Zanskar has an area exceeding 7000 sq km and a population estimated to be between 18000 to 20000. It is located bang in the middle of the Great Himalayas which separate it from Kishtwar and Lahaul in the South. In the East it touches Tibet almost and in the North is Ladakh and to the East is what used to be Baltistan but now better known as the Kargil area. Zanskar gets its name from the Tibetan word for Copper "Zang" and Valley. So probably it was because of the Copper deposits it was called so. And the name stuck.