The Syr Darya, historically known as the Jaxartes, is a river in Central Asia. The name, which is Persian, literally means Syr Sea or Syr River. It originates in the Tian Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan and flows for 2,256.25 kilometres (1,401.97 mi) west and north-west through Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan to the northern remnants of the Aral Sea. It is the northern and eastern of the two main rivers in the endorheic basin of the Aral Sea, the other being the Amu Darya.
Syr Darya at Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan
Astronaut photograph of the Syr Darya River floodplain
Syr Darya River at Khujand
Central Asia is a subregion of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the southwest and Eastern Europe in the northwest to Western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan" in both respective native languages and most other languages.
On the south shore of Issyk Kul lake, Issyk Kul Region
The Eurasian Steppe in Kazakhstan has a semi-arid, continental climate
Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes and across Central Asia. The Andronovo culture existed in Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BC.
The Mongol Empire at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later Timurid Empire.
