India on Friday formally named several natural features like lakes and peaks in Ladakh, including those across the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Aksai Chin.The move marks the first time India has assigned official names to geographical features in Aksai Chin, which has been under Chinese control since the 1950s. Many of the new names have Tibetan linguistic roots, while several historical place names linked to the erstwhile Kashgar region, now part of China’s Xinjiang, have been retained.A Ministry of External Affairs publication titled Chinese Aggression, released in 1963, carried maps showing the loss of Aksai Chin. “China in 1957, surreptitiously cleared a motor road across the uninhabited Aksai Chin area of Ladakh,” the document states.Aksai Chin forms the northeastern edge of the Union Territory of Ladakh. The 832-km LAC in eastern Ladakh remains disputed, with overlapping territorial claims by India and China. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs recently released a list of 28 newly designated names and appended a high-resolution map of Ladakh. The ministry said the “standard place and feature names” have been incorporated into official Survey of India maps.”Identifying them formally on the Survey of India map is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large,” the ministry said.Among the newly named features is Guru Rinpoche Lake, located east of China’s G219 highway. A location along the same highway has been designated Kumarayana Point. The G219 highway, which connects Tibet and Xinjiang and runs through the cold desert of Aksai Chin, is a key military artery for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).Other additions to the Survey of India maps include Dehra Compass, near Cho La. Two peaks in the Lingzi Tang mountain range, which cuts across the Aksai Chin plateau, have been named Atisha Gir Peak and Sakyasri Peak, while another peak farther east has been designated Rinchen Zangpo Peak.A mountain range west of the G219 highway has been named Drak Karpo. Another high mountain located across the LAC near the Depsang Plains has been designated Mahesvara Ri, with “Ri” meaning peak in Tibetan. East of the Karakoram Pass, which marks the boundary between India and China, New Delhi has named a location Brangsa, situated across the LAC and close to the Ladakh-Xinjiang boundary.Notably, several historical names associated with the old Ladakh-Kashgar trade route have been retained. These include Khatai Dewan, Haji Langar, Qizil Jilga and Qazil Dewan, all located in Aksai Chin.In her 1999 book Trans-Himalayan Caravans: Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh, historian Janet Rizvi notes that trade caravans between Ladakh and Kashgar operated regularly until 1937 and were dominated by Punjabi merchants from Hoshiarpur.India and China have both previously issued separate lists of renamed places in Arunachal Pradesh.