Gilgit (; Shina: ; ) is the capital and most-populous city in Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (d), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories."; (b) (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state."; (c) C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947"; (d) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute betw een India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." (e) Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir."; (f) (subscription required) Quote: "... China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962."; (g) Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million. AJK has six districts: Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Bagh, Kodi, Rawalakot, and Poonch. Its capital is the town of Muzaffarabad. AJK has its own institutions, but its political life is heavily controlled by Pakistani authorities, especially the military), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control." (h) Quote: "Kashmir’s identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised “Line of Control” still separating Pakistani-held Azad (“Free”) Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir."; (i) Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'." It is located in the broad Gilgit Valley near the confluence of Gilgit and Hunza rivers. Gilgit is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a hub for trekking and mountaineering expeditions in the Karakoram mountain range of northern Pakistan.
Gilgit was once a major centre for Buddhism; it was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road, and today serves as a major junction along the Karakoram Highway with road connections to Kashgar in China as well as the Pakistani cities of Skardu, Chitral, Peshawar, and Islamabad. The economic activity is mainly focused on agriculture, with wheat, maize, and barley as the main crops.
Name The earliest known mention of the name Gilgit is from the Hatun Rock Inscription, which dates to the 7th century CE and records its name as Giligitta. It was mentioned by al-Biruni in the Arabic form klkt (کلکت) in the 11th century. The etymology of the name is uncertain.
History Early history
Brokpas trace their settlement in the fertile villages of Ladakh back to Gilgit. They have a rich corpus of hymns, songs, and folklore that have been passed down through generations. The Dards and Shins appear in many of the old Pauranic lists of people who lived in the area, with the former also mentioned in Ptolemy's accounts of the region.
Gilgit was an important city on the Silk Road, along which Buddhism spread from South Asia to the rest of Asia. Buddhism was practiced in Gilgit in the past.Frederick Drew (1875) The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories: A Geographical Account E. Stanford, London, p. 430, OCLC 1581591 Two famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, Faxian and Xuanzang, traversed Gilgit, according to their accounts.
Medieval history
According to Chinese records, in the 600s and 700s, the city was governed by a Buddhist dynasty referred to as Little Balur or Lesser Bolü (). They are believed to have been the Patola Shahi dynasty mentioned in a Brahmi inscription, and were devout adherents of Vajrayana Buddhism.
In the mid-600s, Gilgit came under Chinese suzerainty after the fall of the Western Turkic Khaganate to the Tang military campaigns in the region. In the late 600s CE, the rising Tibetan Empire wrested control of the region from the Chinese. However, faced with the growing influence of the Umayyad Caliphate and then the Abbasid Caliphate to the west, the Tibetans were forced to ally themselves with the Islamic caliphates. The region was then contested by the Chinese and Tibetan forces, and along with their respective vassal states, until the mid-700s. Chinese records of the region continue until late the 700s, at which time the Tang 's western military campaign was weakened due to the An Lushan Rebellion.
Control of the region was left to the Tibetan Empire. They referred to the region as Bruzha, a toponym that is consistent with the ethnonym Burusho. Tibetan control of the region lasted until the late 800s CE. The region under the Patola Shahis had a vibrant Buddhist culture, as evidenced by the corpus of Gilgit manuscripts.
Trakhan dynasty According to John Biddulph:
Until the early 19th century, Gilgit was ruled by the Trakhan dynasty. A tradition traces their descent from a legendary prince of Persia, Azur Jamshid, who is said to have fled from his homeland and married Nur Bakht Khatun, the daughter of king Shri Badat of the legendary Shareis dynasty. Sri Badat's faith is theorized to be Hindu by someReginald Charles (1976) Between the Oxus and the Indus, Francis Schomberg, p. 249 and Buddhist by others.Henry Osmaston, Philip Denwood (1995) Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5: Proceedings of the Fourth and Fifth, Motilal Banarsidass, p. 226Ahmad Hasan Dani (1989). History of Northern Areas of Pakistan. Islamabad : National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research. pp. 36, 163. Shri Badat was known as Adam Khor (literally "man-eater"),Imperial Gazetteer of India. Provincial Series: Kashmir and Jammu, , Adamant, p. 107Reginald Charles (1976) Between the Oxus and the Indus, Francis Schomberg, p. 144 often demanding a child a day from his subjects. His demise is still celebrated to this very day by locals in traditional annual celebrations. At beginning of the new year, a Juniper procession walks along the river, in memory of chasing the cannibal king Sri Badat away.Henry Osmaston, Philip Denwood (1995) Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., p. 229
Azur Jamshid killed Shri Badat with the help of his daughter and ruled for 16 years, after which he abdicated in favour of his wife Nur Bakht Khatun until their son and heir Garg, grew of age and assumed the title of Raja. Garg ruled for 55 years. The dynasty flourished until 1421 when Raja Torra Khan assumed rulership. He ruled as a memorable king until 1475. He distinguished his family line from his stepbrother Shah Rais Khan (who fled to the king of Badakshan, and with whose help he gained Chitral from Raja Torra Khan), as the now-known dynastic name of Trakhan. The descendants of Shah Rais Khan were known as the Ra'issiya dynasty.Ahmad Hasan Dani (1999) History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Motilal Banarsidass Publ, pp. 216–217 The best known of Trakhān ruler was Queen Dadi Jawari, who ruled in the 17th century and built canals for irrigation and water supply. Gilgit was ruled for centuries by the Trakhan dynasty, which ended about 1810 with the death of Raja Abbas, the last Trakhan Raja.Frederick Drew (1875) The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories: A Geographical Account E. Stanford, London, p. 430, OCLC 1581591 The rulers of Hunza and Nager also claimed origins from the Trakhans.
Modern history
The area had been a flourishing tract but prosperity was destroyed by warfare over the next fifty years, and by the great flood of 1841 in which the river Indus was blocked by a landslip below the Hatu Pir and the valley was turned into a lake. After the death of Abbas, Sulaiman Shah, Raja of Yasin, conquered Gilgit. Then, Azad Khan, Raja of Punial, killed Sulaiman Shah, taking Gilgit; followed by Tahir Shah, Raja of Brushal (Nagar), taking Gilgit and killing Azad Khan.
Tair Shah's son Shah Sikandar inherited Gilgit, only to be killed by Gohar Aman, the ethnic Kho Raja of Yasin when he took Gilgit. Then in 1842, Shah Sakandar's brother, Karim Khan, expelled Yasin rulers with the support of a Sikh army from Kashmir Valley. The Sikh general, Nathu Shah, left garrison troops and Karim Khan ruled until Gilgit was ceded by Sikhs to British and then sold by British to Gulab Singh of Jammu in 1846 under the Treaty of Amritsar, and Dogra troops replaced the Sikhs in Gilgit.
Nathu Shah and Karim Khan both transferred their allegiance to Gulab Singh, continuing local administration. When Hunza attacked in 1848, both of them were killed. Gilgit fell to the Hunza and their Yasin and Punial allies but was soon reconquered by Gulab Singh's Dogra troops. With the support of Raja Gohar Aman, Gilgit's inhabitants drove their new rulers out in an uprising in 1852. Raja Gohar Aman then ruled Gilgit until his death in 1860, just before new Dogra forces from Ranbir Singh, son of Gulab Singh, recaptured the fort and town.
Gilgit Agency
In 1877, in order to guard against the advance of Russia, the British India Government, acting as the suzerain power of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, established the Gilgit Agency. The Agency was re-established under control of the British Resident in Jammu and Kashmir. It comprised the Gilgit Wazarat; the State of Hunza and Nagar; the Punial Jagir; the Governorships of Yasin, Kuh-Ghizr, Ishkoman, and Chilas. In 1935, the British India government leased the Gilgit Tehsil (present-day Gilgit District) from the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir for 60 years.
The Tajiks of Xinjiang sometimes enslaved the Gilgiti and Kunjuti Hunza.
1947 Gilgit Rebellion