View source for Karakoram Pass

{{Short description|Mountain pass between Pakistan and China}}
{{For|road between Pakistan and China|Karakoram Highway|Khunjerab Pass}}
{{Infobox mountain pass
| name = Karakoram Pass
| other_name = 
| photo = 
| photo_caption = 
| photo_alt = 
| map = Karakoram#Pakistan #India#China Xinjiang Southern#China
| map_caption = Location of the Karakoram Pass within the greater [[Karakoram]] region
| map_size = 
| label = Karakoram Pass
| label_position = top
| elevation = {{convert|5540|m|ft}}
| elevation_ref = 
| location = [[Ladakh]], [[India]] – [[Xinjiang]], [[China]]
| range = [[Karakoram Range]]
| topo = 
| region = 
| scale = 
| source = 
| display = 
| format =
| coordinates = {{coord|type:pass|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref = 
| traversed = Robert Shaw (1868); Francis E. Younghusband (1889); Theodore Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt (1926).
}}
{{chinese
|s=喀喇昆仑山口
|t=喀喇崑崙山口
|uig=قاراقۇرۇم ئېغىزى
|p=Kālǎkūnlún Shānkǒu
|uly=Qaraqorom Ëghyzy
}}
{{OSM Location map
| coord = {{coord|35.5|77.8}}   <!-- Map center -->
| float = right
| zoom = 5
| width = 275 <!-- width and height of the frame. numeric input - do not add px -->
| height = 200
| caption = Karakoram Pass
| minimap = file
| mini-file = India Jammu and Kashmir location map UN view.svg
| mini-width = 100
| mini-height = 73
| minipog-x = 69
| minipog-y = 22
| scalemark = 120
| shape = image
| mark-coord1 = {{coord|35.513333|77.823056}} <!-- Karakoram Pass -->
| mark1 = Mountain pass 12x12 ne.svg
| mark-size1 = 10
| label1 = Karakoram Pass
| label-size1 = 10
| label-color1 = black
| label-pos1 = right
| mark-title1 = Karakoram Pass
| mark-image1 =
| mark-description1 = Karakoram Pass
| mark-coord2 = {{coord|34.145397|77.567614}} <!-- Leh -->
| mark2 = Red pog.svg
| mark-size2 = 8
| label2 = Leh
| label-size2 = 10
| label-color2 = black
| label-pos2 = right
| mark-title2 = Leh
| mark-image2 =
| mark-description2 = Capital of Ladakh
| mark-coord3 = {{coord|38.416667|77.25}} <!-- Yarkand -->
| mark3 = Red pog.svg
| mark-size3 = 8
| label3 = Yarkand
| label-size3 = 10
| label-color3 = black
| label-pos3 = right
| mark-title3 = Yarkand
| mark-image3 =
| mark-description3 = City in Tarim Basin
| mark-coord4 = {{coord|35.4|77.1}} <!-- Siachen glacier -->
| mark4 = Mountain 001.svg
| mark-size4 = 8
| label4 = Siachen glacier
| label-size4 = 10
| label-color4 = black
| label-pos4 = left
| mark-title4 = Siachen glacier
| mark-image4 =
| mark-description4 = Controlled by India, disputed by Pakistan
}}
The '''Karakoram Pass''' ({{Langx|ug|قاراقۇرۇم ئېغىزى}}) is a {{convert|5540|m|disp=or|abbr=on|sigfig=5}}<ref>[[SRTM]] data; the figure is now known to be a few meters lower than the figure of 5578 provided in Rizvi, Janet. ''Trans-Himalayan Caravans : Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh'', p. 28. 1999. Oxford University Press. New Delhi. {{ISBN|0-19-564855-2}}.</ref> [[mountain pass]] between [[India]] and [[China]] in the [[Karakoram Range]].<ref name="hinduopinion">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/pass-to-better-relations-with-china/article4663659.ece|title=Pass to better relations with China|year=2013|work=The Hindu |access-date=7 July 2013|location=India}}</ref>  It is the highest pass on the ancient caravan route between [[Leh]] in [[Ladakh]] and [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]] in the [[Tarim Basin]]. The name 'Karakoram' comes from a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] meaning 'Black Gravel'.<ref>Younghusband, Francis E. ''The Heart of a Continent: A Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Himalayas, the Pamirs and Chitral, 1884-94''. First published: 1897. London. Unabridged facsimile (2005): Elibron Classics Replica Edition, p. 225. London {{ISBN|1-4212-6551-6}} (pbk); {{ISBN|1-4212-6550-8}} (hbk).</ref>

Historically, the high altitude of the pass and the lack of fodder were responsible for the deaths of countless [[pack animal]]s while the route was notorious for the trail of bones strewn along the way.<ref>Shaw, Robert. (1871). ''Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar''. Reprint with Introduction by Peter Hopkirk (1984): Oxford University Press, p. 431. {{ISBN|0-19-583830-0}}.</ref> There is an almost total absence of vegetation on the approaches to the pass.<ref>Rizvi, Janet. ''Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia'', p. 48. 1983. Oxford University Press. Reprint: Oxford University Press, New Delhi (1996). {{ISBN|0-19-564546-4}}.</ref>

Travelling south from the pass involved three days' march across the barren [[Depsang Plains]] at about {{convert|5300|m|abbr=on|sigfig=3}}.<ref>Rizvi, Janet. (1999). ''Trans-Himalayan Caravans : Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh'', p. 216. Oxford University Press. New Delhi. {{ISBN|0-19-564855-2}}.</ref> To the north, the country was somewhat less desolate and involved travellers crossing the relatively easy and lower Suget Dawan (or Suget Pass)<ref>Younghusband, Francis E. ''The Heart of a Continent: A Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Himalayas, the Pamirs and Chitral, 1884-94''. First published: 1897. London. Unabridged facsimile (2005): Elibron Classics Replica Edition, p. 226. London {{ISBN|1-4212-6551-6}} (pbk); {{ISBN|1-4212-6550-8}} (hbk).</ref>  before reaching the lush grazing grounds around Shahidullah or [[Xaidulla]] in the upper valley of the [[Karakash River]].

The pass is in a [[col|saddle]] between two mountains and about {{convert|45|m}} wide. There is no vegetation or icecap and it is generally free of snow due to the winds. Temperatures are low, there are often very high winds, blizzards are frequent, and the extreme altitude often took its toll. In spite of all this, the Karakoram Pass was considered a relatively easy pass due to the gradual ascent on both sides, and lack of summer snow and ice much of the year.  Consequently, the pass was open throughout most of the year.<ref>Rizvi, Janet. (1999). ''Trans-Himalayan Caravans : Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh'', pp. 28, 217. Oxford University Press. New Delhi. {{ISBN|0-19-564855-2}}.</ref> There is no motorable road across the pass, and the pass currently remains closed to all traffic.

==Geopolitical issues==
The Karakoram pass falls on the boundary between India's union territory of [[Ladakh]] and China's [[Xinjiang]] autonomous region.

It also plays a major geographic role in the dispute between Pakistan and India over control of the [[Siachen Glacier]] area immediately to the southwest of the pass. This area has been under control of [[India]] (currently administered as part of the union territory of [[Ladakh]]) since 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110606/edit.htm|title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Opinions}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1141375|title=Siachen: The place of wild roses|first1=Feryal Ali|last1=Gauhar |first2=Ahmed|last2=Yusuf|date=2 November 2014|access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-26967340|title=Siachen dispute: India and Pakistan's glacial fight|first=Andrew|last=North|date=12 April 2014|access-date=4 August 2017|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-gained-control-over-Siachen-in-1984/articleshow/12589168.cms|title=India gained control over Siachen in 1984 - Times of India|access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndtv.com/blog/the-siachen-story-then-and-now-755796|title=The Siachen Story, then and Now}}</ref> This situation arose from the [[Simla Agreement]], signed in 1972 between India and Pakistan, when the treaty failed to specify the last {{convert|100|km|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} or so of the cease-fire line from the end of the [[Line of Control]] to the border with China.

A potential China-India-Pakistan [[tripoint]] at Karakoram Pass is referenced in a [[Sino-Pakistan Agreement|1963 boundary treaty between China and Pakistan]] concerning the [[Trans-Karakoram Tract]], but India was not party to that treaty nor any tripoint agreement.<ref>{{cite book
  |last = Anderson
  |first = Ewan W.
  |title = International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas
  |publisher = [[Routledge]]
  |page = 180
  |year = 2003
  |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E7-menNPxREC&pg=PA180 
  |isbn = 978-1-57958-375-0}}</ref> The current ''de facto'' tripoint is about 100&nbsp;km west of the pass near [[Indira Col]] in the [[Siachen Muztagh]], where the [[Actual Ground Position Line]] between Indian and Pakistani forces meets the border with China.

==Historical maps==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
STANFORD(1917) p61 PLATE19. SINKIANG (14597194848).jpg|Map including Karakoram Pass (18,307) (1917)
Map India and Pakistan 1-250,000 Tile NI 43-4 Chulung.jpg|Map including Karakoram Pass ([[Army Map Service|AMS]], 1953){{efn|From map: "THE DELINEATION OF INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES ON THIS MAP MUST NOT BE CONSIDERED AUTHORITATIVE"}}
Txu-oclc-6654394-ni-43-5th-ed.jpg|Map including Karakoram Pass ([[Army Map Service|AMS]], 1966){{efn|From map: "THE DELINEATION OF INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES MUST NOT BE CONSIDERED AUTHORITATIVE"}}
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Depsang Plains]]
* [[Daulat Beg Oldi]]
* [[India-China Border Roads]]
* [[List of mountain passes of India]]
* [[List of locations in Aksai Chin]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Resources==
* Schmidt, Jeremy. ''Himalayan Passage: Seven Months in the High country of Tibet, Nepal, China, India & Pakistan''. 1991. The Mountaineers Books, Seattle.

{{Ladakh}}
{{Xinjiang topics}}
{{Mountain passes of China}}
{{Mountain passes of India}}

[[Category:Mountain passes of China]]
[[Category:Mountain passes of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:China–India border]] 
[[Category:Mountain passes of India]]
[[Category:Mountain passes of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Borders of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Mountain passes of the Karakoram]]