Kashmir

Why Kashmir works

Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term denoted only the Kashmir Valley, between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range, though it has since come to describe a much larger area that once formed the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir region lies between latitudes 32° and 36° N, covering an area of roughly 180,000 square kilometres, bordered by China's Xinjiang and Tibet to the north and east, Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor to the northwest, Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to the west, and India's Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south.

Kashmir's history saw a period of cultural flowering under Hindu dynasties, most notably the Karkota and Lohara dynasties, before Hindu rule ended in 1339 with the rise of the Shah Mir dynasty. The native Chak dynasty ruled afterward until 1586, when the region was conquered by the Mughal Empire under Akbar, and Kashmir was later annexed by the Afghan Durrani Empire in 1752 before passing under Sikh rule. That succession of dynasties left behind the layered architectural and cultural heritage still visible across the Kashmir Valley today.

Kashmir's topography is mostly mountainous, traversed mainly by the Western Himalayas, which terminate at the region's western boundary at Nanga Parbat. Three rivers, the Indus, the Jhelum, and the Chenab, divide Kashmir into three valleys separated by high mountain ranges: the Indus valley forms the north and northeast, including the bare, desolate terrain of Baltistan and Ladakh, while the upper Jhelum valley forms the Vale of Kashmir proper, ringed by high mountains, and the Chenab valley forms the southern portion, including most of the Jammu region. Lower down in the Vale of Kashmir, freshwater lakes and swamplands are common, including Wular Lake, Dal Lake, and Hokersar near Srinagar, while the Karakoram mountains traverse the region to the north and northeast beyond the Great Himalayas, separated from them by the upper Indus River.

Kashmir's climate varies sharply with altitude, ranging from the subtropical heat of the Punjab-adjacent summer to the perpetual snow of its highest mountains; the Jammu Division, outside the upper Chenab Valley, has a humid subtropical climate, while the Vale of Kashmir itself is more moderate. The region's alpine meadows support hundreds of recorded wildflower species, and Srinagar's botanical garden and tulip garden, built in the Zabarwans, grow around 300 kinds of flora and 60 varieties of tulip respectively, the tulip garden considered the largest of its kind in Asia. Kashmir's recorded forest area covers about 20,230 square kilometres, varying by climate and altitude across four defined vegetation zones: subtropical forest up to 1,500 metres, dominated by Chir Pine and oak between 1,500 and 3,500 metres, Blue Pine alongside deodar, fir, and spruce between 2,800 and 3,500 metres, and birch at the highest elevations, interspersed with herbaceous alpine plants and dwarf scrub.

Kashmir's economy is centred on agriculture, with rice traditionally the valley's staple crop alongside Indian corn, wheat, barley, and oats, and a temperate climate suited to crops including asparagus, artichoke, and cauliflower, plus orchard fruit such as pears, apples, peaches, and cherries. The region became known internationally through the export of cashmere wool, and Kashmiris are skilled in knitting and producing Pashmina shawls, silk carpets, rugs, kurtas, and pottery; saffron is also grown in Kashmir, and Srinagar is recognised for silver-work, papier-mâché, wood-carving, and silk weaving.

• Kashmir — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text adapted from the linked articles under CC BY-SA 4.0; edited for length.

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