The Syr Darya River
Syr Darya, a river in Central Asia. Including its chief headstream, the Naryn, which begins in the Tien Shan range of Kyrgyzstan, the Syr Darya is about 1,850 miles (2,980 km) long. The Syr Darya proper begins at the junction of the Naryn and Kara Darya rivers in Uzbekistan and flows some 1,370 miles (2,200 km) northeastward to the Aral Sea. Very little of the river's water reaches the Aral Sea because much of it is diverted for irrigation.
Virtually all of the river's lower course runs through the desert wastes of the Kyzyl Kum in Kazakhstan. In ancient times the river was known as the Jaxartes.