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Pamir Mountains

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Coordinates: 39°00′N 72°00′E / 39, 72

Pamir Mountains
Range
none Pamir Mountains from an airplane, June 2008
Pamir Mountains from an airplane, June 2008
Countries Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China
Regions Gorno-Badakhshan, North-West Frontier Province, Northern Areas of Pakistan, Xinjiang of China
Highest point Ismail Samani Peak
 - elevation 7,495 m (24,590 ft)
 - coordinates 38°55′N 72°01′E / 38.917, 72.017
The Pamirs are mostly in the Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan
The Pamirs are mostly in the Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan

The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World", which is supposedly the meaning of the word "Pamir".[1] They are also known by the Chinese name of Congling 葱嶺 or "Onion Mountains".

The Pamir Mountains lie in Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, stretching into Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and China. South of Gorno-Badakhshan, the Wakhan Corridor runs through the Pamir region, which also includes the northern extremes of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province and the Northern Areas.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Its three highest mountains are Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932–1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962–1998 as Communism Peak), 7,495 m (24,590 ft); Ibn Sina Peak (still unofficially known as Lenin Peak), 7,134 m (23,406 ft); and Peak Korzhenevskaya (Russian: Пик Корженевской, Pik Korzhenevskoi), 7,105 m (23,310 ft).[2]

There are many glaciers in the Pamir Mountains, including the 77 km (48 mi) long Fedchenko Glacier, the longest in the former USSR and the longest glacier outside the Polar region.[citation needed]

[edit] Climate

Covered in snow throughout the year, the Pamirs have long and bitterly cold winters, and short, cool summers. Annual precipitation is about 130 mm (5 in), which supports grasslands but few trees.

[edit] Economy

Coal is mined in the west, though sheep herding in upper meadowlands are the primary source of income for the region.

[edit] Discoveries

In the early 1980s, a deposit of gemstone-quality clinohumite was discovered in the Pamir Mountains. It was the only such deposit known until the discovery of gem-quality material in the Taymyr region of Siberia, in 2000.[citation needed]

[edit] Transportation

The Karakoram Highway, at the southeastern edge of the Pamir region in China is the highest international highway in the world and connects Pakistan to China.

The Pamir Highway, the world's second highest, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, and is the isolated region's main supply route. The Great Silk Road crossed a number of Pamir Mountain ranges.[3]

[edit] Strategic position

Ismoil Somoni Peak (then known as Peak Communism) taken in 1989
Flying over Pamir

Historically, the Pamir Mountains were considered a strategic trade route between Kashgar and Kokand on the Northern Silk Road and have been subject to numerous territorial conquests. The Northern Silk Road (about 2,600 km (1,616 mi) in length) connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xian to the west over the Pamir Mountains to emerge in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia.[4] In the 20th Century, they have been the setting for Tajikistan Civil War, border disputes between China and Soviet Union, establishment of US, Russian, and Indian military bases[5], and renewed interest in trade development and resource exploration.[6] [7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica 11th ed. 1911: PAMIRS, a mountainous region of central Asia...the Bam-i-dunya ("The Roof of the World"); The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1942 ed., p.1335: "Pamir (Persian = roof of the world)";The Pamirs, a region known to the locals as Pomir – “the roof of the world".
  2. ^ Tajikistan: 15 Years of Independence, statistical yearbook, Dushanbe, 2006, p. 8, in Russian.
  3. ^ "Official Website of Pamir Travel". Pamir Travel. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
  4. ^ Silk Road, North China, C.Michael Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham
  5. ^ "India's `Pamir Knot'". The Hindu. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
  6. ^ "The West Is Red". Time. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  7. ^ "Huge Market Potential at China-Pakistan Border". China Daily. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.

[edit] Further reading

  • Curzon, George Nathaniel. 1896. The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus. Royal Geographical Society, London. Reprint: Elibron Classics Series, Adamant Media Corporation. 2005. ISBN 1-4021-5983-8 (pbk; ISBN 1-4021-3090-2 (hbk).
  • Gordon, T. E. 1876. The Roof of the World: Being the Narrative of a Journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian Frontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir. Edinburgh. Edmonston and Douglas. Reprint by Ch’eng Wen Publishing Company. Taipei. 1971.
  • Toynbee, Arnold J. 1961. Between Oxus and Jumna. London. Oxford University Press.
  • Wood, John, 1872. A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. With an essay on the Geography of the Valley of the Oxus by Colonel Henry Yule. London: John Murray.
  • Horsman, S. 2002. Peaks, Politics and Purges: the First Ascent of Pik Stalin in Douglas, E. (ed.) Alpine Journal 2002 (Volume 107), The Alpine Club & Ernest Press, London, pp 199-206.
  • Leitner, G. W. 1890. Dardistan in 1866, 1886 and 1893: Being an Account of the History, Religions, Customs, Legends, Fables and Songs of Gilgit, Chilas, Kandia (Gabrial) Yasin, Chitral, Hunza, Nagyr and other parts of the Hindukush. With a supplement to the second edition of The Hunza and Nagyr Handbook. And an Epitome of Part III of the author’s “The Languages and Races of Dardistan”. First Reprint 1978. Manjusri Publishing House, New Delhi.
  • Strong, Anna Louise. 1930. The Road to the Grey Pamir. Robert M. McBride & Co., New York.
  • Slesser, Malcolm "Red Peak: A Personal Account of the British-Soviet Expedition" Coward McCann 1964
  • Tilman, H. W. "Two Mountains and a River" part of "The Severn Mountain Travel Books". Diadem, London. 1983
  • Waugh, Daniel C. 1999. "The ‘Mysterious and Terrible Karatash Gorges’: Notes and Documents on the Explorations by Stein and Skrine." The Geographical Journal, Vol. 165, No. 3. (Nov., 1999), pp. 306-320.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamir_Mountains"
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