Wakhan

The Wakhan (Persian, also Vakhan or Wak ) is a 7,000 meters high -rise mountains in the far north-eastern Afghanistan, where a narrow mountain valley forms the Afghan corridor between Tajikistan, the Uighur part of the PRC and the Northern Province of Pakistan. Its latitude is on average 37.1 ° and the length from 72.7 to 74.0 °.

Geography

The Wakhan is located north of the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush and belongs geologically to the mountain system of the Pamir, be politically south to Afghanistan's northern province of Badakhshan. In the hard to reach, almost roadless area of ​​approximately 300 × 100 km are several major sources of the Amu Darya 2800 km long ( the ancient Oxus ), especially the Pamir, the Wakhan Darya and the Panj. The northern areas came in 1873 by a treaty between Russia and British India to Tajikistan ( Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region today ), the southern to the buffer state of Afghanistan. Only this part is now called the (actual ) Wakhhan and forms a 300 km long, 30-60 km wide corridor of Badakshan to the Tarim Basin in western China. This east-west route was already in the antiquity of importance. From the middle Wakhan at Sarhadd ( 3,400 m, where the paved road ends ) of the Broghil - Pass ( 3,790 m ) through the Hindu Kush to Pakistan from the eastern end of the Wakhan of Wakhjir Pass ( 4,923 m) to Xinjiang.

The approximately 6000-7500 m high mountain passes in two east-west main chains either side of the Wakhan Darya and narrows to about 200 km, where it joins with the Pamir to the Panj. After another 100 km river bend and northern mountain range to the north, where they continue to form the border Afghanistan Tadschikiszan. The Südkette is counted here the Hindu Kush and culminates in Noshak ( 7,485 m) and Tirich Mir ( 7,708 m, even in Pakistan).

Habitable the area is practically only in the valley of Wachandarja, because even this main river of the area runs in altitudes between 4,000 and 2,800 meters. The population consists of about 10,000 Wakhi and several thousand nomadic Kyrgyz.

Scientific Exploration

The hard to reach mountain ranges were up to 1960 geographically almost unexplored. First there was just some sketches for the course of the ridges and later a Soviet military map very small scale ( 1:200,000 ), which was created from a presumably border image flight.

When some Polish mountaineers and scientists came in the 1960s in the region, in an even poorly detailed general map. A longer cooperation with Austria began in 1970, when a research expedition (Afghanistan EXPLORATION '70 ) Graz University of Technology received approval, some high valleys of the Wakhan mapped and take up botany (ref. su, K.Gratzl 1972). Among the 15 expedition members Roger Senarclens de Grancy and Robert Kostka were responsible for surveying, terrestrial photogrammetry and cartography. Also, research on anthropology, the Wakhi language and local agriculture were carried out.

In 1975 was followed by a second, larger expedition with partially the same scientists to expand the geoscientific exploration, to complete and connect with maps of the Hindu Kush. Because of this field work the Austrian Alpine Association was a few years later to publish even a geological map 1:250,000. In subsequent years, the study was complemented by satellite remote sensing, but then came the wars to a standstill.

Literature and sources

  • District in Afghanistan
  • Mountains in Asia
  • Region in Afghanistan
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