. The latter gradually shallowed and dried out until, in 1545, it was finally covered with moving sand dunes.
Since then, the once densely populated area along the banks of the Uzboy has become a desert, and only the ruins of ancient cities remind of the quarrelsome nature of the capricious and violent river.
Actually, the channel changed periodically even above the delta - starting from the steeply bending Tuya-Muyun ("Camel's Neck") gorge. The river flow here is fast, the banks are composed of loose clays and sands, easily washed away by water. Sometimes a continuous zone of deigish stretches for several kilometers along one of the banks - this is what they call the destructive work of the river here. It happens that in three to four weeks of high water, the Amu Darya “licks away” up to half a kilometer of the coastline. It is very difficult to fight this scourge.
Even in the 20th century, catastrophic situations occurred in the lower reaches of the river. So, in 1925, the Amu Darya began to erode the right bank in the area of the then capital of the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic of Uzbekistan - the city of Turtkul. In seven years, by 1932, the river “ate” eight kilometers of the coast and came close to the outskirts of Turtkul, and in 1938 it washed away the first quarters of the city. The capital of the republic had to be moved to the city of Nukus. Meanwhile, the Amu Darya continued to do its dirty work, and in 1950 it did away with the last street of Turtkul. The city ceased to exist, and its inhabitants were moved to a new town built further from the river.
But finally, the lands of ancient Khorezm stretching along the left bank were left behind, the domes and minarets of the pearl of Central Asia - the unique Khiva, disappeared in the haze, which, like no other Asian city, has preserved the flavor of the Middle Ages, not disturbed by typical modern buildings. In this regard, even the famous Samarkand and Bukhara cannot be compared with Khiva.
And the Amu Darya hurries forward to the Aral Sea. However, before flowing into its light blue expanse, the wild river presents another surprise: it spreads into a dozen channels and forms one of the largest river deltas in the world - with an area of more than eleven thousand square kilometers.
There is no exact map of this huge tangle of riverbeds, channels, canals, islands and swampy reed jungles. Since the fickle river changes its course every now and then, some channels dry up, others, previously dry, fill with water, the outlines of the islands, capes and bends of the river change, so that it is impossible to cultivate the lands of the delta, despite the presence of water. Here lies the kingdom of tugai - dense thickets of two-three-meter reeds and bushes, where even the formidable Turanian tigers lived fifty years ago. And even now the tugai forest is a real paradise for birds, turtles, wild boars and muskrats that were recently brought here. Fishermen sometimes pull out two-meter catfish on a spinning rod.
And beyond the green sea of the Tugai, the Aral, suffering from lack of water, awaits the Amu Darya, which has almost completely lost its recharge from the waters of the Syr Darya, the second most important river in this region. Almost all of its water is used for irrigation, and it flows into the Aral Sea only during high water. So Amu Darya has to water the drying sea alone.
This is how this amazing river with three names, which has fed three CIS republics, ends its journey from the distant glaciers of the Hindu Kush. To be precise, over two and a half thousand kilometers of its tireless running we saw three different rivers: a mad mountain stream, a mighty water artery in the endless desert and a web of channels in the reed labyrinths of the delta. This changeable, formidable and fertile river, which four countries and five peoples call by the ancient name Amu Darya, will remain in the memory as diverse and unusual.
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (AM) by the author TSB From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (KR) by the author TSB From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (MA) by the author TSB From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (MU) by the author TSB From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (OB) by the author TSBMa (river) Ma, Song Ma, a river in northern Vietnam and Laos. The length is about 400 km. It originates on the slopes of the Shamshao ridge and flows into Bakbo Bay, forming a delta. High water in July - August; in the lower reaches it is navigable. The Delta is densely populated. On M. - Thanh Hoa city
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (TA) by the author TSBMur (river) Mur, Mura (Mur, Mura), a river in Austria and Yugoslavia, in the lower reaches of the Mura there is a section of the border between Yugoslavia and Hungary; left tributary of the Drava (Danube basin). The length is 434 km, the basin area is about 15 thousand km2. In the upper reaches it flows in a narrow valley, below the city of Graz - along the plain.
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (UF) by the author TSBOb (river) Ob, one of the largest rivers in the USSR and the globe; the third most water-bearing river (after the Yenisei and Lena) in the Soviet Union. Formed by the merger of pp. Biya and Katun in Altai, crosses the territories of Western Siberia from the south to the north and flows into the Ob Bay of the Kara Sea. Length
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (CHI) by the author TSBTaz (river) Taz, a river in the Yamalo-Nenets National District of the Tyumen Region of the RSFSR, partially on the border with the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Length 1401 km, basin area 150 thousand km 2. It originates at Sibirskie Uvaly and flows into the Tazovskaya Bay of the Kara Sea through several branches. Flowing
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (EM) by the author TSB From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (EN) by the author TSBChir (river) Chir, a river in the Rostov region of the RSFSR (lower reaches in the Volgograd region), a right tributary of the Don. Length 317 km, basin area 9580 km2. It originates on the Donskaya ridge and flows into the Tsimlyanskoye Reservoir. The food is predominantly snowy. Flood at the end of March -
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (YL) by the author TSBEms (river) Ems (Erns), a river in the north-west. Germany. Length 371 km, basin area 12.5 thousand km2. It originates on the southwestern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest mountains, flows through the North German Lowland, flows into Dollart Bay of the North Sea, forming an estuary 20 km long. Average water consumption
From the author's bookRiver A river is a watercourse of significant size that flows in a natural channel and collects water from the surface and underground runoff of its drainage basin. The river begins at the source and is further divided into three sections: the upper reaches, the middle reaches and the lower reaches,