Ladakh

Ladakh The Great Himalayas are an ethnic and cultural, as well as physical, divide. The portion of the Ladakh area (sometimes called “Little Tibet”) located in northeastern Jammu and Kashmir is thinly populated. To the east, around Leh, the inhabitants are predominantly Buddhists of Tibetan ancestry who speak a Tibeto-Burman language (Ladakhi). In the region around Kargil to the west, however, the population is predominantly Muslim, most belonging to the Shīʿite branch of Islam.

Cultivation in Ladakh is restricted to such main valleys as those of the Indus, Shyok, and Suru rivers, where it consists of small irrigated plots of barley, buckwheat, turnips, and mustard. Plants introduced in the 1970s by Indian researchers have given rise to orchards and vegetable fields. Pastoralism—notably yak herding—long has been a vital feature of the Ladakh economy; breeding of sheep, goats, and cattle has been encouraged. The Kashmir goat, which is raised in the region, provides cashmere for the production of fine textiles. Some Gujjar and Gaddi communities practice transhumance (seasonal migration of livestock) in the mountains. In addition to supplying pasture for the livestock, the mountains also are a source of many kinds of timber, a portion of which is exported.