The
Karakoram Highway, or KKH, one of the wonders of modern Pakista, twists between
four great mountain ranges – the Himalayas, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and
the Pamirs. On the map the ranges resemble a giant squid, with its head in the
Pamirs and its tentacles waving in long lines around it, but from the air the
mountains are an almighty jumble. There are 70 peaks in Baltistan (Skardu) and
Gilgit over 6,000 metres (20,000 ft), the best known being Nanga Parbat, K-2
and Rakaposhi.
These vast
mountain ranges began to form some 80 to 100 million years ago when the Indian
sub-continent started drifting northwards until it collided with the Asian land
mass. India is still trundling northwards at the geologically reckless speed of
30 mm a year, and the mountain ranges are still developing. In the middle of
the collision belt lies the Indus-Kohistan area, which is on a small ‘oceanic’
plate which has been crushed between the Indian and Asian plates. It was
originally a system of volcanic islands, now squeezed and tilted northwards.
The Karakoram Highway cuts a convenient section through this geologically
fascinating plate, from the base at Pattan to the top at Chalt near Hunza.
The
Karakoram mountain range has 12 out of the highest 30 mountains in the world.
It covers three-quarters of Pakistan’s northern areas. The name is Turkish and
means crumbling rock – an apt description. The range contains the longest
glaciers in the world outside the Polar region, four of them longer than 50 km
(30 miles).
Pakistan’s
northern areas were traditionally lumped together under the name of Dardistan,
meaning the country of the Dards, a collective name for the many tribes
inhabiting the area. Because the tribes live in isolated valleys, they have
retained great cultural and linguistic diversity. Marco Polo on his travels
along the Silk Route in the 13th century, called it ‘noisy with
kingdoms’.
