Pamir mountains in Central Asia. Description, history and photos

A Mountainous country of Pamir since ancient times, attracts adventurers. Once it was the most mountainous region in the USSR. Pamir wanted to conquer a... No wonder he was called “roof of the world”. There are many famous peaks of the planet. Although the Pamir mountains are not as high as, for example, the Himalayas and the Karakoram, some of the vertices it remained unconquered.

Location Pamir

Pamir – mountains, or rather it is a large mountainous country located in the southern part of Central Asia. The territory of the Pamirs is within the boundaries of four countries: Tajikistan (the main part), Afghanistan, China and India. The Pamir plateau was formed at the junction of the ridges of these mountain ranges like Hindu Kush, Kunlun, Karakoram and Tien Shan. Cover an area of sixty thousand square miles of the Pamir mountains. The photo below shows how extensive this mountainous country.

The consensus about the origin of the name mountain of the country. Among the transcripts are such as “roof of Mithras" (the sun God in Mithraism), as well as “roof of the world”, “the foot of death” and even “bird's paw”.

Pamir mountains

The highest mountains of the Pamirs reach almost eight thousandth heights. Dominates all the vertices of this mountainous country peak Kongur. It is located on the territory of China, and the height of 7.72 km 200 meters below the peak of Ismail Samani is 7.5 km away, which used to be in Soviet times was called the peak of Communism, and before that – even at the peak of Stalin. The Pamir mountains which have Russian names were up to 90 years part of the Soviet Union.

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The Peak of Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Russian version – Avicenna peak), is named after the medieval scholar and physician, with a height of 7.13 km, twice changed its name. In the period before the restructuring he carried the name of Lenin peak and originally the pioneers were called peak Kaufman (the end of XIX century).

It is Also widely known Korjenevskaya peak (elevation 7.1 km), the Russian scientist named in honor of his beloved wife.

Pamir

Pamir mountains, which represent a rough quadrilateral with raised edges. The area is rich in deposits of gold, coal, mica, rock crystal, lapis lazuli.

A Long, harsh winters (at an altitude of 3.6 km, the average temperature level January – 18 degrees Celsius, while the cold season lasts between October to April, including extreme months), alternating with short and cool summers (average temperature in the hottest month – July – is only about 14 degrees Celsius). Humidity varies widely, depending on the area of 60 to 1100 mm of precipitation per year.

However, the extremely harsh climate is accompanied by a rather diverse fauna. Especially memorable are the animals argali-big mountain sheep, one horn of which can reach thirty pounds of weight. And shaggy yaks and the handsome snow leopard. In addition to them, at different altitudes are home to several species of goats (Kiyko, the markhor), long-tailed marmots, sheep-armaly, Tibetan foxes and wolves.

In the highlands of the Pamirs is inhabited by such birds as the reel, great rosefinch, Finch, Ular. And ponds nesting ducks-reserve, Indian geese, Golden eagles, white-tailed eagles.

Among the ichthyological diversity can be highlighted such endemic fish species, as the naked Osman and Marinka (which is poisonous).

History of the conquest

The History of the systematic study of the mountainous country began in 1928, when the Soviet expedition to the Pamirs. It managed to open the huge Fedchenko glacier, to conquer Lenin peak and make a number of important dimensions.

In 1933, the Soviet climbers succumbed to Communism peak (the highest on the territory of the former USSR), and in 50-e years of the twentieth century was conquered peaks Korzhenevskaya, Revolution, Muztag-ATA (7.55 kilometers) and Centertube (7.6 kilometers). The highest peaks of the Pamirs reached in 1981, an English expedition under the command of Bonington.

The Lake of the Pamir plateau. Kara-Kul

The biggest lake in the mountain country of Kara-Kul. The name of the lake (Black lake) has several explanations. One of them, it deserved a darker shade of water during strong wind. According to another version, the water of the Black lake suddenly rose, inundating coastal village, and the encrypted name of the people's grief over this terrible tragedy.

Towering above the lake, the Eastern Pamir. Mountains, where there are various large lakes. The deepest of them is lake Sarez (0.5 km deep), and the biggest – Kara-Kul. At the height of 4000 m a huge lake with an area of 380 square kilometers and a depth of 240 meters, almost lifeless. As the lake there is no runoff, its water is very salty, as well as at the bottom are slowly melting remains of the ancient glacier, the water is still extremely cold.

Despite the almost total absence of the usual flora and fauna in the lake, the popular rumor inhabits its waters with different mythical creatures. In particular, it is believed that its waters are dragons, flying horse stealing foals, and even mermaids. However, the icy waters of the lake do not have tourists for swimming, and mermaids, apparently, have to diet.