The Karakum Canal (Qaraqum Canal, Kara Kum Canal, Garagum Canal; russian: Каракумский канал, ''Karakumskiy Kanal'', tk, Garagum kanaly, , ) in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

is one of the largest

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

and water supply

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

s in the world. Started in 1954, and completed in 1988, it is

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against di ...

over much of its length, and carries of water annually from 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 A ...

River across the

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : " ...

in Turkmenistan. The canal opened up huge new tracts of land to agriculture, especially to

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...

heavily promoted by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, and supplying

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

with a major source of water. The canal is also a major factor leading to the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazak ...

environmental disaster An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...

. The Soviet regime planned to at some time extend the canal to the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central A ...

History

The current Karakum Canal was not the first major attempt to bring the Amu-Darya water to the Karakums. In the early 1950s, construction began on the

Main Turkmen Canal The Main Turkmen Canal () was a large-scale irrigation project in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. The canal was intended to transport water from the Amu Darya river to Krasnovodsk (now Türkmenbaşy), a city in Turkmenistan on the coast of ...

(russian: Главный Туркменский канал, links=no), which would start at a much more northerly location (near

Nukus Nukus ( kaa, Nókis / ; uz, Nukus / ; kk, Нүкіс / ) is the sixth-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. The population of Nukus as of January 1, 2022 was 329,100. The Amu Darya river passe ...

), and run southwest toward Krasnovodsk. The canal would have used around 25 percent of the Amu-Darya's water. The works were abandoned after the death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

, the current Karakum Canal route being chosen instead.Nikolaĭ Gavrilovich Kharin, "Vegetation Degradation in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a 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 the fo ...

Under the Impact of Human Activities". Pp. 56-58. Springer, 2002.
On Google Books
/ref> Reservoirs such as

Hanhowuz Reservoir Hanhowuz, also known as Khauz-Khan, is a reservoir in Ahal Province of southeastern Turkmenistan. The M37 highway passes nearby and the village of Hanhowuz stands on the northwestern shore, with the city of Tejen not too far away in that directi ...

were created to help regulate it.

Important cities

Bereket Bereket, formerly Gazanjyk or ''Kazandzhik'' (russian: Казанджик or tk, Газанҗык gɑˈzɑnd͡ʒik), is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. Bereket is the administrative centre of Bereket District. Bereket is lo ...

Serdar Serdar may refer to * Serdar (given name) * Serdar (surname) * SERDAR, a stabilized remote-controlled Ukrainian weapon station * Serdar (city) in Turkmenistan, the capital of Serdar District * Serdar (Ottoman rank), a military and noble rank of t ...

External links

Google Earth view of part of the Karakum Canal, and desert area irrigated by it
(annotated in Russian alphabet)

References

{{coord, 38, 15, 16, N, 57, 49, 09, E, display=title, region:TM_type:waterbody_source:dewiki Canals in Turkmenistan Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union Irrigation canals Cotton Agriculture in Turkmenistan Irrigation in Turkmenistan Interbasin transfer Canals opened in 1988