Milam (or Meelam) is the last village situated in

Johar valley Johar Valley (also known as ''Milam Valley'' or ''Gori Ganga Valley'') is a valley located in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, India, along the Gori Ganga river. The valley used to be a major trade route with Tibet. The best known village ...

Pithoragarh district Pithoragarh district is the easternmost district in the state of Uttarakhand. It is located in the Himalayas and has an area of and a population of 483,439 (as of 2011). The city of Pithoragarh, located in Saur Valley, is its headquarters. Th ...

in the state of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

, India. The river

Gori Ganga Gori Ganga ( Kumaoni: ''Gori Gād'') is a river in the Munsiari tehsil of the Pithoragarh District, part of the state of Uttarakhand in northern India. Its principal source is the Milam Glacier, just northeast of Nanda Devi along with the Gl ...

originates from

Milam Glacier Milam Glacier is a major glacier of Himalaya in the Munsiyari tehsil of Pithoragarh district of Kumaon region in the Uttrakhand state of India. The Milam village, near the snout of Milam Glacier, is the source of the Goriganga River which f ...

, flows past the village and through the

Johar Valley Johar Valley (also known as ''Milam Valley'' or ''Gori Ganga Valley'') is a valley located in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, India, along the Gori Ganga river. The valley used to be a major trade route with Tibet. The best known village ...

inhabited by Shauka and Nitwal people, and meets with Kali Ganga River at

Jauljibi Jauljibi (Jaul Jibi) is a small market town dominated by its bazaar on the Indo-Nepal border, situated at the confluences of the Kali and Gori rivers. Jauljibi refers to the villages and bazaars on both sides of the river. The Nepal-side villag ...

. "Munsiari-Bugdiar-Milam Road" (MBMR), being constructed by the BRO as part of the

India–China Border Roads India–China Border Roads (ICBRs, ICB Roads) is a Government of India project for developing infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control, Sino-Indian border by constructing strategic roads, including bridges and tunnels. The ICBR project ...

(ICBRs) with expected completion date of March 2026, provides access to Milam from the district sub-division headquarter

Munsiari Munsyari ( Kumaoni: ''Munsyār'') is the name of the sub-division headquarters, a municipal board, a conglomeration of revenue villages and it also refers to the entire region as Munsiyari Tehsil and Sub Division in the Pithoragarh District i ...

.इंडो-चीन बॉर्डर रोड के पहले फेज की एक सड़क अब भी पूरी नहीं, जानिए पूरा मामला
navbharattimes, 22 March 2025.

Historical trade with Tibet

Milam is on a route over high mountain passes (

Unta Dhura Nanda Gond is the Himalayan mountain peak situated in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territori ...

, Jandi Dhura and Kingribingri Dhura) to Gyanima mandi in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. The border is closed since the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

of 1962, and Milam is now a ghost village with very few inhabitants. Before the war, it used to be a trade center bustling with 500 families. As of now all trade with Tibet is stopped and the families have settled in

Munsiyari Munsyari ( Kumaoni: ''Munsyār'') is the name of the sub-division headquarters, a municipal board, a conglomeration of revenue villages and it also refers to the entire region as Munsiyari Tehsil and Sub Division in the Pithoragarh District in ...

and other places in the lower ranges. In summer months very few people go there and cultivate medicinal plants, high altitude Buckwheat and Jambhu. Tibetan merchants visited this place and traded in Borax, precious stones,

Pashmina Pashmina (, ) refers to, depending on the source, the cashmere wool of the Changthangi cashmere goat,Janet Rizvi: ''Pashmina: The Kashmir Shawl and Beyond''. Marg Foundation, 2009. ISBN 978-8185026909. fine Kashmiri cashmere wool,Robert R. Fran ...

and salt. The inhabitants of Milam too travelled along with pack mules to Tibet. They took rice, cotton clothes, jaggery, sugar, etc. to sell in Tibetan markets. The famous pandit-explorers

Nain Singh Nain Singh Rawat (21 October 18301 February 1882), was one of the first Indian explorers (dubbed "pundits") employed by the British to explore the Himalayas and Central Asia. He came from the Johar Valley in Kumaon. He surveyed the trade route ...

and Kishan Singh who mapped Tibet territory belong to this village.

Trekking

The trek to Milam village starts from

a road head that can be reached from

Almora Almora ( Kumaoni: ') is a municipal corporation and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of the ...

Pithoragarh Pithoragarh ( Kumaoni: ''Pithor'garh'') is a Himalayan town with a Municipal corporation in Pithoragarh district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the largest hill town in Uttarakhand. Etymology "The district is named after its hea ...

. The trek passes through Lilam, Bogudiar, Rilkot, Martoli, Burfu and Bilju. Prominent peaks situated above the glacier are

Hardeol Hardeol or 'Temple of God' is one of the major peaks of the Kumaon division, Kumaon Himalaya. It is the highest peak on the northern side of the ring of peaks guarding the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, and lies at the northeast corner of this ring. It ...

, Trisuli,

Nanda Ghoonti Nanda, including Nanda (南大), may refer to: Education * Nanchang University (南昌大学), a public university in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China * Nanhua University (南华大学), a public university in Hengyang, Hunan, China * Nanjing Universi ...

etc. Some of the camping places above the glacier are Nitwal dhar, Suraj kund etc.

Nandadevi Nanda Devi is the second-highest mountain in India, after Kangchenjunga, and the highest located entirely within the country. (Kangchenjunga is on the border of India and Nepal.) Nanda Devi is the 23rd-highest peak in the world and ranked 74t ...

East base camp can be reached through a side valley from Ghangar and Pacchu villages. The ideal trekking period is from May to October excluding

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

months. However, as the inhabitants of the upper villages tend to move down the valley for the winter months trekkers may find that food and accommodation is not available especially after the festival of Diwali.

Prominent people

* Kishen Singh Rawat (1850-1921), honorary titled as

Rai Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the Empire. From 1911, the title was accompani ...

British raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, was an Indian explorer and cartographer. He was first to map the

Ramgarh crater Ramgarh crater, also known as ''Ramgarh structure'', ''Ramgarh Dome'' and ''Ramgarh astrobleme'', is a meteor impact crater of diameter in Kota plateau of Vindhya Range located adjacent to Ramgarh village, 40 km north of Baran City in ...

on a finer scale of (1 : 63,360).BALASUNDARAM, M., DUBE, A. Ramgarh, 1973, "Structure, India",

Nature (journal) ''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features Peer review, peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and t ...

, 242, 40 doi:10.1038/242040a0. *

Nain Singh Rawat Nain Singh Rawat (21 October 18301 February 1882), was one of the first Indian explorers (dubbed " pundits") employed by the British to explore the Himalayas and Central Asia. He came from the Johar Valley in Kumaon. He surveyed the trade ro ...

, honorary titled as C.I.E by British raj, was an Indian explorer, he was the cousin of the explorer Krishna Singh Rawat. He would later say that Thok Jalung was the coldest place he had ever visited.Hopkirk, p. 39.

References

{{Pithoragarh district Villages in Pithoragarh district

Historical trade with Tibet

Trekking

Prominent people

See also

References