The Greeks called this place Transoxiana, which meant 'Beyond the Oxus'. The Arabs knew it as Ma Wara'un Nahr, 'The Land Beyond the Rivers', and now the Chinese call it Hezhong, which they say and then laugh since it's a bad joke. Hezhong means, 'The Center of Rivers', and there are no more rivers here. |
When the climate changed so did the demographics. The twin deserts of Turkestan, the Kara-Kum and the Kyzyl-Kum swelled in a flood of dryness, a surge of colder winters and hotter summers, a deluge of wind, and dust. Bukhara was abandoned. Tashkent became a desert and the Fergana Valley emptied out into dryness. |
There's only one reason anyone comes here now. There's still oil in the west. The Chinese buy it, but they can't build pipelines. Basmachis, Turkmen, Jungars own the desert now. A well rigged boat under full sail can fly from Ashgabat to Samarkand in 10 nights. From Samarkand to Alamatu, in China, takes 14 nights. They don't fly in daylight, since petrol is a nationalized substance in the People's Republic of China. Smuggling it across the border is a crime. |
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