Leh Ladakh History
In the ancient times the present Leh district was a part of Greater Ladakh spread
over from Kailash Mansarover to Swaat (Dardistan). The Greater ladakh was neither
under the Domain of Tibet or its influence. Not much information is available
about the ancient History of Ladakh. However, reference about the place and
its neighbourhood in Arab, Chinese and Mongolian histories gives an idea that
in the 7th Century A.D fierce wars were fought by Tibet and China in Baltistan
area of the Greater Ladakh in which deserts and barren mountains od Ladakh was
turned into battle fields for the warring armies.
In the 8th century A.D Arabs also jumped into these wars and changed their sides
between China and Tibet. Around this period, the ruler of Kashmir, Laltadita
conquered Ladakh. In the 8th Century A.D itself, The Arabs conquered Kashghar
and established their control over Central asia which embraced Islam in the
9th century A.d and thus a buffer state came into being between Tibet and China,
terminating the hostilities between the two warring countries. The greater Ladakh
also fell into peices.
The ancient inhabitants of Ladakh were Dards, and Indo-Aryan race from down
the Indus. But immigration from Tibetmore than a thousand years ago largly overwhelmedthe
culture of the Dards and moped up their racial characters. IN eastern and central
Ladakh, todays population seems to be mostly of Tibet origin. Budhism reached
Tibet from India via Ladakh. The area was the stronghold of Budhism before Islam
reached Ladakh.
A thousand years ago before the contol of Tibets rule, Raja Skitde
Nemagon, ruled over Ladakh which was known as Muryul (Red Country), as most
of the mountains and the soil in Ladakh wears a red tinge. In the 10th Century
A.D Skitday Nemagon, along with a couple of hundred men, invaded Ladakh where
there was no central authority. The Land was divided in small principalities,
which were at war with each other. Nemagon defeated all of them and established
a strong central authority. Those days Shey, was the capital of Ladakh became
to be known as Nariskorsoom, a country of three provinces. The present Ladakh
was divided into two provinces while the third comprised western Tibet. The
area of western Tibet slipped away from the kingdom but was reunited in 16th
Century A.D. by the famous Ladakhi ruler Sengge Namgyal. Ladakh was an independent
country since the middle of 10th century.
In the post-partition senario, Pakistan and China illegally occupied 78,114
sq. km and 37,555 sq.km of the state, respectively while the remaining part
of the state acceeded to India. Pakistan also illegally gifted 5180 sq.kms of
this area to China. Ladakh, comprising the areas of present Leh and Kargil districts,
became one of the seven districts of the State. In 1979 when the reorganisation
of the districts was carries out, the Ladakh district was divided into two full
fledged of Leh and Kargil.
