Aral, also known as Aralsk or Aral'sk, (
Kazakh: Арал, ''Aral'', ارال;
Russian: Аральск, ''Araljsk'') is a small city in south-western
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, located in the ''
oblast
An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...
'' (region) of
Kyzylorda. It serves as the administrative center of
Aral District. Aral was formerly a fishing port and harbour city on the banks of the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazak ...
, and was a major supplier of fish to the neighboring region. Population:
History
Early settlement
In 1817, there was a village Alty-Kuduk (Six Wells) near the present city of Aralsk. This is currently a railway passing-track in the southern part of the city. Since the 1870s, this was recorded as the Aralsky settlement. The development of Aralsk began when the Orenburg-Tashkent railway was being constructed (1899-1905). In 1905, the railway station was constructed and continues to operate. The official history of Aralsk began that same year.
In 1905, Russian merchants organized large fishing companies and formed a joint-stock firm in Aralsk. This was the beginning of fishery in the Aral Sea and shipbuilding plants soon followed in Aralsk.
After the Revolution, the station “Aralskoye more (sea)” with the adjoining settlement received the name Aralsk. In 1938, Aralsk and the Aralsky district became a part of newly formed Kzyl-Orda oblast of
Kazakh SSR and turned into the town.
Aralsk is not to be confused with Fort Aralsk which was about 120 km south. In 1847
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
built Raimsk, later called Fort Aralsk, near the mouth of the
Syr Darya. In either 1848 or 1853 or 1855 Raimsk was abandoned and Fort Aralsk moved upriver to Fort Number One, or
Kazalinsk
Kazaly (, ''Qazaly''), also known as Kazalinsk () is a town in Kazaly District of Kyzylorda Region in Kazakhstan, located on the right bank of the Syr Darya River. Population:
History
During the Russian conquest of Central Asia, Kazalinsk was ...
. Further upriver were forts No. 2 and 3 which were the old
Kokandi forts of Karmaktschy and Kumish-Kurgan. Fort Aralsk was used to launch ships to map the Aral Sea and as a base to attack
Ak Mechet.
Decline
Since the retreat of the Aral Sea since 1960, due to diversion of the rivers flowing into it for
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
, mainly of
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
, during the
Soviet era, Aral is now completely
landlocked
A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked de facto states. Kazakhstan is the world's largest ...
about 12 km from the
northern remnant of the Aral Sea, though this is less than the 100 km distance observed before the completion of
a dam in 2005. Aral has greatly diminished in population and
socioeconomic
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their l ...
significance, resulting in high levels of
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...
. For the last 25 years it has not been possible to see the sea from the town. There are also serious health problems for the local population caused by airborne toxic chemicals exposed to the wind by the retreating waters and, possibly, from
chemical and
biological agents
A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterroris ...
unsafely stored on the island of
Vozrozhdeniya.
Aral smallpox incident
In 1971, a massive public health response to a smallpox outbreak in Aral ensued once the disease was recognized as resulting from the release of weaponized smallpox from a nearby
biological weapons test site. In less than 2 weeks, approximately 50,000 residents of Aral were vaccinated. Household quarantine of potentially exposed individuals was enacted, and hundreds were isolated in a makeshift facility at the edge of the city. All traffic in and out of the city was stopped, and approximately 54,000 square feet of living space and 18 metric tons of household goods were decontaminated by health officials. The original outbreak sickened ten people in Aral, of whom 3 died.
[Zelicoff, A.P., “An epidemiological analysis of the 1971 smallpox outbreak in Aralsk, Kazakhstan” (2002), In: Tucker, J.B. and R.A. Zilinskas,eds., ]
The 1971 Smallpox Epidemic in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, and the Soviet Biological Warfare Program
'; Monterey, California: Monterey Institute of International Studies, Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Occasional Paper No. 9.
Climate
Aral has a cold
desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in deser ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''BWk'') with cold winters and hot summers.
References
Further reading
*
External links
* News story on the plight of Aralsk and the Aral Sea
* The shrinking Aral Sea
* Bringing life back to Asia's 'dead' sea
{{Kyzylorda Region
Populated places in Kyzylorda Region