History

The two units of Lahaul and Spiti district have different historical backgrounds. In the distant past, Lahaul was changing hands between the rulers of Ladakh and Kullu. With the disintegration of the Ladakh Empire in the latter half of the 17th century, Lahaul came into the hands of the chief of Kullu. In 1840, Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed Lahaul along with Kullu and ruled over it until 1846, when the region came under British influence.
From 1846 to 1940, Lahaul formed part of the Kullu Sub-Division of Kangra district and was administered through local Jagirdars/Thakurs. One of the Thakurs was designated as the Wazir of Lahaul and was invested with judicial and executive powers. Another Thakur was given the powers of a revenue officer. These functionaries exercised traditional powers as well as other powers conferred by the government. The Assistant Commissioner of Kullu used to visit the area for a month or so every year.
The unprecedented prosperity of the people, brought about by the growing cultivation of kuth in the late 1930s, and their consequent awakening posed a serious challenge to the power and influence of the Wazir of Lahaul, which had gradually begun to decline. The government soon realised the need to extend a regular system of administration. Accordingly, in 1941, a separate sub-tehsil comprising Lahaul and Spiti was constituted, and a Naib Tehsildar was posted at Keylong, thereby curtailing the powers of the Thakurs.
This arrangement continued until June 1960, when Lahaul and Spiti district came into existence. At the same time, Lahaul was made a separate tehsil and was subsequently made a sub-division.
The East India Company took possession of the Spiti area in 1846, following the Anglo-Sikh War and the annexation of the Cis-Sutlej States. Before this, it had formed part of Ladakh, a subsidiary of Jammu and Kashmir. Owing to the remoteness of the region and the poverty of its natural resources, the British, following the example of the Ladakhi rulers, made no significant changes to its administrative structure.
The Nono of Kyuling was recognised as the hereditary Wazir of Spiti (reaffirmed by the Spiti Frontier Regulations of 1883) and appears to have represented the British Indian Government. He collected land revenue for the government, and his judicial jurisdiction included the trial of all criminal cases except murder cases. He also performed all the functions and duties and enjoyed all the powers necessary for their discharge under the Regulations of 1883.
In 1941, Spiti, along with Lahaul, was constituted as a separate sub-tehsil of the Kullu Sub-Division, with its headquarters at Keylong. Later, following the formation of Lahaul and Spiti district in 1960, Spiti became a sub-division with its headquarters at Kaza.

Lahaul and Spiti, a district of Himachal Pradesh bordering Tibet, once formed part of separate Himalayan principalities or subdivisions of Kullu, which itself formed part of Kangra district in Punjab.
As the name Lahaul and Spiti indicates, the district consists of two distinct mountainous regions, one known as Lahaul and the other as Spiti. The district was named after the merger of these two regions into a single revenue district. The names Lahaul and Spiti have different origins.
Hiuen Tsang stated that Lahaul was situated at a distance of 1,800 or 1,900 li (575 or 610 km) from Kiu-lu-to (Kullu), along the road. This is a considerable overestimate, as the first village of Lahaul is only about 70 kilometres from Sultanpur. Despite this error, whatever its source may have been, Lahaul is clearly the country referred to here. However, the Tibetan Li-yul has also been identified by Rockhill as Khotan. If this identification is correct, Hiuen Tsang might have placed Lo-yu-lo, north of Kullu, at a distance of 1,800 or 1,900 li, although the estimate would still be questionable. Perhaps Hiuen Tsang confused the two countries, Li-yul (Khotan) and Lo-lo-lo (Lahaul), when estimating the distances, which he is believed to have obtained from hearsay.
In ancient Buddhist scriptures, Padma Thangyig and Mam-kambum mention a country called Khasa or Hasha, situated south of Ladakh and Zanskar. It is also possible that Garzha may be a corruption of Khasa or Hasha. Between the 6th century BC and the 5th century AD, the Shaka and Khasa tribes, driven out of Central Asia by the Huns, migrated into India. Many of them settled in the valleys of the Middle Himalayas between Garhwal and Ladakh. This is supported by the numerous remains of their graves found in these valleys. A stream near Keylong is named Shak, after the Shaka tribe that settled in the Bhaga Valley.