Amu Darya

The great river of Central Asia

The Amu Darya is the longest river in Central Asia — 2,400 km! It starts in the glaciers of the Pamirs and flows through the desert to the Aral. In ancient times it was called the Oxus, and Alexander the Great crossed it. Ancient cities — Khorezm, Bukhara, Termez — grew on its banks. Its water irrigates cotton, rice and melons.

The Amu Darya (the ancient Oxus, Arabic Jayhun) forms where the Vakhsh and Panj rivers meet in the Pamirs, flowing 2,540 km (with the Panj) through Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the Aral Sea — or not reaching it: since the 1990s its water has been fully used for irrigation. 80% of its flow comes from melting glaciers and snow; it is one of the muddiest rivers in the world, carrying 200 million tonnes of sediment a year. The river has often changed course: in the Middle Ages it flowed to the Caspian (the Uzboy). Its riverside tugai forests are home to the Bukhara deer and pheasant. Four countries share its water — the main subject of water diplomacy in Central Asia. The Amu Darya shovelnose sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni) is a rare fish found only in this river.

Fun facts

• The Amu Darya is one of the muddiest rivers in the world — 200 million tonnes of silt a year.
• In the Middle Ages the Amu Darya flowed into the Caspian, not the Aral!
• The Amu Darya has a shovelnose sturgeon found nowhere else — its nose looks like a spade.