A MICROGEOGRAPHY OF SETTLEMENT IN THE PAMIR HIGHLANDS

Settlement patterns in the Pamir highlands, the “roof of the world,” adjoining Afghanistan, offer a striking contrast between the western deep valleys inhabited by sedentary Pamir ethnic groups related to the Tadzhiks, and the eastern plateau-like highland with a sparse population of nomadic Kirghiz herders. The evolution of Pamir settlement during the Soviet period is analyzed, and recommendations are offered for the removal of remote small places from high elevations and for the merger of settlements into more viable population centers. (Data for the mid-1960s have been partly updated by the Editor to the mid-1980s.)