Latest / The Story of Uzbekistan: Silk Road Kingdoms and Soviet Legacy — Fexingo History
The Cotton Curtain: Soviet Dehydration of Aral Sea
We trace the ecological and human catastrophe of the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest lake. Starting in the 1960s, Soviet planners diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for massive cotton irrigation projects, aiming to turn Central Asia into a global textile hub. The result was the rapid shrinking of the sea, leaving behind toxic dust storms, abandoned fishing towns like Moynaq, and devastating health crises for local populations. We examine the specific policies of Stalin and Khrushchev that prioritized white gold over water, the rise of the Basmachi resistance against…
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