Irkeshtam
| Irkeshtam | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Irkeshtam | |
| Coordinates: 39°40′48″N 73°54′36″E / 39.68000°N 73.91000°ECoordinates: 39°40′48″N 73°54′36″E / 39.68000°N 73.91000°E | |
| Country |
 Kyrgyzstan |
| Province | Osh Province |
| Elevation | 3,005 m (9,859 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC +5 |
Irkeshtam is a village east of the Alay Valley in southern Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan. It is one of the two main border crossings between Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang, China, the other being Torugart, some 165 km (103 mi) to the northeast. Both passes lead to Kashgar, Irkeshtam from the west, and Torugart from the north.
Location
Irkeshtam is strategically located about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west of Kashgar, and controls the main trade routes leading to the west out of the Tarim Basin — the route heading down the Alay Valley towards modern Dushanbe, Termez and Balkh, as well as the alternative route which turns off to the north and then through the Terek Pass (elevation 4,128 metres (13,543 ft), which is open all year), to the Ferghana Valley, Khujand (ancient Alexandria Eschate), and Samarkand.
On the Kyrgyz side, a rather poor road goes west over a pass or divide into the Alay Valley and on to Sary-Tash, where the M41 highway leads north to Osh in the Ferghana Valley and the European road E60 to the west. Travel can be difficult due to poor infrastructure, snowfall, broken down trucks, closed customs posts, border formalities, etc.
There is now a bus that travels every Monday and Tuesday from Kashgar to Osh through Irkeshtam, and obviously travels in the other direction too. It is also possible to make more informal arrangements.[1]
Nearby settlements include Nura 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) and Ikazak 13 kilometres (8.1 mi).
History
Irkeshtam, being located at the natural dividing line between major geographic and cultural regions, has been an important border control point for at least a couple of millennia. It was known in both Han Dynasties, as well as in the Weilüe (2nd third of the 3rd century CE) as Juandu 捐毒, Wade-Giles: Chüan-tu, (literally: 'Tax Control').[2][3] It must not be confused with Juandu 身毒, which was one of the names used to refer to northwestern India.[4]
Juandu 捐毒 (Wade-Giles: Chüan-tu), is said in Hanshu 96A to contain, "380 households, 1100 individuals and 500 persons able to bear arms." It also states that: "Clothing is of the same type as that of the Wu-sun. [The people] go after water and pasture, keeping close to the Ts'ung-ling (or Pamir Mountains. Originally they were of the Sai race."[5]
It is probable that it was Irkeshtam which Ptolemy 6.13.2 refers to as the Stone Tower, and he makes it clear it was under the control of Sai or Sakai people;
"In the territory of the Sakai there rises the already mentioned mountain region of the Komedai – the ascent to the mountain region of Sogdiana lies at 125° / 43°, the position of its terminal point near the ravine of the Komedai [= the Alai Valley] is at 130° / 39°; the so-called Stone Tower lies at 135° / 143° [sic – should read 43°. See ibid. p. 38.]" [6]
Footnotes
References
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation.
- Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. John E. Hill. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
- Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
- Ronca, Italo. Ptolemaios. Geographie 6,9-21. Ostiran und Zentralasien. Teil I. Containing Greek and Latin texts. Translated and annotated in German with English translation by Italo Ronca. Instituto Italiano per il medio ed estremo Oriente. Rome 1971.