The Taklamakan Desert





Taklamakan Desert covers an area

 that’s almost the size of Finland and is only slightly smaller than Germany.

It is the world-‘s second-largest shifting-sand desert and 85% of its total area is composed of crescent-shaped dunes.




The place has a typical continental climate with strong gusts of wind, very little precipitation, and a significant shift in temperature from day time to night time and vice versa.


 It spans
37,000 square kilometers which makes it China’s biggest desert. 

The name Taklamakan 
means “place of no return” since according to folklore /  oral traditions  , the desert is so hot and vast that once you go in there will be no coming out.


Others refer to the vast and arid land 


as the “place of ruins” or “sea of death”, because there is very little water to support life there save for the few oases that are few and far between.


vital role in the silk road trade  

the Taklamakan Deaert served a vital role in the silk road trade as two of the oases  /  मरूद्यान  in the desert served as trade points or “hand-of”  / controlled or owned by someone points for traders.


location 

This vast desert sits right in the middle of the largest inland basin in China—the Tarim Basin.


 Located in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, 


The Taklamakan Desert is flanked by two towering mountain ranges--Tien Shan to the North and Kunlun mountain ranges to the south.


It also has the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan (ancient Mount Imeon) to the West and the famed Gobi Desert to the East 


It also has the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan (ancient Mount Imeon) to the West and the famed Gobi Desert to the East 


Summers can be very hot in the Taklamakan with temperatures reaching 104 °F (40 °C). Winters on the other hand can be cold with temperatures dropping down to extreme lows of −4 °F (−20 °C).

The most well-preserved one is the mummy of a white woman presumed to be in her 40s when she died in China 3,000 years ago. It is called "Beauty of Loulan": Another mummy known as Cherchne man is supposedly 2 meters tall and can be seen in his European style tunic and tartan trousers. Analysis of their clothes shows that the fabric of their clothing was made from a kind of wool that’s typical of European sheep. 


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