History of Ladakh

Subject: History

Section: Modern History

Concept:

Ladakh is a mountaneous region which is sandwiched between Karakoram Range in North and Himalayan Range in the South.
It is composed of two districts:
Leh – It is the 2nd largest district of India and it covers more than half of the area of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kargil – It lies near Line of Control. Zanskar Range is a part of Kargil.

Ladakh through the History

Ladakh was originally inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent.
Historically the region included the valleys of Baltistan, Indus, and Nubra, besides Zanskar, Lahaul and Spiti, Aksai Chin, Ngari and Rudok.
Located at the crossroads of important trade routes since ancient times, Ladakh has always enjoyed great geostrategic importance.
At the beginning of the first century AD, Ladakh was part of the Kushan Empire. Till the 15th century, it was part of Tibet and was ruled by dynasties of local Lamas.

Dogras invasion:

In 1834, Hindu Dogras (from Jammu, which is southwest of Ladakh) invaded it.
The Sikhs acquired Kashmir in 1819, Emperor Ranjit Singh turned his ambition towards Ladakh. But it was Gulab Singh, the Dogra feudatory of the Sikhs in Jammu, who went ahead with the task of integrating Ladakh into Jammu and Kashmir.

Tibet invasion:

In May 1841, Tibet under the Qing dynasty of China invaded Ladakh with the hope of adding it to the imperial Chinese dominions, leading to the Sino-Sikh war.
However, the Sino-Tibetan army was defeated, and the ‘Treaty of Chushul’ was signed that agreed on no further transgressions or interference in the other country’s frontiers.

British suzerainty:

After the first Anglo-Sikh war of 1845-46, the state of Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh, was taken out of the Sikh empire and brought under British suzerainty.
As a buffer zone: The state of Jammu and Kashmir was essentially a British creation, formed as a buffer zone where they could meet the Russians.
Consequently, there was an attempt to delimit what exactly was Ladakh and the extent of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, but it became convoluted since that area came under Tibetan and Central Asian influence.

Pakistan and China border dispute:

Ladakh became a contested territory between the newly independent nations of India and Pakistan. In the early 1960’s a substantial area of eastern Ladakh was annexed by China.
Due to increasing tensions between India and Pakistan, the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, and their occupation of the Aksai Chin region in 1962, Ladakh has become one of India’s most important strategic zones.
Strategic location and border disputes with Pakistan and China have assured a firm foothold for army presence since the past 50 years.