[3] It forms part of the Himalayan orogenic belt, resulting from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates during the Cenozoic era.

The lower-altitude, forested Alatau ranges in the northern Tian Shan is home to Turkic-speaking pastoral tribes.

The Tian Shan is separated from the Tibetan Plateau by the Taklimakan Desert and the Tarim Basin to the south.

[7] The Tian Shan's glaciers are rapidly receding, losing 27% or 5.4 billion tons of ice annually since 1961— nearly four times the global average of 7%.

The Tian Shan have a number of named ranges which are often mentioned separately (all distances are approximate): In China the Tian Shan starts from about 600 to 400 kilometres (370 to 250 mi) east of Ürümqi, north of Kumul City (Hami) with the Qarlik Tagh and the Barkol Mountains.

The Borohoro Mountains start just south of Ürümqi and run west-northwest 450 kilometres (280 mi) separating Dzungaria from the Ili River basin.

Their north end abuts on the 200 kilometres (120 mi) Dzungarian Alatau which runs east northeast along Sino-Kazakh border.

West of the eye, the range continues 400 kilometres (250 mi) as the Kyrgyz Ala-Too, separating Chüy Region from Naryn Region and then Kazakhstan from the upper valley of the river Talas, the south side of which is the 200 kilometres (120 mi) Talas Ala-Too Range ('Ala-too' is a Kyrgyz spelling of Alatau).

[9][12][11] Altogether, the glacial Tian Shan glaciation occupied an area of approximately 118,000 square kilometers.

[13] The Tian Shan in its immediate geological past was kept from glaciation due to the "protecting" warm influence of the Indian Ocean monsoon climate.

[14] Ancestors of important crop vegetation were established and thrived in the area, among them: apricots (Prunus armeniaca), pears (Pyrus spp.

), pomegranates (Punica granatum), figs (Ficus), cherries (Prunus avium) and mulberries (Morus).

The Tian Shan region also included important animals like bears, deer, and wild boar, which helped to spread seeds and expand ecological diversity.

The fruit probably then looked like a tiny, long-stalked, bitter apple something like Malus baccata, the Siberian crab.

The bear...The strain of Y. pestis which caused the bubonic plague now know as the Black Death may have originated in the Tian Shan, spreading along the Silk Road and killing half of Europe's population in the mid 1300s.

In Tengrism, Khan Tengri, is the lord of all spirits and the religion's supreme deity, and it is the name given to the second highest peak of Tian Shan.

[4] One of the earliest historical references to these mountains may be related to the Xiongnu word Qilian (traditional Chinese: 祁連; simplified Chinese: 祁连; pinyin: Qílián), which, according to Tang commentator Yan Shigu, is the Xiongnu word for "sky" or "heaven".