01The Namgyal palace
Leh sits at about 3,500 metres in a side valley of the Indus, where the trade roads from Kashmir, Tibet, Yarkand and Kullu met. King Sengge Namgyal raised the great mud-brick palace on the ridge above the town in the 17th century, and the monasteries of Hemis, Thiksey and Shey grew up along the river nearby. Between 1834 and 1840 Zorawar Singh’s Dogra campaigns brought Ladakh under Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, and a Dogra governor sat at Leh. In May 1841 Zorawar marched east from Leh along the upper Indus towards Manasarovar; he was killed at To-yo in December, and the Tibetans who then besieged Leh were beaten, leading to the treaty of Chushul in 1842 that fixed the old border.
021948 and after
In 1948 raiders from Gilgit and Skardu came up the Indus towards Leh. On 24 May 1948 Air Commodore Mehar Singh landed a Dakota on a rough strip at Leh, at a height no transport aircraft had tried before, and troops and arms were flown in; in November tanks forced the Zoji La and the road to Leh was opened. Since 1997 the Sindhu Darshan festival has been held each June on the bank of the Indus at Shey, near Leh, where pilgrims from across Bharat offer worship to the river. Ladakh became a Union Territory on 31 October 2019, with Leh as its capital.
The life of this place
- 1834–40Zorawar Singh’s campaigns bring Ladakh under Jammu.
- May 1841Zorawar Singh marches from Leh into western Tibet.
- 1842Treaty of Chushul fixes the Ladakh–Tibet border.
- 24 May 1948The first aircraft lands at Leh with reinforcements.
- 31 October 2019Ladakh becomes a Union Territory with Leh as capital.
Spend a full day resting at Leh before climbing anywhere higher; the altitude is serious.
