Pamir Range
The Pamirs form a complex mountain knot where the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Alayskiy, Tian Shan, and Kunlun Shan converge. This "Roof of the World" results from the colliding Eurasian and Indian Ocean tectonic plates. The echelon grouping of ranges extends 135,000 square kilometers and reaches above 7,000 meters on three summits. Peak Communism (7,495 meters) was the highest mountain in the former Soviet Union. The 75-kilometer-long Fedchenko Glacier is one of the largest between Alaska and Antarctica.
Intercepted moisture from the Gulf of Arabia and the Mediterranean Sea sustains the Amu Dar'ya and Syr Dar'ya Rivers, Central Asia's lifelines and principal tributaries to the Aral Sea. The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), Asiatic brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus), and Marco Polo sheep (Ovis poli) thrive in the upper elevations, while riparian birch forests and juniper stands provide vital habitat for numerous other species.
Since antiquity, warring factions have prized the Pamir Range for its strategic location between mountain and desert, ocean and interior. Approximately 90 percent of the Pamirs lie within the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan, while Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and China claim the periphery. Camel caravans traversed here between the tenth and nineteenth centuries.
The region remains a veritable ethnolinguistic museum. The Tajiks of Iranian heritage grow potatoes and wheat on river terraces in the western Pamirs. Pamirians (Mountain Tajiks) cultivate wheat, fruit, and nuts in the more arid canyons of the eastern mountains. Both groups lead goats and sheep to high pastures in the summer. Further east, the nomadic Kyrgyz of Mongol ancestry herd yaks in the shadow of the eastern Pamir Mountains and adjacent Pamir Plateau.
During the nineteenth century "Great Game," imperial Great Britain, czarist Russia, and China coveted the Pamirs to protect their adjacent colonial interests. The Soviets gained control until their empire dissolved in 1991, although their rule still infiltrates every facet of Central Asian economy, society, and political life. Long-suppressed ethnoreligious fervor erupted into civil war just six months after independence. The conflict still simmers between periods of fragile peace accords brokered by the United Nations and Russia.
Stephen F. Cunha
Further Reading
Cunha, Stephen F. (1997) "Summits, Snow Leopards, Farmers, and Fighters: Will Politics Prevent a National Park in the High Pamirs of Tajikistan?" Focus 66: 1.
Olufsen, Ole. (1904) Through the Unknown Pamirs: The Second Danish Pamir Expedition, 1898–99. London: William Heinemann.
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