User:Raxr 123

Ladakh ("land of high passes") is a region in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that currently extends from the Kunlun mountain range to the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir and its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet. Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanglanglapass.jpg

History: Rock carvings found in many parts of Ladakh indicate that the area has been inhabited from Neolithic times.Ladakh's earliest inhabitants consisted of a mixed Indo-Aryan population of Mons and Dards,who find mention in the works of Herodotus,Nearchus, Megasthenes, Pliny,Ptolemy,and the geographical lists of the Puranas.Around the 1st century, Ladakh was a part of the Kushan Empire. Buddhism spread into western Ladakh from Kashmir in the 2nd century when much of eastern Ladakh and western Tibet was still practicing the Bon religion. The 7th century Buddhist traveler Xuanzang describes the region in his accounts. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Territorial_Extent_of_Ladakh_during_the_period_of_King_Nyimagon_about_975_A._D.-_1000_A.D._as_depicted_in_A_History_of_Western_Tibet_by_A.H._Francke,_1907.jpg

Geography: Ladakh is the highest plateau in the state of Jammu & Kashmir with much 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.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leh_from_Stok.jpg

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. Before partition, Baltistan, now under Pakistani control, was a district in Ladakh. Skardo was the winter capital of Ladakh while Leh was the summer capital.

The mountain ranges in this region were formed over 45 million years by the folding of the Indian plate into the more stationary Eurasian Plate. The drift continues, causing frequent earthquakes in the Himalayan region.The peaks in the Ladakh Range are at a medium altitude close to the Zoji-la (5,000–5,500 m or 16,000–18,050 ft) and increase toward southeast, culminating in the twin summits of Nun-Kun (7000 m or 23,000 ft).

Flora and fauna: Vegetation is extremely sparse in Ladakh except along streambeds and wetlands, on high slopes, and in irrigated places.The first European to study the wildlife of this region was Ferdinand Stoliczka, an Austrian-Czech palaeontologist, who carried out a massive expedition there in the 1870s.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yaks_in_ladakh.JPG

The fauna of Ladakh has much in common with that of Central Asia in general and that of the Tibetan Plateau in particular.[citation needed] Exceptions to this are the birds, many of which migrate from the warmer parts of India to spend the summer in Ladakh. For such an arid area, Ladakh has a great diversity of birds — a total of 225 species have been recorded. Many species of finches, robins, redstarts (like the black redstart), and the hoopoe are common in summer.[citation needed] The brown-headed gull is seen in summer on the river Indus and on some lakes of the Changthang. Resident water-birds include the brahminy duck also known as the ruddy sheldrake and the bar-headed goose. The black-necked crane, a rare species found scattered in the Tibetan plateau, is also found in parts of Ladakh. Other birds include the raven, Eurasian magpie, red-billed chough, Tibetan snowcock, and chukar. The lammergeier and the golden eagle are common raptors here specially in Changthang region.

Economy: 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. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LK130030.jpg Naked barley (Ladakhi: nas, Urdu: grim) was traditionally a staple crop all over Ladakh. Growing times vary considerably with altitude. The extreme limit of cultivation is at Korzok, on the Tso-moriri lake, at 4,600 m (15,100 ft), which has what are widely considered to be the highest fields in the world.

Culture: Ladakh celebrates many famous festivals. One of the biggest and most popular is the Hemis festival. It is celebrated in June to commemorate the birth of Guru Padmasambhava. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stupa_Chorten_Ladakh.jpg In September, the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department with the help of local authorities organize the Ladakh Festival. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir organizes the Sindhu Darshan festival at Leh in May–June. It is celebrated on the full moon day (Guru Poornima). Traditional music includes the instruments surna and daman (shenai and drum). The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Tibetan music, often involves religious chanting in Tibetan as an integral part of the religion. The most popular sport in Ladakh is ice hockey, which is played only on natural ice generally mid-December through mid-February.Cricket is very popular.