Towards the end of the 9th century, the Tibetan prince Kyide Nyimagon (Skyid lde nyima gon), a great-grandson of the Tibetan king, Langdarma, established a small kingdom in Guge, which eventually grew to encompass the whole of western Tibet up to the Zoji La mountain pass. His eldest son Lhachen Palgyigon is credited with much of the conquest in the northwest. After his father's death, he inherited the region of Maryul (lowland), as Ladakh was then called.