The Kyzylkum Desert is the 15th largest desert in the world. Its name means Red Sand in Turkic languages. It is located in Central Asia in the doab between the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a region historically known as Transoxania or Sogdiana. Today it is divided between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It covers about 298,000 km2.