Tian Shan
This great sickle-shaped arc of mountain ranges and intervening valleys stretches 2,414 kilometers (1,500 miles) east/west along the frontier between Kyrgyzstan, southeastern Kazakhstan, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of southwestern China. The complex is 320 to 480 kilometers (200–300 miles) wide and covers 1,036,000 square kilometers (400,000 square miles). A central knot of high peaks reaches 7,439 meters (24,406 feet) on Pobeda Peak. The Pamir ranges are to the southwest, the Dzungarian and southern Kazakhstan plains fall below to the north, and the Tarim Basin lies southeast.
To early Silk Road travelers, these "Heavenly Mountains" (tian is Chinese for "sky" or "heaven") offered an alpine respite of steppe, forest, and glacial lakes. The interior continental location produces short, cold winters followed by long, hot summers. Winds of Mediterranean and Gulf of Arabia originbring moisture to the windward western and northwestern slopes (up to 800 millimeters, or 32 inches, annually), while leaving the eastern and interior regions in an arid rain shadow (less than 100 millimeters, or 4 inches). Common fauna include the wolf, fox, wild boars, bears, snow leopard, mountain goat, Manchurian roe, and mountain sheep.
Kyrgyz predominate in the western Tian Shan; Uighurs form a majority on the eastern side. Ethnic Russians, Chinese, Kazakhs, Tajiks, and Tatars also settle the periphery. The economy revolves around irrigated agriculture (lowlands) and livestock herding (uplands). Oil and gas extraction, mining of nonferrous metals, and tourism are also important throughout this region.
Further Reading
Howard-Bury, Charles. (1990) Mountains of Heaven: Travel in the Tian Shan Mountains, 1913. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Poole, Robert M., and Thomas Nebbia. (1988) "Tian Shan & Pamir." In Mountain Worlds. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
This is the complete article, containing 274 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
