Demchok is a historic area of Ladakh, having been part of the kingdom from its
inception in the 10th century. The description of the kingdom in the
Ladakh Chronicles mentions
Demchok Karpo, also called
Demchok Lhari Karpo or
Lhari Karpo, as being part of the original kingdom. This is a possible reference to the rocky white peak behind the Ladakhi side of the Demchok village. The Lhari peak is also referred to as "Chota Kailas" (mini Kailas) and attracts pilgrimage from Hindus as well as Buddhists. Tibetologist
Nirmal C. Sinha states that Demchok is part of the
Hemis complex. Ruined houses belonging to the Hemis monastery were noticed by
Sven Hedin in 1907,
17th century The
Chronicles of Ladakh mention that, at the conclusion of the
Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War in 1684, the Prime Minister
Desi Sangye Gyatso of
Ganden Phodrang Tibet and the
King of Ladakh Delek Namgyal agreed on the
Treaty of Tingmosgang. The chronicles describe the treaty as fixing the boundary at "the Lhari stream at Demchok". According to
Alexander Cunningham, "A large stone was then set up as a permanent boundary between the two countries, the line of demarcation drawn from the village of
Dechhog [Demchok] to the hill of
Karbonas."
British colonial era British boundary commissioner
Henry Strachey visited Demchok in 1847 on the borders of the
former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. He described the village as: The boundary commission determined that the border between the Kashmir and Tibet was at Demchok. The
Survey of Kashmir, Ladak, and Baltistan or Little Tibet of 1847 to 1868 under the
Great Trigonometrical Survey of India then made several adjustments to the boundary, described by
Alastair Lamb as moving "sixteen miles downstream on the Indus from Demchok". However, Indian commentators state that the revenue records from the period of the survey show that the Demchok area was administered by Ladakh. In 1904–05, a tour report by the Wazir Wazarat (Governor) of Ladakh described the Tibetan side of the hamlet to have 8 to 9 huts of zamindars (landholders) and described the Ladakhi side as having two. When
Sven Hedin visited the area in the November 1907, he described Demchok as four or five huts lying on the southeastern bank of the Lhari stream in Tibet, with the Ladakhi side of the Lhari stream only containing the pyramidal Lhari peak and the ruins of two or three houses. ==Modern era==