The Zeravshan; uz, Zeravshon, Зеравшон, زېرەۋشان; from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

fa, , Zarâfšân – meaning "the spreader of gold" is a river in

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

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 ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. Its name, "spreader of gold" in

, refers to the presence of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

-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 River''. The river is long and has a basin area of .

Geographic position

It rises at the Zeravshan Glacier, close to where the

Turkestan 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 The Zarafshan Range (russian: Зеравшанский хребет, ''Zeravšanskij hrebet''; tg, Зарафшон; uz, Zarafshon; also Zeravshan or Zarafshon; from Persian ''Zar-afshān'', meaning "the sprayer of gold") is a mountain rang ...

of the

Pamir-Alay The Pamir-Alay (also ''Pamiro-Alay'', russian: Памиро-Алай) is a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, encompassing four main mountain ranges extending west from the Tian Shan Mountains, and located north of the main ...

mountains meet, in

. 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 , image_skyline = Pajakent Bazaar1.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Panjakent Bazaar , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Tajikistan#West Asia , pushpin_relief = yes , pushpin_label_position = , pushp ...

before entering

at , where it turns west-to-north-west, flowing past the legendary city of Samarkand, where it feeds the Dargom Canal, which is entirely dependent on the oasis thus created, until it bends left again to the west north of

Navoiy Navoiy (), also spelled Navoi, is a city and the capital of Navoiy Region in the southwestern part of Uzbekistan. Administratively, it is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Tinchlik. It is located at latitude 40° 5' 4 ...

and further to the south-west, passing Bukhara before it is lost in the desert beyond the city of Qorakoʻl (Karakul), not quite reaching the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

, of which it was formerly a tributary.

Related news

Tajikistan aims to construct several

hydro-electric power station 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 ...

s 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.

Geographic position

Related news

See also

Notes

References

Further reading