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Dust storm in Taklamakan Desert from space, June 25, 2005

The Taklamakan Desert (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is known as one of the largest sandy deserts in the world.^[1] It covers an area of 270,000 km² of the Tarim Basin, 1,000 km long and 400km wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road as travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.^[2] Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2500x1899, 1382 KB)Dust storm in Taklamakan Desert - June 25, 2005 image description here Image courtesy of NASA / MODIS Rapid Response Team File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2500x1899, 1382 KB)Dust storm in Taklamakan Desert - June 25, 2005 image description here Image courtesy of NASA / MODIS Rapid Response Team File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old... This article is about arid terrain. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County. ... The Uyghur (also spelled Uighur; Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) are a Turkic people of Central Asia. ... Square kilometre (U.S. spelling: square kilometer), symbol km², is a decimal multiple of SI unit of surface area square metre, one of the SI derived units. ... Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. ... The Silk Road Silk Route redirects here. ...

Taklamakan Desert near Yarkand

Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 126 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) 12/10/2005 es: Paisaje en el desierto del Taklamakan cerca de Yarkand, Región Autónoma de Xinjiang (China). ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 126 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) 12/10/2005 es: Paisaje en el desierto del Taklamakan cerca de Yarkand, Región Autónoma de Xinjiang (China). ... Yarkand or Yecheng (modern Chinese name 叶城, pinyin: Yèchéng, also Chokkuka, anciently Suoju 莎車, also written Shache and Suoche; alt. ...

Oases

Desert life near Yarkand

There is no water on the desert and it was hazardous to cross.^[3] The travellers stopped for relief at the oasis towns and left great wealth there.^[4] The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan (Hetian) in the South-West, Kuqa and Turfan in the North, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the East.^[2] The White Jade River flows into the Taklamakan, as do the Yarkant He originating in the Kunlun Mountains and the river from the Tien Shan range. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 94 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) 12/10/2005 es: Paisaje en el desierto del Taklamakan cerca de Yarkand, Región Autónoma de Xinjiang (China). ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 94 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) 12/10/2005 es: Paisaje en el desierto del Taklamakan cerca de Yarkand, Región Autónoma de Xinjiang (China). ... Yarkand or Yecheng (modern Chinese name 叶城, pinyin: Yèchéng, also Chokkuka, anciently Suoju 莎車, also written Shache and Suoche; alt. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... Location of Kashgar Kashgars Sunday market Kashgar (also spelled Cascar[1]) (Uyghur: /; Chinese: ; pinyin: , ), is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Yarkand or Yecheng (modern Chinese name 叶城, pinyin: Yèchéng, also Chokkuka, anciently Suoju 莎車, also written Shache and Suoche; alt. ... Mosque in Khotan. ... Kucha (Modern Chinese Simplified: 库车, Traditional: 庫車, pinyin Kùchē, also romanized Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu. ... position in China Street of Turfan View of the Flaming mountains Emin minaret, Turfan Turfan (Uyghur: تۇرپان; Uyghur latin: Turpan; Modern Chinese 吐魯番, Pinyin: TÇ”lÇ”fán; ) is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... A carved wooden beam from Loulan, 3-4th century CE. The patterns show influences from ancient western civilizations. ... Location of Dunhuang Dunhuang (Chinese: , also written as 燉煌 till early Qing Dynasty; Pinyin: ) is a city in Jiuquan, Gansu province, China. ... The White Jade River is a river in the Taklamakan desert of China. ... The Yarkand River is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. ... Region containing Kunlun Mountains Karakash River in the Western Kunlun Shan, seen from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway Peak in Kunlun range View of Western Kunlun Shan from the Tibet-Xinjiang highway The Kunlun mountain range (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending... The Tian Shan (Chinese: 天山; Pinyin: Tiān Shān; celestial mountains) mountain range is located in Central Asia, in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of western China. ...

The archeological treasures found in its sand buried ruins point to Tocharian, early Hellenistic, Indian and Buddhistic influences.^[2] Mummies, some 4000 years old, have been found in the region. They show the wide range of peoples who have passed through. Some of the mummies appear European.^[5] Tocharian refers to an Indo-European culture that inhabited the Tarim basin in what is now Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern Peoples Republic of China. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... A Tarim Basin mummy photographed by Aurel Stein circa 1910. ...

Later, the Taklamakan was inhabited by Turkic peoples. Starting with the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese periodically extended their control to the oasis cities of the Taklamakan in order to control the important silk route trade across Central Asia. Periods of Chinese rule were interspersed with rule by Turkic and Mongol and Tibetan peoples. The present population consists largely of Turkic Uyghur and Kazakh people in the countryside, while the population of the larger cities is predominantly Han Chinese. This article is about the various peoples speaking one of the Turkic languages. ... China under the Tang Dynasty (yellow) and its sphere of influence Capital Changan (618–904) Luoyang (904-907) Language(s) Chinese Religion Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy Emperor  - 618-626 Emperor Gaozu  - 684, 705-710 Emperor Zhongzong  - 684, 710-712 Emperor Ruizong  - 904-907 Emperor Ai History  - Li Yuan... Silk dresses Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. ... Honorary guard of Mongolia. ... The Tibetan people are a people indigenous to Tibet and surrounding areas stretching from Central Asia in the West to Myanmar and China in the East. ... Languages Kazakh (and/or languages in country of residence) Religions Sunni Islam Related ethnic groups Kipchak and other Turk peoples, ancient Indo-Iranian tribes, Mongols The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazaks, Qazaqs; Kazakh: Қазақтар []; Russian: Казахи; the English name is transliterated from Russian) are a Turk people of the northern parts of Central... Languages Chinese languages Religions Predominantly Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, traditional Chinese religions, and atheism. ...

See also

• Tarim mummies
• Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
• Kizil Caves
• The Silk Road
• Yuezhi
• List of deserts by area

A Tarim Basin mummy photographed by Aurel Stein circa 1910. ... Fresco painted in a Bezeklik cave. ... The Kizil Caves (also romanized Qizil Caves) are a set of 236 Buddhist caves located 75 kilometres northwest of Kucha on the northern bank of the Muzat River in Baicheng County, Xinjiang province, China. ... The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Changan (todays Xian), China, with Antioch, Asia Minor, as well as other points. ... Languages Unknown, although the epigraphy ranges from Greek language to Bactrian, and often considered to have spoken a Tocharian language. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Takla Makan Desert. Encylopedia Britannica. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Bahn, Paul G. (2000). The Atlas of World Geology. New York: Checkmark Books, pp 134– 135. ISBN 0-8160-4051-6. 
3. ^ The Silk Roads and Eurasian Geography. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
4. ^ Spies Along the Silk Road. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
5. ^ Mysterious Mummies of China. pbs.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Jarring, Gunnar (1997). The toponym Takla-makan, Turkic Languages, Vol. 1, p. 227-240
• Hopkirk, Peter (1980). Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.
• Hopkirk, Peter (1994). The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. ISBN 1-56836-022-3.

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Central Asia, circa 1848. ...

External links

• Photos of area in China
• Satellite Images from China
• Personal experiences
• Photos of mummies

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Taklamakan

Coordinates: 38°53′28″N, 82°10′40″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...