The Baltis are an ethnic group of Tibetan descent who are native to the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan and the Indian-administered territory of Ladakh, predominantly in the Kargil district with smaller concentrations present in the Leh district. Outside of the Kashmir region, Baltis are scattered throughout Pakistan, with the majority of the diaspora inhabiting prominent urban centres such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The origin of the name Balti is unknown. The first written mention of the Balti people occurs in the 2nd century BCE by the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer Ptolemy, who refers to the region as Byaltae. The Balti people themselves refer to their native land as Balti-yul (); the modern name of Baltistan is the Persian rendering of this name.
The Balti language belongs to the Tibetic language family. Read (1934) considers it to be a dialect of Ladakhi, while Nicolas Tournadre (2005) instead considers it to be a sister language of Ladakhi.
Bön and Tibetan Buddhism were the dominant religions practiced by the Balti people until the arrival of Islam in Baltistan by the 14th century CE, predominantly through Sufi missionaries such as Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. The Noorbakshia Sufi sect further propagated the Islamic faith in the region, and most of the Balti people had converted to Islam by the end of the 17th century. Over time, a significant number of Baltis converted to Shia Islam, while a few converted to Sunni Islam.
The Baltis still retain many cultural traits of pre-Islamic Bön and Tibetan Buddhist rituals within their society, making them a unique demographic in Pakistan. The Balti language remains highly archaic and conservative, closer to Classical Tibetan than other Tibetan languages.
Baltis see congregation in mosques and Sufi Khanqahs as an important religious ritual. Khanqahs are training schools introduced by early Sufi saints who arrived in the region.
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Le district de Leh (Hindi : लेह ज़िला, translit. iso : lēha zilā) est un district du territoire du Ladakh en Inde. Sa capitale est Leh. Il est le second plus grand district de l'Inde après le district de Kutch, dans l'État du Gujarat. Au Nord, une courte frontière avec la Chine par le col du Karakoram, situé à d'altitude, donne sur la Région autonome du Xinjiang. Elle est bordée à l'Est par l'Aksai Chin, région disputée par la Chine et l'Inde et administrée par la Chine au sein du Xian de Hotan, préfecture de Hotan, également dans le Xinjiang.
Le ladakhi (en ladakhi : ལ་དྭགས་ཀྱི་སྐད་, translittération : lədəks siskət, littéralement : « le parler du Ladakh »), aussi appelé bodhi ou bothi, est une langue tibéto-birmane parlée dans le district du Ladakh dans l'État indien du Jammu-et-Cachemire. Elle fait partie de la branche des langues tibétiques, et n'est pas intelligible avec le tibétain standard, qui fait partie de la branche des langues du tibétain central. Le ladakhi compte environ en Inde et peut-être dans la région autonome du Tibet, pour la plupart dans le plateau du Changtang.
Skardu (སྐར་མདོ་་; , skərduː) is a city located in Pakistani-administered Gilgit−Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. Skardu serves as the capital of Skardu District and the Baltistan Division. It is situated at an average elevation of nearly above sea level in the Skardu Valley, at the confluence of the Indus and Shigar Rivers. The city is an important gateway to the eight-thousanders of the nearby Karakoram mountain range. The Indus River running through the region separates the Karakoram from the Ladakh Range.