• The Trans-Karakoram Tract is a tract administrated by China as part of its Taxkorgan and Yecheng counties in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region also known as Shaksgam Tract.

• Shaksgam Tract is bordered by Aksai Chin, the Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Indian-administered Ladakh.
• Shaksgam Tract lies to the north of the Karakoram, including the Shaksgam valley and Raskam (Yarkand River).
• The area was claimed by Pakistan as part of Kashmir until the 1963 Sino-Pakistan Agreement.
• The area is currently 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 (formerly a tehsil) 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.
• Bounded by the Kun Lun Mountains in the north, and the Karakoram peaks to the south, including Broad Peak, K2 and Gasherbrum, on the southeast it is adjacent to the highest battlefield in the world on the Siachen Glacier region which is controlled by India.

Source: Wikipedia

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