Djungary

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Location of the Djungary

Today's Djungarian Republic (formerly East Djungary ) is a region in northwest China . It covers the northern half of Xinjiang (Sinkiang). The Djungarian Basin lies in the center of the Djungarian region . The largest city is Ürümqi (Urumchi / Urumtschi / Wulumuqi), it is located on the southern edge of this basin .

Surname

The name Dzungarei is derived from the Mongolian tribe of the Dzungars (Mongolian for: people of the 'left wing of the army'), who ruled this region in the 17th century.

Geographical location

The Djungarian Basin ( Chinese  准噶尔 盆地 , Pinyin Zhunger Pendi ) is surrounded by mountains: in the south the Tian Shan (or its branch Bogda Shan ), in the west the Djungarian Alatau , in the north the Russian Altai , in the east the Mongolian Altai.

In the west, the border to Kazakhstan and thus to the core area of Central Asia runs on the ridge of the Alatau , with the Seven Streams in the west, the Djungarian region is connected by the Djungarian gate . The Turpan Depression lies in the southeast behind the Tian Shan foothills . In the east, Djungaria merges into the Gobi desert . Some definitions value the Djungary as the north-western foothills of the Gobi, although the Djungarian forms its own geological basin.

The relief is not very pronounced, gravel deserts and salt plains predominate . The Gurbantünggüt desert is located in the middle of Djungary , with almost 50,000 km² one of the largest sandy deserts in the world. It is the most distant area in the world and the nearest coast is around 2500 km away.

The areas at the foot of the mountains are criss-crossed by dry valleys and numerous smaller rivers, which then seep into the desert. Most of the population who practices irrigated agriculture lives in the peripheral areas traversed by rivers . The only larger river in Djungaria is the Irtysh , which comes from the Mongolian Altai and flows through the north of the landscape in an east-west direction.

history

From 17th to 19th In the 19th century, the area known as Djungary was significantly larger than it is today.

The old West Djungary lay beyond the Djungarian Alatau and included the areas east of Lake Balkhash . So it was in the Kazakh people's area , the so-called Seven Rivers Land . The former East Djungary corresponds to the present region. At that time, the borders of the old Djungarian region were the Mongolian Altai in the north, Lake Balkhash in the west (up to the Ili ) and the Tianshan in the south .

Throughout history, this region has seen many rulers and peoples. Examples are the Huns , Avars , Rouran , Göktürken , Karluken , Uigurs , Tanguts and Mongols . As a transit country in the east-west direction, the Djungarian region was of great importance for all states of the time: Chinese, Arabs and Turks fought over it.

In the 13th century, the Naimans , Tanguts and, above all, Uyghurs lived in the territory of the Djungarian region . The area was subjugated by Genghis Khan's troops until 1209 , making it one of his early conquests.

In 1226 this area officially came to the then Chagatai Khanate . However, the descendants of the Mongol Khan Ögedei ruled this area for a long time . In the 15th century, the territory of the Djungarian region was divided into a western and an eastern part. The west came to the Timur Empire , while the eastern part remained independent.

In the 17th century the Mongolian Oirats and Kalmyks came to power in the Djungarian region, founded the Djungarian Khanate and both parts of the country were reunited.

In 1759, China conquered the Djungarian region after merciless wars and finally settled Chinese from central China in the region.

In 1854 a Cossack troop occupied the Ili valley. As a result, the Djungarian region came into the area of ​​the Russian-Chinese border conflicts until 1881. In the Treaty of St. Petersburg of February 12th July / February 24, 1881 greg. the boundary was finally determined. The Djungarian region remained under Chinese rule. Nevertheless, the Russian Empire (until 1917) and the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic (from 1917 to 1922) and the Soviet Union (from 1922) exerted a strong influence in the Djungarian region until 1949 due to the weakness of the changing Chinese governments.

In 1949 the Chinese communists invaded Djungaria. In 1951 it was united with the neighboring province of East Turkestan to form today's Xinjiang- Uyghur Autonomous Region .

Individual evidence

  1. Jettmar, Karl (ed.): Geschichte Mittelasiens , Vol. 5, Brill Archive, 1966. ( Available here. )
  2. World Pocket Atlas , 2001, p. 32, ISBN 7-80104-515-7 .
  3. Michael Strupp: China's borders with Burma and with the Soviet Union. Theory and practice of international law in the People's Republic of China , Institute for Asian Studies: Hamburg 1987, p. 224.
  4. Michael Ploetz, Tim Szatkowski, Judith Michel (edit.): Files on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany , Volume 2: July 1 to December 31, 1982 , Oldenbourg: Munich 2013, p. 1941, ISBN 978-3-486- 71876-8 .