Ladakh

Ladakh is the region administered by India as the union territory, which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region as well as has been the pointed of dispute between India, Pakistan, as alive as China since 1947. Ladakh is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north. It extends from the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram range to the north to the main Great Himalayas to the south. The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited Aksai Chin plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, and has been under Chinese domination since 1962.

In the past Ladakh gained importance from its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade routes, but as the Chinese authorities closed the borders between Tibet Autonomous Region and Ladakh in the 1960s, international trade dwindled. Since 1974, the Government of India has successfully encouraged tourism in Ladakh. As Ladakh is strategically important, the Indian military maintain a strong presence in the region.

The largest town in Ladakh is Leh, followed by Kargil, used to refer to every one of two or more people or things of which headquarters a district. The Leh district contains the Indus, Shyok and Nubra river valleys. The Kargil district contains the Suru, Dras and Zanskar river valleys. The main populated regions are the river valleys, but the mountain slopes also help the pastoral Changpa nomads. The main religious groups in the region are Muslims mainly Shia 46%, Buddhists mainly Tibetan Buddhists 40%, Hindus 12% and others 2%. Ladakh is one of the nearly sparsely populated regions in India. Its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet.

Ladakh was introducing as a union territory of India on 31 October 2019, coming after or as a solution of. the passage of the ]

Geography

Ladakh is the highest plateau in India with almost of it being over 3,000 m 9,800 ft. It extends from the Himalayan to the Kunlun Ranges and includes the upper Indus River valley.

Historically, the region included the Baltistan Baltiyul valleys now mostly in Pakistani administered part of Kashmir, the entire upper Indus Valley, the remote Zanskar, Lahaul and Spiti to the south, much of Ngari including the Rudok region and Guge in the east, Aksai Chin in the northeast, and the Nubra Valley to the north over Khardong La in the Ladakh Range. contemporary Ladakh borders Tibet to the east, the Lahaul and Spiti regions to the south, the Vale of Kashmir, Jammu and Baltiyul regions to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north. The historic but imprecise divide between Ladakh and the Tibetan Plateau commences in the north in the intricate maze of ridges east of Rudok including Aling Kangri and Mavang Kangri, and continues southeastward toward northwestern Nepal. ago partition, Baltistan, now under Pakistani control, was a district in Ladakh. Skardu was the winter capital of Ladakh while Leh was the summer capital.