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The Aral Sea (/ ˈ ær əl /) [5] [a] was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up by the 2010s.
The Aral Sea covers 68,000 square kilometres (26,300 sq mi) with Kazakhstan to the north and Uzbekistan to the south. [3]Soviet irrigation projects begun in the 1960s and other environmental challenges have severely depleted this once massive inland sea and by 2007, it had shrunk to 10 percent of its original size.
The Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border is 2,330 km (1,450 mi) long and runs from the tripoint with Turkmenistan to the tripoint with Kyrgyzstan. [1] It is Uzbekistan's longest external boundary. The Uzbek capital Tashkent is situated just 13 km (8.1 mi) from this border.
Uzbekistan, which had been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, gained its independence with the dissolution of the latter in 1991 and became the second doubly landlocked country. However, Uzbekistan's doubly landlocked status depends on whether the Caspian Sea is considered a lake or a sea.
Uzbekistan is the only Central Asian state to border all of the other four. [1] Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south. [1] As the Caspian Sea is an inland sea with no direct link to the oceans, Uzbekistan is one of only two "doubly landlocked" countries—countries completely surrounded by other landlocked countries.
Most of the country lies at between 200–300 m (660–980 ft) above sea level, but Kazakhstan's Caspian shore includes some of the lowest elevations on Earth. Many of the peaks of the Altay and Tien Shan ranges are covered with snow, year-round, and their runoff is the source for most of Kazakhstan's freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes.
For purposes of this list, "maritime boundary" includes boundaries that are recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which includes boundaries of territorial waters, contiguous zones, and exclusive economic zones. However, it does not include lake or river boundaries, which are considered land boundaries.
The Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan barrier spans the Saryagash and Maktaaral administrative districts of southern Kazakhstan, and consists of a 2,5m-high barbed wire fence that includes searchlights. [11] The barrier is situated along the heavily populated towns and cities of eastern Uzbekistan. It was built to curb drug smuggling across the border ...