Sites along the Silk Road

The Euphrates ( ; see below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab in Iraq, which empties into the Persian Gulf.

desert in China and Mongolia

mountain range in Afghanistan and Pakistan

The Karakoram (, ) is a mountain range in Asia located primarily in the Kashmir region. The range spans the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the north-western extremities of the range extending into Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Karakoram contains four of the fourteen eight-thousanders, the highest of which is K2, the second highest mountain on Earth.

Asian mountain range separating northwest China from Central Asia and Russia

river in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan

Kashgar or Qeshqer () or Kashi () is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar has been a strategically important oasis on the Silk Road linking China with Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and has a population of 711,300 people (). Kashgar's urban area covers , although its administrative area extends over .

desert in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China

Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl ( ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan—just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleventh-largest lake in the world by volume, and the second-largest saline lake. It is located at an elevation of , making it the deepest lake whose deepest point is above sea level at . Despite the elevation and low temperatures during winter, it rarely freezes due to its high salinity.

province of Afghanistan

mountain range in China

mountain pass connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan

river in Kazakhstan and China

caves in Dunhuang City, Gansu, China

geographical area in Central Asia

thumb|Stupas around Erdene Zuu Monastery in Karakorum

river in the People's Republic of China

international highway running through Pakistan, China

region in Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan

former salt lake in Bayingolin Prefecture, Xinjiang, China

Dzungaria, also known as Northern Xinjiang or Beijiang, is a geographical subregion in Northwest China, consisting of the northern half of Xinjiang. Bound by the Altai Mountains to the north and the Tian Shan mountain range to the south, Dzungaria covers approximately , and borders Kazakhstan to the west and Mongolia to the east. In contexts prior to the mid-18th century Dzungar genocide, the term "Dzungaria" could cover a wider area, coterminous with the Oirat-led Dzungar Khanate.

ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes in Shanxi

thumb|right|300px|que (tower)|Que towers along the walls of Tang-era Chang'an, as depicted in this mural from [[Li Chongrun's tomb at the Qianling Mausoleum in Shaanxi]]

lake

river in the People's Republic of China

Iranian Saka Buddhist kingdom (56–1006)

mountain pass in Pakistan and China

river in the People's Republic of China

narrow stretch of traversable and relatively arable plain west of the Yellow River's Ordos Loop between the Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus (western China)

mountain range

mountain pass

mountain pass in China

cave in People's Republic of China

cave in People's Republic of China

thumb|320px|The Dayuan (in Ferghana) was one of the three advanced civilizations of [[Central Asia around 130 BCE, together with Parthia and Greco-Bactria, according to the Chinese historical work Book of Han.]]

Khara-Khoto, also known as Heicheng, is an abandoned city near the Juyan Lake in the sum of Bayan Toroi, about 25 km south of the seat of Ejin Banner in Alxa League at the western end of Inner Mongolia, China. Built in 1032, the city thrived under the rule of the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty. It has been identified as the city of Etzina, which appears in The Travels of Marco Polo, and hence today's Ejin Banner is named after this city.

mountain pass in Afghanistan and China

river in China and Kyrgyzstan

Erkeshtam, called Irkeshtam in Chinese and Dungan, or Erkech-Tam in Uyghur and Kyrgyz, is a border crossing between Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang, China, named after a village on the Kyrgyz side of the border in southern Osh Region. The border crossing is also called Simuhana (斯姆哈纳), after the first settlement on the Chinese side of the border, but Erkeshtam is now the more common name used in both countries.

mountain pass

mountain range in Xinjiang

autonomous county

river in People's Republic of China

archaeological site

desert in China

princely state of the British Raj

river in People's Republic of China

Characene (Ancient Greek: Χαρακηνή), also known as Mesene (Μεσσήνη) or Meshan, was a kingdom founded by the Iranian Hyspaosines located at the head of the Persian Gulf mostly within modern day Iraq. Its capital, Charax Spasinou (Χάραξ Σπασινού), was an important port for trade between Mesopotamia and India, and also provided port facilities for the city of Susa further up the Karun River. The kingdom was frequently a vassal of the Parthian Empire. Characene was mainly populated by Arabs, who spoke Aramaic as their cultural language. All rulers of the principality had Iranian names. Members of

desert in Gansu and Xinjiang, China

Wakhan (Dari; Pashto: ), also spelt as Vakhan and known as Vakhon (Tajik: Вахон}, is a rugged, mountainous part of the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush and Karakoram regions of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It covers mainly the Wakhan District of Badakshan Province in northeastern Afghanistan.

river in the People's Republic of China

county

archaeological site

border pass between Pakistan and China

river in People's Republic of China

protected area

Western Han dynasty pass and watch tower near Dunhuang, Gansu province, China

mountain pass

cave in People's Republic of China

cemetery in Turpan, China