Shipbuilding in the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya River

Abstract

This article is focused on the history of the emergence and development of shipbuilding in the Khorezm oasis in the 19th and 20th centuries. The history of Butakov's study of the Aral Sea and the discovery of sea routes in Amu Darya river has a two-hundred-year period. During this time, the navy and the seafaring reached a high level and almost ended. During this period, the major part of cargo transported to the Khorezm oasis by ships was a huge flotilla in this area. The deterioration of the ecological situation, the extreme degradation of the river and the complication of ships, the efficiency of rail, automobile, airfreight and passenger transport - all led to the limitation of ships' movement on the rivers of Central Asia.