Demyanka (right)
*
Konda (left)
Economic use
In Kazakhstan and Russia,
tankers, passenger and
Cargo ships navigate the river during the ice-free season, between April and October.
Omsk, home to the headquarters of the state-owned Irtysh River Shipping Company, functions as the largest
river port
An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port.
Examples
The United States Army Corps of Engineers ...
in Western Siberia.
On the Kazakhstan section of the river there are presently three major
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
plants, namely at
Bukhtarma
The Bukhtarma ( kk, Бұқтырма, translit=Būqtyrma, بۇقتىرما, ; russian: Бухтарма, translit=Bukhtarma) is a river of Kazakhstan. It flows through East Kazakhstan Region, and is a right tributary of the Irtysh. The river is lo ...
,
Ust-Kamenogorsk
Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population:
Name
The city has two official names. In th ...
and
Shulbinsk. The world's deepest
lock, with a drop of , allows river traffic to by-pass the
dam at
Ust-Kamenogorsk
Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population:
Name
The city has two official names. In th ...
. Plans exist for the construction of several more dams.
Three dams have been constructed on the Chinese section of the Irtysh as well:
the Keketuohai (可可托海) Dam (),
the Kalasuke (喀腊塑克) Dam (), and
the
Project 635 Dam
The Project 635 Dam () is one of the three dams constructed on the Irtysh River in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The embankment dam is located in Fuhai County, about 56 km east of Beitun. It creates a reservoir (the Project 635 ...
. There are also the
Burqin Chonghu'er Dam
The Chonghu'er Dam is a gravity dam on the river Burqin in Burqin County of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China. The tall dam is constructed with roller-compacted concrete and supports a 110 MW hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydr ...
and the
Burqin Shankou Dam
The Burqin Shankou Dam () is an arch dam in Burqin County of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China.
The Burqin Shankou Dam is constructed in the narrow gorge of the Burqin, a right tributary of the Irtysh, in the area where it leaves the A ...
on the Irtysh's right tributary, the
Burqin River Burqin may refer to:
China
*Burqin County, a county in Xinjiang
* (布尔津镇), a town and the seat of Burqin County
* (布尔津河), in Xinjiang
Palestine
* Burqin, Palestine
* Burqin Church
The Burqin Church ( ar, كنيسة برقين), al ...
and the
Jilebulake Dam
The Jilebulake Dam () is a concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Haba River, a tributary of the Irtysh, in Habahe County of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it sup ...
and
Haba River Shankou Dam
The Haba River Shankou Dam (, Haba River Shankou Hydroelectric Station) is a concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Haba River, a tributary of the Irtysh. It is located in Habahe County of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. The primary ...
on another right tributary, the
Haba River.
The
Northern river reversal proposals, widely discussed by the USSR planners and scientists in the 1960s and 1970s, would send some of the Irtysh's (and possibly Ob's) water to the water-deficient regions of central Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
. Some versions of this project would have seen the direction of flow of the Irtysh reversed in its section between the mouth of the
Tobol (at
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, ...
) and the confluence of the Irtysh with the Ob at Khanty-Mansiysk, thus creating an "Anti-Irtysh".
While these gigantic
interbasin transfer schemes were not implemented, a smaller
Irtysh–Karaganda Canal was built between 1962 and 1974 to supply water to the dry Kazakh
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate gras ...
s and to one of the country's main industrial center,
Karaganda. In 2002, pipelines were constructed to supply water from the canal to the
Ishim and Kazakhstan's capital,
Nur-Sultan
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...
.
In China, a short canal was constructed in 1987 (water intake at ) to divert some of the Irtysh water to the
endorrheic Lake Ulungur
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...
, whose level had been falling precipitously due to the increasing irrigation use of the lake's main affluent, the
Ulungur River.
[ (An English translation of the original paper published in the ''Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta'' in 1979).] In the last years of the 20th century and the early 2000s, a much more major project, the
Irtysh–Karamay–Urümqi Canal was completed. Increased water use in China has caused significant concerns among Kazakh and Russian environmentalists.
According to a report published by Kazakhstan fishery researchers in 2013, the total Irtysh water use in China is about per year; as a result, only about 2/3 of what would be the river's "natural" flow (6 km
3 out of 9 km
3) reach the Kazakh border.
Cities
Major cities along the Irtysh, from source to mouth, include:
* in China:
Fuyun,
Beitun,
Burqin
* in Kazakhstan:
Oskemen
Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population:
Name
The city has two official names. In th ...
,
Semey
Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhs ...
,
Aksu,
Pavlodar
Pavlodar ( ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located 450 km northeast of the national capital Astana and 405 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the ci ...
* in Russia:
Omsk,
Tara,
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, ...
,
Khanty-Mansiysk
Bridges
Seven railway bridges span the Irtysh. They are located in the following cities:
* About 15 km downstream from
Serebryansk
Serebryansk ( kz, Серебрянск, ''Serebriansk''; russian: Серебрянск) is a town in Zyryan District in East Kazakhstan Region of eastern Kazakhstan. Population: The town is located on the right bank of the Irtysh River, downstr ...
(on the dead-end branch line from
Oskemen
Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population:
Name
The city has two official names. In th ...
to
Zyryanovsk
Altai ( kk, Алтай, translit=Altai, russian: Алтай, translit=Altai), until 2019 known as Zyryan ( kk, Зырян, ''Zyrian'') or Zyryanovsk (russian: Зыряновск) is a town of regional significance in East Kazakhstan Region of ...
)
*
Oskemen
Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population:
Name
The city has two official names. In th ...
*
Semey
Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhs ...
, on the
Turkestan–Siberia Railway
*
Pavlodar
Pavlodar ( ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located 450 km northeast of the national capital Astana and 405 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the ci ...
, on the South Siberian rail line (
Nur-Sultan
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...
to
Barnaul)
* near
Cherlak Cherlak (russian: Черлак) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia.
;Urban localities
*Cherlak, Cherlaksky District, Omsk Oblast, a work settlement in Cherlaksky District of Omsk Oblast
;Rural localities
* Cherlak, Republic ...
, on the Middle Siberian rail line (
Среднесибирская магистраль)
*
Omsk, on the
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
. Opened in 1896, this is the oldest bridge on the river.
*
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, ...
, on the
Tyumen-
Surgut
Surgut ( rus, Сургу́т, p=sʊrˈgut; Khanty: Сәрханӆ, ''Sərhanł'') is a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the Ob River near its junction with the Irtysh River. It is one of the few cities in Russia to be ...
line
As the
Kuytun–Beitun Railway in China's Xinjiang is being extended toward
Altay City, a railway bridge over the Irtysh at Beitun will need to be constructed as well.
Numerous highway bridges over the Irtysh exist in China, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
The last bridge downstream on the Irtysh, a highway bridge opened in 2004, can be found at Khanty-Mansiysk, right before the river's confluence with Ob.
History
A number of
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
and
Turkic peoples occupied the river banks for many centuries. In 657,
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
general
Su Dingfang defeated
Ashina Helu,
qaghan of the
Western Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate ( otk, 𐰆𐰣:𐰸:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, On oq budun, Ten arrow people) was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after ...
, at the
Battle of Irtysh River
The Battle of Irtysh River () or Battle of Yexi River () was a battle in 657 between Tang Dynasty general Su Dingfang and the Western Turkic Khaganate qaghan Ashina Helu during the Tang campaign against the Western Turks. It was fought along the ...
, ending the
Tang campaign against the Western Turks
The Tang campaigns against the Western Turks, known as the Western Tujue in Chinese sources, were a series of military campaigns conducted by the Tang dynasty against the Western Turkic Khaganate in the 7th century AD. Early military conflicts we ...
.
Helu's defeat ended the Khaganate, strengthened Tang control of
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...
, and led to Tang suzerainty over the western Turks.
In the 15th and 16th centuries the lower and middle courses of the Irtysh lay within the Tatar
Khanate of Sibir; its capital,
Qashliq (also known as
Sibir) was located on the Irtysh a few kilometres upstream from the mouth of the
Tobol (where today's
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, ...
is situated).
The Khanate of Sibir was
conquered by the Russians in the 1580s. The Russians started building fortresses and towns next to the sites of former Tatar towns; one of the first Russian towns in Siberia (after
Tyumen) was
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, ...
, founded in 1587 at the fall of the Tobol into the Irtysh, downstream from the former Qashliq.
Farther east,
Tara was founded in 1594, roughly at the border of the
taiga
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, sp ...
belt (to the north) and the
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate gras ...
to the south.
In the 17th century the
Dzungar Khanate, formed by the Mongol
Oirat people, became Russia's southern neighbor, and controlled the upper Irtysh.
As a result of Russia's confrontation with the Dzungars in the
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
's era, the Russians founded the cities of
Omsk in 1716,
Semipalatinsk in 1718,
Ust-Kamenogorsk
Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population:
Name
The city has two official names. In th ...
in 1720, and
Petropavl
Petropavl ( kk, Петропавл, Petropavl ) or Petropavlovsk () is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. The city is also kn ...
ovsk in 1752.
The Chinese
Qing Empire
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...
conquered Dzungaria in the 1750s. This prompted an increase in the Russian authorities' attention to their borderland; in 1756, the
Orenburg
Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhst ...
Governor
Ivan Neplyuyev
Ivan Ivanovich Neplyuyev (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Неплю́ев; 15 November 1693 – 22 November 1773) was a Russian diplomat and administrator prominent in the service of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. His memoirs wer ...
even proposed the annexation of the
Lake Zaysan region, but this project was forestalled by Chinese successes. Concerns were raised in Russia (1759) about the (theoretical) possibility of a Chinese fleet sailing from Lake Zaysan down the Irtysh and into Western Siberia. A Russian expedition visited Lake Zaysan in 1764, and concluded that such a riverine invasion would not be likely. Nonetheless, a chain of Russian pickets was established on the
Bukhtarma River
The Bukhtarma ( kk, Бұқтырма, translit=Būqtyrma, بۇقتىرما, ; russian: Бухтарма, translit=Bukhtarma) is a river of Kazakhstan. It flows through East Kazakhstan Region, and is a right tributary of the Irtysh. The river is lo ...
, north of Lake Zaysan. Thus the border between the two empires in the Irtysh basin became roughly delineated, with a (sparse) chain of guard posts on both sides.
The situation in the borderlands in the mid-19th century is described in a report by A. Abramof (
ru; 1865). Even though the Zaysan region was recognized by both parties as part of the
Qing empire
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...
, it had been annually used, by fishing expeditions sent by the
Siberian Cossack Host
Siberian Cossacks were Cossacks who settled in the Siberian region of Russia from the end of the 16th century, following Yermak Timofeyevich's conquest of Siberia. In early periods, practically the whole Russian population in Siberia, especially ...
. The summer expeditions started in 1803, and in 1822–25 their range was expanded through the entire Lake Zaysan and to the mouth of the Black Irtysh. Through the mid-19th century, the Qing presence on the upper Irtysh was mostly limited to the annual visit of the Qing ''
amban
Amban ( Manchu and Mongol: ''Amban'', Tibetan: ་''am ben'', , Uighur:''am ben'') is a Manchu language term meaning "high official", corresponding to a number of different official titles in the imperial government of Qing China. For insta ...
'' from
Chuguchak
TachengThe official spelling according to (), as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Mongolian as Qoqak, is a county-level city (1994 est. pop. 56,400) and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh ...
to one of the Cossacks' fishing stations (''Batavski Piket'').
The border between the Russian and the Qing empires in the Irtysh basin was established along the line fairly similar to China's modern border with Russia and Kazakhstan by the
Convention of Peking
The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860. In China, they are regarded as amo ...
of 1860. The actual border line pursuant to the convention was drawn by the Protocol of Chuguchak (1864), leaving Lake Zaysan on the Russian side.
The Qing empire's military presence in the Irtysh basin crumbled during the 1862–77
Dungan Revolt. After the fall of the rebellion and the reconquest of Xinjiang by
Zuo Zongtang, the border between the Russian and the Qing empires in the Irtysh basin was further slightly readjusted, in Russia's favor, by the
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)
The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881) (), also known as Treaty of Ili (), was a treaty between the Russian Empire and the Qing dynasty that was signed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on . It provided for the return to China of the eastern part of ...
.
Cultural references
The Irtysh River serves as a backdrop in the epilogue of
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1866 novel ''
Crime and Punishment''. In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's ''
The GULAG Archipelago
''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' (russian: Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, ''Arkhipelag GULAG'') is a three-volume non-fiction text written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aleksandr So ...
'', the chapter "The White Kitten" details Georgi Tenno's escape from a camp along this river.
Other uses
*
FC Irtysh Omsk, a soccer team in
Omsk, Russia.
*
FC Irtysh Pavlodar, a soccer team in
Pavlodar
Pavlodar ( ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located 450 km northeast of the national capital Astana and 405 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the ci ...
, Kazakhstan.
*''Irtysh'' (''Иртыш''), a Russian military hospital ship, used at the
Bering Strait Swim 2013.
See also
*
Geography of China
*
Geography of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia (with 14% of the country in Eastern Europe). With an area of about Kazakhstan is more than twice the combined size of the other four Central Asian states and 60% larger than Alaska. The country borders Turkme ...
*
Geography of Russia
Citations
General literature
* ''
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
''
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
Altai Mountains
Braided rivers in Russia
International rivers of Asia
Rivers of China
Rivers of Kazakhstan
Rivers of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
Rivers of Omsk Oblast
Rivers of Tyumen Oblast
Rivers of Xinjiang
Turkic toponyms
West Siberian Plain