KARAKORUM, or Karakoram, a name applied to a city, a mountain range, and a mountain pass in Central Asia. For the range and pass see Kuen-lun. The ancient city or rather camping-ground of Karakorum (the Caracaron of Marco Polo), was situated near the upper course of the Orkhon, a tributary of the Selenga. Founded, according to Chinese authority, by Buku, khan of the Uigurs, in the 8th century, it was at the time of Jenghiz the chief seat of Togrul Wang, Marco Polo’s Prester John, and under Jenghiz’s successor Okkodai it became what it continued to be till 1256, the capital of the Mongolian power. It was visited by Carpini (1246) and Rubruquis (1253). Some ruins of earthworks are still to be traced.

See Rémusat, Rech, sur la ville de Karakorum ; Yule, Marco Polo; Geographical Magazine, 1874.