Dungene

Dungene belongs to the wider Jetisu country of south-eastern Central Asia, a region of river valleys, hills and mountain foothills rather than a single uniform plain. Its name means “seven rivers” but conveyed that the land was abundant in water, especially beside the dry steppes east of Lake Balkhash. The Dzungarian Alatau extends southwest toward the Ili, which enters from China and runs 250 kilometres through the region before reaching the lake. The Chu and Naryn descend from the Tian Shan, while Issyk-Kul, Ala-Kul and other alpine lakes place further water accounts within the wider territory.

The passage between mountain pastures, valleys and the lake basin shaped movement and settlement. The climate is strongly continental: winters at Balkhash are severe and the lake freezes every year, springs begin abruptly, and steppe vegetation can flourish and then be scorched by the sun. South of Balkhash lay broad sand-steppe, while fertile belts appeared at mountain feet and valley entrances. These contrasting landscapes supported both agriculture and extensive livestock keeping.

Jetisu also became a meeting place for steppe powers. In the sixth to third centuries BCE, the Iranian Sakas established their first state with its centre there; in the mid-sixth century CE, Turkic nomads brought the region, central Kazakhstan and Khorezm under their authority. In the seventeenth century it belonged to the Dzungar Khanate, and after the Qing conquest of 1755 it came under the general of Ili.