| A mountain range, nestled between the extreme northwestern Himalaya
range and the Kunlun range, running WNW to ESE along the border between
Jammu and Kashmir and China's Xinjiang region. The range stretches
400-500 km from Afghanistan's Vakhan Corridor, where it and the Hindu Kush range fall into
the gorges of Piandz and Yarkand rivers, down to where it merges into
the Tibetan Plateau after crossing the Shyok River. The
gorge of the upper Indus River separates the Karakoram from the Himalayas.
The entire area is under dispute: Of course Jammu and Kashmir are
disputed by India and Pakistan; and several regions of the Karakoram,
especially the Aksay Qin area in the southwest, are disputed between
those two countries and China.
The Karakoram range contains four of the 14 mountain peaks over 8,000
meters, and six other peaks over 7,000 meters:
-
K2 (aka "Godwin-Austen" or "Qogir Feng"), at 8,611 meters
(28,250 feet), the second-highest peak in the world.
-
Gasherbrum I -- 8,068 m (26,470 ft)
-
Broad Peak -- 8,047 m (26,400 ft)
-
Gasherbrum II -- 8,035 m (26,360 ft)
-
Disteghil Sar -- 7,882 m (25,858 ft)
-
Masherbrum -- 7,821 m (25,660 ft)
-
Rakaposhi -- 7,788 m (25,551 ft)
-
Kanjut Sar -- 7,761 m (25,461 ft)
-
Saser Kangri -- 7,672 m (25,172 ft)
-
Haramosh Peak --7,397 m (24,270 ft)
(Note: The Karakoram range should not be confused with the ruined city
of Karakorum, Genghis Khan's capital in Mongolia, about 1600 km away). |
