| Tso Tang | |
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| File:Tso Tang 2022-08-22 Sentinel-2 L2A True color.jpg Sentinel-2 image (2022) | |
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| Location | Aksai Chin, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang |
| Coordinates | 34°53′42.96″N 79°21′29.94″E / 34.8952667°N 79.3583167°E |
| Native name | མཚོ་ཐང (Standard Tibetan) |
| Surface area | 38 km2 (15 sq mi) |
| Surface elevation | 4,800 m (15,700 ft) |
| Frozen | Winter |
| Tso Tang |
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Tso Tang (Historically Tso Thang;[1] Tibetan: མཚོ་ཐང; lit. 'Lake of the Plain'[1]) is an alkaline lake located in the disputed territory of Aksai Chin in Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang province of China.
History[edit | edit source]
In the late 1800s, in order to facilitate trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Tarim Basin, the British attempted to promote a caravan route via the Chang Chenmo Valley as an alternative to the difficult and tariffed Karakoram Pass.[2] Tso Tang was on this route. British Army surgeon Henry Cayley who was part of a mission to Yarkand that took this route noted the lake as "brackish but quite potable."[1]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cayley, Henry (18 August 1868). Henry Brabazon Urmston (ed.). Report on the Route to the Karakash River via Changchenmoo Valley and Pass. Selections from the Records of the Government of the Punjab and Its Dependencies (Report). New Series. No. II. Lahore: Government Press (published 1869). pp. 34–35. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
a large lake called Tso-thang ("Lake of the Plain"), and encamping on its margin, the water of the lake is somewhat brackish, but quite potable; fuel is found near it
- ↑ Kohli, Harish (2000). Across the Frozen Himalaya: The Epic Winter Ski Traverse from Karakoram to Lipu Lekh. Indus Publishing. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-81-7387-106-1.
the five difficult passes through the Karakorams posed a barrier ... Cayley reconnoitered a route that went through the Changchenmo ranges ... if anything these new passes were higher than the ones they replaced, and the land in between them was also higher. ... The route had another advantage in that trade from British India could flow through Kulu via Changchenmo to Yarkand, completely bypassing the customs officials of the Maharaja at Leh.