The open basin where the Indus is joined by the Shigar and the Shyok, the natural centre of Baltistan.
Wikipedia's Skardu page puts it in the Buddhist Tibetan cultural sphere from the Tibetan Empire, with Tibetan suzerainty gone by the ninth or tenth century, and says the Maqpon dynasty of Skardu ruled Baltistan for around 700 years, the capital being founded about 1500 by Maqpon Bokha. It gives conflicting dates for the Kharpocho fort (the eighth century in one place, about 1500 in another). In 1200 Skardu is a plain of villages under a leading family; the fort and town of the Maqpon are not there yet on the more reliable reading.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known by name for 1200
- Title
- Chief of Skardu
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
See the Skardu chiefs record. Wikipedia's Skardu page: Tibetan suzerainty over Baltistan dissolved about the ninth to tenth century, and Maqpon Bokha was crowned about 1500.
What the town holds
- the Skardu plain
- the Indus and Shigar road
Wealth
Barley and apricots; the Leh-Skardu-Kashmir caravan road.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Communities
Tibetan-speaking Balti farmers; Buddhist monks.
Walls and castle
The Kharpocho fort is dated by the page both to the eighth century and to about 1500; we follow the later date.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Wikipedia's Skardu and Baltistan pages; late genealogies.
On the map: Approximate.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.