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The Zeravshan; uz, Zeravshon, Зеравшон, زېرەۋشان; from Persian fa, , Zarâfšân – meaning "the spreader of gold" is a river in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Central Asia. Its name, "spreader of gold" in Persian, refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. To the ancient Greeks it was known as the ''Polytimetus''. It was also formerly known as ''
The Zeravshan; uz, Zeravshon, Зеравшон, زېرەۋشان; from Persian fa, , Zarâfšân – meaning "the spreader of gold" is a river in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Central Asia. Its name, "spreader of gold" in Persian, refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. To the ancient Greeks it was known as the ''Polytimetus''. It was also formerly known as ''Sughd
Sughd Province ( tg, Вилояти Суғд, Viloyati Sughd, Sogdia Region , fa, ولایت سغد) is one of the four administrative divisions and one of the three provinces ( tg, вилоятҳо, viloyatho , fa, ولایت) that make up ...
River''. The river is long and has a basin area of .
Geographic position
It rises at the Zeravshan Glacier, close to where theTurkestan Range
One of the northern extensions of the Pamir-Alay system, the Turkestan Range (russian: Туркестанский хребет; ky, Түркстан кырка тоосу; uz, Туркистон тизмаси, Turkiston tizmasi; tg, Қатор ...
and the Zeravshan Range of the Pamir-Alay mountains meet, in Tajikistan. In its upper course, upstream from its confluence with the Fan Darya, it is also called ''Matcha''. It flows due west for some , passing Panjakent
Panjakent ( tg, Панҷакент), or Penjikent (russian: Пенджикент) is a city in the Sughd province of Tajikistan on the river Zeravshan, with a population of 52,500 (2020 estimate). It was once an ancient town in Sogdiana. The rui ...
before entering Uzbekistan at , where it turns west-to-north-west, flowing past the legendary city of Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
, where it feeds the Dargom Canal, which is entirely dependent on the oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
thus created, until it bends left again to the west north of Navoiy and further to the south-west, passing Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
before it is lost in the desert beyond the city of Qorakoʻl
Qorakoʻl also spelled as Karakul ( uz, Qorakoʻl/Қоракўл, قارەكول; russian: Каракуль) is a city in the Bukhara Region of Uzbekistan. It is the capital of Qorakoʻl District (Qorakoʻl tumani). "Qorakoʻl" means "black lak ...
(Karakul), not quite reaching the Amu Darya, of which it was formerly a tributary.
Related news
Tajikistan aims to construct several hydro-electric power stations on Zerafshan River and has signed the MOU in November 2013 with Zarvon Corporation for the financing and construction of the plants. All previous MOU's have been voided.See also
* Zarafshon, a city in Uzbekistan's Navoiy Region, called "the gold capital of Uzbekistan". * Zarafshan (disambiguation)Notes
References
*Further reading
* В.В. Бартольд "К Истории Орошения в Туркестане" (Collected Works, Vol.3) (Москва) 1965 * V.V. Barthold "Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion" (London) 1968 * Robert Lewis "Early Irrigation in West Turkestan" ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' Vol.56 No..3 (Sept. 1966) pp467–491 * Edgar Knobloch "Beyond the Oxus" (London) 1972 Rivers of Tajikistan Rivers of Uzbekistan International rivers of Asia Persian words and phrases {{Tajikistan-river-stub