Deserts of foreign Asia. The driest deserts in the world Description of desert places

The deserts of the world have many common features, so they are classified as an independent natural zone. The poet Konstantin Balmont admired deserts: “I love the Desert, the Desert, the queen of earthly beauty.” Let's take a closer look at this unusual habitat, to which not only plants and animals, but also humans have adapted.

Many people associate the desert with lifeless and hot sandy plains. Although this word only speaks of the emptiness and uninhabitability of such places. In most European languages, the desert is called a word derived from “disartum” (Latin dēsertum), which also means a place abandoned by man. It is no coincidence that the expressions “desert sea” or “polar desert” are quite appropriate, which in no way resemble a dry and hot habitat. In order for scientists from different countries to understand exactly what kind of deserts we are talking about, dry lands began to be called arid lands (from the Latin aridus - dry, depleted). It is these typical deserts that we will talk about “in nature’s workshop.”
Arid regions are characterized by long periods of heat and drought. Deserts have the highest daily temperature changes on earth, causing rocks to crack. At noon, the surface of the desert heats up so much that you can fry eggs on the rocks. Because of this heat, layers of air with different temperatures are formed near the ground, in which light is refracted and a mirage appears.
Real deserts form where less than 200 mm of precipitation falls per year, and water evaporation is tens of times greater. This makes the air very dry, which is why people in the desert can tolerate the heat more easily. Precipitation is uneven, and droughts last for several months. Deserts are characterized by vast plains or basins, some of which used to be the seabed.
Typical deserts occupy about 23% of the land area. They occur predominantly in the tropics and subtropics, where dry equatorial air descends as a result of global atmospheric circulation. The resulting constant high atmospheric pressure determines sunny and hot weather. High mountains bordering many deserts serve as a reliable barrier to clouds. Most arid regions have an island appearance, which makes it possible to distinguish individual deserts in territories separated by mountain and water barriers. According to the nature of the surface, deserts are divided into sandy, rocky, clayey, gypsum and saline. Additionally, they are classified according to vegetation type, topography and climate. In order to understand what kind of deserts there are, we will consider their characteristics in different regions of the earth.

The largest desert in the world is Sahara(Arabic صحراء‎ - sahra), which translated means not only desert, but also sand. The related word "sugar" also means sand. The desert occupies almost all of North Africa and is so huge that scientists still cannot agree on its exact boundaries, because they are determined by different climatic, soil or biological characteristics. In any case, its area exceeds the entire continent of Australia. In the east, several more adjoin the Sahara historical areas. The largest and hottest region is the Libyan Desert, and between the Nile and the Red Sea are the Arabian and extremely arid Nubian Deserts.
Despite the name, sands occupy only one-fifth of the Sahara, most of the plains are covered with stones and rubble. Sands accumulate in lowlands and in wide temporary river beds, which fill with water after rare rains in the neighboring mountains. The Arabs call such dry lands wadi (Arabic: وادي‎‎), in Central Asia it is sai, and in America and Australia it is creek.
Typically, deserts are dominated by sand of a yellowish hue, consisting of common quartz oxide (SiO₂). But it can have a reddish tint from the admixture of iron oxides (Fe₂O₃), salt (NaСl) or gypsum crystals (CaSO₄) are added to the white color, and basalt lava gives it a black tint. Stones on the side facing the sun are often covered with a “desert tan.” This dark brown film is made up of iron and manganese oxides and accumulates over hundreds of years of humidification and heating cycles.
The wind constantly blows in the open spaces of the desert and collects sand into aeolian (from Aeolus - ancient Greek god of the wind) relief forms - ripples, waves, ridges and hills or dunes. Bare sands, unsupported by vegetation, are moved by the wind at a speed of several meters per year. With strong winds (more than 15 m/s), a sandstorm arises in the deserts, which settles only after several thousand kilometers in Europe, on the Atlantic islands or in Asia. The dust constantly hanging in the air gives the sky a pale tint and creates the effect of the famous “white sun” of the desert.
The basis of the poor and sparse vegetation of the Sahara is made up of ephemerals (from the Greek Εφήμερος - living one day). After a short rainy season, they manage to germinate, bloom and produce new seeds in a few weeks, which will wait for several years for their rain. Among the large plants, rare acacias and thorny bushes are typical, producing leaves in a short growing season.
Desert animals have adapted to long-term hibernation and hide from the daytime heat in burrows. The famous dromedary camel has been tamed by man and is used as a “ship of the desert.” Of the arthropods, it is worth noting large scorpions and salpugs (phalanxes), which can even feed on lizards. Desert ants are primarily herbivores, busy transporting seeds to their underground storage facilities. Locusts and darkling beetles are often visible during the day. Deserts are characterized by a variety of reptiles.
Unfortunately, horned antelopes in the Sahara are almost exterminated by humans. Small mammals are represented by rodents from the families of comb-toed (gundi - similar to guinea pigs), hamsters (gerbils - build underground cities) and mice. They are hunted by large monitor lizards and snakes. Interestingly, the Sahara Mountains are inhabited by hyraxes, which look like a large marmot or rabbit, but are the closest relatives of elephants.
People and agriculture in the Sahara are concentrated along the Nile River and in oases (ancient Egyptian - place of residence) around wells and groundwater outlets. The main plant of the oases was the date palm and grain crops. Thanks to a whole chain of underground springs and oases, caravan trails pass through the Sahara, which are used by the nomadic population of the deserts.

African deserts are part of the largest Afro-Asian group. Nikolai Gumilyov figuratively described it in the poem “Sahara”:
All deserts have been close to each other since time immemorial,
But Arabia, Syria, Gobi, -
This is just the subsidence of the Sahara wave,
In satanic anger risen.
The Red Sea splashes, the Persian Gulf,
And the snow is deep in the Pamirs,
But her ocean is a sandy spill
Siberia reaches green.

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Indeed, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates there is a wide desert Rub al-Khali(Arabic: الربع الخالي‎‎ - empty quarter). This name is confirmed by dry, hot and lifeless sands comparable in area to Spain. Only the proximity of groundwater in some areas ensures oasis farming. In the north of the peninsula is the vast Syrian Desert. It enters Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and consists of gravelly and sandy massifs. A significant source of water in it is dew. The flora of the Arabian deserts is similar to that of Africa. There are animals that came from Africa, Central Asia and India. The smallest fox is the fennec fox (up to 1.5 kg) with large ears and an excellent sense of smell. At night they hunt insects, lizards and rodents.
The deserts of Central Asia close to us are located east of the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The warm and dry period in these deserts lasts from May to October, and there are frosts in winter. The main sources of water here are the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers (Turkic Darya - river). They originate high in the mountains and flow through the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts. Every year there are 2 river floods from the melting of spring snow in the foothills, and a summer one from high-mountain glaciers. Population growth and irrational water consumption for irrigating fields led to the drying up of the entire Aral Sea.

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There is a desert between the rivers Kyzylkum(from Uzbek - red sands). Most of the desert is occupied by reddish sands, and in the rock dumps of gold and uranium mines, the sands have a richer burgundy and even purple hue. At higher elevations there are clayey and gravelly deserts. In the lowlands and fields with improper irrigation, a salt-white desert and the famous takyrs (from Uzbek - smooth, even) are formed. When the even clay layer of takyr dries out, the soil cracks and forms dry, lifeless shards.
Neighboring Karakum(from Turkmen - black sand) are named so because of the moss covering the sands. The black crust of moss instantly turns green after rain and the desert is covered with a blooming carpet of ephemera. Unfortunately, dense vegetation cover can only be seen in nature reserves; in the rest of the territory, due to overgrazing, the sand is already poorly consolidated. A record high for former USSR air temperature 51.8°C.
Artemisia shrubs (ancient Russian peles - pale blue, gray) have become widespread in the deserts of Central Asia. The name refers to the color of the small leaves, which are protected from the scorching sun by pubescence. Small saxaul trees have very deep roots, there are no leaves in their crown, and photosynthesis is carried out by green branches. Bactrian camels eat saxaul, and sheep eat wormwood. Horses - kulans, antelopes - saigas and gazelles - goitered gazelles have been preserved only in nature reserves and nurseries. Large lizards, monitor lizards, use rodent burrows and hunt them. An ordinary Central Asian tortoise actively feeds on greenery in the spring and moves through the desert; the rest of the time it spends hibernating. Those who are going to keep them at home need to know this.

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Deeper in Central Asia, the oceans can no longer influence the climate of the deserts, which are not only remote from them, but also isolated by high mountains. The further from the sea, the stronger the seasonal temperature fluctuations; in winter, Siberian winds bring frosts exceeding -30°C, and in summer the heat reaches 40°C. There are large deserts along which ancient caravan routes from China to Europe passed. Gobi- the largest desert in Eurasia, it is located in the south of Mongolia and extends into the north of China. Desert Taklamakan one of the driest on the mainland. This rounded sandy plain, surrounded by mountains, is clearly visible from space. The name of the desert is translated as “abandoned place”; it is also called “the place from which there is no return.” Bactrian camels, hares, hamsters and long-eared hedgehogs can survive in such harsh conditions. Central Asia is home to the center of jerboa diversity. These burrowing rodents, with a long tail and large eyes, are usually nocturnal and are distinguished by the fact that they move by jumping like a kangaroo.

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The North American group of deserts is located in the western part of the continent. Arid territories stretch from north to south for 2 thousand kilometers in the temperate and subtropical zones. The only one passing through the desert large river Colorado, which flows through the famous largest canyon. Big Pool or the Great Desert is located on the mountain plateau of the same name and the neighboring Colorado Plateau, snow falls there in winter.
A record air temperature for our planet of 56.67°C was recorded in the desert Mojave, in a depression called “Death Valley”, the salty bottom of which lies 86 meters below sea level. At the same time, as required by the rules of meteorology, it was measured in the shade at a height of 2 meters above the ground. The valley is sandwiched between mountain ranges and has an area of ​​almost 8 thousand km². The terrible name was invented by American settlers who crossed it on their way to California in the mid-19th century. Along the way, cattle died in the waterless and hot valley, whose bones it was strewn with. The local Indians called the valley "painted rocks" because of the beautiful patterns on them. The elevated part of this desert is characterized by single trees of tree-like yucca. From a distance, these trees look like people with curved branches that resemble hands. To the south, creosote bushes predominate, and to the north, sagebrush predominates.

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A distinctive feature of the black American deserts is the ubiquity of cacti. This family of plants with beautiful flowers differs from other spiny succulents in that their side shoots have turned into fluffy bunches of needles or areola (from the Latin areola - platform). The 10-15 meter high saguaro columns in the desert are especially famous Sonora. Their internal supporting skeleton consists of a woody frame. Such cacti live for more than 100 years; woodpeckers build hollows in their thorny trunks and desert birds nest. The bushes of the most common cacti, prickly pears, are very prickly; if you accidentally touch them, the tip of the branch breaks off and sticks with sharp needles. So these thorny shoots spread across the desert. Cacti have an extensive superficial root system that greedily absorbs and stores water in the stems. A saguaro can pump a ton of water after a rare but heavy rain. When growing cacti at home, it is important to know that in the hot and sunny season they need to be watered abundantly, and in winter they must be provided with a cold (10°C) and dry wintering.

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There are 7 species of venomous rattlesnakes in Sonora, which alert large animals with a “rattle” at the end of their tail. Large poisonous teeth, rare representatives of poisonous lizards, are also found in the desert. Contrary to their name, their venom does not come through canals in the teeth, like venomous snakes, but from glands at the base of the mouth. Among mammals, rodents predominate, in particular the kangaroo rat, ground squirrels and mice. Ungulates, coyotes, bobcats and cougars are increasingly rare. Small distant relatives of pigs - peccaries - also come to South America.

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Chihuahua lies to the west, mostly in Mexico; rare precipitation falls here only in the summer. In the very south of the United States there are unique white sands. They consist of thin flakes of gypsum, blown away by the wind, formed at the bottom of dry lakes. Single yuccas and various types of cacti are often found. This desert is characterized by tiny hummingbirds. They flap their wings so often that they create a hum similar to the work of a motor, so they are easier to hear than to see. Insects and arachnids of American deserts are represented in similar groups to other arid regions.

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The southern hemisphere contains deserts on three continents. A desert stretches for one and a half thousand kilometers along the Atlantic coast of Africa. Namib(means desert in the local language), part of the South African group of deserts. It was formed due to the fact that the high mountain plateau bordering the Namib from the east intercepts the remaining moisture from the eastern winds, and the cold Antarctic Benguela Current condenses sea moisture only over the ocean. The climate in the desert is temperate, with air temperatures ranging from 20° to 12°C. In the south, the desert is crossed by the Orange River; desert dust and clay give this color to the water. There is practically no rain in the Namib, so animals and plants have adapted to get water from morning fog and dew. The vegetation cover is very sparse, but has a great diversity of species. Succulents (from the Latin succulentus - juicy) are widely represented here - aloe with fleshy leaves, milkweed, shaped like cacti and “living stones” or lithops.
The highest dunes (up to 300 meters) are noted in central Namibe. Not only lizards and snakes have adapted to life on the sand, but also the golden mole, found only in this desert, which can “swim” in the thickness of the sand, where it finds buried insects. Desert “earth men” or meerkats live in colonies, standing like sentries at the entrance to their burrows.
It is surprising that on the deserted coast, which is called the “Skeleton Coast,” spectacled penguins and fur seals, who hunt in the cold waters of the Atlantic rich in fish, breed. This coastline became notorious in the 19th century among fishermen, who were often shipwrecked here in thick fog. Chances to find fresh water They did not have any on the shore, so the shore was covered with the remains of them and their ships.
Neighboring Kalahari- the most large desert southern Africa. It lies in Botswana and northern South Africa on the elevated African platform at the site of its smooth trough, which geographers call syneclise (from the Greek “syneklisis” συν - “together” and ενκλισις - “inclination”). Large reserves of sand in the Kalahari accumulated in dry river beds, near eroded sandstone deposits, and were also carried by wind from the Namib. Vegetation is concentrated on fine hilly sands and in depressions. Among succulents, milkweeds and crassulaceae predominate. Of the large mammals, antelopes and hyenas are typical of this desert. Among birds, South African sandgrouses are interesting because they bring water to their chicks tens of kilometers away in their belly feathers. A unique terrestrial desert chameleon is found here.

The South American desert group occupies a narrow area along the coast of Peru and northern Chile. They are similar in location and origin to the Namib. The formation of deserts is facilitated by the cold Peruvian current, prevailing winds and the barrier that the high Andes form. Desert Sechura occupies the south of the Peruvian coast, it is characterized by a mild climate, strong winds, frequent morning fogs and an almost complete absence of precipitation. Great Northern Chilean desert Atacama considered the driest in the world. There is no rain here for several decades, but torrential rains occur 2-3 times per century, causing severe destruction. Locals Even in such conditions, they have adapted to receive water from the fog, trapping the morning dew with special nets through which it flows into containers. In a similar way, fluffy desert plants extract water from the air. The fauna is concentrated along temporary watercourses descending from the mountains. The most interesting is the large burrowing rodent degu. This sociable social animal resembles squirrels and tame rats in its habits. You can see them at the Moscow Zoo.
Patagonian The desert stretches along the Atlantic Ocean for 1,600 km and occupies the vast plateau of the same name in the cool south of Argentina. It is characterized by sparse grasses and cushion-shaped bushes. Various species of the pig family live here. Some reach large sizes, such as the mara or Patagonian hare, weighing up to 16 kg. We named the ordinary guinea pig so for its characteristic piggy squeals, and because they were brought “from overseas.” The only Patagonian ungulate is the llama or guanaco, which is a distant relative of the camel. The small rhea ostrich is also found here.

The Australian group of deserts occupies the central part of the continent, most of which is subject to drought. However, typical deserts occupy only a fifth of Australia. The large watershed ridge in the east of the continent retains the rains brought from the ocean, so the central and western parts of the country remain dry. Iron oxides give Australian sands and soils a Martian red-brown hue.
Deserts receive the least rainfall Simpson, named after the president of the Australian Geographical Society. It is characterized not only by sandy and rocky landscapes, but also by salt marshes that formed on the site of dried up sea bays. Plants adapted to salty soils are called solyankas; their juices are very salty. The largest Great Sandy Desert is located in the northwestern part of the mainland. Its sands are fixed by vegetation, so there are no high dunes here. The desert is famous throughout Australia for the Uluru rock, which Europeans called Ayers Rock. This huge block of compressed sandstone, smoothed over hundreds of millions of years, bizarrely rises 348 meters in the middle of a vast plain. Great Victoria Desert only slightly inferior in area. It is a sandy plain interrupted by salt marshes and hills. Between these deserts is a rocky desert Gibson, named so in 1873 in memory of the deceased member of the research expedition.
The nature of the Australian deserts, like the entire isolated continent, is very specific. The vast majority of native animal and plant species are not found on neighboring continents. Australian animals are only superficially similar to the inhabitants of other deserts. Therefore, such mammals are figuratively called marsupial shrews, moles, jerboas, marmots (wombats), badgers (bandicoots) and even martens. Such similarity between different groups of organisms is called convergent (from the Latin convergent - converging). It is due to adaptation in the process of evolution to a similar desert habitat. In the absence of ungulates in Australia, their role is played by herds of kangaroos. The largest red kangaroo reaches a height of 2 meters while standing and can jump 12 meters. The birds are also varied - from the large emu to small budgies, which we often keep in cages. Among reptiles, the moloch is the most exotic. The body of this lizard is completely covered with spines. There are large monitor lizards and pythons. Typical plants are eucalyptus, acacia and ancient proteaceae. Many bushes and grasses are adapted to life on sand, but only wake up after droughts. Desert peas bloom profusely in the Victoria Desert. Its large red flowers have become the symbol of the state of South Australia.

The boundaries of deserts are in constant motion depending on climate change and the influence of human economic activity on them. For example, the Thar Desert, on the border of Pakistan and India, appeared in ancient times due to improper management Agriculture. Combating desertification through afforestation and rational environmental management are increasingly important in arid lands. Modern development of deserts, thanks to a scientific approach, is moving to a new level. Water is now provided by desalination plants. Excessive flood irrigation, leading to salinization, is being replaced by hydroponics and drip irrigation. Wasteful fuel combustion is being replaced by wind and solar power plants. As we have seen, the nature of deserts is very rich and diverse. Numerous nature reserves and National parks help preserve the beauty, natural landscapes and unique biodiversity of deserts.

Map - Major deserts of the World


"The largest deserts on Earth"
(desert names are listed below)

Comparative characteristics of the largest deserts

No.) Name (precipitation in mm/year) area in thousand km²

Afro-Asian group of deserts
1) Sugar (25-200) 7000
2) Libyan (25-100) 1900
3) Arabian (25-50) 1500
4) Nubian (25-50) 1200
5) Rub al-Khali (25-75) 600
6) Syrian (50-100) 101
7) Taklamakan (50-75) 271
8) Gobi (50-200) 1050
9) Tar (150-300) 250
10) Karakum 70-100 350
11) Kyzylkum 70-180 300
North American desert group
12) Large Pool (100-300) 1500
13) Mojave (50-100) 35
14) Sonora (50-250) 355
15) Chihuahua (75-300) 100
South African desert group
16) Namib (5-75) 150
17) Kalahari (100-300) 500
South American desert group
18) Sechura (20-50) 190
19) Atacama (10-50) 90
20) Patagonian (150-200) 400
Australian Desert Group
21) Large sandy (125-250) 360
22) Gibson (200-250) 240
23) Great Victoria Desert (125-250) 350
24) Simpson (100-150) 300

Deserts occupy approximately 11% of the total land surface, including Antarctica, more than 20% or 16.5 million km. sq. (not including Antarctica) and are characterized by low precipitation, a unique fauna, and sparse or absent flora. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the list of the ten largest deserts in the world. And if we made a mistake somewhere with the numbers, please write to us about it in the comments. Since the figures given in different sources differ.

Karakum

Karakum (translated as Black Sands) is a desert in Central Asia that occupies about 70% of the entire territory of Turkmenistan or 350,000 square kilometers. The longest irrigation canal in the world, the Karakum Canal, runs here.

The Great Sandy or Western Desert is Australia's second largest desert, covering an area of ​​about 360,000 km. kv. (approximately 3.5% of mainland Australia). Its region is sparsely populated, with only a few Aboriginal groups living there.

Chihuahua

Chihuahua is a desert in North America, located on the border between the United States and Mexico. The area of ​​Chihuahua is approx. 362,000 km. kv. According to the World Wildlife Fund, it is one of the most biologically diverse deserts in the world, inhabited by the largest number of animal species.

The Great Victoria Desert is Australia's largest desert, covering an area of 424,400 km. kv. and consisting of many sand dunes, grassy plains and salt lakes.

The Great Basin Desert is one of the largest deserts in the United States, covering an area 490,000 square kilometers.

The Patagonian Desert is one of the largest deserts in the world, located in South America mainly in Argentina and a small part of Chile. Covers an area of ​​approx. 673,000 km. kv. The desert is bordered in the west by the Andes and in the east by the Atlantic Ocean.

Kalahari

The Kalahari is a desert in South Africa with an area of ​​about 600 thousand km. kv, is the fourth largest desert in the world. It is located mainly on the territory of states such as Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and also partially invades the territory of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It has lush vegetation and rich wildlife. The Kalahari is considered one of the hottest regions in Africa.

Gobi

Gobi means “waterless place” in Mongolian. This is a large desert in Central Asia with an area of 1,295,000 km. kv. Extends across China and Mongolia.

The Arabian Desert is located in Africa (Egypt) and is the northeastern part of the Sahara. It is located between the Nile River and the Red Sea. Due to strong winds, frequent sandstorms and high temperatures, most of the desert is completely uninhabited.

Sahara

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The largest continent in the world is Asia, stretching 8,200 kilometers from north to south and 8,500 kilometers from west to east, occupying almost a third of the entire landmass. This continent has the most powerful desert belt. However, the greatest mountain ranges divide this belt into separate desert massifs. We have briefly become acquainted with the most important of our deserts, but to the southwest, south and east of them lie even larger expanses of deserts of Inner and South Asia, with different natural conditions and located in different countries.

On Arabian land. The westernmost and largest peninsula of Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, is washed by the Mediterranean, Red, Arabian Seas and the Persian Gulf. Its territory exceeds 3 million square kilometers. Of these, 36 percent occupy barren deserts in the hottest regions of the world. Sixty percent of the Arabian Peninsula is semi-desert, suitable mainly for livestock farming, and only 4 percent is occupied by forests and areas suitable for agriculture.

Deserts stretch both south and north from the central mountainous country of Najd. Lava flows from ancient volcanoes form the vast rocky expanses of the Harrah Desert. Some volcanoes have been inactive for a long time, and the city of Aden, for example, is located in the very crater of a forever extinct volcano. One of the volcanoes, located near the city of Medina, was active back in the 13th century. Small volcanoes that form islands in the Red Sea continue to operate today.

To the north of Najd is the large Nefud, or Red Desert. sandy desert. To the south of Najd lies one of the largest sandy deserts, covered with impassable high dunes - the Dekhna desert, or Roba Al-Khali (Empty Quarter), which remains completely unexplored. And between it and the shore of the Arabian Sea is the mountainous desert of Hadhramaut , which means “Land of sunny heat." Wide dry valleys - wadis - descend from the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula and in some places go 900 kilometers deep into the deserts. But the climate has long changed, and now there is no more water in these dry valleys. It appears only occasionally, yes and then only near the mountains. That is why the population of these ancient countries lives only in mountainous and foothill areas and near springs gushing out from under the rocks.

This huge region, not counting the adjacent Mediterranean Sea states and Iraq, has only 3.8 million people, that is, an average of one person per square kilometer. In total, 8 - 10 million people live on the Arabian Peninsula. The country's economy is in such a state that agricultural products are not enough for food. They have to be imported partly through the sale of livestock products, partly through the export of coffee - the only crop grown in some surplus.

Slender, tall date palms, “with their heads in the fire and their feet in the water,” grow wherever there is close groundwater. These palm trees produce fruits that replace bread, sugar, and meat for the population.

Nomadic pastoralism in the deserts and irrigated agriculture in small areas in mountainous and foothill areas have never produced much wealth; Moreover, it always went here not to those who created it - not to the people, but to those who rule over the people - the spiritual and tribal nobility.

The nomadic way of life associated with the wandering of entire tribes did not make it possible to either take into account the population or clarify the boundaries of individual states. Repeated and constant wars and devastating raids by foreign conquerors were the lot of the peoples of Arabia. Until 1918, almost the entire country was conquered by Turkey. How Turkey “took care” of Arabia can be judged by the fact that out of 40 plague epidemics in the 19th century, 22 occurred in Iraq (Mesopotamia) alone. The seasoned English spy Colonel Lawrence, in his book “Revolt in the Desert,” did not hesitate to tell in detail how he, inciting “holy wars,” set some nations against others, forcing Turkey, under the threat of losing Arabia, to hold large armies not at the front, but in their rear. At the Treaty of Versailles, Arabia was taken away from Turkey. From that time on, the British increasingly began to entangle Arabia with threads of intrigue, conspiracies, bribery and provocations, seeking first to fragment and then completely subjugate this country, part of which they captured back in 1839 (Aden). As a result, 13 states and 2 neutral zones have now been created on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula.

In recent years, new large oil deposits have been discovered in the deserts of Arabia. From that moment on, the pressure of English and American capital on all the states of Arabia increased tenfold. America “bought” the right to exploit fields and construct oil pipelines, in particular the 1,800-kilometer-long trans-Arabian pipeline.

England decided to take a different route. Sticking to her old tried-and-true style of action - raking in the heat with someone else's hands - she organized the League Arab countries and, secretly pitting one state against another, acts as a “protector and guardian,” hoping to capture all the Arab states at once cheaper and in bulk.

The people have not yet given their word. When they give him hard drives the latest model, he does not refuse to take them from those who give. But the Arabs have a saying: “Every desert has its own future.” And it is unlikely that a freedom-loving people who have defended their independence for centuries will agree to become a slave. It is unlikely that he dreams that the “black gold” of his homeland will turn into dollars for American billionaires and into strategic raw materials for new wars. And the proud and intelligent Arab people are unlikely to allow their deserts to be an arena for the dirty deeds of white masters.

Thar Desert.The second largest peninsula of Asia is Hindustan.

England ruled India for 200 years. Conservatives call their colonial empire the “English Commonwealth of Nations.” For two hundred years England boasted that it had implanted culture in India, and for two hundred years it mercilessly extracted from India everything that had been created by the hands of hungry slaves. This is how it was, this is how everything actually remained until the very last years. The population of this richest country, harvesting two crops a year, had no bread itself and led a half-starved existence. India supplied rice and fruits to the tables of masters in the metropolis, and in India itself only half of the children lived to be 15 years old! Millions of Indians die during bad harvests, as happened, for example, in 1945. But even in good years, on average, about a million children alone died of hunger in India. In India, vast expanses of jungle have not been developed, and in the neighboring areas there is not enough land for fields, there is nowhere to graze livestock, and people are dying in the millions. This is why the population of India is so fed up with the “good deeds” of the white masters, why it so deeply hates each and every colonialist and so persistently strives for the actual independence of its state.

We usually imagine India as a tropical country, where evergreen jungles are ready to absorb and hide in their wilds everything created by man, if he does not protect his fields and villages from the all-consuming invasion of the green sea of ​​giant trees and the vines entwining them. But there is another India, not the southern - tropical, but the northern - subtropical India, where only artificially irrigated soil can produce bread; India, where millions of people live, whose lives depend entirely on how much water the Himalayas give to the rivers flowing from them.

In the northwest, in this subtropical India, is the Thar Desert. Its outskirts are composed of fine-earth soils, and the central spaces are occupied by sands. The dryness of the air during most of the year here is so great that this area is considered not semi-dry, but dry, desert. But Thar was one of the “best” deserts in the world. Spring and winter rains made it possible to develop, although not dense vegetation, but still quite sufficient for grazing livestock and for holding sand together, and its mild climate did not threaten either people or herds.

The pastures of the Thar Desert were so rapaciously trampled by herds that the grass became scarce and the sands in many areas became bare and crumbly. They also cover up what remains of the previous pastures, and the “best” desert cannot feed half of the herds that grazed in it before.

Along the western edge of the Thar Desert flows the greatest river of South Asia, the Indus, which gave birth to the sands of this desert. It originates from the glaciers of the Himalayas and brings huge amounts of sand and fertile silt from the highlands along with water. The British, in pursuit of cheap cotton and rice produced by poorly paid and constantly starving slaves, expanded irrigation in the Indus Valley, but did not conquer the river. It either brings devastating floods or becomes so shallow that it cannot provide irrigation to the fields. It happens that a river leaves its bed and makes a new path, destroying fields and causing real disasters. At the same time, the Indus uselessly dumps into the ocean an average of 2.5 times more water than the largest river in Central Asia, the Amu Darya, brings from the mountains.

The colossal excesses of Indus water could be used to completely water and irrigate this desert, which occupies about 300 thousand square kilometers. By greatly expanding the cultivation of rice and cotton, real wealth could be created for the entire population of India. But in modern conditions, this is not yet possible either for the Republic of India, which is embarking on the path of independent development, or for Pakistan, which has been taken over by the Americans, to which the entire western part of the desert and the Indus Valley has gone. The peoples of Hindustan took the path of independence. In the summer of 1954, their President Nehru said that India was not poor country and does not need foreign loans to develop its economy. However, in the artificially separated Pakistan, created in the hope of the old capitalist principle of divide and rule, American war policy is now truly dominant. But the time will come when for all the peoples of India, regardless of their religion or caste, their free, peaceful labor will be a source of abundance and wealth for the people themselves, and not for the enrichment of white masters. The Indian people will become true masters of their destiny, their country and their rivers.

Kavirs and mountains of Iran. Between Laura and India to the south of the Turkmen SSR lie the spaces of Iran. This country has both humid subtropical regions of the coast of the Southern Caspian Sea, where oranges ripen in gardens, and dry subtropics of the coast of the Persian Gulf with groves of date palms. Iran is home to the high snow-capped mountains of Elborz and many relatively low mountain ranges that cross the entire country in different areas. The climate of the main areas of Iran is dry. It is milder only in the mountains, where there is a little more moisture, grazing is more abundant, irrigation is possible on streams, and in some places rain-fed (irrigated) grain crops are possible.

Between the low mountain ranges in Iran there are vast flat expanses, which are real, sometimes the most “evil” deserts. The most lifeless of them are the saline-clay plains of the kevirs - “salt deserts”.

Now there are spots of white sparkling salt, now the gray plump surface of salt marshes, now an infinite number of low, flat-topped hillocks composed of gypsum crystals, but in general the same salt desert spreads out around during the long hours of the caravan's passage. But then a mountain range appeared in the distance, or maybe a ridge of bizarre clouds? This vision attracts with its strange play of colors and some extraordinary airy transparency. The bot's eye can already discern a blue that is too bright for the sky, cut by red stripes, turning in places into icy whiteness; something almost still invisible shines with a cold shine. You are at a loss: is this a mirage or reality?

But the closer the caravan gets, the clearer it becomes that this is not a vision; for all its unusualness, these are really mountains. Their forms are bizarre, like fantastic sculptures. Giant columns, elaborate towers and outlandish temples alternate with fantastic monsters petrified, like in a fairy tale, and some kind of gigantic mushrooms. A stream flows from the slope, but even around it there is not a single bush, not a single blade of grass, and only its banks are lined with white stripes sparkling in the bright sun. It turns out that the ridge is composed of a giant deposit of rock salt. This is the mystery of the bizarre colors and tints of these mountains and their striking lifelessness.

The caravan crossed this low ridge of salt, and again the flat, dead plain of salt marsh - kevira - stretched out. Such gsevirs occupy a significant long space of Iran. The large salt desert of Dashte-Kevir and the Dashte-Lut located southeast are especially large.

There are also sandy deserts in Iran, which differ sharply in their landscape. Among them, bare loose sand dunes are not uncommon, but the sands of Iran are often located in foothill areas, where the winds linger and where a little more moisture falls. In such places, areas of sand are semi-covered with vegetation and are used for grazing herds. In general, with all the diversity of the landscapes of Iran, the areas of barren deserts are too large. River waters have been used for centuries to irrigate fields, but a lot of water is lost in the fragmented shallow irrigation system.

The ancient underground galleries - karizs - now provide little water. We can simply increase the water content of karizs several times. To do this, shallow wells are drilled in their upper parts, revealing abundant and previously unused pressure water. But to get these waters, you need at least a few pipes and tools, which the Iranian people do not have.

Sheep and goats shaved all the mountain slopes like a razor. There were no trees or bushes left on them that had grown before, and the grass became sparse. And with each rain, countless potholes and ravines erode more and more, turning into gorges.

The mountains, which previously provided water, fuel and pastures, turned into formidable enemies, covering the fields with a stone shroud. Poor peasants cannot fight this alone; provincial governors, who are also the largest landowners who lease land to landless peasants, are not interested in these issues.

Two methods of using mountains lying among deserts met in the Kopet-Dag border ridge. On one side, everything is bare and blurry, and goats are climbing the steep slopes in search of the last bushes that have not yet been gnawed at the top, not yet cut down for fuel. And on the other side - the bright greenery of mown grass and a huge number of haystacks. Green caps of juniper trees - juniper - and squares of rainfed fields of wheat and barley only on the most level areas. The valleys of cheerful streams are overgrown with herbs, wild figs and walnuts, and not a single sheep or goat - this terrible scourge of the mountains. Herds graze on the plains, and the grass is “cut” not by herds, but by people on haymowers. For thirty years, the mountains on Soviet soil have been protected from grazing herds, and the results of this are enormous. Mudflows of “mountain debris” are no longer dangerous. Springs and karizs became more abundant; mown grass provides incomparably more food than previous grazing on the mountains.

In the last two decades, features of a different life have appeared in Iran. The desert was crossed by two of the country's first railroads. Ribbons of highways passed along it from one end to another, new bridges were built, and the capital began to be rebuilt in a European manner. Several modern schools and luxury cars appeared. Airfields are being built in the deserts, but not civilian ones, but American ones military aviation. More and more foreign “consultants” of all kinds are attracted to the country by the smell of oil. And all these “innovations” did not bring wealth to the people; they led to the incitement of national hatred between various tribes and peoples of Iran, to the dominance of reaction and to the loss of state independence by the hardworking Iranian people.

And the desert lies as it lay from ancient times. There are only fewer pastures and fields, and even less water is carried by rivers from the vast mountains.

Deserts of the People's Republic of China. In the heart of Asia, nestled against the northern foothills of the world's greatest Tibetan Plateau, lies the desert belt of Inner Asia. It stretches 3,500 kilometers from the foothills of the Pamirs to Manchuria. The climate of these deserts is harsh. Daytime heat alternates here with night cold, dusty black storms give way to severe frosts, and the winds sometimes rage stronger than in any other deserts in the world.

Human life developed here in different ways - both in the expanses of deserts and along their narrow foothill outskirts.

Some areas have long been used for pasture by nomads, whose economy has changed little over thousands of years. “And the grass has a soul,” the Buddhist religion teaches the Mongols. “It is a great sin to mow the grass and plow the ground - in the process, the souls of countless plants are destroyed.” That’s why you can’t engage in farming, but only need to roam with your herds, being completely dependent on nature. That is why, in the vast expanses of Inner Mongolia, for centuries the only transport was a camel, the only clothing was wool, the only food was milk without bread and occasionally meat. That is why, during the years of drought, not only the herds died, but also the nomads themselves, and their life remained as harsh and unsecured as in the early stages of the formation of human culture.

In other places, agricultural states emerged and developed, creating writing and literature. But conquerors came, destroyed people and cities, devastated kingdoms, and for many centuries the sands took possession of architectural and cultural monuments.

In 1907-1909, our Russian traveler P.K. Kozlov managed to find a dead city in Central Mongolia - Khara-Khoto, the ancient capital of the Tangut kingdom of the 13th-14th centuries. In Khara-Khoto, already partially buried under the desert sands, the richest monuments of ancient culture were found and, in particular, a huge library containing about 2 thousand volumes of valuable books.

In the foothill areas, on narrow strips between forests and mountains, where there is at least a little water, oases with carefully cultivated fields arose long ago. The underground drainage galleries - karizs of Iran - are famous all over the world. Many believe that they were created only in Iran. But in the deserts of Western China, in the Xinjiang province bordering Kazakhstan, at the foot of the mountains, kariz of enormous length stretch in a thick web. One can only be amazed at the titanic work that was required to create them. The slopes of the Turfan and Lyukchum basins are literally riddled with tens of thousands of observation wells of this dense network of karizs. On the underground waters of dry streams - sais - brought out by the kariz, fields, vegetable gardens and occasionally gardens of the ancient, primordial inhabitants of these countries are huddled. Of these, the most numerous are the Uyghurs (often called Tarapchi), accounting for over half of the entire multinational population of Xipjiang. Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, and Mongols also live here. At the end of the 19th century, after the country was conquered by China, the Chinese population here quickly began to grow and the country itself then received the name “Chinese Turkestan.” The fields and houses of farmers stretch in places in a continuous strip for tens and hundreds of kilometers, but only narrow strips along the foot of the mountains, which can be provided with water, are cultivated.

In Eastern China, in ancient agricultural districts, 700-800 rural people live per square kilometer. No other agricultural country knows such a population density. It is not surprising that the flow of the Chinese population is moving further into the deserts of Inner Asia, and now in Inner Mongolia the nomadic Mongolians make up no more than half of the country's total population. In this regard, agricultural use of seemingly the most unfavorable lands is increasing.

Under the conditions of the feudal-medieval system that existed in China until October 1, 1949, development was the most primitive. It was carried out only to the extent feasible for the hardest-working but ruined one-man Chinese peasant. Torn apart by internal strife, the China of the past was unable to transform its deserts. The population of Chinapjiang remained deprived of any connection with the main, Eastern China, and the largest natural resources of the deserts were not used. Now ancient China has begun a new era of its life. From the very first days of its existence, the new, people's China began great transformations, and new life is flowing like a stormy stream into the deserts.

What are these deserts of China like?

Taklamakan Desert. Between the three highest highlands of the world - the Tien Shan, the Pamirs and Tibet - lies the largest intermountain depression on earth, the Tarim, almost entirely occupied by one of the largest sandy deserts in the world - the Taklamakan. This depression stretches for half a thousand kilometers in the meridional direction, and from the west to the east it stretches for more than 1,200 kilometers, right up to the wandering lake Lob-Nor.

The Tarim Basin is closed on almost all sides by high highlands with eternal snow, and there is only one way out of it - to the northeast, to the deserts of Mongolia.

Rivers flowing from the glaciers of the Karakoram, Pamir and Tien Shan join together to form the large Tarim River. This river rolls its waters through the entire basin, washing the desert on three sides. And from the south, rivers flowing into the desert, originating in Tibet.

From all sides, winds rush into the basin from the highlands. But the strongest and coldest are those that blow in winter and early spring from the northeast, not from the highlands, but from the cold spaces of Mongolia open to the north at this time of year. The Tarim Basin is located at an altitude of 800-1,000 meters. Therefore, the winds rushing into it from Mongolia bring only cold. And the air descending from the highlands expands, heats up, dries out and brings heat and dryness to the desert. This is why the sky of Taklimakan is so often cloudless, which is why snow falls so rarely here. Travelers ventured to cross the Taklamakan several times; the first among them was the wonderful explorer of Asia N. M. Przhevalsky.

All researchers were amazed at the height and complex structure of the bare sand piles of this desert. Our other compatriot, K.I. Bogdanovich, described them best of all. It turned out that these piles are nothing more than the complex dune chains that are now familiar to us in other places, in which the dunes, as if piled one on top of the other, give rise to gently sloping shafts from the wind, up to 100 - 120 meters in height. On the leeward side, a steep slope borders on a depression, either as flat as a table and covered with salt marsh, or with low beds of sand overgrown with sparse herbs. Such dune chains are 2 to 4 kilometers apart from each other, and they stretch across the entire desert.

We managed to map the relief of the Taklamakan sands, and it turned out that its dune chains form two giant systems of semicircles. One of them seems to flow out from the east, from Mongolia, and occupies the eastern half of the desert. The other covers the west of Taklamakan and is directed towards the eastern arcs. This most accurately reveals the nature of air circulation over the basin.

In the east of the desert, eastern and northeastern hurricane winds prevail, carrying cold from the deserts of Central Asia. In the west of the desert, winds blow from all the surrounding highlands, but the westerlies prevail, passing through the Pamirs. Both of these opposite air flows create gigantic systems of dune arcs, convexly facing the center of the desert. Having reached the center of the desert, the air masses warm up so much that they become light and rise. Having risen, they cool again and spread over the top from the center of the basin to its outskirts, to the mountains. It is not for nothing that the Russian traveler M.V. Pevtsov wrote that in the mountains surrounding the Taklamakan desert, a cold wind constantly blows from the direction of the hot desert.

The path through this deserted and waterless desert is difficult and tiring. In some places, in the depressions among the shifting sands, some beams and boards stick out, and the remains of utensils lie on the surface - silent witnesses of a settlement that once existed. How could people live here, among the bare sands? Where did they get the beams and planks from in this country?

But then the sands part and the caravan enters the river valley. Traces of the river bed are visible everywhere. Celte forests rise from the former floodplain. But there is not a drop of water in the riverbed, not a single leaf on the trees. This is not a forest, this is a cemetery of skeletons of dead variegated poplar trees - “tograk”, rising 6 - 7 meters. Some trees reach 5 or even 7 meters in circumference at the base. Their wood is as strong as stone and rings when struck. There is no water here, the river left here long ago, the groundwater has dried up, but this stone forest remains for a long time in memory of the former river. It is not for nothing that the Uyghurs believe that a tograk grows for a thousand years, stands dry until it falls for the second thousand years, and only after three thousand years does its ashes flutter in the wind.

Where did the river come from here and where did it go? There are many such rivers entering the sands from the south here and now. And the Khotan Darya River, flowing from Kuen Lun, flows through the desert across its entire width and... only passing the sands, on the northern edge of the basin it merges with other rivers and gives birth to the Tarim. In the lower reaches of the Tarim, branching, one of the channels crosses the Taklamakan, ending not only in Lake Lob-Nor, where, by the way, in recent years the river’s waters have not flowed at all, but also in another similar shallow flood - Lake Kum-Kul . Another river, Keria, still reaches its waters almost to central regions deserts. The sands of this desert themselves are the same child of the mountains as the Kara-Kums, created by the Amu Darya. But the rivers wander, and man uses their valleys in the desert mainly not for crops, but to feed his flocks.

The oases are densely populated, and the deserts are almost deserted. People huddle on insignificant patches of land, and rivers uselessly roll their waters for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. There are many riches hidden in the depths of the foothills, but they lie unused by anyone. Signs of oil were discovered long ago, and kerosene for smokehouses and lamps was delivered from Russia by camel caravans. The country, in which one of the most extensive sandy deserts in the world lies, was deprived of glass made from sand, and the glass for the kerosene lamp and for the window had to be transported from the same Russia, on the same camels. In the hot climate of the foothills they grow on irrigated patches peaches and grapes, melons are ripening, all kinds of vegetables and grains, yielding two harvests a year. But Chinese officials levied endless taxes, profited as much as they could, and ruined the population. It is not surprising that cut off by 2 - 3 thousand kilometers of caravan routes from main China, the country actually found itself at the mercy of the worst, completely uncontrolled embezzlers - servants of the feudal government. And the completely ruined poor went to the sands, having only a couple of goats or a few chickens and living only in the hope of catching fish in the small channels of wandering rivers.

Gobi Desert.The Gobi is huge. It lies at an altitude of 1-2 kilometers, or even higher. In summer the sun can be quite hot, but when the sun sets, the temperature drops to 0°. And in winter the frosts here are 30 - 40°, but snow rarely falls and the ground is bare, covered only with dried grass. In some places there are massifs of sand, usually relatively low and overgrown with grasses and shrubs. The expanses of plains alternate with mountains, rising above them sometimes by several hundred meters, sometimes by 1-2 kilometers. More rain falls in the mountains and here nomads graze herds of sheep, goats, Bactrian camels, and, further north, horses. And for the winter the population descends to the plains and hollows. In the cold and cold, the herds walk in the open air, and people live in felt yurts, easily placed in a camel pack. “Gobi” - steppe - the Mongols call these dry spaces, the northern parts of which belong to the steppe zone, and the southern parts to the desert zone.

A lot of wealth lies hidden in the depths of the mountains in the deserts of Inner Mongolia, which lies south of the Mongolian People's Republic. Russian travelers described the deposits of various ores and rich coal deposits located here. Hundreds of the richest mines appeared during the years of Soviet power in our western part of the Tien Shan. The Tien Shan chain in China is even longer. But there are still almost no mines in them. Only here and there could one meet individuals or small teams of Chinese miners mining gold. In general, these highlands of inner Asia are still very little developed by humans. You can travel hundreds and hundreds of kilometers without meeting either a person or a path. Herds of wild Przewalski horses and kulans, herds of wild camels and gazelle antelopes are the only inhabitants of the deserted desert. And in the neighboring northern regions of the same Gobi, within the Mongolian People's Republic, the dry steppes are continuous pastures where huge herds of sheep, goats and horses graze. There is no other state in the whole world where there are so many livestock for each inhabitant. There is no doubt that the deserts of the southern Gobi will be used much more productively in the conditions of the new China, especially since they will soon be crossed Railway from Eastern China to Xinjiang.

Ala Shan Desert. South of the Gobi, between the southern border of the Mongolian People's Republic and the Nan Shan ranges, is the large sandy Ala Shan desert, cut from south to north by the Edzin Gol River. Its smaller part, lying to the west of the river, is covered with grasses, but the three-quarters of the space, located to the east of the river, are predominantly bare sands, similar to the giant dune accumulations of Taklamakan. Our Russian travelers crossed this desert more than once. At the end of the last century, their caravans always found fresh water and enough food for horses and camels here. But the pastures of this desert were underutilized, mainly because the nomadic Moguls tried to stay away from the Chinese tribute collectors who scurried around the thrones of even such remote deserts as Ala Shan.

Ordos.The great Chinese rock, the Yellow River, or Yellow, borders Ala Shan from the east. This river, emerging from the Nan Shan mountains, flows hundreds of kilometers to the north, then to the east, and then turns sharply again in the meridional direction, to the south, forming the “Great Bend”. “Ordos” - the Chinese call this space, which is a plateau washed on three sides by the Yellow River, but dry and deserted, almost devoid of river waters. The large northern and western parts of this desert are composed of sands and fertile loess is its smaller eastern part, which is somewhat more humid and corresponds in climate to dry steppes. Here and there on the outskirts of Ordos, in the valleys of the plateau, where there are springs and small streams, there are small Chinese villages. The main spaces of the plateau are used by the Mongol nomads, grazing their herds, which have grown greatly in the five years that have passed since the formation of people's China.

The Ordos ends the belt of extra-tropical deserts of Asia. Breathing warm and moist air Pacific Ocean comes here in the summer, when the monsoons blow from the sea; further to the east is the Chinese lowland - with a mild climate that meets the needs of intensive agriculture

New life of an ancient country. Constant civil strife, discord and unbearable taxes were the eternal lot of China, which had a particularly hard impact in its remote provinces. More than twenty years passed by a grueling civil war in China and then the Japanese occupation of many of its provinces.

On October 1, 1949, the Chinese people, under the leadership of their Communist Party, threw off the power of foreigners and traitors, broke out of the tenacious fetters of medieval feudalism that were strangling all life in the country, and began to build a new, happy life. Article 41 of the General Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference states: "Culture and education... must be of a new, democratic character, that is, they must be national in form, scientific in content and popular in character." Another article provides for all-round development natural resources. And all these provisions are quickly being implemented.

Four months later, on February 14, 1950, for the first time in the history of China, an equal and truly friendly agreement was concluded with the great Soviet Union. This treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance formed a solid foundation for the transformations that swept the entire country.

Less than five months had passed since the birth of the new China, when the Central People's Government began to implement the grandiose plan for the transformation of nature that it had adopted, aimed primarily at using water resources to irrigate fields and prevent those constant floods during floods of the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and other rivers , which are a huge disaster for farmers.

The turbulent, high-water Huaihe River flows through the territory of a vast province - Northern Jiangsu. On its way it receives many tributaries, originating in numerous large and small lakes.

Every rainy year, the lakes absorb such a huge amount of water that the river level rises by 6 - 7 meters."

Water overflows its banks, flooding rice fields, cotton plantations, villages and roads.

In dry years, lakes and rivers become shallow, canals irrigating fields dry up and crops die from drought.

Thus, for many centuries, the fate of vast territories and the people inhabiting them was entirely at the mercy of the violent and capricious river.

Published in October 1950, the State Administrative Council's decree on the construction of hydraulic structures on the Huaihe River provided for the construction of a system of reservoirs and reservoirs in the upper and middle reaches of the river to retain 12 billion cubic meters of flood water. In addition, it is planned to build dams, dikes, deepen the riverbed and its tributaries, dig diversion and irrigation canals, construct hydroelectric power stations and other works. According to the construction plan, 16 reservoirs are being built on the Huaihe River in its upper and middle reaches, including 13 reservoirs in Henan Province and 3 reservoirs in the northern part of Anhui. The construction of the Shiman Tan reservoir in Henan province was completed in 1951.

Hard work is currently underway on the construction of the Banjiao reservoirs in Henan Province, where tens of thousands of people are employed. The army of builders, overwhelmed by the labor impulse, is actually carrying out the call of Mao Tse-tung: “Let us curb Huaihe!”

Already in the spring of 1950, according to the plan for the transformation of nature, the grandiose construction of new canals, restoration and reconstruction of the dams enclosing the rivers, drainage and dredging began. In Northeast China alone, 3 thousand kilometers of canals will be built!

Another no less grandiose irrigation structure of the new China will be the Yellow Hei Irrigation Canal. It will run from the upper reaches of the Yellow River to the Weihe River.

The Yellow River caused no less disasters to the population living in its valley than the Huaihe. How many times has it overflowed its banks, torn down the protective dams, changed its course, flooding vast territories and bringing death to millions of people!

Back in 1949, the People's Government made a special decision on the construction of the Yellow River Canal, which would be “another serious step towards transforming the Yellow River from a river of people's disasters and a river of people's happiness.”

Most of Water from this river will go through canals to irrigate peasant fields, the rest of the water will flow into Weihe and turn this river into a full-flowing transport route, so necessary for Northern China. In the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Chahar and Suiyuan, 130 million trees were planted in the sands and along river banks in 1950 alone!

Naturally, most of this work is taking place in Eastern China, where the bulk of the agricultural and industrial population lives. But transformations are already beginning to affect deserts.

Xinjiang, China's largest province, occupying a fifth of the country's territory, but separated from densely populated Eastern China by thousands of kilometers of desert, was previously called the “dead heart of Asia.”

Xinjiang is home to about 6 million people - 13 different nationalities.

The population of this region was backward and beggarly poor. After the peaceful liberation of Xinjiang, under the leadership of the People's Government, the economic, political and cultural life of the vast region began to develop widely.

The peoples of Xinjiang have joined the single fraternal family of people's China and, together with the entire country, are working to create a new, prosperous, cultural and fruitful life. Xinjiang means “new land” in Chinese; Now this land, for the first time in its history, fully lives up to its name.

In Xinjiang, a country of deserts and droughts, extensive irrigation work has begun. Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are helping the population build the Pzyanyansh reservoir and 6 irrigation canals. These canals will irrigate about 5 million mu (My is a Chinese measure of land area equal to one-sixteenth of a hectare) of land. Forest shelterbelts are being planted - future forests should protect fields, gardens and plantations from the hot desert winds.

Forest plantings are necessary for China. In this country, sands are advancing not only on cities located on the borders of deserts. Terrible sandstorms are raging in China, which in other places last for 5-6 months. The sands are advancing on one of the largest industrial cities in China, Mukden, and if they are not stopped now, the sand storms are not pacified, then it will be even more difficult to fight them later. That is why the forest barriers currently being created in China are so large and grandiose in scale. Their size can be judged by the fact that the largest forest belt in Northwestern China stretches 1,700 kilometers in length.

Back in 1905, academician V.A. Obruchev, while exploring the deserts of East Asia, discovered various minerals in the northwestern part of Xinjiang, in the so-called border Dzungaria.

“Border Dzungaria turned out to be quite rich in minerals,” he wrote. We identified previously known deposits of gold, fossil coal and asphalt, discovered oil outcrops and veins of other types of asphalt, signs of copper and iron ores. It is very likely that there are deposits of other metals.” The venerable researcher had to wait 48 long years and only at the 90th year of his life saw the beginning of work on the use of his discoveries made in our neighboring country.

For centuries, the deserts of Central Asia were cut off from the rest of the world, and Western and Eastern China remained separated. Establishment of an equal Soviet-Chinese joint-stock company civil aviation not only connected the provinces of China, but also was a powerful incentive for the further development of the deserts of China.

For thousands of years, the rivers of Central Asia watered areas of fields in the deserts, but how much water was wasted without use! There is no doubt that all these rivers, and especially the rivers of the Tarim Basin, will be conquered and will provide water to millions of hectares of new fields and new plantations, will enrich the nature of ancient deserts,

China has embarked on the path of transformation, and now there is no force that could stop its great movement forward!

The word “desert” is associated with lifeless, arid places where sand dunes and dunes stretch for many kilometers. The deserts cover a large part of the continent. This is due to the proximity to and movement of air currents.

Despite poor rainfall, each of Africa's largest deserts boasts unique natural features, plants and wildlife. Below is a list of the five main deserts of the continent with a brief description and photo. Also, at the end of the article you can see the location of these deserts on the map of Africa.

Sahara

The vast, arid region known as the Sahara Desert was not always what we are used to seeing. Several thousand years ago they grew here. Over time, the winds changed direction, leading to climate change and drought in the region. The size of the desert today is 9 million km², making it the largest arid desert not only on the African continent, but also in the world. The Sahara got its name thanks to nomadic tribes, and is translated as “desert area.”

The desert occupies regions of Africa with different climates and topography. Only a quarter of the Sahara is covered with sand. Precipitation occurs in autumn in the north, and in summer in the south. Air humidity throughout the entire territory is very low and does not exceed 20%. Mount Emi-Kusi, whose height is 3415 m, is the highest point of the desert. In winter, its peaks are covered with a snow cap. Where underwater rivers flow underground, oases form on the surface. Gelta d'Armey is the most famous of them. Life is always in full swing around oases.

A small part of the Niger River flows in the southern part of the desert. The Nile crosses the Sahara from southeast to northeast. The areas in the north and individual oases are covered with greenery. Most often you can find cereals and shrubs. The fauna is not diverse due to the meager food supply. Unique fauna species include fennec, oryx, meerkat, jerboa and Ethiopian hedgehog.

Kalahari

From a botanical point of view, the area is characterized by desert steppes, rather than a typical desert. The area of ​​the Kalahari, which is more than 930 thousand km², is usually flat, but there are river beds and low mountain ranges. The color of the sand is given by iron oxide; it has a reddish tint.

The Kalahari territory is occupied by sand dunes, which are located in ridges with fairly large depressions. During the rainy season, rainwater accumulates in them, forming temporary lakes. Maximum rainfall occurs in summer. Droughts occur once every 3-5 years. Due to high aridity, most rivers have long since dried up, and salt pits have formed in their place. The only active river, the Okavango, which does not flow anywhere, but forms the world's largest river delta.

The type of vegetation of the northern Kalahari resembles a short-grass savanna. Herbaceous shrubs and grasses grow there all year round. In the central, driest part, there are mainly succulents and aroids. Maximum summer rainfall and mild winters are favorable for zebras, antelopes, meerkats and other animals. Among the birds you can find lark, bustard, ostriches, falcons, etc.

Danakil

The desert area is almost 137 thousand km². This desert looks irrational and inhospitable. The reason for this is sulfur lakes, volcanoes and gas clouds. A similar relief was formed due to the fault of the African Plate, on which all of Africa stands.

The daytime temperature here, as in other deserts, does not fall below 30° C.

There is practically no flora and fauna, because the external conditions of existence are too aggressive. Humidity is low, rains are very rare, however, the area attracts tourists and lovers of extreme recreation. Lake Assal is so salty that crystals have densely covered its shores. The active volcano Erta Ale has a lava lake in its crater. Periodically, the lava seethes and bursts out. The crater of the Dallol volcano is located below sea level. Unusual silhouettes and bizarre figures on the surface were formed as a result of crystallization of potassium salts. There are many thermal springs near the crater that periodically release corrosive gas.

Namib

These are the oldest arid lands on the planet, dating back 55-80 million years. The length of the desert is more than 2 thousand km, and the area is about 81 thousand km². The Namib is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Namib is so arid that there are no signs of life in most of the area. Temperatures along the coast are relatively stable and usually range between 9-20°C, while further inland, summer temperatures daytime temperatures can exceed 45° C and fall below 0° C at night. Rainfall varies by region, for example the western part of the Namib receives less rain (about 5 mm per year) than the eastern part (about 85 mm per year). Coastal desert areas receive an average of about 10 mm of precipitation per year.

The desert was formed by winds that blow from the east. Crossing the continent, they are deprived of moisture. The Bengal Current cools the currents of the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in the formation of fogs. Due to these factors, the Namib is considered the coolest desert on the continent. Succulents that receive moisture from fogs are common on the coast. The dune zone is represented by grasses, and tall trees grow along the banks of sparse rivers.

The most famous attraction is the sand dunes, reaching three hundred meters in height. Sand shades range from pink to red. The Namib-Naukluft National Park is of particular value to tourists. This is where those dunes are located. Despite the remoteness from the coast, a lot of animals live in the park. Among which there are unique species of insects, and. The water sources that support the oases flow between the rocks of the reserve.

Karoo

The desert formed in the southern region of Africa and is adjacent to the Namib. The territory is divided into two zones - Greater and Lesser Karoo. The Little Karoo is the least arid region. Unlike other lands, a decent amount of precipitation falls here, approximately 30 cm per year.

In spring the Karoo blooms, attracting a host of pollinating insects. The maximum amount of precipitation in the desert occurs in winter, from April to September. The vegetation is represented by evergreen shrubs and low-growing trees, as well as tropical grasses. The Great Karoo consists of rocky plains, sandstones and decomposed shale. represented by a large number of varieties of turtles, whistling rats, African toads and other animals. Sand-dwelling locusts are a delicacy for white storks and bearded starlings.

Maps showing the location of African deserts

Sahara Kalahari / Image: britannica.com Namib / Image: britannica.com Danakil / Image: Daily Mail Karoo