Makpon Kingdom

The Makpon Kingdom or the Makpon Empire (Balti: དམག་དཔོན།, Wylie: dmag dpon),^[1] also called Tibet-I-Khurd (Little Tibet) by the Mughals, was a Balti Tibetan empire led by the Maqpon Dynasty. It existed on the Tibetan Plateau and reached from Chitral in the west to Burang in Western Tibet in the east.^[2]^[3]^[4] Ibrahim Maqpon founded it in 1190, and it lasted for about 700 years.^[5] The most prosperous period started with Ali Senge Anchan, who united Baltistan and expanded his rule from Chitral to the Mansarowar Valley in Western Tibet.^[6]^[6]

The Makpon Empire is named after the Tibetan and Balti title "Makpon", which means 'Army Leader,' 'Commander-in-Chief,' or 'Military Chief'.^[1] In 1835, G. T. Vigne visited Baltistan and translated "Magpon/Makpon" as "Duke" or "Chief" in his book Antiquities of Indian Tibet.^[7]

History[change | change source]

Until the tenth century, Baltistan was part of West Tibetan province, practicing Tibetan Buddhism. Over time, Buddhist influence decreased. Sayyid Ali Hamadani is credited with introducing Noorbakhshism in Baltistan by converting Buddhists in Khaplu and Shigar valleys.^[5]

In the 12th or 13th century, Ibrahim Shah, a Prince from Kashmir (Egypt in some sources) married the Princess of Skardo, establishing the Makpon Dynasty.^[1] After Tibetan suzerainty dissolved, the Maqpon dynasty ruled Baltistan. A student of Sayyid Ali Hamadani, visited Baltistan in the 9th century, converting many Baltis to Islam.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Maqpon Bukha or Bugha (1464-1490 A.D.) is considered the real founder of the Makpon Dynasty. He established the capital of Skardo.^[11] He faced challenges but surprised his subjects by governing effectively. Ali Khan (1540-1565 A.D.) expanded his kingdom, and Ghazi Mir (1565-1580 A.D.) conquered the Rondu Valley. Ali Senge Anchan (1580-1624 A.D.) is a significant figure who expanded the empire from Chitral to Burang in Western Tibet.^[12]

Ali Senge Khan also conquered Ladakh, facing conflict with the Ladakh raja.^[13] Later rulers, like Ghazi Mir and Ali Senge Anchan's son, expanded the kingdom to Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Nuristan and Chitral.^[14] In Balti folk songs Anchan's remarkable conquests are praised and Maqpon Empire's boundaries are defined as following:^[15]^[16]

‘Leh Purang na Brushal Shingel’.^[17]

Meaning from Leh's Purang to Brooshals Shingel is Makpon. Ali Senge Anchan initiated the game of Polo at the Shundur Polo Ground, which is the worlds highest Polo ground.^[18] The Mughal Empire conquered Baltistan in 1586, and the local rulers pledged allegiance.^[19] Ali Senge Anchan had a significant encounter with the Mughal court, forming an alliance and introducing Mughal arts to the region.

In 1839, the Dogra commander Zorawar Singh defeated Balti forces, leading to the end of the Maqpon dynasty in 1845.^[20] The last king, Ahmed Shah, was taken prisoner and died in captivity in Lhasa, Tibet.^[21]

— Imperial house — Maqpon dynasty
Preceded by Tibetan Empire	Monarchy 1190–1840 CE	Succeeded by Dogra Rule

Religion[change | change source]

The Balti people were once influenced by Zhangzhung and the Bon religion, practicing Animism. In 686, Baltistan came under the control of the Tibetan Empire. Under the rule of Songtsen Gampo, Tibetan Buddhism started influencing the region. Gompas and stupas were built, and lamas became important in Balti life.^[22]

In the 14th century, Islamic scholars from Kashmir traveled through the mountains to spread Islam. By the late 17th century, Islam gained strength in Baltistan due to the efforts of the Noorbakshia Sufi order. Over time, many people converted to Shia Islam, while only a few chose Sunni Islam.^[9]

Maqpon Dynasty[change | change source]

The Makpon dynasty or the Makpon Royal House ruled the Makpon Empire. The dynasty was founded by Ibrahim Makpon, who married the Princess of Skardu.^[23] Following is the timeline of Makpon rulers:^[24]

Name	Balti	Reign
Ibrahim Makpon	ཡིབྲ་ཧིམ་དམག་དཔོན།	1190-1220 CE
Astak Senge	ཨ་སཏག་སེང་གེ།	1220-1250 CE
Zak Senge	ཟག་སེང་གེ།	1250-1280 CE
Bardak Senge	བར་དག་སེང་གེ།	1280-1310 CE
Sek Senge	སེག་སེང་གེ།	1310-1340 CE
Tam Gori Tham	གཏམ་གོ་རི་ཐམ།	1340-1370 CE
Sa Gori Tham	ས་གོ་རི་ཐམ།	1370-1400 CE
Khohkor Senge	ཁོ་ཧྐོར་སེང་གེ།	1400-1437 CE
Ghota Cho Senge	གོ་ཏ་ཆོ་སེང་གེ།	1437-1464 CE
Bahram Cho	བ་ཧྲམ་ཆོ།	1464-1490 CE
Bo Kha	བོ་ཁ།	1490-1515 CE
Senge Shah	སེང་གེ་ཤ།	1515-1540 CE
Ali Wangchen	ཨ་ལི་དབང་ཆེན།	1540-1565 CE
Ghazi Mir	ག་ཟི་མིར།	1565-1590 CE
Ali Senge Khan Anchan	ཨ་ལི་སེང་གེ་དབན་ཆེན།	1580-1624 CE
Abdal Wangchen	ཨ་བདལ་དབང་ཆེན།	1624-1636 CE
Adam Wangchen	ཨ་དམ་དབན་ཆེན།	1636-1655 CE
Murad Wangchen	མུ་རད་དབན་ཆེན།	1655-1670 CE
Senge Wangchen I	སེང་གེ་དབན་ཆེན། ༡	1670-1678 CE
Muhammad Rafi Wangchen	མུ་ཨ་མད་ར་ཕི་དབང་ཆེན།	1678-1680 CE
Senge Wangchen II	སེང་གེ་དབང་ཆེན། ༢	1680-1710 CE
Mohammad Rafi	མོ་ཨ་མད་རཕི།	1710-1745 CE
Gyalpo Murad	རྒྱལ་པོ་མུ་རད།	1745-1780 CE
Azam Wangchen	ཨ་ཟམ་དབང་ཆེན།	1780-1785 CE
Mohammad Zafar Wangchen	མོ་ཨ་མད་ཟ་ཕར་དབང་ཆེན།	1785-1787 CE
Ali Senge Wangchen II	ཨ་ལི་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཆེན། ༢	1787-1811 CE
Ahmed Shah	ཨ་ཧྨད་ཤ།	1811-1840 CE

References[change | change source]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Halkias The Muslim Queens of the Himalayas (PDF). Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. 2011.
↑ Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-32109-2.
↑ Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.
↑ "The Western Himalayan States" (PDF). UNESCO.org. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 Kapstein, Matthew T.; Ramble, Charles (2022-01-31). The Many Faces of King Gesar: Tibetan and Central Asian Studies in Homage to Rolf A. Stein. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-50346-5.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 Pakistan, Adventure Land. "About Baltistan". adventurelandpakistan.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
↑ Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0769-9.
↑ Hussain, Shafqat (2021-04-26), "The History of Gilgit-Baltistan", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.378, retrieved 2023-11-29
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 Rieck, Andreas (1995). "The Nurbakhshis of Baltistan: Crisis and Revival of a Five Centuries Old Community". Die Welt des Islams. 35 (2): 159–188. ISSN 0043-2539. JSTOR 1571229.
↑ Unesco (1998-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1.
↑ The Archaeological Review. Sindh Exploration and Adventurer Society. 2001.
↑ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich; Unesco (2003-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.
↑ S.R. Bakshi (1997-01-01). Kashmir History and People. unknown library. Sarup & Sons.
↑ Jina, Prem Singh (2005). Ladakh Profile. Kalpaz Publications. ISBN 978-81-7835-437-8.
↑ Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.
↑ Bakshi, S. R. (1997). Kashmir: History and People. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-85431-96-3.
↑ Cite error: The named reference :02 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
↑ Mills, James H. (2005-05-15). Subaltern Sports: Politics and Sport in South Asia. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-760-9.
↑ Adshead, S. A. M. (2016-07-27). Central Asia in World History. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-22624-5.
↑ Charak, Prof Sukhdev Singh (2016-09-08). GENERAL ZORAWAR SINGH. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. ISBN 978-81-230-2648-0.
↑ Kaul, Shridhar; Kaul, H. N. (1992). Ladakh Through the Ages, Towards a New Identity. Indus Publishing. ISBN 978-81-85182-75-9.
↑ Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.
↑ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich; Unesco (2003-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.
↑ Lakhnaʼvī, Ḥashmatullāh K̲h̲ān̲ (1987). History of Baltistan. Lok Virsa.

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Halkias The Muslim Queens of the Himalayas (PDF). Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. 2011.

[2] Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-32109-2.

[3] Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.

[4] "The Western Himalayan States" (PDF). UNESCO.org. Retrieved 30 November 2023.

[Kapstein-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Kapstein, Matthew T.; Ramble, Charles (2022-01-31). The Many Faces of King Gesar: Tibetan and Central Asian Studies in Homage to Rolf A. Stein. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-50346-5.

[Pakistan-6] 6.0 ^6.1 Pakistan, Adventure Land. "About Baltistan". adventurelandpakistan.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-11-29.

[7] Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0769-9.

[8] Hussain, Shafqat (2021-04-26), "The History of Gilgit-Baltistan", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.378, retrieved 2023-11-29

[Rieck_1995_159–188-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Rieck, Andreas (1995). "The Nurbakhshis of Baltistan: Crisis and Revival of a Five Centuries Old Community". Die Welt des Islams. 35 (2): 159–188. ISSN 0043-2539. JSTOR 1571229.

[10] Unesco (1998-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1.

[11] The Archaeological Review. Sindh Exploration and Adventurer Society. 2001.

[12] Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich; Unesco (2003-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.

[13] S.R. Bakshi (1997-01-01). Kashmir History and People. unknown library. Sarup & Sons.

[14] Jina, Prem Singh (2005). Ladakh Profile. Kalpaz Publications. ISBN 978-81-7835-437-8.

[15] Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.

[16] Bakshi, S. R. (1997). Kashmir: History and People. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-85431-96-3.

[:02-17] Cite error: The named reference :02 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).

[18] Mills, James H. (2005-05-15). Subaltern Sports: Politics and Sport in South Asia. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-760-9.

[19] Adshead, S. A. M. (2016-07-27). Central Asia in World History. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-22624-5.

[20] Charak, Prof Sukhdev Singh (2016-09-08). GENERAL ZORAWAR SINGH. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. ISBN 978-81-230-2648-0.

[21] Kaul, Shridhar; Kaul, H. N. (1992). Ladakh Through the Ages, Towards a New Identity. Indus Publishing. ISBN 978-81-85182-75-9.

[22] Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.

[23] Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich; Unesco (2003-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.

[24] Lakhnaʼvī, Ḥashmatullāh K̲h̲ān̲ (1987). History of Baltistan. Lok Virsa.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

Part of a series on the
History of Pakistan

Timeline
Ancient Palaeolithic Soanian culture, c. 500,000 – 250,000 BCE Neolithic Mehrgarh, c. 7000 – c. 3000 BCE Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, c. 3300 – c. 1700 BCE Gandhara Civilization, c. 1500 BCE – c. 1000 CE Vedic Civilization, c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE Achaemenid Empire, c. 550 – c. 330 BCE Gedrosia, c. 542 – c. 330 BCE Gandhara, c. 518 – c. 330 BCE Arachosia, c. 518 – c. 330 BCE Hindush, c. 517 – c. 330 BCE Sattagydia, c. 516 – c. 330 BCE Ror dynasty, c. 489 – c. 450 BCE Macedonian Empire, c. 329 – c. 323 BCE Arachosia, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Gedrosia, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Paropamisadae, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Porus, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Taxiles, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Mauryan Empire, c. 322 – c. 200 BCE Seleucid Empire, c. 312 – c. 63 BCE Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, c. 190 – c. 140 BCE Indo-Greek Kingdom, c. 170 – c. 50 BCE Indo-Scythian Kingdom, c. 110 BCE – c. 95 CE Apracharajas, c. 25 BCE – c. 50 CE Paratarajas, c. 120 – c. 300 CE
Classical Parthian Empire, c. 90 BCE – c. 25 CE Indo-Parthian Kingdom, c. 25 – c. 80 CE Kushan Empire, c. 60 – 345 CE Sasanian Empire, c. 250 – 655 CE Indo-Sasanians, c. 240 – 410 CE Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom, c. 240 – 410 CE Gupta Empire, c. 345 – c. 455 CE Rai dynasty, c. 415 – 644 CE Hephthalite Empire, c. 450 – 560 CE Brahman dynasty, c. 641 – 725 CE Zhangzhung, c. 500 BCE - 624 CE Patola Shahis, c. 6th - 8th centuries CE Tibetan empire, c. 618 - 842 CE
Medieval Caliphate, c. 643 – 860 CE Rashidun Caliphate, c. 643 – 661 CE Umayyad Caliphate, c. 670 – 860 CE Pala Empire, c. 770 – 850 CE Habbari dynasty, c. 841 – 1024 CE Hindu Shahi, c. 870 – 1010 CE Samanid Empire, c. 905 – 999 CE Ghaznavids, c. 999 – 1186 CE Soomra dynasty, c. 1024 – 1351 CE Ghurid dynasty, c. 1170 – 1215 CE Makpon Empire, c. 1190 - c. 1840 CE Delhi Sultanate, c. 1206 – c. 1526 CE Mamluk dynasty, c. 1206 – c. 1290 CE Khalji dynasty, c. 1290 – c. 1320 CE Tugluq dynasty, c. 1320 – c. 1413 CE Sayyid dynasty, c. 1414 – c. 1451 CE Lodhi dynasty, c. 1451 – c. 1526 CE Mongol Empire, c. 1221 – c. 1327 CE Chagatai Khanate, c. 1225 – c. 1485 CE Ilkhanate, c. 1256 – c. 1353 CE Raees dynasty, c. 1320 – 1620 CE Katoor dynasty, c. 1570 – c. 1947 CE Samma dynasty, c. 1351 – c. 1524 CE Yabgo dynasty, before c. 1500 - 1972 CE Arghun dynasty, c. 1520 – c. 1554 CE Mughal Empire, c. 1526 – c. 1707 CE Bombay Presidency, c. 1618 – c. 1947 CE Suri dynasty, c. 1540 – c. 1556 CE Tarkhan dynasty, c. 1554 – 1591 CE
Early modern Durrani Empire, c. 1747 – c. 1826 CE Las Bela, c. 1802 – c. 1947 CE Misl, c. 1716 – c. 1799 CE Maratha Empire, c. 1758 – c. 1760 CE Sikh Empire, c. 1799 – c. 1849 CE British Raj, c. 1858 – c. 1947 CE Independence Movement
Modern Pakistan, c. 1947 CE – present Dominion of Pakistan, c. 1947 – 1956 CE Islamic Republic, c. 1956 CE – present
History of provinces Azad Kashmir Balochistan East Pakistan Gilgit-Baltistan Islamabad Capital Territory Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Punjab Sindh
Category
v t e