Roof of the world

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Physical map of Central Asia from the Caucasus in the NW, to Mongolia in the NE.

Roof of the World is a metaphoric description of the highest region in the world - "High Asia", the interior of Asia. The term is also used for parts of this region, for

In Victorian times1 and in older encyclopedias the term was exclusively used for the Pamirs:

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed.(1911): "PAMIRS, a mountainous region of central Asia...the Bam-i-dunya ('The Roof of the World')"2
  • The Columbia Encyclopedia 1942 edition: "the Pamirs (Persian ='roof of the world')"3
  • Hachette, 1890: "Le toit du monde (Pamir)", i.e."Roof of the World (Pamir)" 4
  • Der Große Brockhaus (the most comprehensive German encyclopedia), Leipzig 1928-1935: "Dach der Welt, Bezeichnung für das Hochland von Pamir", i.e. "roof of the world, term describing the Pamir highlands"5and, (in translation): "Pamir highlands, nodal point of the mountain systems of Tien-Shan, Kun-lun, Karakorum, the Himalayas and Hindukush, and therefore called the roof of the world."6

With the awakening of public interest in Tibet the Pamirs, "since 1875 ... probably the best explored region in High Asia, 7 went out of the limelight, and the description "Roof of the World" was increasingly applied to Tibet and the Tibetan plateau8, and occasionally, esp. in French ("Toît du monde"), even to Mt. Everest9, but the traditional use is still alive10

Where the world's tallest mountain ranges meet
Panorama of the Pamirs, the Original Roof of the World

References

  1. ^ Pamir Mountains
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed.(1911)
  3. ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia 1942 edition, p. 1335
  4. ^ Guillaume Capus, Le Toit Du Monde (Pamir), voyage extreme orient. Illustré De 31 Vignettes Et D'Une Carte, Paris, Hachette et Cie. 1890 = Bibliographia Marmotarum. Ramousse R., International Marmot Network, Lyon, 1997. ISBN : 2-9509900-2-9 Guillaume Capus
  5. ^ Der Große Brockhaus in 20 vols, 15th ed., Leipzig 1928 - 35, vol.4 (1929), p. 319
  6. ^ Der Große Brockhaus, vol. 14 (1933), p. 96
  7. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)
  8. ^ Tibetan Plateau
  9. ^ e.g. Encyclopédie´et Dictionairres Larousse or French WP , or photo: Toît du Monde
  10. ^ cf. "the Pamirs, a region they know as POMIR – “the roof of the world".

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 19:14.

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