Tarim Basin

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The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of more than 400,000 km². It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin. The heart of the desert gets less than 10 millimeters of rain a year. The area is sparsely settled by the Uyghurs, other Turkic peoples and Tajiks. The Silk Road, a series of trade routes through regions of Asia, splits into two routes: the North Silk Road along the northern edge and another along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. A middle route was deserted in the sixth century.