River · Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan
Syr Darya
The Syr Darya flows through four countries in Central Asia. It travels about 2 212 km from the Fergana Valley, through the Kyzylkum Desert, to the North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan.
Picture credit: Petar Milošević (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Syr Darya?
The river starts here: Confluence of the Naryn and Kara Darya in the Fergana Valley.
It ends in the North Aral Sea, Kazakhstan.
Countries on the river: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan.
The story behind it
The Syr Darya is born in the Fergana Valley, where the Naryn and the Kara Darya meet. The ancient Greeks called it the Jaxartes. In 329 BC Alexander the Great founded a city on its banks called Alexandria Eschate, which means 'Alexandria the furthest'; today it is the city of Khujand in Tajikistan. Farmers have long used canals to lead the river water to their fields. In Soviet times so much water went to cotton and rice fields that at times no water at all reached the Aral Sea, and the sea shrank. Then, in 2005, a 12 km long dam called the Kokaral Dike was finished. It keeps the river water in the northern part of the sea. The water level rose again, and the fish came back. By 2015 the shore was only 12 kilometres from the port town of Aralsk, after it had been almost 100 kilometres away.
Questions children ask
How long is the Syr Darya?
The Syr Darya is about 2 212 km long. Together with its headstream, the Naryn, it measures about 3 019 km.
Why did the Aral Sea shrink?
Huge amounts of river water were taken to water cotton and rice fields. Much less water reached the Aral Sea, so it became far smaller.
Does the Syr Darya freeze?
Yes, in its lower part the river freezes from December to March. From spring until September it carries much more water.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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