"The land of high passes" lies in the eastern half of Jammu and Kashmir State in the far north of India. Covering an area of about 60,000sq km and ranging in elevation from 2600m to 7670m,it the largest and highest district of India. Ladakh is sandwiched between two vast mountain systems the Himalaya to the south and the Karakoram to the north.

Ladakh is known for its remote mountain beauty and budhhist culture. Being strongly influenced by the Tibetan culture it is also known as Little Tibet. Set deep in the Indian Himalayas on the western edge of the Tibetan plateau, Ladakh, or 'Little Tibet', is one of the highest and driest inhabited places on earth.

The feature of Ladakhi people, their clothes, and dialects are similar to Tibet and Mongoloid. Most of the people in Ladakh are Tibetan Buddhists and the majority of the remainders are Shia Muslims. The Indian Government has encouraged tourism in Ladakh from 1974.

The capital of Ladakh is situated at a height of 3505 meters; lies nestled among low hills on the north side of the Indus valley, between the Stok mountains to the south and the Ladakh range to the north. It lies in the eastern part of the Jammu Kashmir and is watered by Zanskar river. It has been the resting place for most of the travelers. Leh is a beautiful destination with so many attractions and is center of Tibeto Buddhist Culture for ages. Its colorful Gompas have attracted the devout Buddhists from all over the globe.

Ladakh can be divided up into several geographical regions; Central Ladakh and Nubra. Central Ladakh's heartland is the central Indus valley. Nubra is the region of deep valleys and high mountains. To the north of the Ladakh range, encompasses the Nubra and Shyok river valleys and the eastern end of the Karakoram Mountains.

Ladakh is the young land formed only a few million years ago by the buckling and folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub continent pushed with irresistible force against the immovable mass of Asia. Mountain ranges across Ladakh are Great Himalaya, Zanskar, Ladakh and Karakoram. World's largest Glaciers outside the Polar Regions and the large beautiful lake Pangong Tso 150kms long and 4kms wide at the height of 4,000mt, are in Ladakh.

A land of freezing winds and burning hot sunlight, Ladakh is a cold desert lying in the rain shadow of the Great Himalayas and other smaller ranges. Little rain and snow reaches this dry area, where natural forces have created a fantastic landscape. It is said that only in Ladakh can a man sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and frostbite at the same time!

The 160,000 strong population of Ladakh is a result of the blending of many different races, in particular the Tibetans and Dards.

The Mons, nomads of Aryans stock, is usually professional entertainers, often musician. Dards are found along Indus valley, many converted to Islam. Most of them are Tibetan Buddhists from the bulk of the population in the Central and Eastern Ladakh, though they have assumed the Ladakhi identity over generations; Baltis with Central Asian Saka origins,mostly live in Kargil.

Ladakh is one of the few places where you can see this branch of Mahayana Buddhism, sometimes also known as Lamaism. Buddhism has permeated Ladakhi culture since 7th century A.D. Now many of them have been converted to Islam. With an array of deities, beliefs, rituals and symbols it's incredibly but to most of the Ladakhis, who don't concern themselves too much with these difficulties, it becomes practical and down to earth philosophy which emphasis one thing compassion.

Lamas, Islam and Christianity are the main religion of the Ladakhian people.

Neolithic rock carvings have been found in many parts of Ladakh from Zanksar to Nubra, showing that he area has been inhabited from the earliest of times. Tribal herdsmen from the west and east slowly settled in Ladakh over the centuries.

The Aryan Dards, who came to Ladakh from Kashmir and Northern Pakistan, preserve their unique culture in the Dhahanu area, while the Rupshu region is largely populated by Tibetan herdsmen whose semi nomadic way of life has changed little in the intervening centuries. Other traces also trickled into the region, notably from central Asia and Baltistan.

The region of Ladakh once formed part of the erstwhile Kingdom of Ladakh and for nearly 900 years from the middle of the 10th century existed as an independent kingdom. Its political fortunes ebbed and flowed over the centuries, and the kingdom was at its best in the early 17th century under the famous king Sengge Namgyal, whose rule extended across Spiti and western Tibet up to the Mayumla beyond the sacred site of Mount Kailash and Lake mansarovar.

Kashmir,Tibet and China were all keen to increase their territory and it seems likely that they all invaded at one time or another. Eventually Tibet won the struggle but only held a loose claim on the area.

The early colonozers of the Ladakh were the Indo Aryans mons from across the Himalayan range who were believed to have carried north Indian buddhism Ladakh. The Darads were from the extreme western Himalayas who were credited for the introduction of farming and the Tibetians with the tradition of herding.

During 17th century Ladakh is recognized as the best trade route between the Punjab and Central Asia. Being along route for merchants and pilgrims, they either travelled on foot or on the horseback. Leh was the half way house and developed into a bustling entreport, it bazaars thronged with merchants from far countries. Also known famous for the trade of pashmina shawl, known the entire world for its softness and warmth. Finally this union was disturbed by the partition of India, Baltistan becoming part of Pakistan, while Ladakh remained in India as part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Leh become the regional capital of Ladakh during the rule of king Namgyal and the town blossomes into one of the busiest markets on the Silk Route.

Leh and Kargil are the two administrative districts of Ladakh. Leh is the main town. Although geographically and ethnologically people are Lamaist Buddhist are from Tibet.

Kashmiri Muslims also invaded periodically thus annexed to Kashmir.

Main source of water in this desert is the winter snowfall. Which feeds the glaciers whose melt water carried down by streams, irrigates the fields in summer. For the others snow on the peaks is only the source of water.

In 1974 Indian Government decided to open Ladakh for the forein tourists. Tourists visit Ladakh via Srinagar road, Himachal Pradesh or Kashmir.

During July and August tourists stroll shoulder to shoulder down its main street,most of whose old style outfitters and provision stores have been squeezed out by Kashmiri handicrafts shops, art emporiums and Tibetian restaurants.