North of the Ü valleys and the Nyenchen Tanglha range lies the great grass plateau of the Changthang ('northern plain'): lakes (Namtso, Siling Tso and many salt lakes), grassland and then bare gravel.
Herders move their flocks between the lake shores in summer and the low valleys in winter and trade wool, butter and salt to the farmers of Ü and Tsang for barley and tea. The salt of the lakes, the wool, the gold dust of the plateau and the musk are the plateau's wealth (the brief). No house rules the nomads. The farming houses of Ü, Reting and Taklung reach the southern edge in later centuries; in 1200 no source we opened names a chief, a tribe or a tribute.
The polygon follows the modern counties and runs north to the Kunlun foot, where it meets the Tarim sheet.
Who holds it
- Title
- Chiefs and elders of the nomad camps
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No chief or tribe of the southern Changthang is named by any source we could open.
What it holds
- Pastures, lakes and salt, gold-dust and musk country; no owner named
Allies and rivals
The farming houses of Ü on the south; Damshung and Phenpo on the border; the Kham chiefs on the east.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing herders; no chief named.
Wealth
Herds of yaks, sheep and goats; wool and pashmina; salt from the lakes; gold dust and musk. No figures.
Military
No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.
Customs
Tibetan-speaking pastoralists (brog pa, in English Changpa, 'northerners') who live in black yak-hair tents and move their herds of yaks, sheep and goats between seasonal pastures; the Ladakhi Changpa raise mainly yaks and goats and sell pashmina (the fibre of the Changra goat) (en Wikipedia, Changpa). No clan, chief or law of the Changthang nomads in 1200 is described by any source we could open.
Assemblies
not described for 1200; the camps follow their own headmen and elders.
Tribute
none known; the nomads trade wool, butter, salt and hides for barley and tea with the farming valleys; no tribute to any house is recorded.
Where the sources disagree
- The Kham sheet (tie) anchors Nagchu (Nagqu) as `tibet`; our assignment makes the Changthang `peoples` and the anchor here says `peoples`. The point is at the eastern edge of the nomad country and the choice is a judgement, not a finding. Reconcile the two anchors on the merged sheet. Ruling of the finishing pass: `peoples` stands for Nagqu; on this sheet the Kham sheet's Nagchu anchor is set to `peoples` by an extra anchor in the config. The Biru, Sog and Baqing anchors of the Kham sheet (`tibet`) stay, so the line between the two colours falls east of Nagqu.
Evidence: Only the modern Changpa page and the brief's list of goods. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked.
On the map: Modern-unit polygon; much of the north is empty of people in any season.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.