Taklamakan Desert of water, accounts for the somewhat wide diurnal temperature variation. The Taklamakan Desert has very little water, therefore it is hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns. It was in close proximity to many of the ancient civilizations — to the Northwest is the Amu Darya basin, to the southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the east is China, and even to the north ancient towns such as Almaty can be found. The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar,
Black Country Development Corporation Morgan. It was dissolved in 1998. The Black Country Spine Road was notable for providing the area around Wednesbury with a dual carriageway as well as reducing congestion on the narrower roads which surrounded it. The new road, which was opened in two phases in 1995, also freed up several square miles of previously inaccessible land which was soon developed for industrial and commercial use. Black Country Development Corporation The Black Country Development Corporation was an urban development corporation established in May 1987 to develop land in the Metropolitan Boroughs of Sandwell and Walsall in England. Its flagship developments included