The Zeravshan or Zarafshan river, whilst smaller and less well-known than the two great rivers of Central Asia, the Oxus or Amu-Darya and the Jaxartes or Syr-Darya, is if anything more valuable as a source of irrigation in the region. Its name signifies 'Spreader of Gold' in Persian, and refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. Its course runs through present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, from a source on the fringes of the Pamirs, past Penjikent to the legendary cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, which are entirely dependent on the oases thus created. Originally a tributary of the Oxus, it now loses itself in the desert beyond Bukhara without reaching the greater river.

Further Reading

В.В. Бартольд "К Истории Орошения в Туркестане" (Collected Works, Vol.3) (Москва) 1965

V.V. Barthold "Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion" (London) 1968

Robert Lewis "Early Irrigation in West Turkestan" Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol.56 №.3 (Sept. 1966) pp467-491

Edgar Knobloch "Beyond the Oxus" (London) 1972