The Hindu Kush is a 500-mile mountain range stretching between north-western Pakistan and eastern and central Afghanistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir (7,708 m or 25,289 ft) in the Chitral region of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan.
It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a sub-range of the Himalayas. It is also calculated to be the geographic center of population of the world. [1]
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_population :
"In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several different ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geographical locations; these are often confused.
Three commonly used (but different) center points are:
1. the mean center, also known as the centroid or center of gravity;
2. the median center, which is the intersection of the median longitude and median latitude;
3. the geometric median, also known as Weber point, Fermat–Weber point, or point of minimum aggregate travel.
A further complication is caused by the curved shape of the Earth. Different center points are obtained depending on whether the center is computed in three-dimensional space, or restricted to the curved surface, or computed using a flat map projection.
[edit] Mean center
The mean center, or centroid, is the point on which a rigid, weightless map would balance perfectly, if the population members are represented as points of equal mass.
Mathematically, the centroid is the point to which the population has the smallest possible sum of squared distances. It is easily found by taking the arithmetic mean of each coordinate. If defined in the three-dimensional space, the centroid of points on the Earth's surface is actually inside the Earth. This point could then be projected back to the surface. Alternatively, one could define the centroid directly on a flat map projection; this is, for example, the definition that the US Census Bureau uses.
Contrary to a common misconception, the centroid does not minimize the average distance to the population. That property belongs to the geometric median.
[edit] Median center
The median center is the intersection of two perpendicular lines, each of which divides the population into two equal halves. Typically these two lines are chosen to be a parallel (a line of latitude) and a meridian (a line of longitude). In that case, this center is easily found by taking separately the medians of the population's latitude and longitude coordinates.
[edit] Geometric median
The geometric median is the point to which the population has the smallest possible sum of distances (or equivalently, the smallest average distance). Because of this property, it is also known as the point of minimum aggregate travel. Unfortunately, there is no direct closed-form expression for the geometric median; it is typically computed using iterative methods.
World
It is important to use a culturally neutral method when dealing with the entire world. As described in INED (Institut national d'études démographiques),[2] the solution methodology deals only with the globe, and not with a two-dimensional projection of the Earth's surface. As a result, the answer is independent of which map projection is used or where it is centered. As described above, the exact location of the center of population will depend on both the granularity of the population data used, and the distance metric. With geodesic distances as the metric, and a granularity of 1,000 kilometers (600 mi), meaning that two population centers within 1000 km of each other are treated as part of a larger common population center of intermediate location, the world's center of population is found to lie "at the crossroads between China, India, Pakistan and Tajikistan", essentially located in Afghanistan, with an average distance of 5,200 kilometers (3,200 mi) to all humans [1]. The data used in the reference support this result to only a precision of a few hundred kilometers, hence the exact location is not known."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Kush
Id like to hear any debate about it being the 'center of population.' For who?
Why is it 'Hindu' when its not in India rather on the western & eastern border of Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively. And what does 'Kush' mean? In my dialect i think it could mean happiness? TIA.
From the article that you linked to earlier,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Kush :
"
Etymology theories
The origin of the term "Hindu Kush" is a point of contention. There are various theories for its origin, but some of these are usually considered to be folk etymology[citation needed]:
* James Rennell, writing in 1793, referred to the range as the "Hindoo-Kho or Hindoo-Kush"[3] "The same hindu- 'mountain' (in Scythian or Saka languages) is in the name Hindǚ-kuš, where the kuš means 'side, region' connected with Chr. Sogd. qwšy 'side' with -ti- Armenian Parthian k'oušt 'side, region' .... Old Indian has both koṣa- and kośa- ....", neither of which mean "mountain".
* As a corruption of Hindu Kūh, meaning "Hindu Mountains" or "Indian Mountains", from the (modern) Persian word Kūh (کوه), meaning mountain. The Persian word with Perso-Arabic alphabet or New Persian "Kūh" (کوه) exist at least since the ninth century. Ferdousi writes in its book Shahnameh Kūh-e Hind (کوه هند, "Indian Mountain").[4] it seems to be hind- o- kash the line which divide to territorial limits. in local language kash mean wool. similarly kash mir or kash nmir mean eastern kash and kash ghar mean westren kash. if you see kash mir and kash ghar on the maps it is exactly east and west
* Iranian for "Hindu-Killer", referring to events in the area when Persian and Central Asian armies took over the area. The captives from the Indian sub-continent (which was known as 'Hind' in Persian - from where the term 'Hindu' originated) used to perish while passing through this rough mountain terrain due to the harsh terrain and climate.
* A corruption of Caucasus Indicus, a name by which the Hindu Kush range was known in the ancient Western world after its conquest by Alexander the Great in the Fourth century BC. Greek rule in the Hindu Kush region lasted over three centuries, and was followed by the rule of a dynasty known, significantly, as the Kushan. In its early period, the Kushan Empire had its capital near modern-day Kabul. Later, when the Hindu Kush region became part of the Sassanian Empire, it was ruled by a satrap known as the Kushan-shah (ruler of Kushan).[citation needed]
* A posited Avestan appellation meaning "water mountains".[citation needed]
* A corruption of Hind-o Kushan, containing the name of the Kushan dynasty that once ruled this region for more than three centuries.[citation needed]
* That the key word "Kush" in "Hindu Kush" came from Sanskrit kusha or kushika has many meanings including "plowshare", implying the start of Hindu land as after the Hindu Kush mountains the control of the Hindus began.
* A reference to the last great "killer" mountains to cross when moving between the Iranian plateau and the Indian subcontinent, named after the toll it took on anyone crossing them.
* In Persian, Hindu Kush means Hindu Slaughter [5]. Persian-English dictionary indicates that the word 'Kush' is derived from the verb Kushtar - to slaughter or carnage. Kush is probably also related to the verb Koshtan meaning to kill. This implies that the Muslim invaders that attempted to invade India from appx 750 CE-1250CE and successfully invaded 1250CE-1750CE, and killed a millions of Hindus during those years."
