The Tarim River (Mandarin Tǎlǐmù Hé, 塔里木河; Uyghur: تارىم دەرياسى), known in Sanskrit as the Śītā is the principal river of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. It gives its name to the great Tarim Basin between the Tian Shan and Kunlun Mountains systems (the northern edge of the  Tibetan Plateau) of Central Asia.