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Pamirs
The Pamir Mountains are a 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, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world's highest mountains. Much of the Pamir Mountains lie in the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan. Spanning the border parts of four countries, to the south, they border the Hindu Kush mountains along Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan Province, Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan regions of Pakistan. To the north, they join the Tian Shan mountains along the Alay Valley of Kyrgyzstan. To the east, they extend to the range that includes China's Kongur Tagh, in the "Eastern Pamirs", separated by the Yarkand valley from the Kunlun Mountains. Since the Victorian era, they have been known as the " Roof of the World", presumably a translation from Persian. Names and etymology In other languages The Pamir region is home t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roof Of The World
The Roof of the World or Top of the World is a metaphoric epithet or phrase used to describe the highest region in the world, also known as High Asia. The term usually refers to the mountainous interior of Asia, including the Pamirs, the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau, the Hindu Kush, the Tian Shan, the country of Nepal, and the Altai Mountains. Attested usage The British explorer John Wood, writing in 1838, described ''Bam-i-Duniah'' (Roof of the World) as a "native expression" (presumably Wakhi), and it was generally used for the Pamirs in Victorian times: In 1876, another British traveler, Sir Thomas Edward Gordon, employed it as the title of a book and wrote in Chapter IX: Older encyclopedias also used "Roof of the World" to describe the Pamirs: *''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th ed. (1911): "PAMIRS, a mountainous region of central Asia...the Bam-i-Dunya ('The Roof of the World')". *''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 1942 edition: "the Pamirs (Persian = roof of the worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorno-Badakhshan
Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area but only two percent of its population.''Population of the Republic of Tajikistan as of 1 January 2008'', State Statistical Committee, Dushanbe, 2008 Name The official English name of the autonomous region is the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region. The name ''Badakhshan'' (from ; ) is derived from the Sasanian title or . "Gorno-Badakhshan" literally means "mountainous Badakhshan" and is derived from the Russian name of the autonomous region, (literally Gorno-Badakshan autonomous ''oblast''). The Russian abbreviation "GBAO" is also commonly used in English-language publications by national and international bodies such as the government of Tajikistan and the United Nations. History Borders and political authority in the Western Pamir had always been contest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 outside of the Hindu Kush/Karakoram and Himalaya ranges. Geography Kongur Tagh is within a range called the Kongur Shan (.) Kongur Tagh is located just north of Muztagh Ata and visible from Karakul Lake. Some sources use "Kongur Shan" mistakenly to refer to the peak itself. The Kongur Shan range, including Muztagh Ata, is separated by the major Yarkand River valley from the Kunlun Mountains and thus is included in the "Eastern Pamirs". Kongur Tagh is the highest peak in the Pamirs. Due to its remoteness and being hidden by nearby peaks, Kongur was not discovered by Europeans until 1900. However, the building of the Karakoram Highway from Pakistan to China, which runs past nearby Tashkurgan and Karakul Lake, has now made it more accessib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Kush, the Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh River, Vakhsh and Panj River, Panj rivers, in the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and flows from there north-westwards into the South Aral Sea, southern remnants of the Aral Sea. In its upper course, the river forms part of Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. In ancient history, the river was regarded as the boundary of Greater Iran with Turan, which roughly corresponded to present-day Central Asia.B. SpulerĀmū Daryā in Encyclopædia Iranica, online ed., 2009 The Amu Darya has a flow of about 70 cubic kilometres per year on average. Names In classical antiquity, the river was known as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yarkand River
The Yarkand River (or Yarkent River, Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho) is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It originates in the Siachen Muztagh in a part of the Karakoram range and flows into the Tarim River or Neinejoung River, with which it is sometimes identified. However, in modern times, the Yarkand river drains into the Midstream Reservoir and exhausts its supply without reaching the Tarim river. The Yarkand River is approximately in length, with an average discharge of . A part of the river valley is known to the Kyrgyz people as Raskam Valley, and the upper course of the river itself is called the Raskam River. Another name of the river is Zarafshan. The area was once claimed by the ruler of Hunza. Course The river originates from the Siachen Muztagh in the Karakoram range in India– Sinkiang border region, south of the Kashgar Prefecture. It flows roughly due north until reaching the foot of the Kunlun Mountains. Then it flows northwest wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alay Valley
The Alai Valley is a broad, dry valley running east–west across most of southern Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. Geography The valley spreads over a length of east–west. It has a width of in the west, in the central part, and in the east. The altitude of the valley ranges from near Karamyk to at the Taunmurun Pass with an average altitude of about . The area of the valley is . The north side is the Alay Mountains which slope down to the Ferghana Valley. The south side is the Trans-Alay Range along the Tajikistan border, with Lenin Peak, (). The western or so is more hills than valley. On the east lies the Taunmurun (alternative spellings Taukmurun and Tongmurun) Pass and then more valley leading to the Erkeshtam border crossing to China. The eastern Kyzyl-Suu River, Kyzyl-Suu ('Red River') flows from the Taunmurun Pass past Erkeshtam toward Kashgar. The western Kyzyl-Suu flows west from the Taunmurun Pass and drains most of the valley, flowing on the north ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Kunlun Mountains have been known as the "Forefather of Mountains" in China. The exact definition of the Kunlun Mountains varies over time. Older sources used Kunlun to mean the mountain belt that runs across the center of China, that is, Altyn Tagh along with the Qilian and Qin Mountains. Recent sources have the Kunlun range forming most of the south side of the Tarim Basin and then continuing east, south of the Altyn Tagh. Sima Qian ('' Records of the Grand Historian'', scroll 123) says that Emperor Wu of Han sent men to find the source of the Yellow River and gave the name Kunlun to the mountains at its source. The name seems to have originated as a semi-mythical location in the classical Chinese text '' Classic of Mountains and Seas''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karakoram
The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is within Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region, the northern subdivision of Kashmir. Karakoram's highest and the List of highest mountains on Earth#List of world's highest peaks, 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, controlled by India and Aksai Chin, controlled by China. It is part of the larger Trans-Himalayan mountain ranges. The Karakoram is the Greater Ranges, second-highest mountain range on Earth and part of a complex of ranges that includes the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush, and the Indian Himalayas. The range contains 18 summits higher tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is at the Turpan Depression, which is below sea level. The Tian Shan is sacred in Tengrism. Its second-highest peak is known as Khan Tengri, which can be translated as "Lord of the Spirits". At the 2013 Conference on World Heritage, the eastern portion of Tian Shan in western China's Xinjiang Region was listed as a World Heritage Site. The western portion in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan was then listed in 2016. Geography Tian Shan with the ancient Silk Road The Tian Shan range is located north and west of the Taklamakan Desert and directly north of the Tarim Basin. It straddles the border regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang in Northwest China. To the south, it connects with the Pamir Mountains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Persian suffix "-stan" (meaning ) in both respective native languages and most other languages. The region is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the southwest, European Russia to the northwest, China and Mongolia to the east, Afghanistan and Iran to the south, and Siberia to the north. Together, the five Central Asian countries have a total population of around million. In the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras ( and earlier) Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by Iranian peoples, populated by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians, Khwarezmian language, Chorasmians, and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Dahae. As the result of Turkic migration, Central Asia also became the homeland for the Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Volga Tatars, Tatars, Turkmens, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 the Tajikistan–Uzbekistan border, west, Kyrgyzstan to the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border, north, and China to the China–Tajikistan border, east. It is separated from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. It has a population of over 10.7 million people. The territory was previously home to cultures of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, including the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, Oxus civilization in west, with the Indo-Iranians arriving during the Andronovo culture. Parts of country were part of the Sogdia, Sogdian and Bactria, Bactrian civilizations, and was ruled by those including the Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenids, Alexander the Great, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Greco-Bactrians, the Kushan Empire, Kushans, the Kid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. It has an area of , with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its Urbanization by country, highly urbanized population is concentrated. The combined Free area of the Republic of China, territories under ROC control consist of list of islands of Taiwan, 168 islands in total covering . The Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, largest metropolitan area is formed by Taipei (the capital), New Taipei City, and Keelung. With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated countries. Tai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
