Tajikistan – What do you know about Pamir, the mountainous region of Central Asia?

Pamir, the mountainous region of Central Asia

The Pamir is a mountainous region of Central Asia, consisting of a plateau of about 100,000 km² and between 3000 and 4000 meters above sea level. Its territory is divided between Tajikistan (in particular with the Gorno-Badakhshan region), Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and China. The Pamir is entirely made up of mountain ranges, whose highest peak is Kungur (7719 m), followed by Muztagata (7546 m), Ismail Samani Peak (7495 m), and Ibn Sina peak (7134 m). Click the link now to see our trekking trip in Tajikistan to discover the Pamir! There are also many lakes, such as Karakul, and some glaciers such as Fedčenko (72 km long). The climate is alpine, with short, cool summers and long, very harsh winters with little rainfall. Consequently, the area is covered by snow for almost the whole year and this naturally acts as a strong obstacle to the growth of vegetation, which here is very scarce and mainly presents the typical characteristics of the steppe. The harshness of this part of the world is so strong that it is sparsely populated. In fact, there are different ethnic groups such as Pamiri, Tajiks, and Kyrgyzs, who, not being able to take advantage of agriculture, are forced to survive, thanks to the breeding of sheep and what is extracted from them in the coal mines. In the 1960s, some deposits of a particular mineral called clinohumite were discovered, which were long considered the only ones in the world, until in 2000 another deposit of the same mineral was found, in the Taymyr peninsula, north of central Siberia. At one time the Pamir was famous because it was crossed by the silk road, that is that network of about 8,000 km, composed of land, sea, and river routes, which in ancient times allowed trade between the Roman and Chinese empires. Today, however, the Pamir is known because inside it there are the two highest highways in the world: the Karakorum highway that connects Pakistan to China and that of the Pamir that connects Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan. So see you in Pamir?