Kargil

Kargil, the second-largest town of Ladakh, has grown around the Suru River on one of the main routes between Kashmir and Central Asia. For centuries, the wider Kargil region was a meeting point of cultures—Dardic, Balti, Ladakhi—where people lived in small villages, farming narrow terraces, herding animals and trading along caravan routes that connected Srinagar, Skardu, Leh and beyond. The town itself developed as a market and staging centre, where traders and travellers halted, exchanged goods and hired support for the high passes ahead.

Politically, Kargil and its surrounding valleys were once part of small mountain chiefdoms, later drawn into the kingdom of Ladakh, and eventually into the Dogra-ruled princely state of Jammu & Kashmir in the 19th century. Its role as an inland crossroads continued, but with more formal administration and occasional military attention because of its position near key passes and frontiers.

After Independence, Kargil became a border district headquarters in a sensitive region between India and Pakistan. In 1999, it gained international attention during the Kargil War, when surrounding heights saw intense fighting. Since then, Kargil has rebuilt and modernised, with roads, schools and memorials, while still functioning as the main urban, commercial and cultural hub for many of Ladakh’s western highland communities.