List of districts in Jammu and Kashmir
The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir consists of three divisions: Jammu, Kashmir Valley and Ladakh, and is further divided into 22 districts: This excludes 78,114 km2 under the administration of Pakistan, 5,180 km2 handed over by Pakistan to China and 37,555 km2 under the administration of China in Ladakh district.
Prior to 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state under the paramountcy of the British Indian Empire. The central part of the state was administratively divided into the provinces Jammu and Kashmir. In addition there were frontier districts and semi-autonomous jagirs (principalities). They were subdivided as follows:
The Gilgit district and the frontier illaqas were administered by the British administration as the Gilgit Agency, which were returned to the princely state prior to the Partition of India.
Following the indepndence of India and Pakistan, in October 1947, there was a rebellion in the western districts of the state coupled with a tribal invasion, both of which were supported by the newly independent Dominion of Pakistan. The princely ruler acceded to the Indian Union in return for armed assistance. India and Pakistan fought the First Kashmir War that lasted through 1948, at the end of which large parts of the three western districts of Mirpur, Poonch and Muzaffarabad, the whole of the Gilgit Agency and the Skardu sub-district of Ladakh came under Pakistani control. The remainder of the princely state has been organised as a semi-autonomous state of the Indian Union under the name Jammu and Kashmir.
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