Since 2017, there have been many allegations of human rights abuses in what China calls the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, known by dissidents as East Turkestan. This disagreement over the region’s name stems from a long history of on-and-off Chinese involvement and control of the region. For the past two millennia, the area has seen instability and constantly changing rule.
Much of this instability can be traced back to a manmade environmental disaster that occurred from 1500-2000 years ago. Like other endorheic basins in the world (such as the Great Salt Lake, the Aral Sea, and the Guzman Sink in Chihuahua and New Mexico), water flows into the area but doesn’t flow out. When flows are good, endorheic basins often have salt lakes at their low points and extensive wetlands, grasslands, and other vegetation that keeps the soil from blowing away.
Unlike regions that dried…
