The history of Kashmir is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent in South Asia with influences from the surrounding regions of Central, West and East Asia. Historically, Kashmir referred to only the Kashmir Valley of the western Himalayas. Today, it also denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir (which consists of Jammu and the Kashmir Valley), Ladakh, the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered regions of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract. Archaeological evidence of the presence of archaic humans in the Kashmir Valley dates to the palaeolithic period, and evidence suggests settled human life during the neolithic period. During the Vedic period, Indo-Aryan tribes migrated into Kasmira—the Kashmir Valley as known to the Vedic people. Mauryan rule introduced Buddhism into Kashmir by the third century BC. Kashmir became an important centre of Buddhism and Sanskrit learning under the Kushana Empire in the first half of the first millennium CE. Between the seventh and ninth century CE, the Karkota dynasty ruled over the region. Under them, the region saw a period of economic prosperity and emerged as a centre of Hindu culture and Sanskrit scholarship. A native tradition of non-dualistic Shaivism arose in the region during this period, flourishing during the following rule of the Utpalas in the 9th and 10th centuries. The Lohara dynasty was established in the early 11th century. Social decline and political turmoil in the 13th and early 14th centuries paved way for the establishment of the Shah Mir dynasty in mid-14th century. Under the Shah Miris, during the 14th and 15th centuries, Islam spread in the region. Internal conflict in the region in the late 16th century facilitated its annexation into the expanding Mughal Empire, which ruled the region until the mid-18th century. From 1753 until 1819, the region was ruled by the Afghan Durranis, from whom it was annexed by the Sikhs. In 1846, the region became part of the Dogra-ruled princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown. Dogra rule lasted until 1947, when the former princely state became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.
Etymology According to folk etymology, the name "Kashmir" means "desiccated land" (from the Sanskrit: ka = water and shimīra = desiccate). In the Rajatarangini, a history of Kashmir written by Kalhana in the mid-12th century, it is stated that the valley of Kashmir was formerly a lake. According to Hindu mythology, the lake was drained by the great rishi or sage, Kashyapa, son of Marichi, son of Brahma, by cutting the gap in the hills at Baramulla (Varaha-mula). When Kashmir had been drained, Kashyapa asked Brahmins to settle there. This is still the local tradition, and in the existing physical condition of the country, there is some ground for the story which has taken this form. The name of Kashyapa is by history and tradition connected with the draining of the lake, and the chief town or collection of dwellings in the valley was called Kashyapa-pura, which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus (apud Stephanus of Byzantium) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus (3.102, 4.44). Kashmir is also believed to be the country meant by Ptolemy's Kaspeiria. Cashmere is an archaic spelling of Kashmir, and in some countries it is still spelled this way.
Historiography Nilamata Purana (complied c. 500–600 CE) contains accounts of Kashmir's early history. However, being a Puranic source, it has been argued that it suffers from a degree of inconsistency and unreliability. Kalhana's Rajatarangini (River of Kings), all the 8000 Sanskrit verses of which were completed by 1150 CE, chronicles the history of Kashmir's dynasties from earlier times to the 12th century. It relies upon traditional sources like Nilmata Purana, inscriptions, coins, monuments, and Kalhana's personal observations borne out of political experiences of his family. Towards the end of the work mythical explanations give way to rational and critical analyses of dramatic events between 11th and 12th centuries, for which Kalhana is often credited as "India's first historian". During the reign of Muslim kings in Kashmir, three supplements to Rajatarangini were written by Jonaraja (1411–1463 CE), Srivara, and Prajyabhatta and Suka, which end with Akbar's conquest of Kashmir in 1586 CE. The text was translated into Persian by Muslim scholars such as Nizam Uddin, Farishta, and Abul Fazl. Baharistan-i-Shahi and Haidar Mailk's Tarikh-i-Kashmir (completed in 1621 CE) are the most important texts on the history of Kashmir during the Sultanate period. Both the texts were written in Persian and used Rajatarangini and Persian histories as their sources.
Palaeolithic At the Lower-Middle Palaeolithic Galander site near Pampore in the Kashmir Valley, remains of the extinct elephant species Palaeoloxodon turkmenicus have been found associated with knapped stone tools produced by archaic humans, with the bones of the elephant suggested to display deliberate fracturing, perhaps produced during the act of butchery. The stone tools exhibit production techniques reminiscent of the Levallois type, and the site is suggested to date to the Middle Pleistocene, around 400-300,000 years ago.
Early history
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