Karatash River
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The Karatash River (Koshan, Ku'shan Ho), is south of
Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...
in the
Kongur Tagh The Kongur Tagh (meaning 'Brown Mountain' in English) is the highest peak in the Pamir Mountains, and also the highest mountain wholly within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. With an elevation of , it is also the highest mountain out ...
Range, (also referred to as the 'Kongur Shan', or 'Kongur Alps'), of the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...
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 ...
. It runs from near the eastern side of the 'Old Karatash Pass' (which is about 30 km southeast of Karakul lake, to the east and then northerly through the small Khirghiz villages of Shargut, Chat, Chimgan and Khan-Terek, flowing out into the
Taklamakan Desert The Taklamakan Desert ( ) is a desert in northwest China's Xinjiang region. Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang, it is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the ...
about halfway between
Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...
and
Yangi Hissar Yengisar County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly transliterated as Yangi Hissar, from , United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency), also known as Yingjisha County, United States National Geospatial- ...
.
"In a sense, the Karatash was very well-known historically, but only in its upper reaches. These lie on what seems to have been a standard trade route from
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 ...
to Lake Karakul and beyond."
The lower gorges are very steep, narrow and rough. The British Consul-General in Kashgar, Clarmont P. Skrine, described them in a letter of 1922 as "mysterious and terrible." In the upper valley, near the village of Chat, a community surrounded by wheat fields, of about "three dozen mud-brick houses, a school and a sizeable 'club' whose veranda is decorated with wall paintings," the valley is quite open and easy to travel. The river is fordable just above Chat.Waugh (1999), pp. 312-313.


Kongur Tagh

The highest peak in the Kongur Shan is Kongur Tagh or Kongkoerh (; ) (also referred to as Kongur), 7,649 m (25,095 ft), is the highest peak of the
Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kun ...
in China, and the highest peak with its summit wholly within the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...
. Sometimes it is considered to be a part of 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 ...
.


See also

*
List of rivers in China Rivers that flow through China are as follows. The list is organized according to the body of water into which each river empties, beginning with the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast, moving clockwise on a map and ending with the Arctic Ocean. S ...
* List of rivers in Asia


Footnotes


References

* *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.


External links

* For photos click on

Rivers of Xinjiang Sites along the Silk Road {{China-river-stub