Due to its geographical contiguity and cultural affinity with Xinjiang and linkage with the Silk Route by means of much frequented Srinagar-Leh-Yarkand-Kashgar route, Kashmir played an important role in India’s relations with Central Asia since early times. But in modern times, the extent and pattern of political and commercial contacts between Kashmir and Xinjiang was conditioned by the Anglo-Russian rivalry over Central Asia. Due to its strategic location vis-a-vis Central Asia, Kashmir and its frontier territories of Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Hunza and Nagar came to occupy a pivotal position in the British strategy of checkmating Tsarist Russia and later Soviet Russia. With the creation of Dogra State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846 AD, the movement of trade and traffic between Kashmir, Ladakh and Xinjiang increased.