Gilgit is the Capital city of Gilgit-Baltistan, an administrative territory of Pakistan. The city of Gilgit constitutes a tehsilwithin Gilgit district. The city's ancient name was sargin, later to be known as gilit, and it is still referred to as gilit of Sargin-Gilit by local people. In the Burushaski Language. It is named geelt and in Wakhi and khowar it is called Gilt. Ghallata is considered its name in ancient Sanskritliterature.

 Gilgit was an important city on the Silk road, along which Buddhism was spread from south Asia to the rest of Asia. It is considered as a Buddhism corridor from which many chinese monks came to Kashmir to learn and preach Buddism. 

Brogpas trace their settlement from Gilgit into the fertile villages of Ladakh through a rich corpus of hymns, songs, and folklore that have been passed down through generations. The dards and shinas appear in many of the old Pauranic lists of peoples who lived in the region. With the former also mentioned in Ptolemy's accounts of the region. Two famous travellers Faxian and Xuanzang, traversed Gilgit According to their accounts.