Comprehensive information and links about Pakistan Gilgit

Gilgit is a region in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, bordering the Chinese region of Xinjiang. It has an area of 14,680 mi² (38,021 km²). The region is significantly mountainous, lying on the foothills of the Karakoram mountains, and has an average altitude of 1,500 m (5,000 ft). It is drained by the Indus river, which rises in the neighboring region of Baltistan.

Gilgit was ruled for centuries by the local Trakane Dynasty, which came to an end in about 1810. The area descended into internecine turmoil before being occupied by the Sikhs in 1842. It was ceded to Jammu in 1846. Gilgit's inhabitants drove their new rulers out in an uprising in 1852. The Khushwakhte Dynasty of Yasin led the people of Gilgit to drive out the Dogras. After Yasin was conquered by the Katur Dynasty of Chitral the power of the Khushwakhte was crushed. The rule of Jammu was restored in 1860 but was never fully secured. Gilgit came under British rule in 1889, when it was unified with neighboring Nagar and Hunza in the Gilgit Agency. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the region was handed over to Kashmir but another local uprising led to its accession to Pakistan. Its status is today disputed between the Indian State of Jammu Kashmir and the Pakistani Province of Azad Kashmir, both of which claim them as part of the disputed state of Kashmir. Gilgit town is the chief town of the Northern Areas.

It is also the town from which many trekking and mountaineering expedtions in the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountains set out from. One of the main cultural attractions of the region is the Shandur Polo Tournament played between the teams of Gilgit and Chitral on the Shandur pass.

The Northern Barrier of India: a popular account of the Jammoo and Kashmir Territories with IllustrationsWhere Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent Travel in: Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countriesDardistan in 1866, 1886 and 1893: Being An Account of the History, Religions, Customs, Legends, Fables and Songs of Gilgit, Chilas, Kandia (Gabrial) Yasin, Chitral, Hunza, Nagyr and other parts of the Hindukush, as also a supplement to the second edition of The Hunza and Nagyr Handbook. And An Epitome of Part III of the author's “The Languages and Races of DardistanSilk Road Seattle (The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works)