The spiritual history of the Hemis region traces its roots back to the 11th century, closely associated with Naropa, the great Indian Buddhist yogi and pupil of Tilopa. The area became a quiet retreat for meditation and ascetic practices long before large-scale settlements emerged.
The modern footprint of Hemis was established in 1672 when the Ladakhi King Sengge Namgyal re-established the Hemis Monastery, placing it under the care of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of Buddhism. Due to its secluded location inside a narrow gorge, Hemis largely escaped the plundering and skirmishes that occasionally swept through the more exposed parts of the Indus Valley, allowing its wealth of artifacts and texts to survive intact over centuries.
In the 19th century, Ladakh was absorbed into the Dogra-ruled princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under British suzerainty. Following the partition of India in 1947, the region became part of the Republic of India.
A major modern milestone occurred in 1981 with the establishment of Hemis National Park, aimed at preserving the fragile high-altitude ecosystem and its apex predator, the snow leopard. In 2019, Ladakh was formally separated from Jammu and Kashmir to become a distinct Union Territory, ushering in a new era of administrative focus on the region's unique cultural and ecological preservation.