This region is more ancient historically than the rest of the country because it is nearest to the original seat of the human civilization. In the distant past the region has seen the transit of many civilizations and has been the repository of all the major religious philosophy in the world. Therefore, the region is very rich in its heritage, the local population makes it a point to let it be known to all sundry visitors how ancient is their local heritage. The area also has in the past seen the rise of systems in public administration, resource management, and in fine arts at a time when the rest of the country was ignorant of such skills. Geographically, the Ladakh region has been connected with the culture of Central Asia, the valley has been linked with the civilization of the Middle East and the Jammu region has been close to Punjab and the Mohan Jo Daro culture. This was made very clearly when studies were made in anthropology and geology.

We are aware of this region from the time of Ramayana and Mahabharat. Kekai of the Ramayana came from South Ladakh. Mahabharat has references on Gandharv desh, which is a part of north Kashmir extending upto south Afghanistan. The earliest waves of human migration indicate a very vital connection with the Semitic culture of Babylonia, going back to 3500 BC. Early man was living and hunting collectively in Kashmir valley 40,000 years ago as has been found out in the latest excavations undertaken by the Department of Anthropology, University of Kashmir in the period 1999-20.

Today Kashmir valley enjoys a climate of the temperate zone, but 40,000 years ago this area was a warmer place, heavily forested with tropical trees and vegetation, and filled with animal life which was distinctly originating from the tropical zone of the Indian sub-continent. The recovery of fossils forms speaks of the ancient Kashmir, which is very well known to its local population.

Kashmir valley in particular has remained the seat of ancient learning. Out of the 14 known ancient reference places of cultural heritage, 12 places of such reference belonged to this region. Rulers of North India as far as from Patliputra sent the members of their families and officers of their kingdom to the monasteries and gurukuls, which were world famous in their ancient time. The capital city of Srinagar was founded by Emperor Ashoka in around 320 BC. The emperor made Srinagar the centre of Buddhist learning. The new town was academically connected with Taxshila and scholars made their homes in the valley.

Socio cultural interaction between Kashmir and other parts of India remained at-significant level with Adi Shankaracharya visiting the Valley all the way from the Karnataka area. The local king of Kashmir region had specially invited the Brahmins of Kannauj to migrate and settle in the valley in AD 800. These gentlemen from Kannauj laid the foundation of civil and political administration in the region, influencing generation of rulers as far as Nippon (Japan), Rus (South Russia), Caliphat (Mesopotanian delta) and in Saurashtra in the present West India. This ancient civilization has created its own local socio-cultural milieu which is generally termed as kashmiriyat. It is a mixture of Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic religious philosophies. Significant icons of the cult of Kashmiriyat have been found wide spread in this region indicating that even when the area has 3 clearly distinct political and religious regions, there is still a certain cultural commonality called Kashmiriyat, which keeps the area intact as one. From the point of view of promoting tourism this philosophy is most significant, as it is unique. There are parts in this area, which are truly isolated in the purest sense