Lake Zaysan (, ''Zaısan kóli'', زايسان كؤلئ, ; , ''Zaisan nuur'', en: ''Noble lake''; , ''Ozero Zajsan''; ,
Xiao'erjing
Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...
: جَىْصْا پْ; dng, Җэсонпә) is a freshwater
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a 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 ocean, although, like the much large ...
, ca. 1,810 km² (700 mi²), in eastern
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, in a hollow between the
Altai and the
Tarbagatai Mountains
The Tarbagatai Mountains ( mn, , , translit. ''Tarvagatai nuruu'', literally: "range with marmots"; ; kk, Тарбағатай жотасы, ''Tarbağatai jotasy'') are a range of mountains located in the north-western parts of Xinjiang, China, ...
. It is the largest lake in the
East Kazakhstan Region
East Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Шығыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Şyğys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Восточно-Казахстанская область, Vostochno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. It occupi ...
.
The lake lies at an altitude of 420 m, is 105 km long and 22–48 km wide, with a maximum depth of 15 m. Its major tributaries are the ''
Kara Irtysh
The Irtysh ( otk, 𐰼𐱅𐰾:𐰇𐰏𐰕𐰏, Ertis ügüzüg, mn, Эрчис мөрөн, ''Erchis mörön'', "erchleh", "twirl"; russian: Иртыш; kk, Ертіс, Ertis, ; Chinese: 额尔齐斯河, pinyin: ''É'ěrqísī hé'', Xiao'er ...
'' (Black Irtysh) and
Kendyrlyk from the east; its only outlet is the
Irtysh River
The Irtysh ( otk, 𐰼𐱅𐰾:𐰇𐰏𐰕𐰏, Ertis ügüzüg, mn, Эрчис мөрөн, ''Erchis mörön'', "erchleh", "twirl"; russian: Иртыш; kk, Ертіс, Ertis, ; Chinese: 额尔齐斯河, pinyin: ''É'ěrqísī hé'', Xiao'erj ...
(or White Irtysh). The lake is generally frozen from the beginning of November to the end of April, but still has an abundance of fish. Since the construction of the
Bukhtarma dam
The Bukhtarma Hydroelectric Power Plant ( kk, Бұқтырма Су Электр Стансасы, ''Buqtyrma Sý Elektr Stansasy''; russian: Бухтарминская ГЭС, ''Buchtarminskaja GES'') is a hydroelectric power plant on the Irtysh ...
on the Irtysh downstream from the Zaysan, the lake has risen 6 m (20 ft) above its natural level. As the result, the area of lake essentially increased (nearly doubled: from about 1,800 km² to 3,500 km², or even to 5,000 km²), thus, in some sources the lake is indicated as part of an artificial reservoir.
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...
is often considered the most
ancient lake
An ancient lake is a lake that has consistently carried water for more than one million years. Many have existed for more than 2.6 million years, the full Quaternary period. Ancient lakes continue to persist due to plate tectonics in an active ri ...
in the world, as clear evidence shows that it is 25–30 million years old. Lake Zaysan, however, may be even older, dating possibly from the
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
period with a likely age in excess of 66 million years old
(most probably around 70 million years
), although its exact age is controversial and labelled with some uncertainty.
A direct indication of the Lake Zaysan's age is hard to find, although some geological studies of the Zaysan Basin have been reviewed. Artificial reservoirs cover large surrounding areas. Modern geological analysis of the entire field, apparently, supports an exceptionally old age for Lake Zaysan.
History
![Zaysan 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Zaysan_1.jpg)
The first Russian to reach the area was Ivan Bukholts who ascended the Irtysh to build a fort and search for gold. In 1715 he was driven back downriver by the
Oirats
Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.
Histor ...
, who had established the
Zunghar Khanate
The Dzungar Khanate, also written as the Zunghar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from th ...
in the region.
The Chinese
Qing Empire
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
conquered
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
the Zunghar state 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 Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...
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 we ...
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, 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 on the Zaysan in the mid-19th century is described in a report by A.Abramof (1865). Even though the Zaysan region was recognized by both parties as part of the Qing Empire, 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 t ...
. These 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 language, Manchu and Mongolian language, Mongol: ''Amban'', Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: ་''am ben'', , Uyghur language, Uighur:''am ben'') is a Manchu language term meaning "high official", corresponding to a number of different ...
'' 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 A ...
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 amon ...
of 1860. The actual border line pursuant to the convention was drawn by the Protocol of
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 A ...
(1864), leaving Lake Zaysan on the Russian side.
The Lost Frontier: the treaty maps that changed Qing's northwestern boundaries
/ref> The Qing Empire's military presence in the Irtysh basin crumbled during the Dungan revolt (1862–77) Dungan revolt may refer to:
* Dungan revolt (1862–77), rebellion of various Muslim ethnic groups in Shaanxi and Gansu, China
* Dungan revolt (1895–96) Dungan revolt may refer to:
* Dungan revolt (1862–77) Dungan revolt may refer to:
* Dunga ...
. After the fall of the rebellion and the reconquest of Xinjiang by Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing ( also spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang; ; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty.
Born in Xiangyin County ...
, 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 th ...
.
See also
*Balkhash-Alakol Basin
The Balkhash-Alakol Basin or Balkhash-Alakol Depression( kk, Балқаш-Алакөл ойысы; rus, Балхаш-Алакольская котловина), is a flat structural basin in southeastern Kazakhstan.
Footnotes
References
*
* ''AAPG Studies in Geology #46'', Chapter 29: "Upper Cretaceous-Cenozoic Lacustrine Deposits of the Zaysan Basin, Eastern Kazakhstan." Spencer G. Lucas, Robert J. Emry, Viacheslav Chkhikvadze, Bolat Bayshashov, Lyubov A. Tyutkova, Pyruza A. Tleuberdina, Ayzhan Zhamangara. AAPG Special Volumes. Volume Lake Basins Through Space and Time, Pages 335 - 340 (2000)
* L. E. Popov, Michael G. Bassett, V. G. Zhemchuzhnikov, L. E. Holmer and I. A. Klishevich, "Gondwanan faunal signatures from Early Palaeozoic terranes of Kazakhstan and Central Asia: evidence and tectonic implications." Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2009, 325:23-64
* A. Kröner, B.F. Windley, G. Badarch, O. Tomurtogoo, E. Hegner, B.M. Jahn, S. Gruschka, E.V. Khain, A. Demoux, and M.T.D. Wingate,
Accretionary growth and crust formation in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and comparison with the Arabian-Nubian shield, Memoirs
"
{{Authority control
Zaysan Zaysan or Zaisan ( Cyrillic: Зайсан) can refer to:
*Lake Zaysan in eastern Kazakhstan
* Zaysan (town) or Zaisan, Kazakhstan
* Zaysan District in East Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan
*Zaisan Memorial
The Zaisan Memorial ( mn, Зайсан) ...
Zaysan Zaysan or Zaisan ( Cyrillic: Зайсан) can refer to:
*Lake Zaysan in eastern Kazakhstan
* Zaysan (town) or Zaisan, Kazakhstan
* Zaysan District in East Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan
*Zaisan Memorial
The Zaisan Memorial ( mn, Зайсан) ...
Altai Mountains
LZaysan