Kashmir ( ,
Urdu, , ,
Hindi) is a geographical region in the north-west of the
Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term
Kashmir geographically denoted only the
valley between the
Great Himalayas and the
Pir Panjal mountain range. Today, it denotes a larger area that includes the Indian administered territories of
Jammu and Kashmir (which consists of
Jammu, the
Kashmir Valley, and
Ladakh), the Pakistan administered territories of
Azad Kashmir and
Gilgit–Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered regions of
Aksai Chin and the
Trans-Karakoram Tract.