Studies On The Routes Between Southern Xinjiang And British India During "the Great Game"

The background of this article is "the Great Game" between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia from middle 19th century to the early 20th century. The theme of this article is the main traffic routes across the Karakoram between Southern Xinjiang of China and the Kashmir Region of British India.The mountain passes of Karakoram are the focuses of these routes, and the author lists seven main routes between Xinjiang and India according to the different passes, and analyzes and studies the itineraries carefully, thus identifies the specific routes and the relationships between them.Chapter Ⅰ briefly describes the border between southern Xinjiang and British India, namely the Karakoram mountain range, as well as the descriptions on the routes over the range during "the Great Game". Chapter Ⅱ to Chapter Ⅷ discussed seven major transport routes through the Karakoram from east to west between China and India, respectively, the Changchenmo route, the Karakoram Pass route, the Mustagh Pass route, the Shimshal Pass route, the Khunjerab Pass route, the Mintaka Pass route and the Kilik Pass route. The last chapter compares and discusses the using and exploring situation of these routes, thus analyzes the hidden factors like history, politics, geography and others.In these seven routes between China and India, the Karakoram Pass route in the east is the most commonly used traditional route between Yarkand, Khotan in Xinjiang and Ladakh in Kashmir. The Changchenmo route was located near the Karakoram Pass route, in the early era of "the Great Game", due to the increased demands for the trades of British India with China’s Xinjiang and other places in Central Asia, this route was was temporarily implemented, but then gradually been abandoned for various reasons. The Mustagh Pass located between Baltistan and Xinjiang, in the era of the Great Game", because of the expansion of the glaciers, it had been difficult to access. Although it has opened a new pass near the old one, this route still failed to restore its former condition, most explorations were scientific investigation. The Shimshal Pass is located between the Yarkand River valley and the Hunza Valley, on the Karakoram watershed between the Tarim River and India River. The route over this pass was the main route of the Kanjuti raids to southern Xinjiang. The Khunjerab Pass, the Mintaka Pass and the Kilik Pass were all located between the Hunza valley of Indian Kashmir and Sarikol of Chinese Xinjiang. This area was junction of China, Russia, British India and Afghanistan, in the late era of "the Great Game", it became the front line between Britain and Russia in the fight for the Pamir region. The Khunjerab Pass route was the nearest, but it also had the higher elevations and greater difficulty to access. The Mintaka Pass route was frequently used in the past, in many cases this route with the Karakoram Pass route were two major traffic routes between China and India, but then it became difficult to pass due to the movement of glaciers. Owing to a more gentle uphill and wider valleys, the Kilik Pass near the Mintaka Pass was more suitable for horses to access, and thus been used more frequently.The article analyzes the different routes from multiple angles, like political, economic, natural, etc., and studies it with the background of the conflicts between Britain, Russia and also China, to restore the historical significance behind these routes.The materials of this article are mostly the first-hand information from the surveys and description of the western explorers and Chinese officers who visited these areas in that time. Most of the foreign materials are rarely used by former scholars.In addition to traditional text records, maps are also effectively utilized, which includes the maps of the Qing dynasty and those from the British Indian Offices and the Royal Geography Society. Thus history and geography are closely combined, and a number of new research results and faults of the predecessors are found out.On research methods, the article involves several subjects, like History and Geography of Chinese Borderland, the history of communication between china and the west, Turkic and Tibetan studies, Modern European geographical discovery, historical geography and Linguistics. It provides a new example of the comprehensive researches in these areas.