Ladakh

Lad­akh
Lad­akh is one of the hig­hest and driest inha­bi­ted are­as of the earth. It is the lar­gest pro­vin­ce in the nor­t­hern­most Indi­an sta­te Jam­mu & Kash­mir and bor­ders on Tibet and Paki­stan. The popu­la­ted val­leys of Lad­akh lie at an avera­ge alti­tu­de of 3,500 m, the capi­tal Leh (15,000 inha­bi­tants) is loca­ted in a side val­ley of the Indus. The area is very spar­se­ly popu­la­ted; only 230,000 peo­p­le live on an area of almost 100,000 km2.

Picture4

Cultu­re and religion
More than 90% of the peo­p­le living in cen­tral Lad­akh are Bud­dhists. This reli­gi­on was alre­a­dy brought to the Hima­la­yas by India more than 2,000 years ago and has sin­ce beco­me deep­ly roo­ted. Lad­akh is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by its Tibe­tan-Bud­dhist cul­tu­re but also con­ta­ins a Mos­lem minority.

Picture5
The Thik­se Cloister

Histo­ry
The ori­gi­nal inha­bi­tants of Lad­akh were pre­su­ma­b­ly nomad tri­bes from the Tibe­tan high­lands and Bud­dhist fugi­ti­ves from nor­t­hern India. Later, the­se two groups were united.

The first inde­pen­dent king­dom was foun­ded In the 9th cen­tu­ry. At this point in time, Bud­dhism had also found its way from India over the Himalayas.

In the 15th cen­tu­ry, Lad­akh lived through dark ages and was the sce­ne of reli­gious revo­lu­ti­on. During this time it was occu­p­ied by various for­eign nati­ons (13th to 16th century).

Around 1470, the king in Lad­akh was depri­ved of his power and the inde­pen­dence of the Bud­dhist land was restored.

From 1550 on, Lad­akh reco­ver­ed rapidly and bloo­med once more; This only ended when it was con­que­r­ed at the begin­ning of the 18th cen­tu­ry by the Dogra-Rajas, a hin­du­i­stic dynasty.

1947, India beca­me inde­pen­dent once more.

In 1948, after the first Indi­an-Paki­sta­ni war in the regi­on, Lad­akh beca­me part of the inde­pen­dent Sta­te of India. Even today, neither the inter­na­tio­nal boun­da­ry nor the so-cal­led armi­sti­ce line has been reco­gni­zed and, the­r­e­fo­re, this fact has beco­me a con­ti­nuous source of ten­si­on bet­ween Delhi and Islamabad.