Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PAMIRS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 657 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

PAMIRS , a mountainous region of central See also:

Asia, lying on the See also:north-See also:west border of See also:India. Since 1875 the Pamirs have probably been the best explored region in High Asia. Not only have many travellers of many nationalities directed their steps towards the See also:Bam-i-dunya (" the Roof of the See also:World ") in See also:search of See also:adventure or of scientific See also:information, but the See also:government surveys of See also:Russia and India have met in these high altitudes, and there effected a connexion which will help to solve many of the See also:geodetic problems which beset the superficial survey of Asia. Since See also:Wood first discovered a source of the See also:Oxus in See also:Lake See also:Victoria in 1837, and See also:left us a somewhat erroneous conception of the physiography of the Pamirs, the See also:gradual approach of Russia from the north stimulated the processes of exploration from the See also:side of India. Native explorers from India first began to be busy in the Pamirs about 186o, and continued their investigations for the following fifteen years. In 1874 the See also:mission of See also:Sir D. Forsyth to Yarkand led to the first systematic See also:geographical exploitation of the Pamir See also:country. In 1885 See also:Ney See also:Elias made his famous See also:journey across the Pamirs from See also:east to west, identifying the Rang Kul as the See also:Dragon Lake of See also:Chinese geographers—a distinction which has also been claimed by some geographers for Lake Victoria. Then See also:Lockhart and Woodthorpe in 1886 passed along the Wakhan tributary of the Oxus from its See also:head to Ishkashim in See also:Badakshan, and completed an enduring See also:record of most excellent geographical See also:research. Bonvalot in 1887, Littledale in 1888, See also:Cumberland, See also:Bower and Dauvergne, followed by Younghusband in succeeding years, extending to 189o; See also:Dunmore in 1892 and Sven Hedin in 1894-1895, have all contributed more or less to Pamir See also:geography; but the honours of successful inquiry in those high altitudes still fall to See also:Lord Curzon, whose researches in 1894 led to a singularly clear and comprehensive description of Pamir geography, as well as to the best See also:map compilation that till then had existed. Meanwhile See also:Russian explorers and Russian topographers had been equally busy from the north. The famous soldier Skobelev was probably the first See also:European to visit the See also:Great Kara Kul.

He was followed by scientific See also:

missions systematically organized by the Russian government. In 1883 Putiata's mission started See also:south. Gromchevsky was hard at See also:work from 1888 to 1892. Yanov began again in 1891, after a See also:short spell of See also:rest, and has left his See also:mark as a permanent record in the valley of Sarhad (or Wakhan), between the Baroghil pass and Bozai Gumbaz. Finally, in 1895, the Russian mission under See also:General Shveikovsky met the See also:British mission under General See also:Gerard on the See also:banks of Lake Victoria, and from that point to the Chinese frontier eastward demarcated the See also:line which thereafter was to See also:divide Russian from British interests in highest Asia. Since then other travellers have visited the Pamirs, but the junction of the Russian and British surveys (the latter based on triangulation carried across the See also:Hindu Kush from India) disposes of any further claim to the honours of geographical exploration. Our estimate of the extent of Pamir conformation depends much on the significance of the word Pamir. If we accept the Pamir conyersian derivation of the See also:term (which is advanced formation. by Curzon as being perhaps the most plausible), pai-mir, or " the See also:foot of See also:mountain peaks," we have a See also:definition which is by no means an inapt See also:illustration of the actual facts of configuration. It has been too often assumed that the See also:plateau of See also:Tibet and the uplands of the Pamirs are analogous in physiography, and that they See also:merge into each other. This is hardly the See also:case. Littledale points out (R. G.

S. Journ., vol. vii.) that the high-level valleys of glacial formation which distinguish the Pamirs have no real counterpart in the Chang or plains of Tibet. The latter are 2000 ft. higher; they are intersected by narrow ranges, and are drained by no See also:

rivers of importance. They See also:form a region of See also:salt lakes and stagnant marshes, relieved by wide See also:flat spaces of open plateau country. The See also:absence of any vegetation beyond grass or scrub is a striking feature See also:common to both Pamir and Chang, but there the resemblance ceases, and the See also:physical conformation of mountain and valley to the east and to the west of the upper See also:sources of the Zarafshan is radically distinct. The See also:axis, or backbone, of Pamir formation is the great' meridional mountain See also:chain of Sarikol—the See also:ancient See also:Taurus of The tradition and See also:history—on which stands the highest Pamirs. See also:peak north of the See also:Himalaya, the Murtagh Ata (25,000 ft.). This chain divides off the high-level sources of the Oxus on the west from the streams which sweep downwards into the See also:Turkestan depression of See also:Kashgar on the east. There are the true Pamirs (i.e. valleys reaching up in See also:long slopes to the foot of mountain peaks) on either side, and the Pamirs on the west differ in some essential respects from those on the east. On the west the following are generally recognized as distinct Pamirs: (1) the Great Pamir, of which the dominant feature is Lake Victoria; (2) the Little Pamir, separated from the Great Pamir on the north by what is now known as the Nicolasrange; (3) the Pamir-i-Wakhan, which is the narrow trough of the Wakhan tributary of the Oxus, the term Pamir applying to its upper reaches only; (4) the Alichur—the Pamir of the Yeshil Kul and Ghund—immediately to the north of the Great Pamir; (5) the Sarez Pamir, which forms the valley of the See also:Murghab See also:river, which has here found its way See also:round the east of the Great Pamir and the Alichur from the Little Pamir, and now makes westwards for the Oxus. This See also:branch was considered by many geographers as the See also:main Oxus stream, and Lake Chakmaktin, at its head, was by them regarded as the Oxus source. At the foot of the Sarez Pamir stands the most advanced Russian out-See also:post of Murghabi. To the north-east of the Alichur are the Rang Kul and the Kara Kul (or Kargosh) Pamirs.

Rang Kul Lake occupies a central See also:

basin or depression; but the Kara Kul drains away north-eastwards through the Sarikol (as the latter, bending westwards, merges into the Trans-Alai) to Kashgar and the Turkestan plains. Similar characteristics distinguish all these Pamirs. They are hemmed in and separated by See also:snow-capped mountain peaks and ridges, which are seamed with glaciers terminating in moraines and See also:shingle slopes at the See also:base of the foot-hills. Long sweeps of grassy upland bestrewn with boulders See also:lead from the stream beds up to the snowfields, yellow, See also:grey or vivid See also:green, according to the See also:season and the measure of sunlight, See also:fold upon fold in interminable See also:succession, their See also:bleak monotony being only relieved by the See also:grace of See also:flowers for a short space during.the summer months. To the east of the Sarikol chain is the Taghdumbash Pamir, which claims many of the characteristics of the western Pamirs at Its upper or western extremity, where the Karachukar, which drains it, is a comparatively small stream. But where the Karachukar, joining forces with the Khunjerab, stretches out northwards for a comparatively straight run to See also:Tashkurghan, dividing asunder the two parallel ranges of Sarikol and Kandar, which together form the Sarikol chain, the appellation Pamir can hardly be maintained. This is the richest portion of the Sarikol See also:province. Here are See also:stone-built houses collected in scattered detachments, with a spread of cultivation reaching down to the river. Here are See also:water-See also:mills and many permanent appliances of See also:civilization suited to the See also:lower See also:altitude (11,500 ft., the See also:average height of the upper Pamirs being about 13,000), and here we are no longer near the sources of the river at the foot of the mountain peaks. One other so-called Pamir exists to the east of Sarikol, separated therefrom by the eastern range (the Kandar) of the Sarikol, which is known as Mariom or Mariong. But this Pamir is situated nowhere near the sources of the Zarafshan or Raskam river, which it See also:borders, and possesses little in common with the Pamirs of the west. The Mariom Pamir defines the western extremity of the Kuen Lun, which stretches east-wards for 250 M. before it becomes the See also:political boundary of See also:northern Tibet.

The Murtagh chain, which holds within its grasp the mightiest See also:

system of glaciers in the world, forms a junction with the Sarikol at the head of the Taghdumbash, where also another great system (mac of the Hindu Kush) has its eastern roots. The The political boundary between the extreme north of the Murtagh See also:Kashmir dependencies and the extreme south of Chinese Chain and Turkestan is carried by the Zarafshan or Raskam river Karakoram which runs parallel to the Murtagh at its northern foot See also:Extension. (ii. See also:galley dividing the Murtagh from the Kuen Lun), to a point in about 79° 20' E., where it is transferred to the See also:watershed of the Xuen Lun. Within the limits of these partially explored See also:highlands, lying between the Pamirs and the Tibetan table-See also:land, exact geographical definition is impossible. But we may follow See also:Godwin-See also:Austen in accepting the main chain of the Murtagh as merging into the central mountain system of the Tibetan Chang, its axis being defined and divided by the transverse stream of the Shyok at its westward See also:bend, whilst the Karakoram range, in which the Shyok rises, is a subsidiary northern branch. The pass over the Karakoram (18,500 ft.) is the most formidable obstacle on the main See also:trade route between See also:Leh and Kashgar. The Taghdumbash Pamir occupies a geographical position of some political significance. One important pass (the Beyik, 15,100 ft.) leads from the Russian Pamirs into Sarikol across its TheTaghnorthern border. A second pass (the Wakhjir, 16,15o ft.) dumbash connects the head of the Wakhan valley of See also:Afghanistan Pamir. with the Sarikol province across its western head, whilst a third (the Kilik, 15,600 ft.) leads into the head of the See also:Hunza river and opens a difficult and dangerous route to See also:Gilgit. The Taghdumbash is claimed both by See also:China and Kanjut (or Hunza), and there is consequently an open boundary question at this corner of the Pamirs. From Lake Victoria of the Great Pamir the northern boundary of that extended See also:strip of Afghanistan which reaches out to the head Boundary of the Taghdumbash from Badakshan north of the Hindu between Kush is to be traced: westwards, in the Lake Victoria Russia and affluent of the Oxus; and eastwards, on the See also:Nicolas Afghan- range, dividing the Great and Little Pamirs, till it overistan. looks a point on the See also:Aksu (or Murghab) river in about 740 40' E.

Here it diverges southwards to the Sarikol chain, north of Taghdumbash. This eastward extension was laid down by the Pamir Boundary See also:

Commission of 1895. All the head of the Little Pamir, with the Wakhan valley, is consequently Afghan territory, but no military posts have been established so far. The Alichur, Rang Kul, Kargosh (Kara Kul) and Sarez are Russian Pamirs. The Mariom Pamir is Chinese. The Wakhan glaciers under the Wakhjir water-parting, Lake Chakmaktin near the sources of the Aksu, and Lake Victoria of the Great Pamir have all been claimed as indicating the Sources of true source of the Oxus. But detailed examination of the Oxus. their hydrographical conditions proves that neither of the two lakes, Victoria (13,400 ft.) or Chakmaktin (13,020 ft-), can justly be regarded as sources, both of them being derived from the same mighty system of glacial snowfields on the See also:summit of the Nicolas range. Both may be regarded as incidents in the course of glacial streams (incidents which are diminishing in See also:volume See also:day by day), rather than See also:original springs or sources. The same glacial beds of the Nicolas range send down tributary See also:waters t,, the Panja or Wakhan river, below its junction with the See also:ice stream from Wakhjir, and thus it becomes impossible to decide whether the glaciers of the Wakhjir or the glaciers of Nicolas should be regarded as effecting the most important contribution to the main stream. There is See also:evidence also that glacial See also:moraine formations from See also:time to time may have largely affected the catchment See also:area of these tributary streams. It would be as rash to assert that from Lake Victoria no waters could ever have issued with an eastward flow as it would be to See also:state that from Chakmaktin none ever flow westwards The measure of the veracity of Chinese pilgrims and geographers in the See also:early centuries of our era must not be balanced on such points as these. There is no evidence that the Pamirs were ever the support of permanent settlements.

The few mud-built buildings which once See also:

Population existed at Chakmaktin and at Langer only decide and Ethno- See also:recent occupation which could hardly have possessed a 'gm aphs permanent See also:character, and the few shrines and domed tombs which are scattered here and there about the empty desolation of the Pamir slopes are all of them of recent construction. The nomadic population which seeks pasturage during the summer months in these dreary altitudes is entirely See also:Kirghiz, and we may take it for granted that it will soon be entirely Russian. The non-Russian population during the summer of 1895 could not have amounted to more than a few See also:hundred souls—occupying a few encampments in the Little Pamir and in the Taghdumbash. The See also:total population of the Russian Pamirs has been reckoned at 250 " kibitkas," or 1500 souls. There is no ethnographical distinction to be traced between the Kirghiz of the Alichur Pamir and the Kirghiz of the Taghdumbash. The Kirghiz are Sunni Mahommedans by faith, but amongst them there are curious survivals of an ancient See also:ritual of which the Evidences origin is to be traced to those Nestorian See also:Christian the communities of Central Asia which existed in the of of the /of See also:middle ages. A Christian bishopric existed at Yarkand Sviva in Marco See also:Polo's time, and is supposed to have survived Christian mbi al n for another See also:century (1350). The last Gurkhan of the Kara Khitai See also:Empire in the early See also:part of the 13th century (the legendary Prester See also:John) was a member of a Christian tribe called Naiman, which is one of the four See also:chief tribal divisions mentioned by Ney Elias. The Neiman tribe claim kinship with the Kipchaks. It is curious that the same survival of Christian ceremonial should be found amongst the Sarikoli, a Shiah See also:people of See also:Aryan descent akin to the Tajiks of Badakshan, as may be traced amongst the Kirghiz. Christian symbols have been discovered in the See also:southern towns of Chinese Turkestan by Sven Hedin. The total area of the Pamir country may be estimated as about 150 m. long by 150 M. broad, of which about one-tenth is grass Area of pasture land and the rest mountainous.

All of it once the Pamirs- part of the ancient See also:

kingdom of Bolor, itself a survival of the yet more ancient empire of the Yue-chi, Tokharistan ; and across it, in spite of its bleak inhospitality, there have been one or two recognized trade routes from east to west throughout all ages. The most important commercially Trade was that which passed north-west via Tashkurghan Routes, and Rang Kul, from Chinese Turkestan to the khanates north of the Oxus; but the route via Tashkurghan and Lake Victoria to Badakshan was also well trodden. The great See also:pilgrim route of Buddhist days was that which connects the ancient Buddhist cities of the Takla Makan in Chinese Turkestan with See also:Chitral (Kashkar), by the Baroghil Pass across the Hindu Kush. This was but one See also:link in a chain of devout peregrinationwhich stretched from China to India, and which included every intervening Buddhist centre of See also:note which existed in the early centuries of our era. For six or seven months of the See also:year (See also:November to See also:April) the Pamirs are covered with snow, the lakes are frozen, and the passes nearly impracticable. The mean temperature during See also:climate the See also:month of See also:January recorded by Russian observers at the Murghabi—or Pamirski—post is -130 F. In Pamirs. the See also:July this rises to 62' F., the See also:elevation of the station being mirs. 12,150 ft. During the See also:spring and summer months the prevalence of fierce cutting winds, which are shaped by the conformation of the valleys into blasts as through a See also:funnel, following the strike of the valleys either up or down, makes travelling painful and existence in See also:camp most unpleasant. In the absence of See also:wind the summer See also:atmosphere is often See also:bright and exhilarating, but there is a See also:constant tendency to sudden squalls of wind and See also:rain, which pass as quickly as they gather. The most settled record of the Pamir Boundary Commission of 1895 lasted from the 19th of See also:August to the 11th of See also:September, the maximum temperature being recorded at 770 on the 21st of August at Kizil See also:Rabat (12,570 ft.); and yet on the 16th of August snow had fallen to the See also:depth of 6 in. and the Beyik Pass was blocked.

There were indications that See also:

monsoon influences extended as far north at least as the Great Pamir, and a definite See also:analogy was established between the record of barometric pressure on the Pamirs and that of the See also:outer ranges of the Himalaya. Au'raoRrrlas.—See also:Captain J. Wood, A Journey to the Source of the Oxus (new ed., See also:London, 1872), See also:Report of the Forsyth Mission (See also:Calcutta, 1875) 1875) ; See also:Colonel T. E. See also:Gordon, The Roof of the World (London, 1876) ; See also:Pitman (trans.), Through the See also:Heart of Asia (London, 1889) ; See also:Earl of Dunmore, The Pamirs (London, 1893) ; See also:Major Cumberland, See also:Sport on the Pamirs (London, 1895) ; Hon. G. N. Curzon, " The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus," R. G. S. Journ., vol. viii.; Report of the Proceedings of the Pamir Boundary Commission (Calcutta, 1897). (T.

H.

End of Article: PAMIRS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PALWAL 		[next]
PAMONREY

Site © 2006 - Net Industries