Aral
Overview
Kazakh language
Kazakh is a Turkic language which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages, closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak....
: Арал, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Аральск) is a small city in south-western Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, located in the oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
(region) of Kyzylorda. It serves as the administrative center of Aral District
Aral District
Aral is a district of Kyzylorda Province in southern Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is Aral city.-Further reading:* Bissell, Tom. . Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia. Pantheon Books, New York. ISBN 0-375-42130-0....
. Population roughly 39,000. Aral was formerly a fishing port and harbour city on the banks of the Aral Sea
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...
, and was a major supplier of fish to the neighboring region.
Since the retreat of the Aral Sea since 1960, due to diversion of the rivers flowing into it for irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, mainly of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, during the Soviet era, Aral is now completely landlocked
Landlocked
A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states...
about 12 km from the northern remnant of the Aral Sea
North Aral Sea
The North Aral Sea is the portion of the former Aral Sea that is fed by the Syr Darya River. It split from the South Aral Sea in 1986 as water levels dropped due to river diversion for agriculture. The poorly built Dike Kokaral intended to contain the North Aral Sea and save its fisheries failed...
, though this is less than the 100 km distance observed before the completion of a dam
Dike Kokaral
Dike Kokaral is a levee across a narrow stretch of the Aral Sea, splitting off the North Aral Sea from the much larger South Aral Sea . Work was completed in August 2005....
in 2005.
