Discover Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”

Augustine of Hippo.

Journey through the Lake Balkhash.

Until the 50's, XIX century the outlines of Lake Balkhash were mapped according to interrogation data.  An expedition of T.F. Nifantiev was organized to map the lake. In the autumn months of 1852 – 1853y.y. with two assistant topographers he mapped the entire coast of the lake.
It was the first time the position, size of the lake (about 22 thousand square km, according to the latest data, 18.3 thousand square km) and shape were determined.  Nifantiev sailed the boat along  Balkhash, described small islands, performed a number of measurements and found out the possibility of sailing small ships along it.
Later Nifantiev collected and systematized certain facts about the nature of Central Tien Shan, delivered by Russian merchants, travelers and the military. Having supplemented these data with his own materials, he created a general geographic manuscript  "Information on the Wilde-stone Kirghiz".
Aaccording to Nifantiev  Tien Shan is a complex system of ridges .Among them he distinguished  the three main ones: Kirghiz, Kungay-Ala-Too and Terekti-Davan (Kakshaal-Too?). He was the first to characterize the Tien-Shan high-altitude plateau (syrty).
He owns the first correct description of the sources of Chu river, formed by the confluence of Kochkor, Joon-Aryk, and the Syr Darya rivers. He also mapped the lake Issyk-Kul. In 1859, Nifantiev carried out a survey of the territory between Lake Balkhash and  Dzhungar Alatau Ridge from  Karatal river to the border with China.
In 1862 - in 1863 he mapped Zaisan lake (1800 square km) relatively accurate.

From different sources.

Photos
Alexander Petrov.