The Karakoram () is a
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
in the
Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
region spanning the border of
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and
Tajikistan
Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is within Pakistan's
Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...
region, the northern subdivision of Kashmir.
Karakoram's highest and the
world's second-highest peak,
K2, is located in Gilgit-Baltistan. The mountain range begins in the
Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan in the west, encompasses the majority of Gilgit-Baltistan, controlled by Pakistan and then extends into
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
, controlled by India and
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet, and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir regio ...
, controlled by China. It is part of the larger Trans-Himalayan mountain ranges.
The Karakoram is the
second-highest mountain range on Earth and part of a complex of ranges that includes the
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...
,
Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...
, and the
Indian Himalayas.
The range contains 18 summits higher than in
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
, with four above :
K2 (
AMSL) (the second-highest peak on Earth),
Gasherbrum I,
Broad Peak, and
Gasherbrum II.
The range is about in length and is the most
glaciated place on Earth outside the
polar regions. The
Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range of the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends in northeastern Kashmir. At long, it is the longest glaci ...
( 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 bounded on the east by the
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet, and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir regio ...
plateau, on the northeast by the edge of the
Tibetan Plateau and on the north by the river valleys of the
Yarkand
Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...
and
Karakash rivers beyond which lie the
Kunlun Mountains. At the northwest corner are the
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...
. The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed, west to east, by the
Gilgit,
Indus and
Shyok rivers, which separate the range from the northwestern end of the
Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...
range proper. These rivers flow northwest before making an abrupt turn southwestward towards the plains of
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. Roughly in the middle of the Karakoram range is the
Karakoram Pass, which was part of a historic trade route between
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
and
Yarkand
Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...
that is now inactive.
The
Tashkurghan National Nature Reserve and the
Pamir Wetlands National Nature Reserve in the Karalorun and Pamir mountains have been nominated for inclusion in
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
in 2010 by the National Commission of the People's Republic of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
for
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
and have been tentatively added to the list.
Name
Karakoram is a
Turkic term meaning ''black gravel''. The Central Asian traders originally applied the name to the
Karakoram Pass.
Early European travellers, 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") for the range now known as Karakoram.
Later terminology was influenced by the
Survey of India, whose surveyor
Thomas Montgomerie in the 1850s gave the labels K1 to K6 (K for Karakoram) to six high mountains visible from his station at
Mount Haramukh in
Kashmir Valley, codes extended further up to more than thirty.
In traditional Indian geography the mountains were known as Krishnagiri (black mountains), ''Kanhagiri'' and ''Kanheri''.
Exploration
Due to its altitude and ruggedness, the Karakoram is much less inhabited than parts of the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
further east. European explorers first visited early in the 19th century, followed by
British surveyors starting in 1856.
The
Muztagh Pass was crossed in 1887 by the expedition of Colonel
Francis Younghusband 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
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
. Mountain
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
s 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 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.
*
Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range of the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends in northeastern Kashmir. At long, it is the longest glaci ...
*
Baltoro Glacier
*
Hispar Glacier
*
Batura Glacier
*
Biafo Glacier
*
Chogo Lungma Glacier
*
Yinsugaiti Glacier
Ice Age
In the last
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
, a
connected series of glaciers stretched from western
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
to
Nanga Parbat, and from the
Tarim basin to the
Gilgit District.
[ (glacier map]
downloadable
To the south, the
Indus glacier was the main valley glacier, which flowed down from
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

Here is a list for the highest peaks of the Karakoram. Included are some of the mountains named with a K code, the most famous of which is the
K2 (mountain).
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.
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. 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 or Pakora 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
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
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
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
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
The Karakoram Highway (, ), also known as the KKH, National Highway 35 (), N-35, and the ChinaPakistan Friendship Highway, is a National Highways of Pakistan, national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab p ...
*
List of mountain ranges
This is a list of mountain ranges on Earth and a few other astronomical object, astronomical bodies. First, the highest and longest mountain ranges on Earth are listed, followed by more comprehensive alphabetical lists organized by continent. Rang ...
of the world
*
List of highest mountains
There are at least 108 mountains on Earth with elevations of or greater above sea level. Of these, 14 are more than . The vast majority of these mountains are part of either the Himalayas or the Karakoram mountain ranges located on the edge o ...
(a list of mountains above )
*
Mount Imeon
*
Naltar Valley
*
Trans-Karakoram Tract
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)
''Kim'' is a picaresque novel by English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in ''McClure's, McClure's Magazine'' from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in ''Cassell's Magazine'' from January to November 1901, and fir ...
''; 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
* Dainelli, G. (1932)
A Journey to the Glaciers of the Eastern Karakoram ''The Geographical Journal'', 79(4), 257–268.
External links
The Northern Kashmir Website
Pakistan's Northern Areas dilemmaGreat Karakorams– images on
Flickr
Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...
{{Authority control
Mountain ranges of Afghanistan
Landforms of Badakhshan Province
Mountain ranges of Pakistan
Mountain ranges of Gilgit-Baltistan
Mountain ranges of India
Mountains of Ladakh
Mountain ranges of China
Mountain ranges of Xinjiang
Sites along the Silk Road
Turkic words and phrases