Skardū

Skardu stands in the upper Indus valley, beneath the great mountains of Baltistan. It was the seat of the Maqpon rulers, whose stronghold of Kharpocho overlooks the town. The valley belonged to the cultural world of Tibet before Islam spread through the region; carved Buddhist images in the rocks near Skardu recall that earlier religious landscape.

Maqpon power grew during the sixteenth century. In 1532 the army of Abu Said Khan of Yarkand passed through Baltistan on an expedition towards Kashmir. Later rulers extended Skardu's authority over neighbouring territories, and Ali Sher Khan Anchan became especially renowned for his campaigns. He fought Ladakh and married a Ladakhi princess, Mandok Gyalmo, as part of a settlement. Relations also developed with the Mughal court after Akbar's conquest of Kashmir in 1586. Tradition credits Ali Sher and his queen with building fortifications and waterworks around Skardu, though accounts differ over the origins of individual works.