page_title: Zhetysu
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Zhetysu / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: In the hills between the Chu Valley and the Zhetysu, on the Bishkek - Almaty highway.
context_page_description: Zhetysu, Jeti-Suu or Semirechye is a historical name of a part of Central Asia, corresponding to the southeastern part of modern Kazakhstan. It owes its name, meaning "seven rivers" in Kazakh and Persian, to the rivers which flow from the south-east into Lake Balkhash.
  When the region was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, it became known in Russian as Semirechye, which is a Russian calque of the Kazakh "Zhetysu". The name has also been transcribed as Semiryechye, Semirech'e, Semirechiye, Semirechie, Semirechensk or Semireche.
  Zhetysu falls into today's Almaty Region, which is part of Kazakhstan. However, the Semirechye Oblast, as an administrative unit of the Russian Empire, included not only Zhetysu proper but also lands that now constitute parts of northern Kyrgyzstan and adjacent provinces of Kazakhstan as well.
context_section_description: The lands of the 19th-century Semirechye Oblast included the steppes south of Lake Balkhash and parts of the Tian Shan Mountains around Lake Issyk Kul. The province had an area of 147,300 km², and was bounded by the province of Semipalatinsk on the north, by China (Xinjiang) on the east and south, and by the former Russian provinces of Fergana, Syr-darya, and Akmolinsk on the west.
  The Dzungarian Alatau Mountains, which separated it from the Chinese region of Kulja, extend south-west towards the river Ili, with an average height of 2,700 m (9,000 ft) above the sea, several isolated snow-clad peaks reaching 3,400 to 4,300 m (11,000 to 14,000 ft). In the south, the region embraces the intricate systems of the Ala-Tau and the Tian Shan. Two ranges of the former, the Trans-Ili Ala-tau and the Terskey Ala-tau, stretch along the north shore of Lake Issyk Kul, both ranging from 3,000 to 4,600 m (10,000 to 15,000 ft) and both partially snow-clad. South of the lake, two ranges of the Tian Shan, separated by the valley of the Naryn, stretch in the same direction, lifting up their icy peaks to 1,800 and 2,400 m (6,000 and 8,000 ft); while westwards from the lake the precipitous slopes of the Alexander chain, 2,700 to 3,000 m (9,000 to 10,000 ft) high, with peaks rising 900 to 1,200 m (3,000 to 4,000 ft) higher, extend into the former province of Syr-darya (containing the southern Kazakh cities of Chimkent, Auliye-ata and Turkestan). Another mountain complex of much lower elevation runs north-westwards from the Trans-Ili Ala-tau towards the southern extremity of Lake Balkhash. In the north, where the province bordered Semipalatinsk, it included the western parts of the Tarbagatai range, the summits of which (3,000 m or 10,000 ft) do not reach the limit of perpetual snow. The remainder of the province consisted of a fertile steppe in the north-east (Sergiopol), and vast uninhabitable sand-steppes on the south of Lake Balkhash. Southwards from these at the foot of the mountains and at the entrance to the valleys, there are rich areas of fertile land.
caption: In the hills between Bishkek and Almaty
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