Tibet
Tibet is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau. It is the homeland of the Tibetans. Other ethnic groups also reside on the plateau, including Mongols, the Lhoba, Monpa, Qiang, Sherpa, and since the 20th century, Han and Hui peoples. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of. Lying within the Himalayas, the highest point in Tibet is Mount Everestthe highest peak on Earth, standing above sea level.
In the 7th century, the Yarlung dynasty expanded into surrounding areas such as Amdo. In the 9th century, the Tibetan Empire stretched from the Tarim Basin and Pamirs in the west to Yunnan and Bengal in the southeast but was divided among a number of principalities and tribal groups following its dissolution. Central Tibet and peripheral regions often fell under Chinese or Mongol patronage between the 13th and the 18th centuries, while the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism rose to prominence. The Qing dynasty established its rule in Tibet after expelling Mongol forces and incorporated many areas into Sichuan and other administrative regions.
Following the Xinhai Revolution in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet, but it was constitutionally claimed by the Republic of China as the Tibet Area. The 13th Dalai Lama declared independence in 1913, although it was neither recognised by the Chinese government nor any foreign power. Central Tibet operated autonomously until 1951 when, following the Battle of Chamdo, it was annexed by the People's Republic of China after the 14th Dalai Lama ratified the Seventeen Point Agreement. His government was abolished after the failure of the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Today, China governs Tibet as the Xizang Autonomous Region and autonomous prefectures within Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Yunnan provinces.
The Tibetan independence movement is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora. Various human rights organizations have reported restrictions on civil liberties, including limitations on religious practices, freedom of expression, and assembly, with the Chinese government maintaining strict control over information. Reports on the extent of these restrictions vary, and claims of cultural suppression, including the sinicization of Tibet, are a subject of debate among scholars and international observers.
The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism; other religions include Bön, an indigenous religion similar to Tibetan Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Tibetan Buddhism is a primary influence on the art, music, and festivals of the region. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences. Staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. With the growth of tourism in recent years, the service sector has become the largest sector in Tibet, accounting for 50.1% of the local GDP in 2020. In 2024, more than 63.89 million domestic and foreign tourists visited Xizang.
Names and etymologies
The endonymic term for Tibet is Bod. Some scholars believe it is derived from the Sanskrit Bhauṭṭa and referenced in Greek in Geography and Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The first known English word Tibet dates back to 1827 CE and may have been derived from Arabic, Mongolic, or Turkic languages. The best-known medieval Chinese name for the region is c=, pronounced in Middle Chinese as thu-phjon or thu-pjon. The first known use of xizang c=西藏 or zang c=藏 dates back to the 16th or 17th century during the Ming and Qing dynasties.Language
Linguists generally classify the Tibetan language as a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family, although the boundaries between 'Tibetan' and certain other Himalayan languages can be unclear. According to Matthew Kapstein:From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. Grouping these two together with other apparently related languages spoken in the Himalayan lands, as well as in the highlands of Southeast Asia and the Sino-Tibetan frontier regions, linguists have generally concluded that there exists a Tibeto-Burman family of languages. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is itself part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan, and that through it Tibetan and Burmese are distant cousins of Chinese.
The language has numerous regional dialects which are generally not mutually intelligible. It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and Bhutan and is also spoken in parts of Nepal and northern India, such as Sikkim. In general, the dialects of central Tibet, Kham, Amdo and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi, are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages. However, if the latter group of Tibetan-type languages are included in the calculation, then 'greater Tibetan' is spoken by approximately 6 million people across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan is also spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have fled from modern-day Tibet to India and other countries.
Although spoken Tibetan varies according to the region, the written language, based on Classical Tibetan, is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from Gilgit Baltistan in the west to Yunnan and Sichuan in the east, and from north of Qinghai Lake south as far as Bhutan. The Tibetan language has its own script which it shares with Ladakhi and Dzongkha, and which is derived from the ancient Indian Brāhmī script.
Starting in 2001, the local deaf sign languages of Tibet were standardized, and Tibetan Sign Language is now being promoted across the country.
The first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar book was written by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös in 1834.
History
Early history
Humans inhabited the Tibetan Plateau at least 21,000 years ago. This population was largely replaced around 3,000 BP by Neolithic immigrants from northern China, but there is a partial genetic continuity between the Paleolithic inhabitants and contemporary Tibetan populations.The earliest Tibetan historical texts identify the Zhang Zhung culture as a people who migrated from the Amdo region into what is now the region of Guge in western Tibet. Zhang Zhung is considered to be the original home of the Bön religion. By the 1st century BCE, a neighboring kingdom arose in the Yarlung valley, and the Yarlung king, Drigum Tsenpo, attempted to remove the influence of the Zhang Zhung by expelling the Zhang's Bön priests from Yarlung. He was assassinated and Zhang Zhung continued its dominance of the region until it was annexed by Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. Prior to Songtsen Gampo, the kings of Tibet were more mythological than factual, and there is insufficient evidence of their existence.
Tibetan Empire
In the 6th century, the king, Namri Songtsen, began to annex neighboring tribes by force, he was later murdered, and his son Songtsen Gampo succeeded him and quelled rebellions in various regions. Songtsen Gampo inherited his father's will and successively conquered and annexed other countries such as "Songbo" in the Yushu area of Qinghai, Sumpa in the west, "Kangguo" in Qianduo, "Fuguo " in Ganzi, "Fanlu " in Litang, and Tuyuhun in Qinghai. Songtsen Gampo also led a large army to attack Zhangzhung in 642. It took him three years to conquer Zhangzhung and sent Khyungpo Pungse Sutse as the governor of Zhangzhung. Zhangzhung then became a vassal state of the Tibetan Empire.Songtsen Gampo also brought in many reforms, and Tibetan power spread rapidly, creating a large and powerful empire. It is traditionally considered that his first wife was the Princess of Nepal, Bhrikuti, and that she played a great role in the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. In 640, he married Princess Wencheng, the niece of the Chinese emperor Taizong of Tang China.
Under the next few Tibetan kings, Buddhism became established as the state religion and Tibetan power increased even further over large areas of Central Asia, while major inroads were made into Chinese territory, even reaching the Tang's capital Chang'an in late 763. However, the Tibetan occupation of Chang'an only lasted for fifteen days, after which they were defeated by Tang and its ally, the Turkic Uyghur Khaganate.
The Kingdom of Nanzhao remained under Tibetan control from 750 to 794, when they turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped the Chinese inflict a serious defeat on the Tibetans.
In 747, the hold of Tibet was loosened by the campaign of general Gao Xianzhi, who tried to re-open the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750, the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by the Arabs and Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas and the subsequent civil war known as the An Lushan Rebellion, Chinese influence decreased rapidly and Tibetan influence resumed.
At its height in the 780s to 790s, the Tibetan Empire reached its highest glory when it ruled and controlled a territory stretching from modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.
In 821/822CE, Tibet and China signed a peace treaty. A bilingual account of this treaty, including details of the borders between the two countries, is inscribed on a stone pillar which stands outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa. Tibet continued as a Central Asian empire until the mid-9th century, when a civil war over succession led to the collapse of imperial Tibet. The period that followed is known traditionally as the Era of Fragmentation, when political control over Tibet became divided between regional warlords and tribes with no dominant centralized authority. An Islamic invasion from Bengal took place in 1206.