摘要: AqqalaAqqalais located in the northern delta on the right bank of what used to be called the U'lken Darya or Great River, the main outlet of the Amu Darya into the Aral Sea. It used to guard an elbow of the river where it turned abruptly to the west. It c

Aq qala

Aq qala is located in the northern delta on the right bank of what used to be called the U'lken Darya or Great River, the main outlet of the Amu Darya into the Aral Sea. It used to guard an elbow of the river where it turned abruptly to the west. It can only be reached today by 4WD vehicle, driving over 32km north from Qazaqdarya.

The fortress and walled settlement of Aq qala.

Aq qala, the "White Fort", is a parallelogram shaped enclosure, measuring roughly 380 by 310 metres. There are the remains of a fortress at the western corner and a small enclosure to its south.

This is a much later fortress dating from the time of the Khivan Khans. Major Herbert Wood of the Royal Engineers sailed past it in 1874 and described the fort and its adjacent enclosed village as a mass of ruins. It apparently had crenellated walls built upon a mud-brick rampart, circular corner towers and a surrounding ditch. When the Russian steamer Samarkand entered the U'lken Darya in April 1873 to support the Russian attack on Khiva, the Khivan fortress fired on the steamer killing or wounding half a dozen of its crew.