Dzungaria[a] (/(d)zʊŋˈɡɛəriə/; from theMongolian wordszüün gar, meaning 'left hand'), also known asNorthern Xinjiang orBeijiang,[1] is a geographicalsubregion inNorthwest China that corresponds to the northern half ofXinjiang. Bound by theAltai Mountains to the north and theTian Shan mountain range to the south, Dzungaria covers approximately 777,000 km2 (300,000 sq mi), and bordersKazakhstan to the west andMongolia to the east. In contexts prior to the mid-18th centuryDzungar genocide, the term "Dzungaria" could cover a wider area, coterminous with theOirat-ledDzungar Khanate.
Although Dzungaria is geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct from theTarim Basin or Southern Xinjiang (Nanjiang), theManchu-ledQing dynasty integrated both areas into one province, Xinjiang. Dzungaria is Xinjiang's center ofheavy industry, generates most of the region's GDP, and houses its political capitalÜrümqi (Oirat for 'beautiful pasture'). As such, Dzungaria continues to attract intraprovincial and interprovincial migration to its cities. In contrast to the Tarim Basin, Dzungaria is relatively well integrated with the rest of China by rail and trade links.[2]
Xinjiang has traditionally been divided into two geographically and ethnically distinct regions: Dzungaria, located north of the Tian Shan mountains; and the Tarim Basin, located south of the mountains. At the time of theQing conquest of Xinjiang in 1759, Dzungaria was predominantly inhabited bysteppe-dwelling, nomadicTibetan-BuddhistDzungars while the Tarim Basin was inhabited by predominantly oasis-dwelling, sedentary,TurkicMuslim farmers, now known as theUyghurs. The Qing government was well aware of the differences between the inhabitants of the two regions, and initially ruled them as separate administrative units.[3] However, after theQing army's final pacification of the Tarim Basin in 1760, the Qing government began to describe Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin as one region called "Xinjiang" (lit.'new frontier').[4]
The Qing government officially unified Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin into one political entity calledXinjiang Province in 1884, despite protests by some officials who believed that the two regions were better off left separated.[5] The geographic concept of Xinjiang was ultimately a construct of the Qing government; by the end of Qing rule in 1912, Xinjiang's native inhabitants had still not developed a distinct regional identity.[6] However, the foundations for a regional identity were laid by the Qing government's 150-year-long policies of politically isolating Xinjiang from the rest ofCentral Asia and introducing Han and Hui settlers into the region. These policies pushed forward a cultural identity which sharply contrasted with both the rest of China and the rest of Central Asia.[7]
Dzungaria, orZungharia, derives from the name of theDzungar people, which comes from theMongolian termZűn Gar, orJüün Gar (depending on the Mongolian dialect used).Zűn (orJüün) means 'left' andGar means 'hand'. The name originates from the notion that the Western Mongols (Oirats) were on the left-hand side when theMongol Empire began its division into East and West Mongols. After this fragmentation, the western Mongolian nation was calledZuun Gar.[8]
One of the earliest mentions of the Dzungaria region occurs when theHan dynasty dispatched an explorer to investigate lands to the west, using the northernmostSilk Road trackway of about 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital ofXi'an to the west over theWushao Ling Pass toWuwei and emerged inKashgar.[11]
Istämi of theGöktürks received the lands of Dzungaria as an inheritance after the death of his father in the latter half of the sixth centuryAD.[12]
Dzungar power reached its height in the second half of the 17th century, whenGaldan Boshugtu Khan repeatedly intervened in the affairs of theKazakhs to the west, but it was completely destroyed by theQing Empire about 1757–1759. It has played an important part in the history ofMongolia and the great migrations of Mongolian stems westward. Its widest limit includedKashgar,Yarkand,Khotan, the whole region of theTian Shan, and the greater proportion of that part of Central Asia which extends from 35° to 50° N and from 72° to 97° E.[8]
A traveler going west from China must go either north of the Tian Shan mountains through Dzungaria or south of the mountains through the Tarim Basin. Trade usually took the south side and migrations the north. This is most likely because the Tarim leads to theFerghana Valley and Iran, while Dzungaria leads only to the open steppe. The difficulty with the south side was the high mountains between the Tarim and Ferghana. Furthermore, the Taklamakan is too dry to support much grass, and therefore nomads when they are not robbing caravans. Its inhabitants live mostly in oases formed where rivers run out of the mountains into the desert. These are inhabited by peasants who are unwarlike and merchants who have an interest in keeping trade running smoothly. Dzungaria has a fair amount of grass, few towns to base soldiers in and no significant mountain barriers to the west. Therefore, trade went south and migrations north.[13] Today most trade is north of the mountains (Dzungarian Gate andKhorgas in the Ili valley) to avoid the mountains west of the Tarim and because Russia is currently more developed.
After theDzungar genocide, the Qing subsequently began to repopulate the area with Han and Hui people from China proper.
The population in the 21st century consists ofKazakhs,Kyrgyz,Mongols,Uyghurs andHan Chinese. Since 1953, northern Xinjiang has attracted skilled workers from all over China—who have mostly beenHan Chinese—to work on water conservation and industrial projects, especially theKaramay oil fields. Intraprovincial migration has mostly been directed towards Dzungaria also, with immigrants from the poor Uyghur areas of southern Xinjiang flooding to the provincial capital ofÜrümqi to find work.[citation needed]
As a political or geographical term,Dzungaria has practically disappeared from the map; but the range of mountains stretching north-east along the southern frontier of the Zhetysu, as the district to the southeast ofLake Balkhash preserves the name ofDzungarian Alatau.[8] It also gave name toDjungarian hamsters.
The core of Dzungaria is the triangularDzungarian Basin, also known as Junggar Basin (simplified Chinese:准噶尔盆地;traditional Chinese:準噶爾盆地;pinyin:Zhǔngá'ěr Péndì), with its centralGurbantünggüt Desert. It is bounded by theTarbagatai Mountains to the northwest, theAltai Mountains to the northeast, and the Tian Shan mountains to the south.[14] The three corners are relatively open. The northern corner is the valley of the upperIrtysh River. The western corner is theDzungarian Gate, a historically important gateway between Dzungaria and theKazakh Steppe; presently, a highway and arailway (opened in 1990) run through it, connecting China with Kazakhstan. The eastern corner of the basin leads toGansu and the rest of China. In the south, an easy pass leads fromÜrümqi to theTurfan Depression. In the southwest, the tallBorohoro Mountains branch of the Tian Shan separates the basin from the upperIli River.
The basin is similar to the larger Tarim Basin on the southern side of the Tian Shan Range. Only a gap in the mountains to the north allows moist air masses to provide the basin lands with enough moisture to remain semi-desert rather than becoming a true desert like most of the Tarim Basin and allows a thin layer of vegetation to grow. This is enough to sustain populations of wildcamels,jerboas, and other wild species.[15]
The Dzungarian Basin is a structural basin with thick sequences of Paleozoic-Pleistocene rocks with large estimatedoil reserves.[16] TheGurbantunggut Desert, China's second largest, is in the center of the basin.[17]
The Dzungarian basin does not have a singlecatchment center. The northernmost section of Dzungaria is part of the basin of theIrtysh River, which ultimately drains into theArctic Ocean. The rest of the region is split into a number ofendorheic basins. In particular, south of the Irtysh, theUlungur River ends up in the (presently)endorheicLake Ulungur. The Southwestern part of the Dzungarian basin drains into theAibi Lake. In the west-central part of the region, streams flow into (or toward) a group of endorheic lakes that includeLake Manas andLake Ailik. During the region's geological past, a much larger lake (the "Old Manas Lake") was located in the area of today's Manas Lake; it was fed not only by the streams that presently flow toward it but also by the Irtysh and Ulungur, which too were flowing toward the Old Manas Lake at the time.[18]
The cold climate of nearby Siberia influences the climate of the Dzungarian Basin, making the temperature colder—as low as −4 °F (−20 °C)—and providing more precipitation, ranging from 3 to 10 inches (76 to 254 mm), compared to the warmer, drier basins to the south. Runoff from the surrounding mountains into the basin supplies several lakes. The ecologically rich habitats traditionally included meadows, marshlands, and rivers. However, most of the land is now used for agriculture.[15]
It is a largelysteppe and semi-desert basin surrounded by high mountains: the Tian Shan (ancientMount Imeon) in the south and theAltai in the north. Geologically it is an extension of the PaleozoicKazakhstan Block and was once part of an independent continent before the Altai mountains formed in the late Paleozoic. It does not contain the abundant minerals of Kazakhstan and may have been a pre-existing continental block before the Kazakhstan Block was formed.
The basin was one of the lasthabitats ofPrzewalski's horse(Equus przewalskii), also known as Dzungarian horse, which was onceextinct in the wild, though it has since been reintroduced in areas of Mongolia and China.
A notable find, in February 2006, is the oldesttyrannosaur fossil unearthed by a team of scientists fromGeorge Washington University who were conducting a study in the Dzungarian Basin. The species, namedGuanlong, lived 160 million years ago, more than 90 million years before the famedTyrannosaurus rex.[citation needed]
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dzungaria".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 787.
Media related toZungharia at Wikimedia Commons
