The upper Indus valley below the Karakoram, Tibetan in speech and Buddhist in 1200, with a plain at Skardu where the Indus opens out.
Its chiefs answer to nobody consistently; the Kashmir writers call the country Bolor. The 'Makpon' rulers of the late lists are not attested in any document of 1200, and the Skardu fort and city belong to the Makpon of about 1500. The country in 1200 is a string of village chiefdoms with a leading family at Skardu.
Who he is
- Name
- Not known by name
- Title
- Chief of Skardu (the Makpon of the later lists; not known by name for 1200)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Late local genealogies begin the Makpon with a founder in 1190 (Wikipedia's Baltistan page: 'In 1190, the Maqpon dynasty of Skardu was founded by Ibrahim Shah (1190-1220)'); Wikipedia's Maqpon page says Maqpon Bokha, builder of Skardu, was crowned around 1500; we treat the 1190 figure as a late reckoning.
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia's Baltistan page: Baltistan was Buddhist and Tibetan in culture until the fourteenth century; Muslim scholars from Kashmir reach it in the fourteenth century and Islam dominates it by the end of the seventeenth. Tibetan inscriptions are across Baltistan. Medieval Baltistan had three main kingdoms: Skardu, Shigar and Khaplu.
What it holds
- the Skardu plain
- the Indus above and below
Allies and rivals
Shigar and Khaplu, the other two main Balti chiefdoms; Purig and Maryul to the south-east; the Dard valleys to the west.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing; no raid or war dated.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Places of note
- Skardu: Plain and later fort.
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia's Baltistan page says the Maqpon dynasty was founded in 1190; its Maqpon page says around 1500; neither has an inscription behind it that we could read. The campaign board entry skardu-baltistan says 'its chiefs answer to nobody consistently', which we follow.
Evidence: Late genealogies, Tibetan rock inscriptions and Kashmiri hearsay.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Approximate.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.