Ladakh

Ladakh (lədäk`), region, 45,762 sq mi (118,524 sq km), E Kashmir, on the border of China. Leh is the chief town. Allied ethnologically and geographically with the Tibet region of China, the area has a predominantly Lamaist Buddhist population. It was nominally a dependency of Tibet. After 1531 it was invaded periodically by Muslims from Kashmir; it was annexed to Kashmir in the mid-19th cent. India has controlled the southern region of Ladakh since 1948, and Pakistan the northern half. The northeastern portion is now claimed by China, which in 1962 occupied the area despite Indian opposition.

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Ladakh

Region, eastern Kashmir region, northwestern Indian subcontinent. It covers about 45,000 sq mi (117,000 sq km) and includes the western Himalayan Ladakh Range (see Himalayas), the Karakoram Range, and the upper Indus River valley. Its capital is Leh. India and Pakistan fought over it before peace negotiations in 1949 gave its southern portion to India (which is part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir) and the rest to Pakistan. In the Sino-Indian War of 1962 China gained a portion of northeastern Ladakh. The region's boundaries are still in dispute.