Central Asian republics, Michael Kort, Infobase Publishing, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8160-5074-1, ... Formed in eastern Uzbekistan by tributaries that rise in the Tien Shan, the Syr Darya generally parallels the Amu Darya as it crosses the desert in Kazakhstan en route toward the Aral Sea. Because the two rivers provided the essential in a harsh desert region, Central Asia at one time was called 'the land between the rivers' ...
