The Karakoram (, ) is a mountain range in Asia which spans the borders of Pakistan, China and India, with the north-western extremities extending into Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Karakoram contains four of the fourteen eight-thousanders, the highest of which is K2, the second highest mountain on Earth.
The Karakoram begins in the Wakhan Corridor in eastern Afghanistan and extends eastwards into Indian-administered Ladakh and Chinese-administered Aksai Chin, as well as the Chinese province of Xinjiang. Most of the Karakoram is located within the Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan region. The Karakoram is bounded on the east by the Aksai Chin plateau, on the north-east by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the river valleys of the Yarkand and Karakash rivers, beyond which lie the Kunlun Mountains. At the north-west corner are the Pamir Mountains, while to the west lies Hindu Kush. The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed west to east by the Gilgit, Indus, and Shyok rivers, which separate the range from the north-western end of the Himalaya. These rivers flow north-west before making an abrupt turn south-westwards towards the plains of Pakistan. Roughly in the middle of the Karakoram range is the Karakoram Pass, which was part of a now unused trade route between Ladakh and Yarkand.
The Karakoram lies north of the Kashmir Valley and forms part of the wider mountain system surrounding the valley, together with the Pir Panjal and Zanskar ranges.
The range is about in length and is the most glaciated place on Earth outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier ( long) and Biafo Glacier ( long) are the second- and third-longest glaciers outside the polar regions.Tajikistan's Fedchenko Glacier is long. Baltoro and Batura Glaciers in the Karakoram are long, as is Bruggen or Pio XI Glacier in southern Chile. Measurements are from recent imagery, generally supplemented with Russian 1:200,000 scale topographic mapping as well as Jerzy Wala,Orographical Sketch Map: Karakoram: Sheets 1 & 2, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, Zurich, 1990. The Karakoram is the second-highest mountain range on Earth and part of a complex of ranges that includes the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush, and the Himalayas.. The range contains eighteen summits higher than in elevation, with four above . which include K2, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum II.
Name
Karakoram is a Turkic term meaning black gravel. The Central Asian traders originally applied the name to the Karakoram Pass. Early European travelers, including William Moorcroft and George Hayward, started using the term for the range of mountains west of the pass, although they also used the term Muztagh (meaning, "Ice Mountain"). Thomas Montgomerie of the Survey of India labelled its high peaks K1 to K6 ("K" for Karakoram), identifying them from his station at Mount Haramukh in the 1850s.
In the Sanskrit literature (the Puranas), the Karakoram mountains were called Krishnagiri (black mountains), with vernacular variations of Kanhagiri and Kanheri. Krishnagiri is also associated with older Indian geographical traditions concerning the Karakoram range. The Sanskrit name, meaning "black mountain", has been compared with the Turkic name Karakoram, commonly interpreted as "black gravel"; however, a direct historical or linguistic relationship between the two names has not been established.
Exploration Due to its altitude and ruggedness, the Karakoram is much less inhabited than parts of the Himalayas further east. European explorers first visited in the early 19th century, followed by British surveyors starting in 1856.
The Muztagh Pass was crossed in 1887 by the expedition of Colonel Francis Younghusband,French, Patrick. (1994). Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, pp. 53, 56-60. HarperCollinsPublishers, London. Reprint (1995): Flamingo. London. . and the valleys above the Hunza River were explored by General Sir George K. Cockerill in 1892. Explorations in the 1910s and 1920s established most of the geography of the region.
The name Karakoram was used in the early 20th century, for example by Kenneth Mason, for the range now known as the Baltoro Muztagh. The term is now used to refer to the entire range from the Batura Muztagh above Hunza in the west to the Saser Muztagh in the bend of the Shyok River in the east.
Floral surveys were carried out in the Shyok River catchment and from Panamik to Turtuk village by Chandra Prakash Kala during 1999 and 2000.
Geology and glaciers
The Karakoram is in one of the world's most geologically active areas, at the plate boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate. A significant part, somewhere between 28 and 50 percent, of the Karakoram Range is glaciated, covering an area of more than , compared to between 8 and 12 percent of the Himalaya and 2.2 percent of the Alps. Mountain glaciers may serve as an indicator of climate change, advancing and receding with long-term changes in temperature and precipitation. The Karakoram glaciers are slightly retreating, unlike the Himalayas, where glaciers are losing mass at a significantly higher rate, many Karakoram glaciers are covered in a layer of rubble which insulates the ice from the warmth of the sun. Where there is no such insulation, the rate of retreat is high. Some recent studies reveal slight increase or stability in glacier mass in central and western Karakoram, termed by some scholars as "Karakoram Anomaly", contrasting with eastern Karakoram where glaciers were found to be retreating. Notable glaciers in Karakoram include:
Siachen Glacier Baltoro Glacier Hispar Glacier Batura Glacier Biafo Glacier Chogo Lungma Glacier Yinsugaiti Glacier
Ice Age In the last ice age, a connected series of glaciers stretched from western Tibet to Nanga Parbat, and from the Tarim Basin to the Gilgit District. To the south, the Indus glacier was the main valley glacier, which flowed down from the Nanga Parbat massif to elevation. In the north, the Karakoram glaciers joined those from the Kunlun Mountains and flowed down to in the Tarim Basin.
While the current valley glaciers in the Karakoram reach a maximum length of , several of the ice-age valley glacier branches and main valley glaciers, had lengths up to . During the Ice Age, the glacier snowline was about lower than today.
Highest peaks
The majority of the highest peaks are in the Gilgit–Baltistan region administered by Pakistan. Baltistan has more than 100 mountain peaks exceeding height from sea level. Following is a list of the highest peaks of the Karakoram. Included are some of the mountains named with a K code, the most well-known of which is K2.
Mountain HeightFor Nepal, the heights indicated on the Nepal Topographic Maps are followed. For China and the Baltoro Karakoram, the heights are those of Mi Desheng's "The Maps of Snow Mountains in China". For the Hispar Karakoram the heights on a Russian 1:100,000 topo map of Ranked K code Area administered by K2 2 K2 Pakistan–China, at the head of the Godwin-Austen Glacier Gasherbrum I 11 K5 China–Pakistan Broad Peak 12 China–Pakistan Gasherbrum II 13 K4 China–Pakistan Gasherbrum III K3a Pakistan Gasherbrum IV 17 K3 Pakistan Distaghil Sar 19 Pakistan Kunyang Chhish 21 Pakistan Masherbrum I 22 K1 Pakistan Batura I 25 Pakistan Rakaposhi 26 Pakistan Batura II Pakistan Kanjut Sar 28 Pakistan Saltoro Kangri I 31 K10 India–Pakistan Batura III Pakistan Saltoro Kangri II K11 India–Pakistan Saser Kangri I 35 K22 India Chogolisa 36 Pakistan Shispare Sar 38 Pakistan Trivor Sar 39 Pakistan Skyang Kangri 43 China–Pakistan Mamostong Kangri 47 K35 India Saser Kangri II 48 India Saser Kangri III 51 India Pumari Chhish 53 Pakistan Passu Sar 54 Pakistan Yukshin Gardan Sar 55 Pakistan Teram Kangri I 56 China–India Malubiting 58 Pakistan K12 or Saitang Peak 61 K12 India–Pakistan subsidiary of Saltoro Kangri Sia Kangri 63 China–Pakistan Skilma Gangri or Ghursay Kangri II K8 Pakistan, on the western flank of the Siachen Glacier Momhil Sar 64 Pakistan Skil Brum 66 China–Pakistan Haramosh Peak 67 Pakistan Ghent Kangri 69 India–Pakistan Ultar Peak 70 Pakistan Rimo I 71 India Sherpi Kangri 74 Pakistan Bojohagur Duanasir Pakistan Yazghil Dome South Pakistan Baltoro Kangri 81 Pakistan Crown Peak 83 China Baintha Brakk 86 Pakistan Yutmaru Sar 87 Pakistan Baltistan Peak 88 K6 Pakistan Muztagh Tower 90 China–Pakistan Diran 92 Pakistan Apsarasas Kangri I 95 China–India Rimo III 97 India Gasherbrum V Pakistan Link Sar Pakistan Gamba Gangri (approx) K9 Pakistan near Trango Towers Gomgma Gangri K7 Pakistan at the head of the Charakusa Valley Dansam Peak K13 Pakistan south west of Saltoro Kangri Paiju Peak Pakistan Pastan Kangri K25 India south of Saltoro Kangri
Subranges
The naming and division of the various subranges of the Karakoram is not universally agreed upon. However, the following is a list of the most important subranges, following Jerzy Wala.Jerzy Wala, Orographical Sketch Map of the Karakoram, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, Zurich, 1990. The ranges are listed roughly west to east.
Batura Muztagh Rakaposhi-Haramosh Mountains Spantik-Sosbun Mountains Hispar Muztagh South Ghujerab Mountains Panmah Muztagh Wesm Mountains Masherbrum Mountains Baltoro Muztagh Saltoro Mountains Siachen Muztagh Rimo Muztagh Saser Muztagh
Passes
Passes from west to east are: Dandala Pass is the most important and earlier pass. It starts from Ghursay saitang city to Yarqand in China. It is the main trade route between Khaplu, Ladakh, Kharmang to Yarqand, China. Kilik Pass Mintaka Pass Khunjerab Pass is the highest paved international border crossing at . It serves the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, the "8th world wonder". Shimshal Pass Mustagh Pass Karakoram Pass Sasser Pass Naltar Pass
The Khunjerab Pass is the only motorable pass across the range. The Shimshal Pass (which does not cross an international border) is the only other pass still in regular use.
Cultural references The Karakoram mountain range has been referred to in a number of novels and movies. Rudyard Kipling refers to the Karakoram mountain range in his novel Kim, which was first published in 1900. Marcel Ichac made a film titled Karakoram, chronicling a French expedition to the range in 1936. The film won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival of 1937. Greg Mortenson details the Karakoram, and specifically K2 and the Balti, extensively in his book Three Cups of Tea, about his quest to build schools for children in the region. K2 Kahani (The K2 Story) by Mustansar Hussain Tarar describes his experiences at K2 base camp.
See also Karakoram Highway List of mountain ranges of the world List of highest mountains (a list of mountains above ) Mount Imeon
References
Citations
Sources
Curzon, George Nathaniel. 1896. The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus. Royal Geographical Society, London. Reprint: Elibron Classics Series, Adamant Media Corporation. 2005. (pbk); (hbk). Kipling, Rudyard 2002. Kim (novel); ed. by Zohreh T. Sullivan. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. —This is the most extensive critical modern edition with footnotes, essays, maps, etc. Mortenson, Greg and Relin, David Oliver. 2008. Three Cups of Tea. Penguin Books Ltd. (pbk); Viking Books (hbk); Tantor Media (MP3 CD). Kreutzmann, Hermann, Karakoram in Transition: Culture, Development, and Ecology in the Hunza Valley, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006. .
Further reading
External links
Blankonthemap The Northern Kashmir Website