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Tian Shan
The Celestial Mountains of Central Asia, a 2,500-km system of glaciated ranges
The Tian Shan, the Celestial Mountains, sweep some 2,500 kilometres across the heart of Central Asia, a system of ice-capped ranges rising abruptly from the deserts and steppes of the Silk Road. Caravans for two thousand years skirted their feet and crossed their passes, drawn by meltwater that turns the surrounding aridity green. Among the highest non-Himalayan mountains on Earth, the range carries glaciers, alpine lakes, and summits well above 7,000 metres along the borders of four countries.
The Tian Shan is one of the world's great examples of intracontinental mountain building, reactivated and pushed skyward by the distant collision of India with Asia even though it lies far from any plate edge. Its highest peak, Jengish Chokusu, also called Pobeda or Victory Peak, reaches 7,439 metres on the Kyrgyzstan-China border. Heavily glaciated, the range feeds the rivers that sustain oasis cities in the deserts below, and it holds the spectacular high-altitude lake of Issyk-Kul, one of the largest mountain lakes anywhere.
For the nomadic peoples of Central Asia these mountains were home and pasture, their high summer meadows still grazed by herders moving with the seasons. Branches of the Silk Road threaded their valleys, carrying goods and ideas between China and the West, and the range is dotted with the remains of caravanserais and rock carvings. Today the Tian Shan spans Kyrgyzstan, China, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, parts of it recognised as a World Heritage site for its striking landscapes and biodiversity.