Jetisu

Jetisu (Kazakh: Жетісу, IPA: [(d)ʑetʰɪ̥sʊ́w]), also known as Semirechye (Russian: Семиречье, IPA: [sʲɪmʲɪˈrʲetɕje]) and Heptopotamia, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the southeastern part of modern Kazakhstan.

Name

Jetisu is also transcribed Jeti-Suu (Kyrgyz: Жети-Суу, romanized: Jeti-Suu, pronounced [dʑetɪˈsuː]), Zhetisu, Jetisuw, Jetysu, Jeti-su or Jity-su.

The name comes from "seven rivers" in Kazakh but meant "abounding in water", in contrast to the dry steppes of the eastern Balkhash area. It owes its name to the rivers that flow from the southeast into Lake Balkhash. Jetisu primarily falls into today's Jetisu Region and Almaty Region and other South-Eastern parts of Kazakhstan and some parts of Northern Kyrgyzstan.

Geography

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 Ili River, 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.