The Karakoram

The name Karakoram (black gravel or stone) is derived from the Karakoram Pass (5,570m) which does not even cross the main range but lies further east. Although the crest zone of the Great Karakoram is conventionally so called, the individual sections of high mountains are known as muztagh (ice mountain). The Karakoram Range forms the water-parting between drainage into the Indian ocean and into the deserts of Central Asia. It is also an important geological link between the Hercynian Pamir and the Alpine Himalaya.

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2. Karakoram Landscape, Pakistan. Section of Indus River and Karakoram Highway, south of Gilgit. Hamlets are spread on two levels of talus terraces irrigated by long channels from tributary streams. The lowest terrace beside the Indus has an army camp for road maintainance.

The Karakoram Range extends over 350 km in an east-south-east/west-north-west direction from the Siachen-Shyok confluence in the south-east to the Ishkuman River in the north-west. The high mountains are bounded by the Indus gorge and the Ladakh Range to the south, desolate plateau to the east, the Aghil Mountains to the north, and the Hindu Kush westwards beyond the Kurumbur River. Structurally, the Karakoram Range is composed of three units: the northern sedimentary zone, the central metamorphic zone with a plutonic core, and the southern volcanic schist zone.

"Still puzzling, and certainly one of the most fascinating future studies, are the connections of the N-S-striking Nanga Parbat elements of the Himalayas with the here almost E-W-striking Karakoram" (Gansser 1964, p38).

Such geological complexity is matched by extreme relief as the Karakoram Range has the greatest assemblage of giant peaks, with 33 over 7,325m, among which is K-2/Godwin Austin (8,611m). The area is the most heavily glaciated outside sub-polar latitudes: 28 to 50 per cent compared to eight to 12 per cent for the Himalayas and 2.2 per cent for the Alps. Therefore, it contains some of the longest glaciers outside sub-polar regions.

Much of the area is wild and rugged. Westwards, in Gilgit and Hunza, settlements are located on river terraces and hanging valleys at elevations ranging between 1,850m and 2,200m (Plate 2). Higher up, pastures extend from 2,000m to 3,500m.Tiny fields and orchards are irrigated by elaborate channels of melt-water. Some Hunzakut terms for varied land use are bassikish (orchard), harkish (cultivated land), ter (high pasture), and tog (irrigated meadow). Two-thirds of the population of Hunza is Burusho, the rest being Wakhi (19%) and Shinaki (13%) and a minority of Dom (1.1%) (Kreutzmann 1993). Originally a Shiite island in Sunni Pakistan, the area has become a stronghold of the Ismailiya faith. Fruit cultivation is of the uppermost importance in these valleys. In Baltistan, further east, barley cultivation depends on the snow. The hot summer enables the cultivation of a wide variety of fruit species. Aksai Chin, the northern glacis of the Karakoram itself, merges into a harsh plateau where even pastoralism is difficult. In the past, the remote valleys of the Karakoram provided a passage for hardy traders and pilgrims across domains of feuding chieftains. Their turbulence has since been replaced by major rivalries between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, and China and India in Aksai Chin. These military conflicts have opened up the area with stupendous roads, such as the 753km Karakoram Highway, that also sustain the local economies through providing access to markets.