India
India (Hindi: ), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous country, the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest ...
as a union territory#REDIRECT Union territory
A union territory ( hi, script=latn, kendraśāsit pradeś, , centrally administered province) is a type of administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unitArticle 3(1). , country subdivision, admi ...
, and constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir
Kashmir, ks, کٔشیٖر, kaśīr () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley
The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale o ...
region, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan
Pakistan, . Pronounced variably in English as , , , and . officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia
South Asia is the southern region of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, e ...
, and China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion. Covering approximately 9.6& ...
since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir, state of India, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the vicinity of the Karakoram and westernmost Himalayan mountain ranges. From 1947 to 2019, Ladakh was part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947." Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." Ladakh is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) or Xizang Autonomous Region, called Tibet or Xizang for short, is a province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' pr ...
to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Province of the Snow-laden Mountains") is a state
State may refer to:
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* The State (newspaper) ...
to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi River ...
and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; , Balti: རྒྱལ་སྐྱིད་ སྦལྟི་ཡུལ།), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan
Pakistan, . Pronounced variably in English as , , , and . offi ...
to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang
Xinjiang (),, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; alternately romanized as Sinkiang officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and formerly romanized as Sinkiang, is a landlocked autonomous region
An autonomous ...
across the Karakoram Pass
The Karakoram Pass (; hi, काराकोरम दर्रा; ur, درہ قراقرم; ) is a mountain pass
A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geogr ...
in the far north. It extends from the Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Karak ...
in the Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range spanning the borders of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, world's most populous countr ...
range to the north to the main Great Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (); Sanskrit
Sanskrit (, attributively , ''saṃskṛta-'', nominalization, nominally , ''saṃskṛtam'') is a classical language of South Asia belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the In ...
s to the south. The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, world's most populous country, with a population ...
plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, and has been under Chinese control 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
The Government of India (ISO
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO; ) is an international standard
are technical standards developed by international organizations (intergovernmental organizations), such as Codex Aliment ...
has successfully encouraged tourism in Ladakh. As Ladakh is strategically important, the Indian military
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare
War is an intense armed conflict between states, go ...
maintains a strong presence in the region.
The largest town in Ladakh is Leh
Leh () is the joint capital and largest town of the union territory
A union territory ( hi, script=latn, kendraśāsit pradeś, , centrally administered province) is a type of administrative division
Administrative division, administrat ...
, followed by Kargil
Kargil is a city
A city is a large human settlement.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. I ...
, each of which headquarters a district. The Leh district
Leh district is a district in the States and union territories of India, union territory of Ladakh, a territory administered as part of India. With an area of 45,110 ''km'2'', it is the second largest district in the country smaller only to K ...
contains the Indus#REDIRECT Indus River
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Rock carvings found in many parts of Ladakh indicate that the area has been inhabited from 
In the 9th century, Tibet's ruler 
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.
It is unclear what happened to Islam after this period and it seems to have received a setback. Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat who invaded and briefly conquered Ladakh in 1532, 1545 and 1548, does not record any presence of Islam in 
In 1834, the Sikh General Zorawar Singh, Zorawar Singh, a general of Gulab Singh, Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, invaded and annexed Ladakh to Jammu under the suzerainty of the Sikh Empire. After the defeat of the Sikhs in the First Anglo-Sikh War, the state of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmir was established as a separate princely state under British British Empire, suzerainty. The Namgyal family was given the ''jagir'' of Stok, which it nominally retains to this day. European influence began in Ladakh in the 1850s and increased. Geologists, sportsmen, and tourists began exploring Ladakh. In 1885, Leh became the headquarters of a mission of the Moravian Church.
Ladakh was administered as a ''wazarat'' during the Dogra rule, with a governor termed ''wazir-e-wazarat''. It had three tehsils, based at Leh, Skardu and 
The Kargil War of 1999, codenamed "Operation Vijay" by the Indian Army, saw infiltration by Pakistani troops into parts of Western Ladakh, namely Kargil, Dras, Mushkoh Valley, Mushkoh, Batalik and Chorbatla, overlooking key locations on the National Highway 1 (India), Srinagar-Leh highway. Extensive operations were launched in high altitudes by the Indian Army with considerable artillery and air force support. Pakistani troops were evicted from the Indian side of the Line of Control which the Indian government ordered was to be respected and which was not crossed by Indian troops. The Indian government was criticised by the Indian public because India respected geographical co-ordinates more than India's opponents: Pakistan and China.
The people of Ladakh had been demanding Ladakh to be constituted as a separate territory since 1930s, because of perceived unfair treatment by Kashmir and Ladakh's cultural differences with predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley, while some people in Kargil opposed union territory status for Ladakh.
Ladakh is the highest plateau in India with most of it being over .
Historically, the region included the 
Ladakh is a high altitude desert as the Himalayas create a rain shadow, generally denying entry to monsoon clouds. The main source of water is the winter snowfall on the mountains. Recent flooding in the region (e.g., the 2010 Leh floods, 2010 floods) has been attributed to abnormal rain patterns and retreating glaciers, both of which have been found to be linked to global climate change. The Leh Nutrition Project, headed by Chewang Norphel, also known as the "Glacier Man", creates artificial glaciers as one solution for retreating glaciers.
The regions on the north flank of the Himalayas – Dras, the Suru valley and Zangskar – experience heavy snowfall and remain cut off from the rest of the region for several months in the year, as the whole region remains cut off by road from the rest of the country. Summers are short, though they are long enough to grow crops. The summer weather is dry and pleasant. Temperature ranges are from in summer and minimums range from in winter.
Zanskar is the main river of the region along with its tributaries. The Zanskar gets frozen during winter and the famous Chadar trek takes place on this magnificent frozen river.
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. The plant ''Ladakiella klimesii'', growing up to above sea level, was first described here and named after this region. 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.
The bharal or blue sheep is the most abundant mountain ungulate in the Ladakh region, although it is not found in some parts of Zangskar and Sham areas. The Asiatic ibex is a very elegant mountain goat that is distributed in the western part of Ladakh. It is the second most abundant mountain ungulate in the region with a population of about 6000 individuals. It is adapted to rugged areas where it easily climbs when threatened. The Ladakhi Urial is another unique mountain sheep that inhabits the mountains of Ladakh. The population is declining, however, and there are not more than 3000 individuals left in Ladakh. The urial is endemic to Ladakh, where it is distributed only along two major river valleys: the Indus and Shayok. The animal is often persecuted by farmers whose crops are allegedly damaged by it. Its population declined precipitously in the last century due to indiscriminate shooting by hunters along the Leh-Srinagar highway. The argali, Tibetan argali or Nyan is the largest wild sheep in the world, standing at the shoulder with the horn measuring . It is distributed on the Tibetan plateau and its marginal mountains encompassing a total area of . There is only a small population of about 400 animals in Ladakh. The animal prefers open and rolling terrain as it runs, unlike wild goats that climb into steep cliffs, to escape from predators. The endangered Tibetan antelope, known as ''chiru'' in Indian English, or Ladakhi ''tsos'', has traditionally been hunted for its wool (''shahtoosh'') which is a natural fibre of the finest quality and thus valued for its light weight and warmth and as a status symbol. The wool of chiru must be pulled out by hand, a process done after the animal is killed. The fibre is smuggled into Kashmir and woven into exquisite shawls by Kashmiri workers. Ladakh is also home to the Tibetan gazelle, which inhabits the vast rangelands in eastern Ladakh bordering Tibet.
The kiang, or Tibetan wild ass, is common in the grasslands of Changthang, numbering about 2,500 individuals. These animals are in conflict with the nomadic people of Changthang who hold the Kiang responsible for pasture degradation. There are about 200 snow leopards in Ladakh of an estimated 7,000 worldwide. The Hemis High Altitude National Park in central Ladakh is an especially good habitat for this predator as it has abundant prey populations. The Eurasian lynx, is another rare cat that preys on smaller herbivores in Ladakh. It is mostly found in Nubra, Changthang and Zangskar. The Pallas's cat, which looks somewhat like a house cat, is very rare in Ladakh and not much is known about the species. The Tibetan wolf, which sometimes preys on the livestock of the Ladakhis, is the most persecuted amongst the predators. There are also a few brown bears in the Suru Valley and the area around Dras. The Vulpes ferrilata, Tibetan sand fox has been discovered in this region. Among smaller animals, marmots, hares, and several types of pika and vole are common.
Under the terms of the 
The land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the ice and snow of the mountains. The principal crops are barley and wheat. Rice was previously a luxury in the Ladakhi diet, but, subsidised by the government, has now become a cheap staple.
There are about of roads in Ladakh of which are surfaced.
There is an airport in Leh, Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport, from which there are daily flights to Delhi and weekly flights to Srinagar and Jammu. There are two airstrips at Daulat Beg Oldie and Fukche for military transport. The airport at Kargil, Kargil Airport, was intended for civilian flights but is currently used by the Indian Army. The airport is a political issue for the locals who argue that the airport should serve its original purpose, i.e., should open up for civilian flights. Since past few years the Indian Air Force has been operating AN-32 air courier service to transport the locals during the winter seasons to Jammu, Srinagar and Chandigarh. A private aeroplane company Air Mantra landed a 17-seater aircraft at the airport, in presence of dignitaries like the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, marking the first ever landing by a civilian airline company at Kargil Airport.
Ladakhi food has much in common with Tibetan food, the most prominent foods being ''thukpa'' (noodle soup) and ''tsampa'', known in Ladakhi as ''ngampe'' (roasted barley flour). Edible without cooking, ''tsampa'' makes useful trekking food. Strictly Ladakhi dishes include ''skyu'' and ''chutagi'', both heavy and rich soup pasta dishes, ''skyu'' being made with root vegetables and meat, and ''chutagi'' with leafy greens and vegetables. As Ladakh moves toward a cash-based economy, foods from the plains of India are becoming more common. As in other parts of Central Asia, tea in Ladakh is traditionally made with strong green tea, butter, and salt. It is mixed in a large churn and known as ''Butter tea, gurgur cha'', after the sound it makes when mixed. Sweet tea (''cha ngarmo'') is common now, made in the Indian style with milk and sugar. Most of the surplus barley that is produced is fermented into ''chang'', an alcoholic beverage drunk especially on festive occasions.
The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Music of Tibet, Tibetan music, often involves religious chanting in Classical Tibetan, Tibetan as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. ''Yang'' chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Hemis monastery, a leading centre of the Drukpa Lineage, Drukpa tradition of Buddhism, holds an annual masked dance festival, as do all major Ladakhi monasteries. The dances typically narrate a story of the fight between good and evil, ending with the eventual victory of the former. Weaving is an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms.
The most popular sport in Ladakh is Ice hockey in India, ice hockey, which is played only on natural ice generally mid-December through mid-February. Cricket is also very popular.
Archery is a traditional sport in Ladakh, and many villages hold archery festivals, which are as much about traditional dancing, drinking and gambling, as they are about the sport. The sport is conducted with strict etiquette, to the accompaniment of the music of ''surna'' and ''daman'' (shehnai and drum). Polo, the other traditional sport of Ladakh, is indigenous to Baltistan and Gilgit, and was probably introduced into Ladakh in the mid-17th century by King Sengge Namgyal, Singge Namgyal, whose mother was a Balti princess.
Polo, popular among the Baltis, is an annual affair in Drass region of Kargil district.
The Ladakh Marathon is a high-altitude marathon held in Leh every year since 2012. Held at a height of , it is one of the world's highest marathons.
A feature of Ladakhi society that distinguishes it from the rest of the state is the high status and relative emancipation enjoyed by women compared to other rural parts of India. Fraternal polyandry and inheritance by primogeniture were common in Ladakh until the early 1940s when these were made illegal by the government of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the practice remained in existence into the 1990s especially among the elderly and the more isolated rural populations.
University of Ladakh and Eliezer Joldan Memorial College Leh, Ladakh, Eliezer Joldan Memorial College, a government degree college, enables students to pursue higher education without having to leave Ladakh. The Indian Astronomical Observatory is located in Hanle (village), Hanle and is operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
In December 2019, the union minister of state for home affairs Mr G. Kishan Reddy, G Kishan Reddy, in a written response has stated in Parliament that the Government of India has approved to establish a Medical College and National Research Institute for Sowa-Rigpa in the district of Leh.
In August 2021, the Parliament of India amended the Central university (India), Central Universities Act to establish a central university in Ladakh named "Sindhu Central University".