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KARAKORUM (Turkish, " black stone deb...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 676 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KARAKORUM (See also:Turkish, " See also:black See also:stone debris ") , the name of two cities in See also:Mongolia. One of these, according to G. Potanin, was the See also:capital of the See also:Uighur See also:kingdom in the 8th See also:century, and the other was in the 13th century a capital of the See also:steppe See also:monarchy of Mongolia. The same name seems also to have been applied to the Khangai range at the headwaters of the Orkhon. (1) The Uighur KARAKORUM, also named Mubalik (" See also:bad See also:town "), was situated on the See also:left See also:bank of the Orkhon, in the Talal-khain-dala steppe, to the See also:south-See also:east of Ughei-nor. It was deserted after the fall of the Uighur kingdom, and in the loth century Abaki, the founder of the Khitan kingdom, planted on its ruins a stone bearing a description of his victories. (2) The Mongolian KARAKORUM was founded at the See also:birth of the Mongolian monarchy established by Jenghiz See also:Khan. A See also:palace for the khan was built in it by See also:Chinese architects in 1234, and its walls were erected in 1235. Plano See also:Carpini visited it in 1246, See also:Rubruquis in 1253, and Marco See also:Polo in 1275. Later, the See also:fourth Mongolian See also:king, Kublai, left Karakorum, in See also:order to reside at Kai-See also:pin-fu, near See also:Peking. When the khan Arik-See also:bog declared himself and Karakorum See also:independent of Kublai-Khan, the latter besieged Karakorum, took it by See also:famine, and probably laid it See also:waste so thoroughly that the town was afterwards forgotten. The exact sites of the two Mongolian capitals were only established in 1889-1891.

See also:

Sir H. See also:Yule (The See also:Book of Marco Polo, 1871) was the first to distinguish two cities of this name. The See also:Russian traveller Paderin in 1871 visited the Uighur capital (see Tunics), named now by the See also:Mongols Kara Balghasun (" black See also:city ") or Khara-kherem (" black See also:wall "), of which only the wall and a See also:tower are in existence, while the streets and ruins outside the wall are seen at a distance of 14 m. Paderin's belief that this was the old Mongol capital has been shown to be incorrect. As to the Mongolian Karakorum, it is identified by several authorities with a site on which towards the See also:close of the 16th century the Buddhist monastery of Erdeni Tsu was built. This monastery lies about 25 M. south by east of the Uighur capital. See also:North and north-east of the monastery are ruins of See also:ancient buildings. See also:Professor D. Pozdneev, who visited Erdeni Tsu for a second See also:time in 1892, stated that the earthen wall surrounding the monastery might well be See also:part of the wall of the old city. The proper position of the two Karakorums was determined by the expedition of N. Yadrintsev in 1889, and the two expeditions of the See also:Helsingfors Ugro-Finnish society (189o) and the Russian See also:academy of See also:science, under Dr W. Radlov (1891), which were sent out to study Yadrintsev's See also:discovery.

See See also:

Works (Trudy) of the Orkhon Expedition (St See also:Petersburg, 1892) ; Yule's Marco Polo, edition revised by See also:Henri Cordier (of See also:Paris), vol. i. ch. xlvi. (See also:London, 1903). Cordier confines the use of Karakorum to the Mongol capital; Pozdneev, Mongolia and the Mongols, vol. i. (St Petersburg, 1896) ; C. W. See also:Campbell, " Journeys in Mongolia," Geog. Journ. vol. xx. (1903), with See also:map. Campbell's See also:report was printed as a See also:parliamentary See also:paper (See also:China No. z, z9o4). KARA-KUL, the name of two lakes (" See also:Great " and " Little ") of Russian See also:Turkestan, in the See also:province of See also:Ferghana, and on the Pamir See also:plateau. Great) Kara-kul, 12 M. See also:long and 10 m. wide (formerly much larger), is under 39° N., to the south of the Trans-Alai range, and lies at an See also:altitude of 13,200 ft.; it is surrounded by high mountains, and is reached from the north over the Kyzyl-See also:art pass (14,015 ft.). A See also:peninsula projecting from the south See also:shore and an See also:island off the north shore See also:divide it into two basins, a smaller eastern one which is shallow, 42 to 63 ft:, and a larger western one, which has depths of 726 to 756 ft: It has no drainage outlet.

Little Kara-kul lies in the north-east Pamir, or Sarikol, north-See also:

west of the Mustagh-ata See also:peak (25,850 ft.), at an altitude of 12,700 ft. It varies in See also:depth from 79 ft. in the south to 50 to 70 ft. in the See also:middle, and loon ft, or more in the north. It is a See also:moraine See also:lake; and a stream of the same name flows through it, but is named Ghez in its farther course towards See also:Kashgar in East Turkestan. KARA-See also:KUM ("Black Sands "), a See also:flat See also:desert in Russian Central See also:Asia. It extends to nearly ' 1o,000 sq. m., and is bounded on the N.W. by the Ust-urt plateau, between the See also:Sea of See also:Aral and the See also:Caspian Sea, on the N.E. by the Amu-darya, on the S. by the See also:Turkoman oases, and on the W. it nearly reaches the Caspian Sea. Only part of this See also:surface is covered with See also:sand. There are broad expanses (takyrs) of See also:clay See also:soil upon which See also:water accumulates in the See also:spring; in the summer these are muddy, but later quite dry, and merely a few See also:Solanaceae and bushes grow on them. There is also shor, similar to the above but encrusted with See also:salt and See also:gypsum, and relieved only by Solanaceae along their See also:borders. The See also:remainder is occupied with sand, which, according to V. Mainov, assumes five different forms. (1) Barkhans, chiefly in the east, which are mounds of loose sand, 15 to 35 ft. high, hoof-shaped, having their gently sloping See also:convex sides turned towards the prevailing winds, and a See also:concave See also:side, 3o° to 4o° steep, on the opposite slope. They are disposed in See also:groups or chains, and the winds drive them at an See also:average See also:rate of 20 ft. annually towards the south and south-east.

Some grass (Stipa pennata) and bushes of saksaul (Haloxylon ammodendron) and other steppe bushes (e.g. Calligonium, Halimodendron and Atraphaxis) grow on them. (2) Mounds of sand, of about the same See also:

size, but irregular in shape and of a slightly firmer consistence, mostly bearing the same bushes, and also See also:Artemisia and Tamarix; they are chiefly met with in the east and south. (3) A sandy desert, slightly undulating, and covered in spring'with grass and See also:flowers (e.g. tulips, Rheum, various See also:Umbelliferae), which are soon burned by the See also:sun; they See also:cover very large spaces in the south-east. (4) Sands disposed in waves from 50 to 70 ft., and occasionally up to See also:loo ft. high, at a distance of from 200 to 400 ft. from each other; they cover the central portion, and their vegetation is practically the same as in the preceding See also:division. (5) See also:Dunes on the shores of the Caspian, composed of moving sands, 35 to 8o ft. high and devoid of vegetation. A typical feature of the Kara-kum is the number of " old See also:river beds," which may have been either channels of tributaries of the Amu and other See also:rivers or depressions which contained elongated salt lakes. Water is only found in See also:wells, to to 20 M. apart—sometimes as much as loo m.—which are dug in the takyrs and give saline water, occasionally unfit to drink, and in pools of See also:rain-water retained in the See also:lower parts of the takyrs. The See also:population of the Kara-kum, consisting of See also:nomad See also:Kirghiz and Turkomans, is very small. The region in the north of the province of Syr-darya, between Lake Aral and Lake Chalkarteniz, is also called Kara-kum. (P. A.

K. ; J. T.

End of Article: KARAKORUM (Turkish, " black stone debris ")

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