Ili (river)

The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river situated in Northwest China and Southeastern Kazakhstan. It flows from the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to the Almaty Region in Kazakhstan.

It is long (including its source river Tekes),Или
Great Soviet Encyclopedia of which is in Kazakhstan. The river originates from the Tekes and Künes rivers in Eastern Tian Shan. The Ili drains the basin between the Tian Shan and the Borohoro Mountains. Flowing into Lake Balkhash, the Ili forms a large delta with vast wetland regions of lakes, marshes and vegetation.

Etymology

Earlier mentions of ''Ili'' river can be traced back to the Mahmud al-Kashgari's dictionary of Turkic languages, the ''Dīwānu l-Luġat al-Turk'' (written in 1072–74). In the book, the author defines it in the following way: "Ili, the name of a river. Turkic tribes of ''Yaghma'', ''Tokhsi'' and ''Chiglig'' live on its banks. Turkish countries regard the river as their Jayhoun (Amu Darya)." The name possibly originated from Uyghur word ''Il'', meaning ''hook'', resembling the river's geographical shape.

Chinese region

The upper Ili Valley is separated from the Dzungarian Basin in the north by the Borohoro Mountains, and from the Tarim Basin in the south by the Tian Shan. This region was the stronghold of the Qing administration in Xinjiang in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was occupied by Russia from 1871 to 1881 (from the Yaqub Beg rebellion until the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)).

Presently, the region forms part of Xinjiang's Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The main city of the region, Yining (Kulja), is located on the northern side of the river (about upstream from the international border). Until the early 1900s, the city was commonly known under the same name as the river, 伊犁 (Pinyin: Yīlí; Wade-Giles: Ili). Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County in located on the southern side, which is home to many of the China's Xibe people (who resettled there in the 18th century as part of the Manchu Garrison).

There are at least two dams on the Ili's tributary: the Kash River (喀什河) in Nilka County, at and
. At least two dams have been constructed on the Ili's left tributary, the Tekes River, and the Qiapuqihai Hydropower Station (恰甫其海水电站) in Tokkuztara County (). There is also another smaller dam at , on the border of Tokkuztara and Künes Counties.

Kazakh region

The Ili is the main watercourse of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin. The region of Kazakhstan partially drained by the Ili and its tributaries is known in Kazakh as Zhetysu ('Seven Rivers'). In Russian it is known as Semirechye (meaning the same).

The Kapshagay Hydroelectric Power Plant was constructed between 1965 and 1970 near Kapchagay in the middle reaches of the Ili River. This currently comprises the Kapchagay Reservoir, an artificial long lake north of Almaty.

The Tamgaly-Tas, a protected site that comprises rock drawings, is located downstream along the Ili River. The name ''Tamgaly'' in Kazakh means "painted" or "marked place" (''Tas'' means "stone").

Ili Delta

The Ili River flows into the southeastern edge of Lake Balkhash, where it forms a large delta of about . The delta is situated between the Saryesik-Atyrau Desert and the Taukum Desert. An area of 9,766 km² (3,771 sq mi) within the delta has been designated as a Ramsar Site

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