View source for Ladakh Range

{{Short description|Mountain range in India and Pakistan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name              = Ladakh Range
| other_name        = 
| etymology         = 
| native_name       = 
| native_name_lang  =
| photo             = Leh from Stok.jpg
| photo_size        = 
| photo_alt         = 
| photo_caption     = View of Ladakh Range above [[Leh]]
| map_image         = {{Maplink|frame=yes|frame-width=290|frame-height=270|frame-align=center|zoom=6|stroke-width=2|frame-lat=34.228|frame-long=77.668|type=shape-inverse|stroke-color=#808080|id=Q2578947|text=Interactive map outlining Ladakh range}}
| country           = [[India]] 
| region            = [[Ladakh]], [[Baltistan]]
| region_type       = [[Territory]]
| district          = [[Leh district|Leh]]
| settlement        = [[Leh]]
| settlement_type   = City
| parent            = [[Karakoram]]
| border            = [[Kailash Range]]
| label             = 
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| range_coordinates = {{coord|34.66|N|76.88|E|display=inline,title|region:IN_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki}}
| range_coordinates_ref = 
| length_km = 370
| topo              = 
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}}
The '''Ladakh Range''' is a mountain range in central [[Ladakh]] in India with its northern tip extending into [[Baltistan]] in Pakistan. It lies between the [[Indus River|Indus]] and [[Shyok River|Shyok]] river valleys, stretching to 230 miles  (370&nbsp;km).{{sfn|Negi, Discovering the Himalaya, Volume 1|1998|p=14}} [[Leh]], the capital city of Ladakh, is on the foot of Ladakh Range in the Indus river valley.

== Geography==
The Ladakh Range is regarded as a southern extension of the [[Karakoram]]  Range, which runs for 230 miles (370&nbsp;km) from the confluence of the [[Indus River|Indus]] and [[Shyok River|Shyok]] rivers in [[Baltistan]] to the [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibetan border]] of Ladakh in the southeast.{{sfn|Negi, Discovering the Himalaya, Volume 1|1998|p=14}}<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Ladakh-Range Ladakh Range], Encyclopedia Britannica, retrieved 22 April 2018.</ref> The southern extension of the Ladakh Range is called the [[Kailash Range]], especially in Tibet.{{sfn|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992|loc=end papers}}

The Ladakh Range forms the northeastern bank of the [[Indus River]] and the western bank of the [[Shyok River]].{{sfn|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992|p=15}}

The Ladakh Range has an average height of about 6,000 metres and has no major peaks. Some of its peaks are less than 4,800 metres.{{sfn|Kaul, Rediscovery of Ladakh|1998|p=17}}

The main mountain passes are [[Chorbat]] (5,090 metres), Digar La (5,400 metres), [[Khardung La]] (5,602 metres), [[Chang La]] (5,599 metres) and Tsaka La (4,724 metres).{{sfn|Negi, Discovering the Himalaya, Volume 1|1998|p=14}}

== Habitation ==

<!-- [[File:Shyok2.svg|thumb|right|300px|Indus, Shyok and Nubra river valleys]] -->
The city of [[Leh]] lies in the [[Indus Valley]] at the foot of the Ladakh Range. Leh is a historic trading town with trade routes to [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]] and [[Tibet]] on the one hand, and [[Srinagar]] and rest of the Indian subcontinent on the other. The summer route from Leh to Yarkand passed through Khardung La to pass into the [[Nubra River|Nubra valley]] and thence to Yarkand via the [[Karakoram Pass]] and Suget Pass (in the [[Trans-Karakoram Tract]]). The winter route passed through Digar La to reach the Shyok river valley and, again, reach the Karakoram Pass. The trade route to Tibet went via [[Gartok]] in the Indus river valley at the foot of the Kailash Range.{{sfn|Warikoo, India's gateway to Central Asia|2009|p=1}} By the [[Tingmosgang|Treaty of Tingmosgang]] signed in 1684, Ladakh had the exclusive right to trade in the [[pashmina]] wool from Tibet, which led to its prosperity.{{sfn|Warikoo, India's gateway to Central Asia|2009|p=4}}

Leh was for centuries trade centre for fine [[pashmina]] wool (once worth its weight in gold); yak and pony caravans brought in pashmina from Tibet, turquoise, coral and silver from [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]] and [[Kashgar]], spices, fabrics from [[India]] and [[silk]] from [[Kashmir]].

Two English explorers, [[William Moorcroft (explorer)|William Moorcroft]] and [[George Trebeck]] visiting Leh in 1820, were stunned seeing a town of such wealth located in midst of obviously arid desert land.

The nomadic [[Changpa]] rely mostly on sheep and yak herding for subsistence in the Ladakh Range. Tibet's Chang Tang plain, most remote section of Himalayas, is extreme high country; here the valleys are about 14,000 feet above sea level.

Ladakh is a desert region. Culturally/geographically close to Tibet, it has few resources with an extreme climate. The [[Buddhist]] Ladakhis with their traditions and intimate knowledge of local environment have survived and actually prospered, in spite of centuries of invasions from the [[Mongols]] (from central Asia), the [[Baltis]] (from west), [[Dogras|the Dogras]] (from south) and even [[Tibetans]] (from east). The mixed ethnic origins are reflected in their faces.

The extension of the Ladakh Range into China is known as [[Kailash Mountain|Kailash Range]].

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |last=Karim |first=Afsir |chapter=Strategic dimensions of the trans-Himalayan frontiers |editor=K. Warikoo |title=Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_Z8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-03294-5 |pages=56–66 }}
* {{citation |last=Kaul |first=H. N. |title=Rediscovery of Ladakh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mg8My6WaWRcC&pg=PA17 |year=1998 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-086-6 |ref={{sfnref|Kaul, Rediscovery of Ladakh|1998}}}}
* {{citation |last=Mehra |first=Parshotam |title=An "agreed" frontier: Ladakh and India's northernmost borders, 1846-1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIduAAAAMAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562758-9 |ref={{sfnref|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992}}}}
* {{citation |last=Negi |first=S. S. |title=Discovering the Himalaya, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kusLzP8H6TQC&pg=PA14 |year=1998 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-079-8 |ref={{sfnref|Negi, Discovering the Himalaya, Volume 1|1998}}}}
* {{citation |last=Warikoo |first=K. |chapter=India’s gateway to Central Asia: trans-Himalayan trade and cultural movements through Kashmir and Ladakh, 1846–1947 |editor=K. Warikoo |title=Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_Z8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-03294-5 |pages=1–13 |ref={{sfnref|Warikoo, India's gateway to Central Asia|2009}}}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons-inline}}
* Romesh Bhattacharji, [http://bameduniya.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/ladakh-changing-yet-unchanged-missing.html Maps of ''Ladakh: Changing yet Unchanged''], via Bame Duniya blogspot, 19 March 2013

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[[Category:Landforms of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Geography of Ladakh]]
[[Category:Mountain ranges of India]]