Skardu (Urdu: سکردو, romanized: Skardū, pronounced [skərduː]; Balti: སྐར་དོ་་) is a city located in Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan, and serves as the capital of the Skardu District. Skardu is situated at an elevation of nearly 2,500 metres (8,202 feet) in the Skardu Valley, at the confluence of the Indus and Shigar Rivers. The city is an important gateway to the eight-thousanders of the nearby Karakoram mountain range. The Indus River running through the region separates the Karakoram from the Himalayas.
The name "Skardu" is believed to be derived from the Balti word meaning "a low land between two high places."[3] The two referenced "high places" are Shigar city, and the high-altitude Satpara Lake
The first mention of Skardu dates to the first half of the 16th century. Mirza Haidar (1499–1551) described Askardu in the 16th-century text Tarikh-i-Rashidi Baltistan as one of the districts of the area. The first mention of Skardu in European literature was made by Frenchman François Bernier (1625–1688), who mentions the city by the name of Eskerdou. After his mention, Skardu was quickly drawn into Asian maps produced in Europe, and was first mentioned as Eskerdow the map "Indiae orientalis nec non insularum adiacentium nova descriptio" by Dutch engraver Nicolaes Visscher II, published between 1680 and 1700.
Location
The Skardu Valley, at the confluence of the Indus and Shigar Rivers, is 10 kilometres (6 miles) wide by 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. Active erosion in the nearby Karakoram Mountains has resulted in enormous deposits of sediment throughout the Skardu valley. Glaciers from the Indus and Shigar valleys broadened the Skardu valley between 3.2 million years ago up to the Holocene approximately 11,700 years ago.
