Pamir Mountains

Pamir Mountains
Pamir Mountains
Highest point
PeakKongur Tagh
Elevation7,649 m (25,095 ft)
Coordinates38°35′39″N 75°18′48″E / 38.59417°N 75.31333°E / 38.59417; 75.31333
Geography
CountriesTajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, China[A] and Pakistan
States/ProvincesGorno-Badakhshan, Osh Region, Wakhan, Chitral & Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang[B]
Range coordinates38°30′N 73°30′E / 38.5°N 73.5°E / 38.5; 73.5

The Pamir Mountains are a range of mountains between Central Asia and Pakistan. 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 Province of Tajikistan.[1] To the south, they border the Hindu Kush mountains along Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan Province, Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan region 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",[2] separated by the Yarkand valley from the Kunlun Mountains.

Pamir as see from the map, as well as the Amu Darya river which rises from the Pamir mountains north of the Hindu Kush.

Since Victorian times, they have been known as the "Roof of the World", presumably a translation from Persian.[3]


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  1. ^ According to the Big Soviet Encyclopedia "The question of the natural boundaries of Pamir is debatable. Normally Pamir is regarded as covering the territory from Trans-Alay Range to the north, Sarykol Range to the east, Lake Zorkul, Pamir River, and the upper reaches of Panj River to the south, and the meridional section of the Panj valley to the west; to the north-west Pamir includes the eastern parts of Peter the Great and Darvaz ranges."
  2. ^ Arnaud, N. O.; Brunel, M.; Cantagrel, J. M.; Tapponnier, P. (1993). "High cooling and denudation rates at Kongur Shan, Eastern Pamir (Xinjiang, China)". Tectonics. 12 (3): 1335–1346. doi:10.1029/93TC00767.
  3. ^ Bliss, Frank (2002-06-01). Social and Economic Change in the Pamirs (Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan): Translated from German by Nicola Pacult and Sonia Guss with support of Tim Sharp. Taylor & Francis. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-0-203-40531-4. Pamir = a Persian compilation of pay-I-mehr, the "roof of the world".