page_title: Trans-Karakoram Tract
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Trans-Karakoram Tract / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Shaksgam Valley, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in southwestern China. Русский: Долина Шаксгама
context_page_description: The Trans-Karakoram Tract, also known as Shaksgam or the Shaksgam Tract, is an area of more than 2,700 sq mi north of the Karakoram, including the Shaksgam valley and Raskam. The tract is administered by the People's Republic of China as part of its Taxkorgan and Yecheng counties in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Although the area was not part of Kashmir or under Pakistan's control since 1947, it was claimed by Pakistan as part of Kashmir until the 1963 Sino-Pakistan Agreement. It is claimed by India as part of the union territory of Ladakh.
  Most of the tract is composed of the Shaksgam Valley and was formerly administered as part of Shigar, a district in the Baltistan region. A polo ground in Shaksgam was built by the Amacha Royal family of Shigar, and the Rajas of Shigar used to invite the Amirs of Hotan to play polo there. Most of the names of the mountains, lakes, rivers and passes are in Balti/Ladakhi, suggesting that this land had been part of Baltistan/Ladakh region for a long time.
  The tract is one of the most inhospitable areas of the world, with some of the highest mountains.
context_section_description: Historically the people of Hunza cultivated and grazed areas to the north of the Karakoram, and the Mir of Hunza claimed those areas as part of Hunza's territories. Those areas included the Raskam Valley, north of the Shaksgam Valley.
  In 1889 the first expedition to the Shaksgam Valley by a European was undertaken by Francis Younghusband (who referred to the Shaksgam as the Oprang).
  In March 1899 the British proposed, in a formal Note from Sir Claude MacDonald to China, a new boundary between China and British India. The Note proposed that China should relinquish its claims to suzerainty over Hunza, and in return Hunza should relinquish its claims to most of the Taghdumbash and Raskam districts. The Note proposed a border which broadly followed the main Karakoram crest dividing the watersheds of the Indus River and the Tarim River, but with a variation to pass through a Hunza post at Darwaza near the Shimshal Pass. The Chinese did not respond to the Note and the Indian government never revisited the boundary in the same form again. The MacDonald line was modified in 1905 to include in India a small area east of the Shimshal Pass, to put the border on a stretch of the Shaksgam River.
  At the same time, in view of "The Great Game", Britain was concerned at the danger of Russian expansion as Qing dynasty China weakened and so adopted a policy of claiming a border north of the Shaksgam River. This followed a line proposed by Sir John Ardagh in a Memorandum of 1897. That border included the Mir of Hunza's claim over the Raskam Valley. However, British administration never extended north of the Karakoram watershed.
  From 1899 until the independence of India and creation of Pakistan in 1947, the representation of the border on maps varied. In 1926 Kenneth Mason explored and surveyed the Shaksgam Valley.
  In 1927 the Government of British India abandoned any claim to the area north of the MacDonald line, but the decision did not find its way on to British maps. By 1959, however, Chinese maps were published showing large areas west and south of the MacDonald line in China. That year, the Government of Pakistan announced its willingness to consult on the boundary question.
  Since 1947, India claims sovereignty over the entire area of the pre-1947 independent state of Jammu and Kashmir and maintains that Pakistan and China do not share a common border.
caption: Shakshgam Valley
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