Ladakh: Difference between revisions

{{EngvarB|date=NovemberApril 20232024}}<!---Please do not add Indian or Pakistani English here-->

{{Use dmy dates|date=NovemberApril 20232024}}

| name = Ladakh

| settlement_type = Region administered by India as a [[union territory]]<ref name=ladakh-britannica-current/>

| image_skyline = {{Photomontage

| blank_emblem_typeimage_map1 = IN-LA.svg

| coor_pinpoint subdivision_name = India

| coordinates_footnotes subdivision_type1 =

| subdivision_type1 subdivision_name2 =

| subdivision_name2seat_type = [[Capital city|Capitals]]

| seat_type parts_style = [[Capital city|Capitals]]para

| parts_type founder = [[List of districts in India|Districts]]

| parts_style named_for = para

| government_typeleader_name = [[B. =D. Mishra]]

| governing_bodyleader_title1 = [[Ladakh Lok Sabha = [[Administrationconstituency|Member of LadakhParliament]]

| leader_name leader_title2 = [[B.High courts of D.India|High MishraCourt]]

| leader_title1 leader_name2 = [[LadakhHigh LokCourt Sabhaof constituency|MemberJammu ofand ParliamentKashmir and Ladakh]]

| unit_pref area_total_km2 = Metric59,146

| area_rank elevation_m =

| elevation_footnotes elevation_max_m = 7,742

| elevation_min_m population_total = 2274,550289

| elevation_min_rank population_rank =

| demographics1_title2utc_offset1 = Spoken+05:30

| utc_offset1postal_code = [[Leh]]: 194101; [[Kargil]]: = +05:30194103

'''Ladakh''' ({{IPAc-en|l|ə||ˈ|d|ɑː|k}})<ref name=OED-Ladakhi>{{citation |title=Ladakhi, n. |last=OED Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=December 2020 |access-date=6 March 2021 |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/104974 |quote=/ləˈdɑːki/ A native or inhabitant of Ladakh, a district of eastern Kashmir. Attested use: 1911 ''Encycl. Brit. XVI.'' 59/1 It [sc. Ladakh] was, however, conquered and annexed in 1834–1841 by Gulab Singh of Jammu—the unwarlike Ladakhis, even with nature fighting on their side, and against indifferent generalship, being no match for the Dogra troops.}}</ref><!--Please do not change it; a dictionary will not have an entry for "Ladakh," a proper noun, but will for the derived adjective "Ladakhi." However, it points to the English pronunciation for "Ladakh." --> is a region administered by [[India]] as a [[union territory]]<ref name=ladakh-britannica-current>{{citation |chapter=Ladakh |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica |date=1 March 2021 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |chapter-url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Ladakh |access-date=2 April 2022 |quote=Ladakh, large area of the northern and eastern Kashmir region, northwestern Indian subcontinent. Administratively, Ladakh is divided between Pakistan (northwest), as part of Gilgit-Baltistan, and India (southeast), as part of Ladakh union territory (until October 31, 2019, part of Jammu and Kashmir state); in addition, China administers portions of northeastern Ladakh. |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407153837/https://www.britannica.com/place/Ladakh |url-status=live }}</ref> and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger [[Kashmir]] region that has been the subject of a [[Kashmir#Kashmir dispute|dispute]] between India and [[Pakistan]] since 1947 and India and [[China]] since 1959.<ref name=tertiary-kashmir>The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of [[Kashmir]] and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the [[WP:TERTIARY|tertiary sources]] (a) through (e), reflecting [[WP:DUE|due weight]] in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (h) through (i) below, "held" is also considered politicised usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (j) below). <br/>

(a) {{citation|title=Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent|accessdate=15 August 2019|archive-date=17 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617074549/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent|url-status=live}} (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories.";<br/> (b) {{citation|last1=Pletcher|first1=Kenneth|title=Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin|accessdate=16 August 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402090308/https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin|url-status=live}} (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; <br/> (c) {{citation|chapter=Kashmir|title=Encyclopedia Americana|publisher=Scholastic Library Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_cWAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA328|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7172-0139-6|page=328|access-date=12 June 2023|archive-date=17 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117135716/https://books.google.com/books?id=l_cWAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA328|url-status=live}} C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; <br/> (d) {{citation|last1=Osmańczyk|first1=Edmund Jan|title=Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSIMXHMdfkkC&pg=PA1191|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-93922-5|pages=1191–|access-date=12 August 2019|archive-date=17 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117140437/https://books.google.com/books?id=fSIMXHMdfkkC&pg=PA1191|url-status=live}} Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." <br/>(e) {{citation|last=Talbot|first=Ian|title=A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNg_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|year=2016|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-19694-8|pages=28–29}} Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir."; <br/> (f) {{citation|last=Skutsch|first=Carl|editor-last=Ciment|editor-first=James|title=Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II|edition=2nd|year=2015|orig-year=2007|isbn=978-0-7656-8005-1|chapter=China: Border War with India, 1962|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|page=573|quote=The situation between the two nations was complicated by the 1957–1959 uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule. Refugees poured across the Indian border, and the Indian public was outraged. Any compromise with China on the border issue became impossible. Similarly, China was offended that India had given political asylum to the Dalai Lama when he fled across the border in March 1959. In late 1959, there were shots fired between border patrols operating along both the ill-defined McMahon Line and in the Aksai Chin.}}<br/> (g) {{citation|last=Clary|first=Christopher|year=2022|title=The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia|publisher=Oxford University Press|location = Oxford and New York|isbn=9780197638408|page=109|quote=Territorial Dispute: The situation along the Sino-Indian frontier continued to worsen. In late July (1959), an Indian reconnaissance patrol was blocked, "apprehended," and eventually expelled after three weeks in custody at the hands of a larger Chinese force near Khurnak Fort in Aksai Chin. ... Circumstances worsened further in October 1959, when a major class at Kongka Pass in eastern Ladakh led to nine dead and ten captured Indian border personnel, making it by far the most serious Sino-Indian class since India's independence.}} <br/> (h) {{citation|last=Bose|first=Sumantra|title=Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ACMe9WBdNAC&pg=PA294|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02855-5|pages=294, 291, 293}} Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million.), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." <br/> (i) {{citation|last=Fisher|first=Michael H.|title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-11162-2|page=166}} Quote: "Kashmir's identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised "Line of Control" still separating Pakistani-held Azad ("Free") Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; <br/> (j) {{citation|last=Snedden|first=Christopher|title=Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5amKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-1-84904-621-3|page=10}} Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."</ref> 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 (union territory)|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 [[Himalaya]]s to the south.<ref>{{harvp|Jina, Ladakh|1996}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2002/kashmir_flashpoint/default.stm |title=In Depth – Kashmir Flashpoint |chapter-url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/south_asia/03/kashmir_future/html/default.stm |chapter=Kashmir options. Maps showing the options and pitfalls of possible solutions. The Future of Kashmir? |work=[[BBC News]] |date=19 May 2011 |access-date=16 April 2013 |archive-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129190211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2002/kashmir_flashpoint/default.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited [[Aksai Chin]] plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, andbut has been under Chinese control.<ref sincename="Columbia Gazetteer">{{cite book |title=The Columbia Gazetteer of the World |publisher={{w|Columbia University Press}} |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-231-14554-1 |editor={{w|Saul B. Cohen}} |edition=2nd |volume=1 |location=[[Sino-IndianNew WarYork City|1962New York]] |page=52 |chapter=Aksai Chin |lccn=2008009181 |oclc=212893637 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/columbiagazettee0000unse_l7h3/page/52}} "divided between India and CHINA"</ref><ref>{{cite book | author={{w|Alastair Lamb}} |date=25 March 2023 | title=The China-India Border--the Origins Of Disputed Boundaries |publication-place=London | page=11 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3270 |via=archive.org | access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="Brookings 2022 f218">{{cite web | title=As India and China clash, JFK's 'forgotten crisis' is back | website=Brookings | date=9 March 2022 | url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/as-india-and-china-clash-jfks-forgotten-crisis-is-back/#:~:text=In%201962%2C%20India%20was%20badly,has%20kept%20it%20ever%20since. | access-date=31 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fantasy frontiers |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/05/indian_pakistani_and_chinese_border_disputes |access-date=24 September 2014 |newspaper=The Economist |date=8 February 2012 |archive-date=1 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801043451/http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/05/indian_pakistani_and_chinese_border_disputes |url-status=live }}</ref>

It has also been called Ma-Lo-Pho (by Hiuen Tsang) or Lal Bhumi. Names in the local language include Kanchapa (''Land of snow'') and Ripul (''Country of mountains'').<ref name="Mann 2002 p. 15">{{citationcite book needed| last=Mann | first=R.S. | title=Ladakh Then and Now: Cultural, Ecological, and Political | publisher=Mittal Publications | year=2002 | isbn=978-81-7099-838-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFezoGn__4kC&pg=PA15 | access-date=8 March 20232024 | page=15}}</ref>

From around 660 CE, the [[Tang dynasty]] and the [[Tibetan Empire]] started contesting the "four garrisons" of the [[Tarim Basin]] (present day [[Xinjiang]]), a struggle that lasted three centuries. Zhangzhung fell victim to Tibet's ambitions in {{circa|634}} and disappeared. India's [[Karkota Empire]] and the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] too joined the contest for Xinjiang soon afterwards. Baltistan and Ladakh were at the centre of these struggles.<ref>{{harvp|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|pp=12–15}}: "Ladakh's geographical position leaves no room for doubt that its ancient caravan routes must have often served as a path first for conquest and then for retreat of the opposing armies as they alternated between victory and defeat."</ref> Academics infer from the slant of Ladakhi chronicles that Ladakh may have owed its primary allegiance to Tibet during this time, but that it was more political than cultural. Ladakh remained Buddhist and its culture was not yet Tibetan.{{sfnp|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|pp=15–16}}

Between the 1380s and early 1510s, many Islamic missionaries propagated [[Islam]] and proselytised the Ladakhi people. [[Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani|Sayyid Ali Hamadani]], [[Shah Syed Muhammad Nurbakhsh Qahistani|Sayyid Muhammad Nur Baksh]] and [[Mir Shamsuddin Iraqi]] were three important Sufi missionaries who propagated Islam to the locals. Mir Sayyid Ali was the first one to make Muslim converts in Ladakh and is often described as the founder of Islam in Ladakh. Several mosques were built in Ladakh during this period, including in Mulbhe, [[Padum]] and [[Shey]], the capital of Ladakh.<ref name="Howard">{{citation |first=Neil |last=Howard |chapter=History of Ladakh |title=Recent Research on Ladakh 6 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |page=122 |isbn=9788120814325 |year=1997 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jX552GiSmYC&pg=PA122}}</ref><ref name="Sheikh">{{citation |first=Abdul Ghani |last=Sheikh |chapter=A Brief History of Muslims in Ladakh |title=Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |page=189 |isbn=9788120814042 |year=1995 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mCy2mBVNqSoC&pg=PA189}}</ref> His principal disciple, Sayyid Muhammad Nur Baksh also propagated Islam to Ladakhis and the [[Balti people]] rapidly converted to Islam. [[Noorbakshia Islam]] is named after him and his followers are only found in Baltistan and Ladakh. During his youth, [[Sultan]] [[Zayn al-Abidin (sultan of Kashmir)|Zain-ul-Abidin]] expelled the mystic [[Nund Rishi|Sheikh Zain Shahwalli]] for showing disrespect to him. The sheikh then went to Ladakh and proselytised many people to Islam. In 1505, Shamsuddin Iraqi, a noted Shia scholar, visited Kashmir and Baltistan. He helped in spreading Shia Islam in Kashmir and converted the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Baltistan to his school of thought.<ref name="Sheikh" />

In 1949, China closed the border between [[Nubra Valley|Nubra]] and [[Xinjiang]], blocking old trade routes. In 1955 China began to build roads connecting Xinjiang and Tibet through the [[Aksai Chin]] area. The Indian effort to retaingain control of Aksai Chin led to the [[Sino-Indian War]] of 1962, which India lost. China also built the [[Karakoram highway]] jointly with Pakistan. India built the [[Srinagar-Leh Highway]] during this period, cutting the journey time between Srinagar and Leh from 16 days to two. The route, however, remains closed during the winter months due to heavy snowfall. Construction of a {{cvt|6.5|km|adj=on}} tunnel across Zoji La pass is under consideration to make the route functional throughout the year.<ref name="LoramCharlie" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Government-may-clear-all-weather-tunnel-to-Leh-today/articleshow/14971889.cms |title=Government may clear all weather tunnel to Leh today |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |date=16 July 2012 |first1=Dipak K. |last1=Dash |access-date=27 July 2020 |archive-date=9 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409134724/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Government-may-clear-all-weather-tunnel-to-Leh-today/articleshow/14971889.cms |url-status=live }}</ref>

Vegetation is extremely sparse in Ladakh except along streambeds and wetlands, on high slopes, and irrigated places. About 1250 plant species, including crops, were reported from Ladakh.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A field guide to the flora of Ladakh |last=Dvorský |first=Miroslav |publisher=Academia |year=2018 |isbn=978-80-200-2826-6 |location=Prague}}</ref> The plant ''[[Ladakiella klimesii]]'', growing up to {{Convert|6150|m|ft}} above sea level, was first described here and named after this region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=German |first1=Dmitry A. |last2=Al-Shehbaz |first2=Ihsan A. |title=Nomenclatural novelties in miscellaneous Asian Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) |journal=Nordic Journal of Botany |date=1 December 2010 |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=646–651 |doi=10.1111/j.1756-1051.2010.00983.x |issn=1756-1051}}</ref> The first European to study the wildlife of this region was [[William Moorcroft (explorer)|William Moorcroft]] in 1820, followed by [[Ferdinand Stoliczka]], an [[Austrian people|Austrian]]-[[Czech people|Czech]] [[palaeontologist]], who carried out a massive expedition there in the 1870s. There are many lakes in Ladakh such as [[Kyago Tso]].

[[File:LK130030Street vendors in Leh, Ladakh, India (2001).jpg|thumb|upright|Street market in [[Leh]]]]

|label2 = [[Purgi language|PurkhiPurgi]] |value2 = 33.61 |color2 = teal

The predominant mother-tongue in Leh district is [[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]] (also called Bauti), a [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic language]].<ref name="census2011-C16">{{cite report |url=https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-16/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-0100.XLSX |title=C-16 Population By Mother Tongue – Jammu & Kashmir |publisher=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India |access-date=18 July 2020 |archive-date=12 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112015559/http://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-16/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-0100.XLSX |url-status=live }}</ref> <!--See Talk:Tibetan languages--> [[Purgi language|PurkhiPurgi]], sometimes considered a dialect of [[Balti language|Balti]], is the predominant mother-tongue of Kargil district.<ref name="census2011-C16"/><ref>{{citation |last=Rather |first=Ali Mohammad |title=Kargil: The Post-War Scenario |journal=Journal of Peace Studies |publisher=International Center for Peace Studies |volume=6 |number=5–6 |date=September 1999 |url=http://www.icpsnet.org/description.php?ID=138 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141201063036/http://www.icpsnet.org/description.php?ID=138 |archive-date= 1 December 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Within Ladakh, there is a range of dialects, so that the language of the [[Changpa|Chang-pa]] people may differ markedly from that of the [[Purigpa|Purig-pa]] in Kargil, or the Zangskaris, but they are all mutually comprehensible. Most Ladakhi people (especially the younger generations) speak fluently in English and in Hindi too, due to the languages education at school.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ladakhi Language & Phrasebook |url=https://www.leh-ladakh-taxi-booking.com/practical-info/ladakhi-language-and-phrasebook |publisher=Leh-Ladakh Taxi Booking |access-date=2 February 2022 |archive-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507193520/https://www.leh-ladakh-taxi-booking.com/practical-info/ladakhi-language-and-phrasebook |url-status=live }}</ref> Administrative work and education are carried out in English.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Ladakh |url=https://www.birdinginladakh.com/about-ladakh/#:~:text=Educated%20Ladakhis%20usually%20know%20Hindi%2C%20Urdu%2C%20and%20often,used%20to%20a%20great%20extent%20in%20the%20past. |website=BIRDING IN LADAKH |access-date=1 February 2022 |archive-date=16 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816052835/http://birdinginladakh.com/about-ladakh/#:~:text=Educated%20Ladakhis%20usually%20know%20Hindi%2C%20Urdu%2C%20and%20often,used%20to%20a%20great%20extent%20in%20the%20past. |url-status=dead}}</ref>