Dzungaria

Dzungaria (also Jungaria, Sungaria, Zungaria; Mongolian: Зүүнгар Züüngar, Chinese: 準噶爾 Zhǔngéěr, Džungarija) is a geographical region covering approximately 777,000 km², within the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwestern China.

History

Dzungaria is named after a Mongolian kingdom which existed in Central Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It derived its name from the Dzungars, who were so called because they formed the left wing (züün, left; gar, hand) of the Mongolian army. It was raised to its highest pitch by Kaldan or Bushtu Khan in the latter half of the 17th century, but completely destroyed by the Qing government about 1757-1759. It has played an important part in the history of Mongolia and the great migrations of Mongolian stems westward.

In 1911, its territory belonged partly to the Qing empire (Xinjiang also known as East Turkestan, and north-western Mongolia) and partly to Russian Turkestan (provinces of Semiryechye and Semipalatinsk).

Its widest limit included Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, the whole region of the Tian Shan, and in short the greater proportion of that part of Central Asia which extends from 35 to 50 N. and from 72 to 97 E.

Current usage

As a political or geographical term Dzungaria has practically disappeared from the map; but the range of mountains stretching north-east along the southern frontier of the Land of the Seven Streams, as the district to the south-east of the Balkhash Lake preserves the name of Dzungarian Alatau.It also gave name to Dzungarian Hamsters.

Dzungaria and its derivatives are used to name a number of pre-historic animals hailing from the rocky outcrops located in an eponymous sedimentary basin of that region, the Junggar Basin.

Dsungaripterus weii (pterosaur)
Junggarsuchus sloani (crocodylomorph)

A recent notable find, in February 2006, is the oldest tyrannosaur fossil unearthed by a team of scientists from George Washington University who were conducting a study in the Junggar Basin. The species, named Guanlong, lived 160 million years ago, more than 90 million years before the famed Tyrannosaurus rex.

Geography and geology

Dzungaria is a largely steppe and semidesert basin surrounded by high mountains: the Tian Shan in the south and the Altai in the north. Geologically it is an extension of the Paleozoic Kazakhstan Block and was once part of an independent continent before the Altai mountains formed in the late Paleozoic. It does not contain the abundant minerals of Kazakhstania and may have been a pre-existing contienntal block before Kazakhstanis formed.

Urumqi, Yining and Karamai are the main cities; other smaller oasis towns dot the piedmont areas.

Economy

Wheat, barley, oats, and sugar beets are grown, and cattle, sheep, and horses are raised. The fields are irrigated with melted snow from the permanently white-capped mountains.

Dzungaria has deposits of coal, iron, and gold, as well as large oil fields.

Demographics

The population consists of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, and Han Chinese. Since 1953 there has been a massive influx of Han Chinese to work on water conservation and industrial projects.

References

Altai | Xinjiang

Dsungarei | Ĝungario | Zungaria | Dzjoengarije | 准噶尔盆地