Shrinking of the Aral Sea
1960–2000 · Event
Soviet cotton irrigation diverts the Amu Darya and Syr Darya; the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest lake, loses most of its area and volume, leaving ships stranded in new desert. The shrinking continues after 2000.
On these timelines: The Silk Road & the Steppe, Master, Russia & the USSR, Science & Technology
More from The Silk Road & the Steppe
- Zhang Qian's mission to the West (138 BCE)
- The Great Game (1830)
- The Travels of Marco Polo (1298)
- Tang reopens the Silk Road (640)
- Spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road (100)
- Russian conquest of Central Asia (1865)
- Mogao Caves at Dunhuang (366)
- Independence of the Central Asian republics (1991)
Around 1960
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- Prague Spring (1968)
- US Civil Rights Movement (1954)
- The Troubles (1968)
- Korean War (1950)
- Apollo 11 moon landing (1969)
- Suez Crisis (1956)
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
- Vietnam War (American phase) (1965)
- Six-Day War (1967)