Aral, Kazakhstan
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Aral, also known as Aralsk or Aral'sk, ( Kazakh: Арал, ''Aral'', ارال; Russian: Аральск, ''Araljsk'') is a small city in south-western
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
, located in the ''
oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...
'' (region) of
Kyzylorda Kyzylorda ( , formerly known as Kzyl-Orda (), Ak-Mechet (Ак-Мечеть), Perovsk (Перовск), and Fort-Perovsky (Форт-Перовский), is a city in south-central Kazakhstan, capital of Kyzylorda Region and former capital of the ...
. It serves as the administrative center of Aral District. Aral was formerly a fishing port and harbour city on the banks of the
Aral Sea The Aral Sea () was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by the 2010s. It was in the Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions of Kazakhst ...
, and was a major supplier of fish to the neighboring region. Population:


History


Early settlement

In 1817, there was a village Alty-Kuduk (Six Wells) near the present city of Aralsk. This is currently a railway passing-track in the southern part of the city. Since the 1870s, this was recorded as the Aralsky settlement. The development of Aralsk began when the Orenburg-Tashkent railway was being constructed (1899-1905). In 1905, the railway station was constructed and continues to operate. The official history of Aralsk began that same year. In 1905, Russian merchants organized large fishing companies and formed a joint-stock firm in Aralsk. This was the beginning of fishery in the Aral Sea and shipbuilding plants soon followed in Aralsk. After the Revolution, the station “Aralskoye more (sea)” with the adjoining settlement received the name Aralsk. In 1938, Aralsk and the Aralsky district became a part of newly formed Kzyl-Orda oblast of Kazakh SSR and turned into the town. Aralsk is not to be confused with Fort Aralsk which was about 120 km south. In 1847
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
built Raimsk, later called Fort Aralsk, near the mouth of the
Syr Darya The Syr Darya ( ),; ; ; ; ; /. historically known as the Jaxartes ( , ), is a river in Central Asia. The name, which is Persian language, Persian, literally means ''Syr Sea'' or ''Syr River''. It originates in the Tian Shan, Tian Shan Mountain ...
. In either 1848 or 1853 or 1855 Raimsk was abandoned and Fort Aralsk moved upriver to Fort Number One, or Kazalinsk. Further upriver were forts No. 2 and 3 which were the old Kokandi forts of Karmaktschy and Kumish-Kurgan. Fort Aralsk was used to launch ships to map the Aral Sea and as a base to attack Ak Mechet.


Decline

Since the retreat of the Aral Sea since 1960, due to diversion of the rivers flowing into it for
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) 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 bee ...
, mainly of
cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, 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 ...
, during the Soviet era, Aral is now completely landlocked about 12 km from the northern remnant of the Aral Sea, though this is less than the 100 km distance observed before the completion of a dam in 2005. Aral has greatly diminished in population and
socioeconomic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
significance, resulting in high levels of
unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
. For the last 25 years it has not been possible to see the sea from the town. There are also serious health problems for the local population caused by airborne toxic chemicals exposed to the wind by the retreating waters and, possibly, from
chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
and biological agents unsafely stored on the island of Vozrozhdeniya.


Aral smallpox incident

In 1971, a massive public health response to a smallpox outbreak in Aral ensued once the disease was recognized as resulting from the release of weaponized smallpox from a nearby
biological weapon Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,2 ...
s test site. In less than 2 weeks, approximately 50,000 residents of Aral were vaccinated. Household quarantine of potentially exposed individuals was enacted, and hundreds were isolated in a makeshift facility at the edge of the city. All traffic in and out of the city was stopped, and approximately 54,000 square feet of living space and 18 metric tons of household goods were decontaminated by health officials. The original outbreak sickened ten people in Aral, of whom 3 died.Zelicoff, A.P., “An epidemiological analysis of the 1971 smallpox outbreak in Aralsk, Kazakhstan” (2002), In: Tucker, J.B. and R.A. Zilinskas,eds.,
The 1971 Smallpox Epidemic in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, and the Soviet Biological Warfare Program
';
Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
:
Monterey Institute of International Studies Established in 1955, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly the Monterey Institute of International Studies, located in Monterey, California, is a graduate institute and satellite campus of Middlebury C ...
, Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Occasional Paper No. 9.


Climate

Aral has a cold desert climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''BWk''; Trewartha: ''BWac'') with frigid winters and hot summers.


References


Further reading

*


External links

* News story on the plight of Aralsk and the Aral Sea. * The shrinking Aral Sea

* Bringing life back to Asia's 'dead' sea

{{Kyzylorda Region Populated places in Kyzylorda Region