During the Soviet era, extensive irrigation projects were constructed around both rivers, diverting their water into farmland and causing, during the post-Soviet era, the virtual disappearance of the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest lake. The point at which the river flows from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan is, at 300 m (980 ft) above sea level, the lowest elevation in Tajikistan.[3][4][5]
The second part of the name (darya,دریا) means "lake" or "sea" inPersian and "river" in theCentral Asian Persian. The current name dates only from the18th century.
The earliest recorded name wasJaxartes orIaxartes (Ἰαξάρτης) inAncient Greek, consist of two morphemeIaxa andartes, found in several sources, including those relating toAlexander the Great. This variant of the Greek name hearkens back to theOld Persian nameYakhsha Arta ("True Pearl"), perhaps a reference to the color of its glacially-fed water.[6] However there is also usage of the nameTanais river in certain sources, such as those of Arrian, a possible usage of the actual Tanais River's name to represent a furthest east river by distance.[7] More evidence for the Persianetymology comes from the river's Turkic name up to the time of the Arab conquest, theYinçü, or "Pearl river", fromMiddle Chinese眞珠 *t͡ɕiɪn-t͡ɕɨo.[8][9]Tang Chinese also recorded this name as Yaosha River藥殺水 (MC: *jɨɐk-ʃˠɛt) and later Ye River葉河 (MC: *jiɛp).
The current local name of the river,Syr (Sïr), does not appear before the 16th century. In the 17th century,Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur Khan, historian and ruler ofKhiva, called theAral Sea the "Sea of Sïr," orSïr Tengizi.
The important evidence is the etymology of the name of the Syr-Darya River mentioned by the ancient authors – '''Yaksart''', established by V. A. Livshits (2003: 10). It means ''''flowing' or 'streaming'.''' The word belongs to theSogdian dialect that had emerged from theSaka language group.[10]
When the Macedonian army ofAlexander the Great reached the Jaxartes in 329 BC, after travelling throughBactria andSogdia without encountering any opposition, they met with the first instances of native resistance to their presence. In October 329 BC the Macedonians fought theBattle of Jaxartes against theSaka, killing some 1,200 combatants including the leader of the nomads. Alexander was forced to retire south to deal with a revolt inSogdia. Alexander was wounded in the fighting that ensued and the native tribes took to attacking the Macedonian garrisons stationed in their towns. As the revolt against Alexander intensified it spread through Sogdia, plunging it into two years of warfare, the intensity of which surpassed any other conflict of theAnabasis Alexandri.[11]
On the shores of the Syr Darya, Alexander placed a garrison in the City ofCyrus (Cyropolis in Greek), which he then renamed after himselfAlexandria Eschate—"Alexandria the furthest"—in 329 BC. For most of its history since at least theMuslim conquest of Central Asia in the 7th to 8th centuries AD, the name of this city (in present-dayTajikistan) has beenKhujand.
In the mid-19th century, during theRussian conquest of Turkestan, theRussian Empire introduced steam navigation to the Syr Darya, initially fromFort Raim[12] but with an important river port at Kazalinsk (Kazaly) from 1847 to 1882, when service ceased.
During theSoviet era, a resource-sharing system was instituted in which Kyrgyzstan andTajikistan shared water originating from theAmu Darya and Syr Darya rivers withKazakhstan,Turkmenistan, andUzbekistan in summer. In return, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan received Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek coal, gas, and electricity in winter. After the 1991fall of the Soviet Union, this system disintegrated and theCentral Asian nations have failed to reinstate it. Inadequate infrastructure, poor water-management, and outdated irrigation methods all exacerbate the issue.[13]
In 2012, theSyrdarya–Turkestan State Regional Natural Park was opened in Kazakhstan, in hopes of protecting the river plain ecosystems, archaeological sites, and historical-cultural monuments, as well as plants and animal species, some of which are rare or endangered.[14]
The river rises in twoheadstreams in theTian Shan Mountains inKyrgyzstan and easternUzbekistan—theNaryn River and theKara Darya which come together in the Uzbek part of theFergana Valley—and flows for some 2,212 kilometres (1,374 mi) west and north-west through Uzbekistan and southernKazakhstan to the remains of the Aral Sea. The Syr Darya drains an area of over 800,000 square kilometres (310,000 sq mi), but no more than 160,000 square kilometres (62,000 sq mi) actually contribute significant flow to the river:[15] indeed, two of the largest rivers in its basin, theTalas and theChu, dry up before reaching it. Its annual flow is a very modest[1] 37 cubic kilometres (30,000,000 acre⋅ft; 8.9 mi3) per year—half that of its sister river, theAmu Darya.
Various local governments throughout history have built and maintained an extensive system ofcanals.[8] These canals are of central importance in this arid region. Many fell into disuse in the 17th and early 18th century, but theKhanate of Kokand rebuilt many in the 19th century, primarily along the Upper and Middle Syr Darya.
Massive expansion ofirrigation canals in Middle and Lower Syr Darya during theSoviet period to water cotton andrice fields causedecological damage to the area. The amount of water taken from the river was such that in some periods of the year, no water at all reached the Aral Sea. The Amu Darya in Uzbekistan andTurkmenistan faced a similar situation.
The uranium concentration of the stream water is increased in Tajikistan with values of 43 μg/L and 12 μg/L;[clarification needed] the WHO guideline value for drinking water of 30 μg/L is partly exceeded. The main input of uranium occurs upstream in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.[16]
^"Sïr Daryā." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2014.
^abВ. В. Бартольд. К истории орошения Туркестана. (On the history of Irrigation in Turkestan) in Работы по исторической географии (Works on Historical Geography). Moscow: Vostochnaia Literatura, 2002. Pages 210-231
^Koryakova, Ludmila (2008-06-01). "Review at Cambridge Core- Elena E. Kuzmina (edited by J.P. Mallory): The Origins of the Indo-Iranians. xviii+762 pages, 132 figures. 2007. Leiden: Brill; 978-90-04-16054-5 hardback".Antiquity Publications.82 (316): 457.doi:10.1017/s0003598x00097076.ISSN0003-598X.
^Gucheval-Claugny, M. (1877). "l'Asie Centrale Et Le Réveil De La Question D'Orient".Revue des Deux Mondes (1829-1971).21 (2): 409.ISSN0035-1962.JSTOR44751873.
^Agaltseva, N.A.; Borovikova, L.N.; Konovalov, V.G. (1997).Automated system of runoff forecasting for the Amudarya River basin(PDF). Destructive Water: Water-Caused Natural Disasters, their Abatement and Control.International Association of Hydrological Sciences. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 24 January 2012. Retrieved2010-02-09.
^Zoriy, P.; Schläger, M.; Murtazaev, K.; Pillath, J.; Zoriy, M.; Heuel-Fabianek, B. (2018). "Monitoring of uranium concentrations in water samples collected near potentially hazardous objects in North-West Tajikistan".Journal of Environmental Radioactivity.181:109–117.doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.11.010.PMID29136519.
