View source for Syr Darya

{{Refimprove|date=October 2007}}
{{Geobox|River
<!-- *** Heading *** -->
| name = Syr Darya
| native_name = {{lang-kk|Сырдария}}<br>{{lang-uz|Sirdaryo}}<br>{{lang-tg|Сирдарё}}
| other_name = Jaxartes
| other_name1 = Seyhun
| other_name2 = 
| category = 
<!-- *** Names **** --> 
| etymology = unknown
| nickname = 
<!-- *** Image *** -->
| image = Syr Darya.jpg
| image_caption = Syr Darya at [[Kyzylorda]], [[Kazakhstan]]
| image_size = 290px
<!-- *** Country *** -->
| country = Kyrgyzstan
| country1 =  Uzbekistan
| country2 = Tajikistan
| country3 = Kazakhstan
| country_flag = 1
| state = 
| region = 
| district = 
| municipality = 
<!-- *** Family *** -->
| parent =
| tributary_left = [[Kara Darya|Kara]]
| tributary_right = [[Naryn River|Naryn]]
| tributary_right1 = [[Chirciq River|Chirciq]]
| tributary_right2 = [[Arys River|Arys]]
| tributary_right3 = [[Chu River|Chu]]
| tributary_right4 = [[Sarysu River|Sarysu]]
| city = [[Khujand|Khujand, TJ]]
| city1 = [[Tashkent|Tashkent, UZ]]
| city2 = [[Turkestan (city)|Turkestan, KZ]]
| city3 = [[Kyzylorda|Kyzylorda, KZ]]
| city4 = [[Baikonur|Baikonur, RU]]
| landmark = 
| river =
<!-- *** River locations *** -->
| source = Confluence of [[Naryn River|Naryn]] and [[Kara Darya]]
| source_location = [[Fergana Valley]]| source_region = | source_country =[[Uzbekistan]]
| source_elevation = 400
| source_lat_d = 40| source_lat_m = 54| source_lat_s =03| source_lat_NS =N
| source_long_d =71 | source_long_m =45 | source_long_s =27 | source_long_EW =E
| mouth = [[North Aral Sea]]
| mouth_location = [[Kazaly]]| mouth_region = | mouth_country =[[Kazakhstan]]
| mouth_elevation = 42
| mouth_lat_d = 46| mouth_lat_m = 09| mouth_lat_s = 15| mouth_lat_NS =N
| mouth_long_d =60 | mouth_long_m =52 | mouth_long_s =25 | mouth_long_EW =E
<!-- *** Dimensions *** -->
| length = 2212| length_orientation = 
| width = | width_orientation = 
| depth = 
| volume =
| watershed = 402760
| discharge = 1180
| discharge_note = <ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/mckinney/papers/aral/CentralAsiaWater-McKinney.pdf |title=Cooperative Management of Transboundary Water Resources in Central Asia |author=Daene C. McKinney |publisher=Ce.utexas.edu |accessdate=2014-02-07}}</ref>
| discharge_max =
| discharge_min =
<!-- *** Free fields *** -->
| free = | free_type = 
<!-- *** Maps *** -->
| map = Syrdaryamap.png
| map_caption = Map of the watershed of Syr Darya. Aral Sea boundaries are c. 1960.
| map_background = 
| map_locator =
| map_locator_x =
| map_locator_y = 
<!-- *** Website *** --> 
| website =
| commons =
<!-- *** Footnotes *** -->
| footnotes =
}}

[[Image:Syr Darya River Floodplain, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.JPG|thumb|Astronaut photograph of the Syr Darya River floodplain]]

The '''Syr Darya'''<ref>Also transliterated '''Syrdarya''' or '''Sirdaryo'''.</ref> {{IPAc-en|ˌ|s|ɪər|ˈ|d|ɑr|j|ə}} ({{lang-kk|Сырдария, ''Sırdarïya'', سىردارٸيا}}; {{lang-rus|Сырдарья́|Syrdarjja|p=sɨrdɐˈrʲja}}; {{lang-fa|''Sirdarya'' سيردريا}}; {{lang-tg|Сирдарё, ''Sirdaryo/Sirdarjo''}}; {{lang-tr|Seyhun, Siri Derya}}; {{lang-ar| سيحون}}: Seyhun; {{lang-uz|Sirdaryo/Сирдарё}}) is a river in [[Central Asia]].

The Syr Darya originates in the [[Tian Shan|Tian Shan Mountains]] in [[Kyrgyzstan]] and eastern [[Uzbekistan]] and flows for {{convert|2212|km|mi}} west and north-west through Uzbekistan and southern [[Kazakhstan]] to the [[North Aral Sea|northern remnants]] of the [[Aral Sea]]. It is the northern and eastern of the two main rivers in the [[endorrheic basin]] of the Aral Sea, the other being the [[Amu Darya]]. In the [[Soviet Union|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.

==Name==
The second part of the name (''Darya'' دریا) means river in Persian. The current name dates only from the 18th century.

The earliest recorded name comes down to us as ''Jaxartes'' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|dʒ|æ|ɡ|ˈ|z|ɑr|t|iː|z}} or ''Iaxartes'' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|aɪ|.|ə|ɡ|ˈ|z|ɑr|t|iː|z}} ({{lang|grc|Ἰαξάρτης}}) in [[Ancient Greek]]. This name is recorded by several sources, including those relating to [[Alexander the Great]]. The Greek preserves the [[Old Persian]] name ''Yakhsha Arta'' ("True Pearl"), perhaps a reference to the color of its glacially-fed water.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Islam">"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.</ref>  More evidence for the Persian [[etymology]] comes from its Turkic name up to the time of the Arab conquest, the ''Yinchu'', or "Pearl river".<ref name="В. В. Бартольд. К истории орошения Туркестана.">В. 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</ref>

Following the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquest]], the river appears in the sources uniformly as the ''Seyhun'' (سيحون), one of the four rivers flowing from the [[Paradise]] ([[Jannah]] in [[Arabic]]).<ref name="The introductory chapters of Yāqūt's Muʿjam al-buldān">The introductory chapters of Yāqūt's Muʿjam al-buldān, by Yāqūt ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥamawī, Page 30</ref>

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 of [[Khiva]], calls the [[Aral Sea]] the "Sea of Sïr," or ''Sïr Tengizi''.

==Geography==
The river rises in two [[headstream]]s in the [[Tian Shan|Tian Shan Mountains]] in [[Kyrgyzstan]] and eastern [[Uzbekistan]]—the [[Naryn River]] and the [[Kara Darya]] which come together in the Uzbek part of the [[Fergana Valley]]—and flows for some {{convert|2212|km|mi}} west and north-west through Uzbekistan and southern [[Kazakhstan]] to the remains of the Aral Sea. The Syr Darya drains an area of over {{convert|800000|km2|sqmi}}, but no more than {{convert|200000|km2|sqmi}} actually contribute significant flow to the river: indeed, two of the largest rivers in its basin, the [[Talas River|Talas]] and the [[Chu River|Chu]], dry up before reaching it. Its annual flow is a very modest <ref name="autogenerated1" /> {{convert|37|km3|acre.ft|lk=out}} per year—half that of its sister river, the [[Amu Darya]].

Along its course, the Syr Darya irrigates the most productive [[cotton]]-growing region in the whole of [[Central Asia]], together with the towns of [[Kokand]], [[Khujand]], [[Kyzylorda]] and [[Hazrat-e Turkestan|Turkestan]].

Various local governments throughout history have built and maintained an extensive system of [[canal]]s.<ref name="В. В. Бартольд. К истории орошения Туркестана."/> These canals are of central importance in this arid region. Many fell into disuse in the 17th and early 18th century, but the [[Khanate of Kokand]] rebuilt many in the 19th century, primarily along the Upper and Middle Syr Darya.

==Ecological damage==
Massive expansion of [[irrigation canal]]s in Middle and Lower Syr Darya during the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] period to water cotton and [[rice]] fields caused ecological 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 reaches the Aral Sea, similar to the Amu Darya situation in Uzbekistan and [[Turkmenistan]].

==History==

[[Image:Khujand.jpg|thumb|Syr Darya River at Khujand]]During the era of [[Alexander the Great]], the Syr Darya marked the northernmost limit of Hellenic conquests and also the site of a famous battle, the [[Battle of Jaxartes]]. It was on the shores of the Syr Darya that Alexander placed a garrison in the City of [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] ([[Cyropolis]] in Greek), which he then renamed after himself [[Alexandria Eschate]] – "the farthest Alexandria"—in 329 BC. For most of its history since at least the [[Muslim]] Conquest of [[Central Asia]], the name of this city has been [[Khujand]] (in [[Tajikistan]]).

During the [[Russian conquest of Turkestan]] in the middle 19th century, the [[Russian Empire]] introduced steam navigation to the Syr Darya, with an important river port at Kazalinsk ([[Kazaly]]) from 1847 to 1882, when service ceased.

During the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] Era, a resource-sharing system was instated in which Kyrgyzstan and [[Tajikistan]] shared water originating from the [[Amu Darya]] and Syr Darya rivers with [[Kazakhstan]], [[Turkmenistan]], and [[Uzbekistan]] in summer. In return, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan received Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek coal, gas, and electricity in winter. After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]] this system disintegrated and the [[Central Asia]]n nations have failed to reinstate it. Inadequate infrastructure, poor water management, and outdated irrigation methods all exacerbate the issue.<ref>International Crisis Group. "[http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/central-asia/233-water-pressures-in-central-asia.pdf Water Pressures in Central Asia]", [http://www.crisisgroup.org CrisisGroup.org]. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Syr Darya}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9070767/Syr-Darya Britannica.com]
* [http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jaxartes/jaxartes.html Livius.org: Jaxartes]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk./2/hi/asia-pacific/8516200.stm BBC News: Syn Darya in pictures]

{{Kazakhstan topics}}
{{Rivers of Kazakhstan}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Rivers of Tajikistan]]
[[Category:Rivers of Uzbekistan]]
[[Category:Rivers of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Sites along the Silk Road]]
[[Category:International rivers of Asia]]