Karakorum (redirected from Kara Korum)

Karakorum, ruined city, Mongolia

Karakorum (kä'rəkō`rəm), ruined city, central Republic of Mongolia, near the Orkhon River, SW of Ulaanbaatar. The area around Karakorum had been inhabited by nomadic Turkic tribes from the 1st cent. A.D., but the city itself was not laid out until c.1220, when Jenghiz Khan, founder of the Mongol empire, established his residence there. As capital of the Mongols, Karakorum was visited (c.1247) by a papal mission under Giovanni Carpini. The city was abandoned (and later destroyed) after Kublai Khan, grandson of Jenghiz, transferred (1267) the Mongol capital to Khanbaliq (modern Beijing). The noted Lamaist monastery of Erdeni Dzu was built near Karakorum in 1586. The ruins of the ancient Mongol city were discovered in 1889 by N. M. Yadrinstev, a Russian explorer, who also uncovered the Orkhon Inscriptions (see Orkhon). Karakorum is also the name of a nearby site, which in the 8th and 9th cent. was the capital of the Uigurs.

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Karakorum, mountain range, Kashmir

Karakorum or Karakoram, mountain range, extending c.300 mi (480 km), between the Indus and Yarkant rivers, N Kashmir, S central Asia; SE extension of the Hindu Kush. It covers disputed territory, held by China on the north, India on the east, and Pakistan on the west. Karakorum's main range has some of the world's highest peaks, including K2 (Mt. Godwin-Austen; 28,250 ft/8,611 m), the second highest peak in the world. Karakorum also has several of the world's largest glaciers. Its southern slopes are the watershed for many tributaries of the Indus River. The mountains, the greatest barrier between India and central Asia, are crossed above the perpetual snow line by two natural routes.

Karakorum Pass (alt. 18,290 ft/5,575 m), the chief pass, is on the main Kashmir-China route. Another important pass, Khunjerab (Kunjirap) Pass (alt. 15,420 ft/4,700 m), is on the Pakistan-China route (see Hunza).

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Karakorum

Ancient capital, Mongol empire. Its ruins lie on the upper Orhon River in north-central Mongolia. It was settled c. 750. Genghis Khan established his headquarters there in 1220. In 1235 his son and successor, Ögödei, enclosed the city with walls and built a palace. Chinese forces invaded Mongolia and destroyed Karakorum in 1388. It was later partially rebuilt but was abandoned by the 16th century. The ruins are included in a regional UNESCO World Heritage site designated in 2004.

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Karakorum

a ruined city in Mongolia: founded in 1220 by Ghenghis Khan; destroyed by Kublai Khan when his brother rebelled against him, after Kublai Khan had moved his capital to Peking (now Beijing)

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Karakorum 

(Mongolian, Khara-Khorin), capital of the ancient Mongolian empire. Founded by Genghis Khan in 1220, the city existed until the 16th century. Its ruins are located on the upper Orkhon River. Information about Karakorum is contained in Chinese chronicles and the notes of the 13th-century European travelers Giovanni de Piano Carpini, Marco Polo, and Guillaume Rubruquis. The Russian scholar N. M. Iadrintsev investigated the ruins of Karakorum in the late 19th century. By analyzing historical sources, A. M. Pozdneev confirmed the city’s location at the Buddhist monastery of Erdeni Dzuu (built in 1585 in the southern part of Karakorum). In 1948–49 a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition, under the direction of S. V. Kiselev, conducted excavations at Karakorum. The remains of the palace of Ugedei, which was built on a granite foundation, were discovered in the southwestern part of the city. The remains of a Buddhist shrine with wall paintings, dating from the late 12th century or early 13th century, were discovered. The trade and artisan quarters and other objects were investigated in the central part of the city. Plowed fields irrigated by canals were located to the east of the city.

REFERENCES

Atlas drevnostei Mongolii, fasc. 1. St. Petersburg, 1899.
Pozdneev, A. Mongoliia i mongoly, vols. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1896–98.
Iadrintsev, N. M. “Puteshestvie na verkhov’ia Orkhona k razvalinam Karakoruma.” Izvestiia russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva, 1890, vol. 26, issue 4.
Drevnemongol’skie goroda. Moscow, 1965.

L. A. EVTIUKHOVA