Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 26, 2007

Tikse monastery, Ladakh

Ladakh is a region in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir sandwiched between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is sometimes called "Little Tibet" as it has been strongly influenced by Tibetan culture. In the past Ladakh gained importance from its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade routes, but since the Chinese authorities closed the borders with Tibet and Central Asia in the 1960s, international trade has dwindled. Since 1974 the Indian Government has encouraged tourism in Ladakh. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh. A majority of Ladakhis are Tibetan Buddhists and the majority of the remainder are Shia Muslims. Ladakhis have in recent times called for Ladakh to be constituted as a union territory because of its religious and cultural differences with predominantly Muslim Kashmir. (more...)

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