Jammu

Jammu is one of the three regions comprising the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu borders Kashmir to the north, Ladakh to the east, Himachal Pradesh to the south and Pakistan-administered Kashmir to the west. Sandwiched between the Vale of Kashmir to the north and the Daman Koh Plains to the south, the Shiwalik Range comprises most of the region of Jammu. The Pir Panjal Range, the Trikuta Hills and the low-lying Tawi River basin adds beauty and diversity to the terrain of Jammu.

Home to some of the most popular Hindu shrines, such as Vaishno Devi, Jammu is one of the most famous pilgrimage tourism destinations in India. Once a seat of the Dogra Rajput dynasty, Jammu came under the control of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 19th century, becoming a part of the Sikh Kingdom under the command of Raja Gulab Singh. After the the treaties that ebded the Anglo-Sikh Wars Raja Gulab Singh, who with his brothers help had made of with the Lion's share of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Toshkhana (treasury) was able to purchase Jammu and Kashmir from the British, thus it was that the Dogra Rajputs were, once again, able to re-establish their control over Jammu founding the Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir.

After Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, signed the Instrument of Accession in 1947, Jammu and Kashmir became a part of the Union of India, but Hari Singh had played Pakistan and India against each other in an effort to retain his kingdon as an independant state. It was only at the last minute when the well laid plans of Pakistan to use the tribal Pathans to invade and capture Kashmir was well under way that he signed the papers thereby joining India. It was only a last minute airlift of Sikh units of the Indian army were able to stop the Pathans who had only come to loot and plunder as much as they could get their hands on. Since then war and constant terrorism has been the norm in the Mountain Kingdom as both India and Pakistan claim the State over which India still holds all but the small portion that was occupied by the Pathans in 1947.

Jammu enjoys the status of an administrative division within the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu city, the largest city in the region, is the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The majority of Jammu's 2.7 million population practices Hinduism [2], while Islam and Sikhism have a strong cultural heritage in the region. In Kashmir, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, it is the Muslims who are in the majority, having forced hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Hindus out of the valley under the threat of death, the Sikhs have continued to hold onto some property and businesses in the valley, often in the fields of Agriculture and shipping.

• See Wikipedia article on Jammu for more information