Ladakh

Ladakh , 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.

Ladākh, Jammu and Kashmir/Pakistan‐India‐China Ma‐lo‐pho, Kachanpa, Ripul, Ladwak A mountainous region of Kashmir, it means ‘(Land of) Passes’ from the Tibetan ladag from la ‘pass’ and dag ‘open’. The first Chinese name meant ‘Red Land’, the second ‘Land of Snow’, and the third ‘Land of Mountains’. Ladwak, from which the present name is derived, meant the ‘Land of Passes’. Ladakh was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947 but, as a result of an invasion in 1962, China annexed a part belonging to India.