Ladakh has a population of about 260,000 which is a blend of many different ethnic groups, predominantly the Tibetans, Mons and the Dards. Like other Ladakhis, the Baltis of Kargil, Nubra, Suru Valley and Baltistan show strong Tibetan links in their appearance and language, and were Buddhists until the last few hundred years.
Most Ladakhis in Leh District and Zangskar are Tibetan Buddhist, while most of the rest of Kargil District is Shia Muslims. There are sizeable minorities of Buddhists in Kargil District and of Muslims in Leh District. There are some Sunni Muslims of Kashmiri descent in Leh and Kargil towns and also Padum in Zangskar. The Balti villages in Leh District have several thousand Nurbakhshia Muslims. There are a less than 40 families of Ladakhi Christians, who converted in the 19th century.
Source - Wikipedia
This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world...reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
