ABSTRACT
Rivers played a decisive role in the measurement of the world. They were difficult to capture and to paint on the globes. The Central Asian Amu Darya/Oxus was one of those rivers that caught the attention of explorers. 100 years earlier, Peter the Great wished for it to be diverted into the Caspian Sea. He dreamed of creating a trade route from the Baltic Sea via the Volga, Caspian Sea, and Oxus to India. During the nineteenth century, these plans were discussed once again. Important scholars such as Alexander von Humboldt, Roderick Murchison, and Wilhelm Radloff were convinced that the future of scientific geography depended on capturing the Oxus. The geographers tried to paint the unknown world on their maps and they searched for explanations for unexpected river courses. The Orientalists fought for the attention of the public with their texts, which they sent to armchair travelers in Western languages. The ancient philologists fought over the truth of the ancient Greek geographical traditions. The military scientists searched for ways into the heart of Asia. The economists thought about lucrative trade routes. In short, the Oxus question was one of the most central themes in numerous scientific journals of various disciplines throughout the entire nineteenth century. Yet it has still not been answered comprehensively. With the shrinking of the Aral Sea and with the silting up of the Amu Darya, the Oxus question is back again.
