Dumchele[a] or Dhumtsele[5] (Chinese: 都木契列; pinyin: Dōu mù qì liè, Tibetan: སྡུམ་མཚེས་ལེ་, Wylie: sdum mtshes le, THL: dum tsé lé) is a village and a grazing area in the Skakjung pastureland near the Line of Actual Control between Ladakh and Tibet.

[10][9] In the 1962 war, China attacked the post and forced India to withdraw from the entire Kigunaru river basin.

At the present time, China maintains a border trading market at Dumchele and a military post nearby.

The present Dumchele village is on the bank of a mid-sized lake, which is apparently fed by a strand of the Kigunaru River (or Shingong Lungpa).

[6] Moorcroft's associate, George Trebeck, visited the area in early 19th century, travelling south on the right bank of Indus.

[c] The area was studded with small ponds and lakes, and a rivulet crossed the Indus bed (Kigunaru river, also called Xingong Lungpa), getting divided by an island.

[16][17] The border of Ladakh was described to Trebeck as running from "the angle of a hill about five miles to the east" to the low pass of La Ganskiel (the "Lagankhel" of later maps).

[18] Scholar Janet Rizvi confirms that traders often travelled with donkeys via Chang La to Rudok and returned with salt and wool.

[24] The Line of Actual Control resulting from the war runs between Dumchele and the smaller lake of Tsoskur to the west.

During and following the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, the Dumchele area saw some action mainly in the form of the Indian and Chinese governments exchanging notes blaming each other for intruding into their territory.

[25][26] Near Tsoskur, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Dumchele, three Indian armed personnel were killed by PLA troops on 19 September 1965.

[30] Tsaskur, alternately spelled as Tsoskur, is an Indian administered campsite located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south west of Dumchele.