View of Leh from Namgyal hill

Leh Bazaar prior to 1871

Leh is the capital of the former Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, which is now a district in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The town is still dominated by the now derelict Royal Palace, which resembles a mini-Potala Palace. Download high resolution version (848x561, 98 KB)taken by User: Markalexander100, This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Download high resolution version (848x561, 98 KB)taken by User: Markalexander100, This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (719x867, 444 KB) Image taken from Robert Shaws 1871 book, Visits to High Tartary. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (719x867, 444 KB) Image taken from Robert Shaws 1871 book, Visits to High Tartary. ... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... Tikse monastery, Ladakh Hemis Monastery in the 1870s Ladakh is the largest district of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, covering more than half the area of the state (of which it is the eastern part). ... Jammu and Kashmir is the northern-most state of the Republic of India, with Srinagar as its summer capital and Jammu as its winter capital. ... The Potala Palace (Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ), located in Lhasa, Tibet, China, was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India after a failed uprising in 1959. ...

Although Leh is a largely Buddhist town, a substantial Sunni Muslim minority do exist. The Muslim presence dates back to the annexation of Ladakh by Kashmir, after the Fifth Dalai Lama attempted to invade Ladakh from Tibet. Since then, there has been further migration from the Kashmir Valley due firstly to trade and latterly with the transfer of tourism from the Kashmir Valley to Ladakh. Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an adherent of Islam. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (Wylie transliteration: Blo-bzang Rgya-mtsho), (also Lobsang Gyatso) the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, (1617 – 1682), The fifth Dalai Lama Lozang Gyatso was a political and religious leader in seventeenth century Tibet. ... Tibet (Tibetan: བོད་, Bod, pronounced pö in Lhasa dialect; Chinese: 西藏, pinyin: XÄ«zàng; older spelling Thibet) is a region in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. ...

This resulted in conflict between the two religions. Mosques and Buddhist Gompas were destroyed whenever a religious war was initiated. Owing to the fact that the Mosque and the Soma Gompa are situated not very far from one another, broadcasting of the Muslim prayers and Buddhist prayers have resulted in a cold war between these two communities.

Leh was an important stopover on trade routes along the Indus Valley between Tibet to the east, Kashmir to the west and ultimately between India and China. The amazon (Sindh darya), known as Sindhu to Indians and in Sanskrit, as Sinthos in Greek, and Sindus in Latin, is the principal river of Pakistan. ...