1.
Flag of Tibet
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The Tibetan flag, also known as the snow lion flag, was the national flag of Tibet, adopted by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916. Banned by the Chinese authorities since 1959, today the flag is used by the Tibetan Government in Exile, based in Dharamsala, India. In February 1913, shortly after the fall of the Qing dynasty, in 1916, the new national flag was adopted by the Dalai Lama and all army regiments were ordered to carry the flag in its present form. In addition to being carried by Tibet’s army, the flag was displayed on buildings of the Ganden Phodrang government. Outside of Tibet, the flag was featured in publications by foreign governments, academic journals and its first official international appearance was in a book published by the German Ministry of Defenses Naval Command, Flaggenbuch, in 1926. Later it was featured in an official British Crown publication in 1930 and it was also featured in National Geographic Magazine in their 1934 “Flags of the World” edition. The caption reads, Tibet. - With its towering mountain of snow, the flags first appearance at an international gathering was in March/April 1947 at the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi. Tom Grunfeld, asserts that flag was removed after representatives from the Republic of China protested to conference organizers, a Tibetan delegate who attended the conference claims that this did not occur and the only existing photos from the conference show the flag displayed along with other participating countries flags. The flag continued to be used in the 1950s under the newly established Peoples Republic of China, phuntso Wangye claims that Mao Zedong discussed the flag in 1955 conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama. According to the story, Mao told the Dalai Lama that Zhang Jingwu, Zhang Guohua, the Dalai Lama replied that Tibet had an army flag. Supposedly Mao replied that you may keep your national flag, there is no official recognition of this conversation in Chinese documents, though. As part of his project to inculcate pan-Tibetan nationalism, he standardized and adopted symbols as nationalist symbols, such as the Lhasa dialect of Tibetan, a Tibetan national anthem, and the flag. The flag is known as the Snow Lion Flag due to the presence of the two snow lions. The flag was adopted as a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement, through the diasporas and international protesters use of the flag, it became known and used in protest by the Tibetan public. The flag is banned in mainland China
2.
Lhasa
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Lhasa is a city and administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. Lhasa is the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining and, at an altitude of 3,490 metres, the city has been the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century. It contains many culturally significant Tibetan Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Lhasa literally means place of the gods. Lhasa is first recorded as the name, referring to the temple of Jowo. By the mid 7th century, Songtsän Gampo became the leader of the Tibetan Empire that had risen to power in the Brahmaputra River Valley, Bhrikuti is said to have converted him to Buddhism, which was also the faith attributed to his second wife Wencheng. In 641 he constructed the Jokhang and Ramoche Temples in Lhasa in order to house two Buddha statues, the Akshobhya Vajra and the Jowo Sakyamuni, respectively brought to his court by the princesses. Lhasa suffered extensive damage under the reign of Langdarma in the 9th century, when the sites were destroyed and desecrated. A Tibetan tradition mentions that after Songtsän Gampos death in 649 C. E. Chinese troops captured Lhasa, Chinese and Tibetan scholars have noted that the event is mentioned neither in the Chinese annals nor in the Tibetan manuscripts of Dunhuang. Lǐ suggested that this tradition may derive from an interpolation, tsepon W. D. Shakabpa believes that those histories reporting the arrival of Chinese troops are not correct. From the fall of the monarchy in the 9th century to the accession of the 5th Dalai Lama, however, the importance of Lhasa as a religious site became increasingly significant as the centuries progressed. It was known as the centre of Tibet where Padmasambhava magically pinned down the earth demoness, islam has been present since the 11th century in what is considered to have always been a monolithically Buddhist culture. Two Tibetan Muslim communities have lived in Lhasa with distinct homes, food and clothing, language, education, trade, by the 15th century, the city of Lhasa had risen to prominence following the founding of three large Gelugpa monasteries by Je Tsongkhapa and his disciples. The three monasteries are Ganden, Sera and Drepung which were built as part of the puritanical Buddhist revival in Tibet, the scholarly achievements and political know-how of this Gelugpa Lineage eventually pushed Lhasa once more to centre stage. The 5th Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, unified Tibet and moved the centre of his administration to Lhasa in 1642 with the help of Güshi Khan of the Khoshut. With Güshi Khan as a largely uninvolved overlord, the 5th Dalai Lama, the core leadership of this government is also referred to as the Ganden Phodrang, and Lhasa thereafter became both the religious and political capital. In 1645, the reconstruction of the Potala Palace began on Red Hill, in 1648, the Potrang Karpo of the Potala was completed, and the Potala was used as a winter palace by the Dalai Lama from that time onwards. The Potrang Marpo was added between 1690 and 1694, the name Potala is derived from Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the Dalai Lamas divine prototype, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The Jokhang Temple was also expanded around this time
3.
Tibetan languages
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Classical Tibetan is a major regional literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist literature. The Tibetic languages are spoken by some 8 million or more people, outside of Lhasa itself, Lhasa Tibetan is spoken by approximately 200,000 exile speakers who have moved from modern-day Tibet to India and other countries. Tibetan is also spoken by groups of ethnic minorities in Tibet who have lived in proximity to Tibetans for centuries. Although some of the Qiang peoples of Kham are classified by China as ethnic Tibetans, Qiangic languages are not Tibetic, classical Tibetan was not a tonal language, but some varieties such as Central and Khams Tibetan have developed tone registers. Amdo and Ladakhi-Balti are without tone, Tibetic morphology can generally be described as agglutinative. e. Groups which do not allow mutual intelligibility, the notion of ‘dialect group’ is equivalent to the notion of language but does not entail any standardization. Thus if we set aside the notion of standardization, I believe it would be appropriate to speak of 25 languages derived from Old Tibetan. This is not only an issue but it gives an entirely different perception of the range of variation. When we refer to 25 languages, we make clear that we are dealing with a comparable in size to the Romance family which has 19 groups of dialects. The more divergent dialects such as this are spoken in the north and east near the Qiangic and Rgyalrongic languages, the Tibetic languages used for broadcasting within China are Standard Tibetan, Khams and Amdo. Tournadre adds Tseku and Khamba to Khams, and groups Thewo-Chone, Zhongu, other Some classifications group Khams and Amdo together as Eastern Tibetan. Some, like Tournadre, break up Central Tibetan, most Tibetic languages are written in one of two Indic scripts. Standard Tibetan and most other Tibetic languages are written in the Tibetan script with a historically conservative orthography that helps unify the Tibetan-language area, Some other Tibetan languages are written in the related Devanagari script, which is also used to write Hindi, Nepali and many other languages. However, some Ladakhi and Balti speakers write with the Urdu script, the Tibetan script fell out of use in Pakistani Baltistan hundreds of years ago upon the regions adoption of Islam. Many shops in Baltistans capital Skardu in Pakistans Northern Areas region have begun supplementing signs written in the Arabic-Persian script with signs written in the Tibetan script, Old Tibetan phonology is rather accurately rendered by the script. The finals were pronounced devoiced although they are written as voiced, the graphic combinations hr and lh represent voiceless and not necessarily aspirate correspondences to r and l respectively. The letter was pronounced as a guttural fricative before vowels. Whether the gigu verso had phonetic meaning or not remains controversial, for instance, Srongbtsan Sgampo would have been pronounced and babs would have been pronounced
4.
Tibetan Buddhism
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Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the regions surrounding the Himalayas and much of Central Asia. It derives from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism and preserves the Tantric status quo of eighth-century India, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Religious texts and commentaries comprise the Tibetan Buddhist canon, such that Tibetan is a language of these areas. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million. Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for an understanding, there the term used was lamaism to distinguish it from a then traditional Chinese form. The term was taken up by scholars including Hegel, as early as 1822. Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited, another term, Vajrayāna is occasionally used mistakenly for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, it signifies a certain subset of practices included in, not only Tibetan Buddhism, the native Tibetan term for all Buddhism is doctrine of the internalists. There is an association between the religious and the secular the spiritual and the temporal in Tibet. The term for this relationship is chos srid zung brel, in the west the term Indo-Tibetan Buddhism has become current, in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India. Tibetan Buddhism comprises the teachings of the three vehicles of Buddhism, the Foundational Vehicle, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna, the Mahāyāna goal of spiritual development is to achieve the enlightenment of buddhahood in order to most efficiently help all other sentient beings attain this state. The motivation in it is the mind of enlightenment — an altruistic intention to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings. Bodhisattvas are revered beings who have conceived the will and vow to dedicate their lives with bodhicitta for the sake of all beings, Tibetan Buddhism teaches methods for achieving buddhahood more quickly by including the Vajrayāna path in Mahāyāna. Buddhahood is defined as a free of the obstructions to liberation as well as those to omniscience. When one is freed from all mental obscurations, one is said to attain a state of continuous bliss mixed with a simultaneous cognition of emptiness, in this state, all limitations on ones ability to help other living beings are removed. It is said there are countless beings who have attained buddhahood. Buddhas spontaneously, naturally and continuously perform activities to all sentient beings. However it is believed that ones karma could limit the ability of the Buddhas to help them, there is a long history of oral transmission of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism
5.
Bon
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Bon or Bön is a Tibetan religion, which self-identifies as being distinct from Tibetan Buddhism, although it shares the same overall teachings and terminology. It arose in the century and established its scriptures mainly from termas. Though Bon terma contain myths of Bon existing before the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet, in fact, the Bonpo religion only started to take shape alongside the revival of Buddhism in the eleventh century. And when the scriptures of the Bonpo started to appear in Tibet, three Bon scriptures—mdo dus, gzer mig, and gzi brjid—relate the mythos of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. The Bonpos regard the first two as gter ma rediscovered around the tenth and eleventh centuries and the last as nyan brgyud dictated by Loden Nyingpo, in the fourteenth century, Loden Nyingpo revealed a terma known as The Brilliance, which contained the story of Tonpa Shenrab. He was not the first Bonpo tertön, but his terma became one of the scriptures of Bon religion. It states that Shenrab established the Bon religion while searching for a horse stolen by a demon, tradition also tells that he was born in the land of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring which is traditionally identified as Mount Yung-drung Gu-tzeg, possibly Mount Kailash, in western Tibet. Due to the sacredness of Tagzig Olmo Lungting and Mount Kailash, Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche visited Kongpo and found people whose practice involved spiritual appeasement with animal sacrifice. He taught them to substitute offerings with symbolic animal forms made from barley flour, Bon teachings feature Nine Vehicles, which are pathway-teaching categories with distinct characteristics, views, practices and results. Medicine, astrology, and divination are in the vehicles, then sutra and tantra. Traditionally, the Nine Vehicles are taught in three versions, as Central, Northern and Southern treasures, the Central treasure is closest to Nyingma Nine Yānas teaching and the Northern treasure is lost. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche elaborated the Southern treasure with shamanism, “A Cavern of Treasures” is a Bon terma uncovered by Shenchen Luga in the early 11th century. The Dzungar people invaded Tibet in 1717 and deposed a pretender to the position of Dalai Lama who had been promoted by Lhabzang and this allowed them to pick the Nyingmapas and Bonpos, who recited many magic-mantras. A habit of sticking ones tongue out as a mark of respect on greeting someone has remained a Tibetan custom into modern times, in the 19th century, Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, a Bon master whose collected writings comprise eighteen volumes significantly rejuvenated the tradition. His disciple Kagya Khyungtrul Jigmey Namkha trained many practitioners to be learned in not only the Bon religion, according to the Bonpo, eighteen enlightened entities will manifest in this aeon and Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche, the founder of Bon, is considered the enlightened Buddha of this age. The 33rd lineage holder of Menri Monastery, Menri Trizin Lungtog Tenpei Nyima, more than three hundred Bon monasteries had been established in Tibet prior to Chinese annexation. Of these, Menri Monastery and Shurishing Yungdrung Dungdrakling Monastery were the two principal monastic universities for the study and practice of Bon knowledge and science-arts, ethnic Tibet is not confined culturally to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Even parts of modern Bangladesh were once a part of this Greater Tibet, the average Tibetan house would have a number of houses or seats for the male god that protects the house
6.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
7.
Songtsen Gampo
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His mother, the queen, is identified as Driza Tökarma. The dates of his birth and when he took the throne are not certain. In Tibetan accounts, it is accepted that he was born in an Ox year of the Tibetan calendar. He is thought to have ascended the throne at age thirteen, there are difficulties with this position, however, and several earlier dates for the birth of Songtsän Gampo have been suggested, including 569,593 or 605. It is said that Songtsän Gampo was born at Gyama in Meldro, a region to the northeast of modern Lhasa), the son of the Yarlung king Namri Songtsen. The book The Holder of the White Lotus says that it is believed that he was a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara and his identification as a cakravartin and incarnation of Avalokiteśvara began in earnest in the indigenous Buddhist literary histories of the 11th century. Some Dunhuang documents say that, as well as his sister Sad-mar-kar, Songtsän Gampo had a brother who was betrayed and died in a fire. Little, if anything, else is known about this brother, Songtsän Gampos mother, the queen, is identified as a member of the Tsépong clan Wylie, tshe spong, Tibetan Annals Wylie, tshes pong), which played an important part in the unification of Tibet. Her name is recorded variously but is identified as Driza Tökarma, Songtsän Gampo had six consorts, of whom four are considered native and two - the well-known ones - foreign. Some accounts say that when Gungsong Gungtsen reached the age of thirteen, his father, Songtsän Gampo, retired, Gungsong Gungtsen is also said to have married A-zha Mang-mo-rje when he was thirteen, and they had a son, Mangsong Mangtsen. Gungsong Gungtsen is said to have ruled for five years when he died at eighteen. His father, Songtsän Gampo, took the throne again, Gungsong Gungtsen is said to have been buried at Donkhorda, the site of the royal tombs, to the left of the tomb of his grandfather Namri Songtsen. The dates for events are very unclear. According to Tibetan tradition, Songstän Gampo was enthroned while still a minor as the king of the Yarlung Dynasty after his father was poisoned circa 618. He is said to have born in an unspecified Ox year and was 13 years old when he took the throne. This accords with the tradition that the Yarlung kings took the throne when they were 13, if these traditions are correct, he was probably born in the Ox year 605 CE. The Old Book of Tang notes that he was still a minor when he succeeded to the throne, after Thonmi Sambhota returned from India, Songtsen Gampo stayed in a cave for three years with Thonmi Sambhota to learn whatever he had learned in India. Songtsän Gampo moved the seat of his newly unified kingdom from the Yarlung Valley to the Kyichu Valley, the site itself was originally a herding ground called Rasa but the name was changed to Lhasa on the kings founding of the Jokhang Temple
8.
Trisong Detsen
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Trisong Detsän or Trisong Detsen was the son of Me Agtsom and the 37th emperor of Tibet. He ruled from 755 until 797 or 804 CE, the empire Trisong Detsen inherited had declined somewhat from its greatest extent under the first Dharma King, Songtsän Gampo. Disintegration continued during Trisong Detsens reign when, in 694, Tibet lost control of cities in Turkestan and, in 703. Meanwhile, Arab forces vied for influence along the border lands of the Tibetan empire. Trisong Detsen is very important to the history of Tibetan Buddhism as one of the three Dharma Kings who established Buddhism in Tibet, the Three Dharma Kings were Songtsän Gampo, Trisong Detsen, and Ralpacan. The first edict of Trisong Detsen already mentions a community of monks at Bsam-yas, the two pandits began by establishing Samye as the first vihara in Tibet. Several Tibetans were eventually initiated as monks and a vast translation project was undertaken translating the Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Classical Tibetan, the party received teachings and three Chinese texts from Kim, who died soon after. Trisong Detsen patronised a second party to China in 763 and this second expedition was headed by a high minister, Sba Gsalsnan. There is scholarly dissent about whom Gsalsnan encountered in Yizhou, early scholarship considered Kim, but this had been revised to Baotang Wuzhu, head and founder of Baotang Monastery in Chengdu. Both Kim and Baotang Wuzhu were of the school of Chan. Trisong Detsen, hosted a famous two-year debate from 792-794 CE and he sponsored a Dharma debate between the Chan Buddhist Moheyan, who represented the third documented wave of Chan dissemination in Tibet, and the scholar Kamalaśīla, a student of Śāntarakṣita. Effectively the debate was between the Chinese and Indian Buddhist traditions as they were represented in Tibet, sources differ about both the nature of the debate as well as the victor. Stein holds that Kamalaśīla disseminated a gradualist approach to enlightenment, consisting of purificatory sādhanā such as cultivating the pāramitās, kamalashilas role was to ordain Tibetans as Buddhist monks and propagate Buddhist philosophy as it had flourished in India. Stein holds that Kamalaśīla was victorious in the debate and that Trisong Detsän sided with Kamalaśīla, Trisong Detsän is also traditionally associated with the construction of Boudhanath in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The role of Padmasambhava on the hand was to establish the teaching of Buddhist Tantra in Tibet. During the reign of Trisong Detsän the combined efforts of Padmasambhava, Śāntarakṣita, in 783 a peace treaty was negotiated between China and Tibet giving Tibet all lands in Qinghai. At that time, the Tang Empire had started its decline due to the An Lushan Rebellion, the King also formed an alliance with Nanzhao in 778, joining forces to attack the Chinese in Sichuan. Trisong Detsän next sought to expand westward, reaching the Amu Darya and threatening the Abbasid Caliph, the Caliph was concerned enough to establish an alliance with the Chinese emperor
9.
Late antiquity
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Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century to, in the East, the early Islamic period, following the Muslim conquests in the mid–7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Medieval period typically placed in the 6th century, beginning with Constantine the Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded at Constantinople. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe, the term Spätantike, literally late antiquity, has been used by German-speaking historians since its popularization by Alois Riegl in the early 20th century. Concurrently, some migrating Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths and Visigoths saw themselves as perpetuating the Roman tradition, Constantine confirmed the legalization of the religion through the so-called Edict of Milan in 313, jointly issued with his rival in the East, Licinius. Monasticism was not the only new Christian movement to appear in Late Antiquity, notable in this regard is the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine. Within the recently legitimized Christian community of the 4th century, a division could be distinctly seen between the laity and an increasingly celibate male leadership. Celibate and detached, the clergy became an elite equal in prestige to urban notables. The Late Antique period also saw a transformation of the political and social basis of life in. The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities, archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by collapse of cities in the Mediterranean basin. Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines, in Roman Britain, the typical 4th- and 5th-century layer of black earth within cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces. A similar though less marked decline in population occurred later in Constantinople. In Europe there was also a decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all Europe. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce. The degree and extent of discontinuity in the cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians. In the western Mediterranean, the new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries were the four or five Visigothic victory cities
10.
Zhangzhung
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Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom of western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which in turn, has influenced the philosophies and practices of Tibetan Buddhism, Zhangzhung people are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of central and western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do work in the areas once ruled by the Zhangzhung. Recently, a match has been proposed between the Zhangzhung and an Iron Age culture now being uncovered on the Changtang plateau in northwestern Tibet. According to Annals of Lake Manasarowar, at one point the Zhang Zhung civilization consisted of 18 kingdoms in the west and northwest portion of Tibet, thus the Zhang Zhung culture controlled the major portion of the roof of the world. Tradition has it that Zhang Zhung consisted of three different regions, sGob-ba, the outer, Phug-pa, the inner, and Bar-ba, the inner region is said to be sTag-gzig, and the middle rGya-mkhar bar-chod, a place not yet identified. While it is not certain whether Zhang Zhung was really so large, it is known that it was an independent kingdom and covered the whole of Western Tibet. The capital city of Zhang Zhung was called Khyunglung, the Silver Palace of Garuda, southwest of Mount Kailash, which is identified with palaces found in the upper Sutlej Valley. The Zhang Zhung built a fort, Chugtso Dropo, on the shores of sacred Lake Dangra. The fact that some of the ancient texts describing the Zhang Zhung kingdom also claimed the Sutlej valley was Shambhala, the land of happiness, may have delayed their study by Western scholars. According to Rolf Alfred Stein author of Tibetan Civilization, the area of Shang Shung was not historically a part of Tibet and was a foreign territory to the Tibetans. According to Rolf Alfred Stein, “…Then further west, The Tibetans encountered a foreign nation. - Shangshung, with its capital at Khyunglung, mt. Kailāśa and Lake Manasarovar formed part of this country. Whose language has come down to us through early documents, though still unidentified, it seems to be Indo European. …Geographically the country was open to India, both through Nepal and by way of Kashmir and Ladakh. Kailāśa is a place for the Indians, who make pilgrimages to it. No one knows how long they have done so, but the cult may well go back to the times when Shangshung was still independent of Tibet, how far Shangshung stretched to the north, east and west is a mystery…. We have already had an occasion to remark that Shangshung, embracing Kailāśa sacred Mount of the Hindus, the situation may even have lasted for quite a long time
11.
Guiyi Circuit
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The Guiyi Circuit, or Guiyi Army was a regional government from the Chinese Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty. The Zhang family controlled the Guiyi Circuit until the early 10th century, the seat of the Guiyi Circuit was situated in Shazhou. The Hexi Corridor is an important part of the Silk Road, after the An-Shi Rebellion, the Hexi Corridor was gradually occupied by the Tibetans. Around the 770s or the 780s, Shazhou, an important city in the Hexi Corridor, was occupied by the Tibetans. After some 60 years of Tibetan rule, Tibet entered the Era of Fragmentation in around 842, and Zhang Yichao, the Emperor Xuānzong of Tang created the Guiyi Circuit and made Zhang Yichao the Guiyi Jiedushi in 851. Zhang kept chasing the Tibetans out of ten nearby prefectures, Zhang Yichao sent delegations to the royal court to express their submission to the Tang Dynasty. However, the government of Tang did not trust the Guiyi Circuit. At the beginning Zhang Yitan, elder brother of Zhang Yichao, was sent to the court as a hostage. In 867, probably because of the death of Zhang Yitan, Zhang Yichao also went to Changan, the capital of the Tang, as a hostage, Zhang Yichao made Zhang Huaishen, son of Zhang Yitan, control the Guiyi Circuit. The influence of the Uyghurs became strong in the Hexi Corridor at the time of Zhang Huaishen, during the rule of Zhang Huaishen, the power of the Guiyi Circuit was waning, and its territory was shrinking. Zhang Huaishen died in 890, and the Guiyi Circuit fell in a chaotic period, no direct records were left about what happened between 890 and 894. Suo Xun, son-in-law of Zhang Yichao, declared himself as the Jiedushi, the killer of Suo Xun is not clear yet. The fourteenth daughter of Zhang Yichao established her nephew, Zhang Chengfeng, also a grandson of Zhang Yichao, as the Jiedushi in 894. There might have been a struggle between Zhang Chengfeng and the Li family as pointed out by some scholars, the details of which were obscure due to the lack of explicit historic records. Zhang Chengfeng eventually had the real power, the Ganzhou Uyghur Khanate was getting stronger during the rule of Zhang Chengfeng. The Tang Dynasty also came to its last years at this time, the last two emperors of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Zhaozong and Emperor of Ai, became puppets of Zhu Quanzhong, founder of the Later Liang. Zhang Chengfeng then declared the establishment of Jinshan State and himself Son of Heaven, the establishment time of the Jinshan State was not clear, probably around 905 or 910. However, in 911, the Jinshan State was defeated by the Ganzhou Uyghur Khanate, the Great Chancellor and the elders of Jinshan State made a treaty with the Ganzhou Uyghur Khanate, recognizing the superiority of the latter over the former
12.
Qocho
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The Kingdom of Qocho, also called the Idiqut state, was a Uyghur state created during 856–866 and centered in Qocho, Jimsar County, Hami City, and Kucha. Qocho served as its winter capital with Beshbaliq its summer capital and this Uyghur Kingdom played a vital role in the Turkification of Xinjiang. The Yenisei Kirghiz had driven the people of the Uyghur Khaganate into Turfan, mainly Turkic and Tocharian, but also Chinese and Iranian peoples such as the Sogdians were assimilated into the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho. Chinese were among the population of Qocho, the Uyghurs of Qocho continued to produce the Chinese Qieyun rime dictionary and developed their own pronunciations of Chinese characters, left over from the Tang influence over the area. Professor James A. Buddhist Uyghurs created the Bezeklik murals, besides the jihad against Yutian, the Uygur Karakhoja Kingdom was also subjected to Jihad in which Buddhist temples were razed and Islam spread by the Karakhanid ruler Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan. The Compendium of the Turkic Dialects by Kashgari, included among the infidels, the identities of Buddhist and Uyghur were intertwined with each other. The Buddhist Uighurs were subjected to an attack by the Muslim Turks, Mahmud Kaşgaris works contained poetry stanzas and verses which described fighting between Buddhist Uighurs and Muslim Karakahnids. Qatun Sini, at the hands of the Tangut Khan, Mahmud Kashgari insulted the Uyghur Buddhists as Uighur dogs and called them Tats, which referred to the Uighur infidels according to the Tuxsi and Taghma, while other Turks called Persians tat. Buddhist origin words like toyin and Burxān or Furxan had negative connotations to Muslim Turks, the wars against the Buddhist, Shamanist, and Manichean Uighurs were considered a Jihad by the Kara-Khanids. Islam was the enemy of the Christian and Buddhist Turfan Uyghur Kingdom, the Imams and soldiers who died in the battles against the Uyghur Buddhists and Khotan Buddhist Kingdom during the Tarim Basins Islamification at the hands of the Karakhanids are revered as saints. It was possible the Muslims drove some Uighur Buddhist monks towards taking asylum in the Western Xia dynasty, the kingdom was a Buddhist state, with both state-sponsored Mahayana Buddhism and Manichaeism, and was a center of Uyghur culture. The Uyghurs sponsored the construction of many of the temple-caves in what is now Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves and they abandoned the Old Turkic alphabet and adopted and modified the Sogdian alphabet, which later came to be known as the Old Uyghur alphabet. The Idiquts ruled independently until they become a state of the Qara Khitai. In 1209, the Kara-Khoja ruler Baurchuk Art Tekin declared his allegiance to the Mongols under Genghis Khan, after submitting to the Mongols, the Uyghurs went into the service of the Mongol rulers as bureaucrats, providing the expertise that the initially illiterate nomads lacked. Qocho continued exist as a vassal to the Mongols of the Yuan dynasty, a hybrid court was used when Han Chinese and Uighurs were in involved in legal issues. The Buddhist Uyghurs of the Kingdom of Qocho and Turfan were converted to Islam by conquest during a ghazat at the hands of the Muslim Chagatai Khanate ruler Khizr Khoja, Qocho and Turfan were viewed as part of Khitay, which was a name for China. The 1390s war by Kizir Khojas against the Uigurs of Qoco is also considered a Jihad, as a consequence of the Jihad, the religion of Islam was forced on Qocho and this resulted in the city of Jiaohe being abandoned. The mujahideen of the Islamic Chagatai Khanate conquered the Uyghur and Hami was purged of the Buddhist religion which was replaced with Islam, the Islamic conversion forced on the Buddhist Hami state was the final event in the Islamization
13.
History of Tibet
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Tibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan and Mongol cultures. Tibet lies between the areas of the ancient civilizations of China and of India. Extensive mountain ranges to the east of the Tibetan Plateau mark the border with China, Tibet is nicknamed the roof of the world or the land of snows. Linguists classify the Tibetan language and its dialects as belonging to the Tibeto-Burman languages, some archaeological data suggests archaic humans may have passed through Tibet at the time India was first inhabited, half a million years ago. Modern humans first inhabited the Tibetan Plateau at least twenty-one thousand years ago and this population was largely replaced around 3,000 BC by Neolithic immigrants from northern China. However, there is a partial genetic continuity between the Paleolithic inhabitants and the contemporary Tibetan populations, megalithic monuments dot the Tibetan Plateau and may have been used in ancestor worship. Prehistoric Iron Age hill forts and burial complexes have recently found on the Tibetan Plateau. According to Namkhai Norbu some 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. He was assassinated and Zhang Zhung continued its dominance of the region until it was annexed by Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. In A. D.108, the Kiang or Tibetans, liang Kin, at the price of some fierce fighting, held them off. Similar incursions were repelled in A. D. 168-169 by the Chinese general Tuan Kung, the dates attributed to the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo, vary. Some Tibetan texts give 126 BC, others 414 BC, Nyatri Tsenpo is said to have descended from a one-footed creature called the Theurang, having webbed fingers and a tongue so large it could cover his face. Due to his appearance he was feared in his native Puwo. There he was greeted as a fearsome being, and he became king, the Tibetan kings were said to remain connected to the heavens via a dmu cord so that rather than dying, they ascended directly to heaven, when their sons achieved their majority. According to various accounts, king Drigum Tsenpo either challenged his clan heads to a fight, during the fight the kings dmu cord was cut, and he was killed. Thereafter Drigum Tsenpo and subsequent kings left corpses and the Bön conducted funerary rites, in a later myth, first attested in the Maṇi bka bum, the Tibetan people are the progeny of the union of the monkey Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock ogress Ma Drag Sinmo. But the monkey was a manifestation of the bodhisattva Chenresig, or Avalokiteśvara while the ogress in turn incarnated Chenresigs consort Dolma, from the 7th century AD Chinese historians referred to Tibet as Tubo, though four distinct characters were used
14.
Mongol Empire
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The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history. The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan. The empire grew rapidly under the rule of him and his descendants, the Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued even among the descendants of Tolui. Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as Kublai sought unsuccessfully to control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families. The Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 marked the point of the Mongol conquests and was the first time a Mongol advance had ever been beaten back in direct combat on the battlefield. In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty, but it was later taken by the Han Chinese Ming dynasty in 1368. What is referred to in English as the Mongol Empire was called the Ikh Mongol Uls, in the 1240s, one of Genghiss descendants, Güyük Khan, wrote a letter to Pope Innocent IV which used the preamble Dalai Khagan of the great Mongolian state. After the succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke, Ariq limited Kublais power to the part of the empire. Kublai officially issued an edict on December 18,1271 to name the country Great Yuan to establish the Yuan dynasty. Some sources state that the full Mongolian name was Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus, the area around Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China had been controlled by the Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty, in the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul Khan, great-grandfather of Temujin. The Mongolian plateau was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations, Keraites, Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Mergid, khabuls successor was Ambaghai Khan, who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143, in 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, the Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161. During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and it is thought that as a result, a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock significantly enhanced Mongol military strength. Known during his childhood as Temujin, Genghis Khan was the son of a Mongol chieftain, when he was young he was from one of Yesugis orphaned and deserted families, he rose very rapidly by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. Kurtait was the most powerful Mongol leader during this time and was given the Chinese title Wang which means Prince, Temujin went to war with Wang Khan. After Temujin defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan and he then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin
15.
Tibet under Yuan rule
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Tibet under Yuan rule refers to the Yuan dynastys rule over Tibet from approximately 1270 to 1354. During the Yuan rule of Tibet, the region was structurally, militarily and administratively controlled by the Mongol Yuan dynasty and it is also called the Sakya dynasty after the favored Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. The region retained a degree of autonomy under the Sakya lama, who was the de jure head of Tibet. Tibet retained nominal power over religious and political affairs, while the Mongols managed a structural and administrative rule over the region and this existed as a diarchic structure under the Yuan emperor, with power primarily in favor of the Mongols. One of the purposes was to select a dpon-chen, usually appointed by the lama. Prior to the Yuan dynasty, Tibet had previously been invaded by the Mongol Empire, the first invasion was by Prince Köden or Godan, grandson of Genghis Khan and son of Ögedei Khan. The second invasion by Möngke Khan resulted in the region falling under Mongol rule. Kublai Khan incorporated the region into his later Yuan dynasty, drogön Chögyal Phagpa, the Sakya lama, became a religious teacher to Kublai, who made him the nominal head of the region. While no modern equivalents remain, the relationship is analogous to that of the British Empire, the rule was described in the Mongolian chronicle Ten Laudable Laws, which describes two orders, one order based on the religious and one order based on the secular. Religious is based on the Sutras and Dharani, secular on peace, the Sakya Lama is responsible for the religious order, the Yuan Emperor for the secular. The religion and the state dependent on each other, each with its own functions. Through their influence with the Mongol rulers, Tibetan lamas gained considerable influence in various Mongol clans, besides Kublai, there were, for example, clear lines of influence between scattered areas of Tibet and the Mongol Ilkhanate based in Persia. Kublais success in succeeding Möngke as Great Khan meant that after 1260, Phagpa, Phagpa became head of all Buddhist monks in the Yuan empire. Tibet would also enjoy a high degree of autonomy compared to other parts of the Yuan empire, though further expeditions took place in 1267,1277,1281. Drogön Chögyal Phagpa was the advisor and guru to Kublai Khan. In 1260, Kublai appointed Chögyal Phagpa as Guoshi, or State Preceptor, in 1260, Phagpa was the first to initiate the political theology of the relationship between state and religion in the Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhist world. With the support of Kublai Khan, Chögyal Phagpa established himself and his sect as the preeminent spiritual leader in Tibet, a census was conducted in 1268 and Tibet was divided into thirteen myriarchies. While maintaining administrative control through the dpon-chen, Kublais relationship with the Sakya Lama became known in the Tibetan tradition as the patron, subsequently, each Yuan emperor had a Lama as a spiritual guide
16.
Ganden Phodrang
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The Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang was the Tibetan regime or government that was established by the 5th Dalai Lama with the help of the Güshi Khan of the Khoshut in 1642. Lhasa became the capital of Tibet in the beginning of this period, Kashag became the governing council of the Ganden Phodrang regime during the early Qing rule. Ganden Phodrang was named after the residential quarters of the holder of the Dalai Lama lineage in the Drepung Monastery since the 2nd Dalai Lama, according to some, the Ganden Phodrang is represented by the Central Tibetan Administration or Dalai Lamas government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India after 1959. However, this is Ganden Phodrang in a different sense, the service or labrang of the Dalai Lama. Altan Khan of the Tümed Mongols chose the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism as his Buddhist faith, in 1577 he invited the leader of this order, Sonam Gyatso, to come to Mongolia and teach his people. He designated Sonam Gyatso as Dalai, as a result, Sonam Gyatso became known as the Dalai Lama. His efforts were successful in part because of aid from Güshi Khan, all power and authority lay in the hands of the Dalai Lama right up to his death and Güshi Khan did not interfere in the administration nor tried to control its policies. The core leadership of this government is referred to as the Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang. The 5th Dalai lama initiated the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa and it remained the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. In 1717, the last khan of the Khoshut Khanate, Lha-bzang Khan, was killed by the Mongol Dzungar Khanate forces invading Lhasa. The Dzungar forces were in turn expelled by the forces of the Qing dynasty from Tibet in 1720. The Kashag, the council of Tibet also lasted in Lhasa until the 1950s, was created in 1721. In that year the Tibetan government was reorganized after the riots in Lhasa of the previous year, the first Europeans to arrive in Tibet were the Portuguese missionaries António de Andrade and Manuel Marques in 1624. They were welcomed by the King and Queen of Guge, and were allowed to build a church, the king of Guge eagerly accepted Christianity as an offsetting religious influence to dilute the thriving Gelugpa and to counterbalance his potential rivals and consolidate his position. All missionaries were expelled in 1745 and this would last until the 1950s, when Tibet was incorporated into the Peoples Republic of China. The state structure remained in place for a few years but was dissolved in 1959 after the 1959 Tibetan uprising. The Central Tibetan Administration was established by the 14th Dalai Lama, Kashag Dalai Lama Mongol conquest of Tibet Khoshut Khanate Dzungar Khanate Tibet under Qing rule Tibet List of rulers of Tibet Shakabpa, Tsepon W. D. Tibet, A Political History. New York, Yale University Press, and, Singapore, Potala Publications
17.
Tibet under Qing rule
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Tibet under Qing rule refers to the Qing dynastys rule over Tibet from 1720 to 1912. During the Qing rule of Tibet, the region was structurally, militarily and administratively controlled by the Qing dynasty established by the Manchus in China, however, the Chinese began to take steps to reassert their authority shortly after the British expedition to Tibet. Güshi Khan of the Khoshut in 1641 overthrew the prince of Tsang and made the 5th Dalai Lama the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet, the time of the 5th Dalai Lama was also a period of rich cultural development. He acted as a mediator between Mongol tribes, and between the Mongols and the Qing Kangxi Emperor, the Dalai Lama would assign territories to Mongol tribes, and these decisions were routinely confirmed by the Emperor. In 1674, the Emperor asked the Dalai Lama to send Mongolian troops to suppress a rebellion in Yunnan. The Dalai Lama agreed to do so, but also advised Kangxi to resolve the conflict in Yunnan by allotting fiefs instead of military action. This was apparently a turning point for the Emperor, who began to take action to deal with the Mongols directly, the 5th Dalai Lama died in 1682. His regent, Desi Sangye Gyatso, concealed the death and continued to act in his name, in 1688, Galdan Boshugtu Khan of the Khoshut defeated the Khalkha Mongols and went on to battle Qing forces. This contributed to the loss of Tibets role as mediator between the Mongols and the Emperor, several Khalkha tribes formally submitted directly to Kangxi. When Sangye Gyatso complained to Kangxi that he could not control the Mongols of Kokonor in 1693, Kangxi annexed Kokonor, giving it the name it bears today and he also annexed Tachienlu in eastern Kham at this time. When Kangxi finally destroyed Galdan in 1696, a Qing ruse involving the name of the Dalai Lama was involved, about this time, some Dzungars informed the Kangxi Emperor that the 5th Dalai Lama had long since died. He sent envoys to Lhasa to inquire and this prompted Sangye Gyatso to make Tsangyang Gyatso the 6th Dalai Lama public. Tsangyang Gyatso enjoyed a lifestyle that included drinking, the company of women, in 1702, he refused to take the vows of a Buddhist monk. The regent, under pressure from the Emperor and Lhazang Khan of the Khoshut, in 1705, Lhazang Khan used the sixth Dalai Lamas escapades as excuse to take control of Lhasa. The regent Sanggye Gyatso, who had allied himself with the Dzungar Khanate, was murdered, and he died on the way, near Kokonor, ostensibly from illness but leaving lingering suspicions of foul play. Lhazang Khan appointed a new Dalai Lama who, however, was not accepted by the Gelugpa school, Kelzang Gyatso was discovered near Kokonor and became a rival candidate. The Dzungars proceeded to loot, rape and kill throughout Lhasa and they also destroyed a small force in the Battle of the Salween River which the Emperor had sent to clear traditional trade routes. They brought Kelzang Gyatso with them from Kumbum to Lhasa and he was installed as the seventh Dalai Lama, a Chinese protectorate over Tibet was established at this time, with a garrison at Lhasa, and Kham was annexed to Sichuan
18.
Historical money of Tibet
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The use of historical money in Tibet started in ancient times, when Tibet had no coined currency of its own. Bartering was common, gold was a medium of exchange, and shell money, a few coins from other countries were also occasionally in use. Coins were first used in an extensive way in the 17th century. There were however various difficulties with this system, in 1763/64 and 1785 the first silver coins were struck in Tibet. In 1792 the first mass-produced silver coins were created under joint Chinese, coins bearing Tibetan inscriptions only were subsequently replaced by issues which had Chinese and Tibetan legends. In 1840 purely Tibetan coinage was struck under Tibetan authority, in 1910 the Tibetan government started producing a large range of copper and silver coins of different denominations, and in 1918 to 1921, gold coins were struck. Tibetan banknotes were first issued in 1913, from 1955 to 1959 no more Tibetan coins were created, although banknotes were still being printed, and by 1959 all of the money was gradually being replaced with renminbi yuan. In ancient Tibet, the use of coins was insignificant, tibet’s main neighbours, India, Nepal and China had had their own coinage since time immemorial. Tibet had the biggest trade volume with China, the main items being horses from north-eastern Tibet. Tibet also exported medicinal herbs, stag antlers, musk and gold to China, and apart from tea, the trade volume with Tibets southern neighbours, India, Nepal and Bhutan, was much smaller. The Tibetan traders mainly exchanged salt and wool for grain with these countries, traditionally one measure of salt was traded for one measure of grain at the border with Nepal and India. Other, less important export goods were yak tails, musk, for the 17th century, the export of falcons to India is also recorded. For large transactions within Tibet, gold dust and Chinese silver ingots were used and these ingots came in different shapes, the most common kind resembled horseshoes or donkey shoes, and were named rta rmig ma in Tibetan. For small transactions, various consumer goods could be used, among others, these were areca nuts, tobacco, ceremonial scarves and tea Tea was usually traded in the form of tea bricks. This developed into the most important medium of exchange in the 19th century, so far there exists no consent whether these pieces could be regarded as coins. The officials had to convert these into the current monetary standard, lastly a form of gold currency named Sertam is mentioned which had a gold weight of 2 sewas. Fifteen Sertam corresponded to one standard Changsho, the currency unit Gursho was already mentioned by Sarat Chandra Das in his Tibetan-English Dictionary. According to this author 1 Gursho =24 sewas, Chinese silver ingots were used until the 20th century for larger transactions
19.
History of European exploration in Tibet
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Tibet has attracted European missionaries and explorers for over 500 years. The internal and external politics of Tibet, China, Bhutan, Assam, the combination of inaccessibility and political sensitivity made Tibet a mystery and a challenge for Europeans well into the 20th century. These obstacles did not deter a number of missionaries, scholars, geographers, soldiers, the earliest European reports of Tibet were from Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela who left Zaragoza, Aragon in 1160 and travelled to Baghdad before returning to Navarre in 1173. Based on his discussions with learned men, Rabbi Benjamin describes Tibet as being the land of musk, less than 100 years later, an emissary was sent by Louis IX to the Mangu Khan in Karakorum in 1253. Friar William of Rubruck reported that the Tibetan people ‘were held an abomination among all nations’ due a ritual of drinking from the skulls of their parents, friar William was also the first to describe a Tibetan lama’s garments in detail. The first documented European claim to have visited Tibet came from Odoric of Pordenone, odorics record was later plagiarized and popularized by John de Mandeville. By 1459 the general location of Tibet was clearly known as Thebet appears on the Fra Mauro Map in close proximity to its correct location. The first documented Europeans to arrive in Tibet were a pair of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, António de Andrade, Andrade and Marques eight-month journey began in Agra, where they joined the procession of the Emperor Jehangir and proceeded to Delhi under the protection of the Emperor. In Delhi, Andrade and Marques disguised themselves as Hindu pilgrims, the caravan followed the Ganges River to Srinagar and Garhwal where they were discovered. The Raj of Garhwal detained and interrogated both men for a week before allowing Andrade and Marques to proceed, Andrade and Marques rejoined the caravan and reached Badrinath, probably in early June 1624. In Badrinath, they left the caravan and proceeded to Mana, the last town before the Mana Pass and the border of Tibet. Andrade and Marques made one failed attempt on the Mana Pass which was blocked by heavy snow, Marques remained in Mana to deflect the pursuit and rejoined Andrade and a group of Tibetans for a second successful assault on Mana Pass in either July or August 1624. The two were welcomed warmly by the King and Queen of Guge, becoming the first documented Europeans to enter Tibet, staying in Tibet for only a month, Andrade and Marques would return to Agra by November 1624 to organize a mission trip for the following year. In 1625 with the support of the King and Queen of Guge, Andrade. On the advice of Andrade, a mission was dispatched to southern Tibet from India in 1627, the Portuguese missionaries João Cabral and Estêvão Cacella were welcomed at Shigatse by the King of Utsang. Cabral and Cacella established a mission at Shigatse in 1628, Cabral and Cacella also provided the first information that reached western civilization about the mystical country of Shambhala in their reports to India. Both missions were evacuated in 1635 as the missions became embroiled in the rivalry between the Red Hat Sect and the Yellow Hat Sect and it would be twenty-five years before the next documented Europeans visited Tibet. In 1661, two Jesuits, Johannes Grueber of Austria and Albert Dorville traveled from Peking to Agra, India by way of Lhasa on an Imperial Passport, the 18th century brought more Jesuits and Capuchins from Europe
20.
History of Tibetan Buddhism
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The history of Tibetan Buddhism has been analyzed through researches of numerous oral traditions and written records. In the reign of King Thothori Nyantsen, a basket of Buddhist scriptures arrived in Tibet from India, written in Sanskrit, they were not translated into Tibetan until the reign of king Songtsän Gampo. It is clear from Tibetan sources that some of his successors became ardent Buddhists, according to a Tibetan legendary tradition, Songtsän Gampo also married a Nepalese Buddhist princess, Bhrikuti. By the second half of the 8th century he was regarded as an embodiment of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The successors of Songtsän Gampo were less enthusiastic about the propagation of Buddhism but in the 8th century and he invited Indian Buddhist scholars to his court. In his age the famous tantric mystic Padmasambhāva arrived in Tibet according to the Tibetan tradition, in addition to writing a number of important scriptures, some of which he hid for future tertons to find, Padmasambhāva, along with Śāntarakṣita, established the Nyingma school. The outlines of the history of Buddhism in Tibet from this time are well-known, at this early time also, from the south came the influence of scholars under the Pāla dynasty in the Indian state of Magadha. They had achieved a blend of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna that has come to all forms of Tibetan Buddhism. Their teaching in sutra centered on the Abhisamayālankāra, a 4th-century Yogācārin text, a third influence was that of the Sarvāstivādins from Kashmir in the south west and Khotan in the north west. A subsect of this school, Mūlasarvāstivāda was the source of the Tibetan vinaya and she was known in Tibet as Gyim shang Ong co, or, simply, Kim-sheng or Kong-co, and was a devout Buddhist. Five Buddhist temples were built at, Ching bu nam ra, Kwa chu in Brag dmar, Gran bzang, Khar brag, Buddhist monks from Khotan, fleeing the persecutions of an anti-Buddhist king, were given refuge by Kim-sheng about 737. The story of these Khotanese monks is recorded the Li yul lung-btsan-pa or Prophecy of the Li Country, Kim-sheng died during an outbreak of smallpox sometime between 739 and 741. The rise of anti-Buddhist factions in Tibet following the death of the Chinese princess began to blame the epidemic on the support of Buddhism by the king and queen. This forced the monks to flee again, first to Gandhara. Tibetan king Khri srong lde btsan invited the Chan master Mo Ho Yen to transmit the Dharma at Samye Monastery, Kamalaśīla wrote the three Bhāvanākrama texts after that. However, a Chinese source found in Dunhuang written by Mo-ho-yen says their side won, pioneering Buddhologist Giuseppe Tucci speculated that Hwashangs ideas were preserved by the Nyingmapas in the form of dzogchen teachings. John Myrdhin Reynolds and Sam van Schaik hold a different point of view. Schaik emphasises that Chan and Dzogchen are based on two different classes of scripture, Chan being based on sutras, while Dzogchen being based on tantras, Schaik further states apparent similarities can be misleading
21.
Tibetan alphabet
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The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida used to write the Tibetic languages such as Tibetan, as well as Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, and sometimes Balti. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the cursive form used in everyday writing is called umê script. The alphabet is closely linked to a broad ethnic Tibetan identity, spanning across areas in Tibet, Bhutan, India. The Tibetan alphabet is of Indic origin and it is ancestral to the Limbu alphabet, the Lepcha alphabet, the creation of the Tibetan alphabet is attributed to Thonmi Sambhota of the mid-7th century. Tradition holds that Thonmi Sambhota, a minister of Songtsen Gampo, was sent to India to study the art of writing, the form of the letters is based on an Indic alphabet of that period. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of Buddhist scriptures, Standard orthography has not altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects, in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa and this divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform, to write Tibetan as it is pronounced, for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka-rgyud. In contrast, the pronunciation of the Balti, Ladakhi and Burig languages adheres more closely to the archaic spelling, in the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek, since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, spaces are not used to divide words. The Tibetan alphabet has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as radicals, as in other Indic scripts, each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel, in the Tibetan script its ཨ /a/. The alphabet ཨ /a/ is also the base for dependent vowels marks, although some Tibetan dialects are tonal, the language had no tone at the time of the scripts invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features they can usually be predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words. The unique aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be either as radicals, or they can be written in other forms. To understand how this works, one can look at the radical ཀ /ka/, in both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, ར /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /rnya/, similarly, the consonants ཝ /wa/, ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྭ /kwa/, ཀྲ /kra/, ཀྱ /kja/. Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, the third position, the post-postscript position is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/. The superscript position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, the vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/
22.
Tibet
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Tibet is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, spanning about 2.4 million km2 and nearly a quarter of Chinas territory. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an elevation of 4,900 metres. The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earths highest mountain, the Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century, following the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet Area. The region subsequently declared its independence in 1913 without recognition by the subsequent Chinese Republican government, later, Lhasa took control of the western part of Xikang, China. There are tensions regarding Tibets political status and dissident groups that are active in exile and it is also said that Tibetan activists in Tibet have been arrested or tortured. The economy of Tibet is dominated by agriculture, though tourism has become a growing industry in recent decades. The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism, in there is Bön, which is similar to Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is an influence on the art, music. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences, staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. The Tibetan name for their land, Bod བོད་, means Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, although it meant the central region around Lhasa. The Standard Tibetan pronunciation of Bod, is transcribed Bhö in Tournadre Phonetic Transcription, Bö in the THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription and Poi in Tibetan pinyin. Tibetan people, language, and culture, regardless of where they are from, are referred to as Zang although the geographical term Xīzàng is often limited to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The term Xīzàng was coined during the Qing dynasty in the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor through the addition of a prefix meaning west to Zang, the best-known medieval Chinese name for Tibet is Tubo. This name first appears in Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th century, in the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, as reconstructed by William H. Baxter, 土番 was pronounced thux-phjon and 吐蕃 was pronounced thux-pjon. Other pre-modern Chinese names for Tibet include Wusiguo, Wusizang, Tubote, the English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century. Historical linguists generally agree that Tibet names in European languages are loanwords from Semitic Ṭībat orTūbātt, itself deriving from Turkic Töbäd, literally, according to Matthew Kapstein, From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan
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Empire
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An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or of territories far remote from the homeland, such as a colonial empire. Aside from the formal usage, the term empire can also be used to refer to a large-scale business enterprise. The term empire is associated with words such as imperialism, colonialism. Empire is often used to describe a displeasure to overpowering situations, the former method provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter method provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion, territorial empires tend to be contiguous areas. The term, on occasion, has applied to maritime empires or thalassocracies, with looser structures. Empires are usually larger than kingdoms and this aspiration to universality resulted in conquest by converting ‘outsiders’ or ‘inferiors’ into the colonialized religion. This association of nationality and race became complex and has had an intense drive for expansion. An empire is a multi-ethnic or multinational state with political and/or military dominion of populations who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the ethnic group. This is in contrast to a federation, which is a state voluntarily composed of autonomous states and peoples. An empire is a political party who rules over territories outside of its original borders. Definitions of what physically and politically constitute an empire vary and it might be a state affecting imperial policies or a particular political structure. Empires are typically formed from ethnic, national, cultural. Empire and colonialism are used to refer to relationships between powerful state or society versus a less powerful one, sometimes, an empire is a semantic construction, such as when a ruler assumes the title of emperor. That rulers nation logically becomes an empire, despite having no additional territory or hegemony, among the last of the empires in the 20th century were the Central African Empire, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Manchukuo, the German Empire, and Korea. Furthermore, empires can expand by both land and sea, Empires originated as different types of states, although they commonly began as powerful monarchies. Ideas about empires have changed over time, ranging from public approval to universal distaste, Empires are built out of separate units with some kind of diversity – ethnic, national, cultural, religious – and imply at least some inequality between the rulers and the ruled. Without this inequality, the system would be seen as commonwealth, many empires were the result of military conquest, incorporating the vanquished states into a political union, but imperial hegemony can be established in other ways
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Tibetan Plateau
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It stretches approximately 1,000 kilometres north to south and 2,500 kilometres east to west. Sometimes termed the Third Pole, the Tibetan Plateau contains the headwaters of the basins of most of the streams in surrounding regions. Its tens of thousands of glaciers and other geographical and ecological features serve as a water tower storing water, the impact of global warming on the Tibetan Plateau is of intense scientific interest. The Tibetan Plateau is surrounded by mountain ranges. In the west the curve of the rugged Karakoram range of northern Kashmir embraces the plateau, the Indus River originates in the western Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar. The Tibetan Plateau is bounded in the north by an escarpment where the altitude drops from around 5,000 metres to 1,500 metres over a horizontal distance of less than 150 kilometres. Along the escarpment is a range of mountains, in the west the Kunlun Mountains separate the plateau from the Tarim Basin. About halfway across the Tarim the bounding range becomes the Altyn-Tagh, in the V formed by this split is the western part of the Qaidam Basin. The Altyn-Tagh ends near the Dangjin pass on the Dunhuang-Golmud road, to the west are short ranges called the Danghe, Yema, Shule, and Tulai Nanshans. The easternmost range is the Qilian Mountains, the line of mountains continues east of the plateau as the Qin Mountains which separate the Ordos Region from Sichuan. North of the runs the Gansu or Hexi Corridor which was the main silk-road route from China proper to the West. The plateau is an arid steppe interspersed with mountain ranges. Annual precipitation ranges from 100 to 300 millimetres and falls mainly as hail, the southern and eastern edges of the steppe have grasslands which can sustainably support populations of nomadic herdsmen, although frost occurs for six months of the year. Permafrost occurs over parts of the plateau. Proceeding to the north and northwest, the plateau becomes progressively higher, colder and drier, here the average altitude exceeds 5,000 metres and winter temperatures can drop to −40 °C. The geological history of the Tibetan Plateau is closely related to that of the Himalayan mountain range, the Himalayas are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consist mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Their formation is a result of a collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The collision began in the Upper Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago, since these sediments were light, they crumpled into mountain ranges rather than sinking to the floor
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East Asia
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East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
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Central Asia
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Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also referred to as the -stans as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix -stan. Central Asias five former Soviet republics are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. It has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, the Silk Road connected Muslim lands with the people of Europe, India, and China. This crossroads position has intensified the conflict between tribalism and traditionalism and modernization, in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was predominantly Iranian, peopled by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians and Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Parthians. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan, the idea of Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was introduced in 1843 by the geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions, historically built political geography and geoculture are two significant parameters widely used in the scholarly literature about the definitions of the Central Asia. The most limited definition was the one of the Soviet Union. This definition was also used outside the USSR during this period. However, the Russian culture has two terms, Средняя Азия and Центральная Азия. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia, the UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders. An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity and these areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern Siberia, the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan. Afghanistan as a whole, the northern and western areas of Pakistan, the Tibetans and Ladakhi are also included. Insofar, most of the peoples are considered the indigenous peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is a large region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains, vast deserts. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of Eastern Europe as a geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe. Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming, the Gobi desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° E, to the Great Khingan Mountains, 116°–118° E. Central Asia has the following geographic extremes, The worlds northernmost desert, at Buurug Deliin Els, Mongolia, the Northern Hemispheres southernmost permafrost, at Erdenetsogt sum, Mongolia, 46°17′ N
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South Asia
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Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, the current territories of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka form the countries of South Asia. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is an economic cooperation organisation in the region which was established in 1985, South Asia covers about 5.1 million km², which is 11. 51% of the Asian continent or 3. 4% of the worlds land surface area. The population of South Asia is about 1.749 billion or about one fourth of the worlds population, overall, it accounts for about 39. 49% of Asias population and is home to a vast array of peoples. The area of South Asia and its extent is not clear cut as systemic. Aside from the region of South Asia, formerly part of the British Empire, there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia. Modern definitions of South Asia are consistent in including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar is included by some scholars in South Asia, but in Southeast Asia by others. Some do not include Afghanistan, others question whether Afghanistan should be considered a part of South Asia or the Middle East, the mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included as well. Myanmar is often added, and by various deviating definitions based on often substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the common concept of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the British Raj, with several exceptions. The Aden Colony, British Somaliland and Singapore, though administered at various times under the Raj, have not been proposed as any part of South Asia. Additionally Burma was administered as part of the Raj until 1937, the 562 princely states that were protected by but not directly ruled by the Raj became administrative parts of South Asia upon joining Union of India or Dominion of Pakistan. China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of members of SAARC. This bloc of countries include two independent countries that were not part of the British Raj – Nepal, and Bhutan, Afghanistan was a British protectorate from 1878 until 1919, after the Afghans lost to the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan war. The United Nations Statistics Divisions scheme of sub-regions include all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia, population Information Network includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as part of South Asia. Maldives, in view of its characteristics, was admitted as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network only in principle, the Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region includes only the original seven signatories of SAARC. The British Indian Ocean Territory is connected to the region by a publication of Janes for security considerations, the inclusion of Myanmar in South Asia is without consensus, with many considering it a part of southeast Asia and others including it within South Asia. Afghanistan was of importance to the British colonial empire, especially after the Second Anglo-Afghan War over 1878–1880, Afghanistan remained a British protectorate until 1919, when a treaty with Vladimir Lenin included the granting of independence to Afghanistan. Following Indias partition, Afghanistan has generally included in South Asia
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Tarim Basin
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The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in northwest China occupying an area of about 1,020,000 km2. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its boundary is the Kunlun Mountains on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin, the historical Uyghur name for the Tarim Basin is Altishahr, which means six cities in Uyghur. They were governed separately until 1884, north side, The Chinese called this the Tien Shan Nan Lu or Tien Shan South Road, as opposed to the Bei Lu north of the mountains. Along it runs the modern highway and railroad while the middle Tarim River is about 100 km south, Kashgar was where the caravans met before crossing the mountains. Center, Most of the basin is occupied by the Taklamakan Desert which is too dry for permanent habitation, the Yarkand, Kashgar and Aksu Rivers join to form the Tarim River which runs along the north side of the basin. Formerly it continued to Loulan, but some time after 330AD it turned southeast near Korla toward Charkilik, the Tarim ended at the now-dry Lop Nur which occupied a changing position east of Loulan. Eastward is the fabled Jade Gate which the Chinese considered the gateway to the Western Regions, beyond that is Dunhuang with its ancient manuscripts and then Anxi at the west end of the Gansu Corridor. The modern road continues east to Tibet, there is no current road east across the Kumtag Desert to Dunhuang, but caravans somehow made the crossing thru the Yangguan pass south of the Jade Gate. Roads and passes, rivers and caravan routes, The Southern Xinjiang Railway branches from the Lanxin Railway near Turpan, follows the side of the basin to Kashgar. Roads, The main road from eastern China reaches Urumchi and continues as highway 314 along the side to Kashgar. Highway 315 follows the side from Kashgar to Charkilik and continues east to Tibet. There are currently four north-south roads across the desert,218 runs from Charkilik to Korla along the former course of the Tarim forming an oval whose other end is Kashgar. The Tarim Desert Highway, an engineering achievement, crosses the center from Niya to Luntai. The new Highway 217 follows the Khotan River from Khotan to near Aksu, a road follows the Yarkand River from Yarkand to Baqu. East of the Korla-Charkilik road travel continues to be very difficult, Rivers coming south from the Tien Shan join the Tarim, the largest being the Aksu. Rivers flowing north from the Kunlun are usually named for the town or oasis they pass through, Most dry up in the desert, only the Hotan River reaching the Tarim in good years. An exception is the Qiemo River which flowed northeast into Lop Nor, ruins in the desert imply that these rivers were once larger
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Himalayas
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The Himalayas, or Himalaya, form a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayan range has the Earths highest peaks, including the highest, the Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres tall. The Himalayas are spread across five countries, Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, the Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, rise in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia, many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate and its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, is just west of the bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres in the west to 150 kilometres in the east, the name of the range derives from the Sanskrit Himā-laya, from himá and ā-laya. They are now known as the Himalaya Mountains, usually shortened to the Himalayas, formerly, they were described in the singular as the Himalaya. This was also previously transcribed Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinsons poetry and Henry David Thoreaus essays. The mountains are known as the Himālaya in Nepali and Hindi, the Himalaya or The Land of Snow in Tibetan, the Hamaleh Mountain Range in Urdu, the flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice, the amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant. The extremes of high altitude combined with extreme cold favor extremophile organisms, the unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations, the oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some species, especially rhododendron, apple. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres in Southeastern Tibet, the Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock
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Bengal
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Bengal is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in Asia, which is located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Geographically, it is made up by the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta system, in 2011, the population of Bengal was estimated to be 250 million, making it the most densely populated region in South Asia. An estimated 160 million people live in Bangladesh, while 91.3 million people live in West Bengal, the predominant ethno-linguistic group are the Bengali people, who speak the Indo-Aryan Bengali language. Bengali Muslims are the majority in Bangladesh, Bengali Hindus are the majority in West Bengal. Dense woodlands, including rainforests, cover Bengals northern and eastern areas. In the littoral southwest are the Sunderbans, the worlds largest mangrove forest, in the coastal southeast lies Coxs Bazaar, the longest beach in the world at 125 km. The region has a climate, which the Bengali calendar divides into six seasons. Bengal has played a role in the history of Asia. In antiquity, its kingdoms were known as seafaring nations, at times an independent regional empire, or a bastion of larger empires, the historical region was a leading power of the Indian subcontinent and the Islamic East. Bengali culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature, music, art, architecture, sports, currency, commerce, politics and cuisine. The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Banga, theories on the origin of the term Banga point to the Proto-Dravidian Bong tribe that settled in the area circa 1000 BCE and the Austric word Bong. The term Bangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th century South Indian records, the modern term Bangla is prominent from the 14th century, which saw the establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal, whose first ruler Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was known as the Shah of Bangala. The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery, most of the Bengal region lies in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, but there are highlands in its north, northeast and southeast. The Ganges Delta arises from the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra, the total area of Bengal is 232,752 km2—West Bengal is 88,752 km2 and Bangladesh 147,570 km2. The flat and fertile Bangladesh Plain dominates the geography of Bangladesh, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet regions are home to most of the mountains in Bangladesh. Most parts of Bangladesh are within 10 metres above the sea level, because of this low elevation, much of this region is exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal flooding due to monsoons. The highest point in Bangladesh is in Mowdok range at 1,052 metres, a major part of the coastline comprises a marshy jungle, the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna, including the royal Bengal tiger. In 1997, this region was declared endangered, West Bengal is on the eastern bottleneck of India, stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south
![[citation needed]](/wiki/File:Tibetan_snow_leopard.svg)
Tibet portal
