Karakoram Karakoram The Karakoram, or Karakorum is a large mountain range spanning the borders of Pakistan, India, and China, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It begins in the Wakhan Corridor (Afghanistan) in the west and encompasses the majority of Gilgit–Baltistan (Pakistan) and extends into Ladakh (India), and the disputed Aksai Chin region controlled by China. It is the second highest mountain range in the world, and part of the complex of ranges including the Pamir Mountains, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayan Mountains. . The Karakoram has eight summits over height, with four of
Balti language "Byaltae" from , which, in Tibetan, means "water gorge." The historian Ptolemy, also a general in the army of Alexander the Great, named the region "Byaltae" in his book. In fact, Baltistan is the Persian translation of "Baltiyul", "homeland of Balti." Balti people are settled on both banks of the Indus River from Kargil district in the east to Haramosh Peak in the west and from the Karakoram in the north to Deosai National Park in the south. The Balti ethnicity is primarily Tibetan in origin, with some Dardic admixture. Balti is a Tibetic language. In some rural areas, the