Some references state that Taklamakan means "if you go in, you won't come out" while others state that it means "Desert of Death" or "Place of no return."

It covers an area of 270,000 km² of the Tarim Basin. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road. The key oasis towns are Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan (Hetian) in the South-West, Kuqa and Turfan in the North, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the East.
The White Jade River flows into the Taklamakan.

The archeological treasures found in its sand buried ruins point to Tocharian, early Hellenistic, and Indian/Buddhistic influences. Its treasures and dangers have been vividly described by Aurel Stein, Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq, and Paul Pelliot.