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(Redirected from Taklamakan)
The 'Taklamakan Desert' (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is known as one of the largest sandy deserts in the world.[1]
It covers an area of 270,000 km² of the Tarim Basin, 1,000 km long and 400 km wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road as travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.[2]
The Taklamakan Desert is one the world's major deserts, ranking 15th in size in a ranking of the world's largest non-polar deserts.[3]
There is no water on the desert and it was hazardous to cross.[4] Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns.[5] The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar, Marin, Niya, Yarkand, and Khotan (Hetian) to the south, Kuqa and Turfan in the north, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the east. Now some, such as Marin, are ruined cities in a sparsely inhabited dusty spot with poor roads and minimal transportation in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China.[6]
The White Jade River flows into the Taklamakan, as do the Yarkant He originating in the Kunlun Mountains and the river from the Tien Shan range.
The archeological treasures found in its sand buried ruins point to Tocharian, early Hellenistic, Indian and Buddhistic influences.[7]
Mummies, some 4000 years old, have been found in the region. They show the wide range of peoples who have passed through. Some of the mummies appear European.[8]
Later, the Taklamakan was inhabited by Turkic peoples. Starting with the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese periodically extended their control to the oasis cities of the Taklamakan in order to control the important silk route trade across Central Asia. Periods of Chinese rule were interspersed with rule by Turkic and Mongol and Tibetan peoples. The present population consists largely of Turkic Uyghur and Kazakh people in the countryside, while the population of the larger cities is predominantly Han Chinese.
★ Tarim mummies
★ Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
★ Kizil Caves
★ The Silk Road
★ Yuezhi
★ List of deserts by area
★ Cities along the Silk Road
1. Takla Makan Desert
2. The Atlas of World Geology, , Paul G., Bahn, Checkmark Books, 2000, ISBN 0-8160-4051-6
3. The World's Largest Desert
4. The Silk Roads and Eurasian Geography
5. Spies Along the Silk Road
6. The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith
7. Its treasures and dangers have been vividly described by Aurel Stein, Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq, and Paul Pelliot. The Silk Road
8. Mysterious Mummies of China
★ Jarring, Gunnar (1997). ''The toponym Takla-makan'', Turkic Languages, Vol. 1, p. 227-240
★ Hopkirk, Peter (1980). ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia''. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.
★ Hopkirk, Peter (1994). ''The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia''. ISBN 1-56836-022-3.
★ Photos of area in China
★ Satellite Images from China
★ Personal experiences
★ Photos of mummies
Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin
The 'Taklamakan Desert' (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is known as one of the largest sandy deserts in the world.[1]
It covers an area of 270,000 km² of the Tarim Basin, 1,000 km long and 400 km wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road as travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.[2]
Dust storm in Taklamakan Desert from space
The Taklamakan Desert is one the world's major deserts, ranking 15th in size in a ranking of the world's largest non-polar deserts.[3]
| Contents |
| Oases |
| See also |
| Footnotes |
| References |
| External links |
Oases
There is no water on the desert and it was hazardous to cross.[4] Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns.[5] The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar, Marin, Niya, Yarkand, and Khotan (Hetian) to the south, Kuqa and Turfan in the north, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the east. Now some, such as Marin, are ruined cities in a sparsely inhabited dusty spot with poor roads and minimal transportation in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China.[6]
The White Jade River flows into the Taklamakan, as do the Yarkant He originating in the Kunlun Mountains and the river from the Tien Shan range.
Taklamakan Desert near Yarkand
The archeological treasures found in its sand buried ruins point to Tocharian, early Hellenistic, Indian and Buddhistic influences.[7]
Desert life near Yarkand
Mummies, some 4000 years old, have been found in the region. They show the wide range of peoples who have passed through. Some of the mummies appear European.[8]
Later, the Taklamakan was inhabited by Turkic peoples. Starting with the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese periodically extended their control to the oasis cities of the Taklamakan in order to control the important silk route trade across Central Asia. Periods of Chinese rule were interspersed with rule by Turkic and Mongol and Tibetan peoples. The present population consists largely of Turkic Uyghur and Kazakh people in the countryside, while the population of the larger cities is predominantly Han Chinese.
See also
★ Tarim mummies
★ Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
★ Kizil Caves
★ The Silk Road
★ Yuezhi
★ List of deserts by area
★ Cities along the Silk Road
Footnotes
1. Takla Makan Desert
2. The Atlas of World Geology, , Paul G., Bahn, Checkmark Books, 2000, ISBN 0-8160-4051-6
3. The World's Largest Desert
4. The Silk Roads and Eurasian Geography
5. Spies Along the Silk Road
6. The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith
7. Its treasures and dangers have been vividly described by Aurel Stein, Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq, and Paul Pelliot. The Silk Road
8. Mysterious Mummies of China
References
★ Jarring, Gunnar (1997). ''The toponym Takla-makan'', Turkic Languages, Vol. 1, p. 227-240
★ Hopkirk, Peter (1980). ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia''. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.
★ Hopkirk, Peter (1994). ''The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia''. ISBN 1-56836-022-3.
External links
★ Photos of area in China
★ Satellite Images from China
★ Personal experiences
★ Photos of mummies
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