As one of the most important glaciated areas on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the Kunlun Mountains (KM) are of great significance in maintaining the ecological balance and sustainable socio-economic development of the arid regions in Central Asia. We reconstructed the glacier extent, ice thickness, and equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) in the eastern section of the Kunlun Mountains (EKM) since the Little Ice Age (LIA) using high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth and the PalaeoIce model. The mapped LIA outlines were validated with field observations. We then analyzed the changes in glacier area, ice thickness, volume, and ELA since the LIA. The results showed that, since the LIA, the glacier area in EKM has decreased by about 15 %, the ice volume has lost about 25.2 %, and the ELA has risen by 28 m. The glacier change was spatially heterogeneous in the EKM, in which the retreat of glacier area and volume in the eastern region was greater than those in the central and western regions. Glacier changes in the western region also showed a north-south heterogeneity, with smaller changes in the southwestern part and greater changes in the northwestern part. These changes were closely related to the characteristics of regional glaciers. The glaciers of EKM had relatively smaller changes in response to temperature rise compared with other glaciers on the TP.