Roof of the World
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roof of the World is a metaphoric description of the highest region in the world, also known as "High Asia", or the Trans-Himalaya, the mountainous interior of Asia. The term is also used for parts of this region, for
- the Pamirs,
- Tibet
- the Himalayas
- Mount Everest
For ancient geography, see Mount Imeon.
The name was first applied to the Pamirs. The British explorer John Wood, writing in 1838, described Bam-i-Duniah (Roof of the World) as a "native expression" (presumably Wakhi)[1], and it was used for the Pamirs In Victorian times and in older encyclopedias:
- 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)", French for "Roof of the World (Pamir)".[4]
- Der Große Brockhaus, Leipzig 1928-1935: "Dach der Welt, Bezeichnung für das Hochland von Pamir", i.e., "roof of the world, term describing the Pamir highlands",[5] and (in translation): "Pamir highlands, nodal point of the mountain systems of Tien-Shan, Kun-lun, Karakoram, 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",[2] went out of the limelight and the description "Roof of the World" has been increasingly applied to Tibet and the Tibetan plateau, and occasionally, esp. in French ("Toît du monde"), even to Mt. Everest,[7] but the traditional use is still alive.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Keay, J. (1983) When Men and Mountains Meet ISBN 0 7126 0196 1 p.153
- ^ a b Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed.(1911)
- ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia 1942 edition, p. 1335
- ^ 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
- ^ Der Große Brockhaus in 20 vols, 15th ed., Leipzig 1928–35, vol. 4 (1929), p. 319
- ^ Der Große Brockhaus, vol. 14 (1933), p. 96
- ^ Encyclopédie´et Dictionaires Larousse.
- ^ The Pamirs, a region known to locals as Pomir – “the roof of the world".
