Karakoram Mountains

　　The Karakoram Range is a major mountain chain situated between Tibet in China and Kashmir, running parallel to the Punjab Himalayas (a part of the Greater Himalayas). It is also the world’s second highest mountain range. Stretching approximately 400 kilometers in a northwest–southeast direction, it extends through northern India and Pakistan. The name “Karakoram” comes from the Turkic language, meaning “black gravel.” This name is somewhat unfitting for the range’s dazzling, snow-capped peaks. In Chinese historical records, the Karakoram Mountains were referred to as the “Congling,” which in the Uyghur language means “the purple-black Kunlun Mountains.”