Rutok

Rutok stands near the eastern end of Pangong Tso in western Tibet, where a fortified hill rises above the surrounding plain. The old settlement clustered beneath its dzong, and local traditions remember the hill as the seat of an ancient ruler of Zhang Zhung. The lake and its neighbouring valleys placed Rutok close to the routes linking Tibet with Ladakh.

Rutok belonged to the Ladakhi sphere before the war between Ladakh and the Lhasa government in the late seventeenth century. The settlement passed to central Tibetan authority after the conflict. The 1684 agreement at Tingmosgang nevertheless preserved important trading ties: it reserved the wool trade of western Tibet to Ladakhis, while limiting access to Rudok to the Ladakhi court's own trader. Wool and pashmina continued to connect the two sides of the frontier.