Karakorum

Karakorum, (1) a name given, but according to the best geographers erroneously, to the Muztagh range, in the western Himalayas; sometimes also it is given, again erroneously, to the Kuen-Lun range on the north of Tibet. The Mustagh or Muztagh range is that part of the Himalayas which lies to the west of the Indus and extends as far as the head of the Gilgit Valley. It embraces some of the loftiest peaks of the Himalayan system.—(2) The name is properly appropriate to a pass (18,550 feet), the culminating point of the route between India and East Turkestan, in 35° 33' N. lat. and north from Leh.—(3) Karakorum is also used to indicate the old Mongolian capital, to the north of the desert of Gobi, on the Orkhon, a tributary of the Selenga River. The ruins remain. For the mountains, see HIMALAYA; ASIA, p. 485; and Conway, Climbing in the Karakoram Mountains (1894).