Alakol Lake

Lake Alakol occupies a vast depression in the Balkhash-Alakol Basin of eastern Kazakhstan. Its surface lies 347 meters above sea level, covers roughly 2,650 square kilometers, and reaches a maximum depth of 54 meters. In summer, the arid steppe and warm air surround the lake; in winter, extreme continental cold returns. The lake is saline, and swampy lowlands connect it with the neighboring Kosharkol and Sasykkol lakes, while a narrow marshy valley reaches freshwater Lake Zhalanashkol in the south. The lake’s position is inseparable from the Dzungarian Gate. This fault-bounded valley cuts through the Dzungarian Alatau between Lake Alakol and Ebinur Lake. At its narrowest the gate is about ten kilometers wide, with mountains rising more than four thousand meters on either side. Wind accelerates through the corridor, and the valley has served for millennia as one of the easiest routes for riders and migrants between the western Eurasian steppe and the lands beyond. The lake therefore acts less as an isolated body of water than as a landmark on a major continental passage.

Ancient Chinese geographical knowledge placed Alakol near the eastern limit of the territory of Kangju in the first century BCE. Medieval travelers and historians understood the lake through the surrounding salt springs and the difficult passage toward the east. A description attributed to the era of Timur called it It-Ichmes, meaning “a dog will not drink,” because a liter of water was said to contain about eight grams of salt. The medieval traveler William of Rubruck may also have mentioned Alakol while imagining it at the eastern end of Lake Balkhash. Seasonal streams descend from the Tarbagatai Mountains into a drainage basin of about 65,200 square kilometers, and agriculture was limited to stream courses, deltas, and alluvial fans where mountain water reached the dry steppe. Alakol’s history is thus the history of water moving through a severe continental climate and a corridor that repeatedly linked steppe nomads, Chinese empires, Central Asian states, and trade routes.