Tibet,or Greater Tibet,is a region in the western part of East Asia,covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi). It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups such as Mongols,Monpa,Tamang,Qiang,Sherpa,Lhoba,and since the 20th century Han Chinese and Hui. After the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China in 1951,the entire plateau has been under the administration of the People's Republic of China. Tibet is divided administratively into the Tibet Autonomous Region and parts of the Qinghai,Gansu,Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Tibet is also constitutionally claimed by the Republic of China as the Tibet Area since 1912. Tibet is the highest region on Earth,with an average elevation of 4,380 m (14,000 ft). Located in the Himalayas,the highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest,Earth's highest mountain,rising 8,848 m (29,000 ft) above sea level.
The Panchen Lama is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition,with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas,he is in charge of seeking out the next Dalai Lama. Panchen is a portmanteau of Pandita and Chenpo,meaning "great scholar".
The Tibetan independence movement is the political movement advocating for the reversal of the 1950 annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China,and the separation and independence of Greater Tibet from China.
The foreign relations of Tibet are documented from the 7th century onward,when Buddhism was introduced by missionaries from India and Nepal. The Tibetan Empire fought with the Tang dynasty for control over territory dozens of times,despite peace marriage twice. Tibet was conquered by the Mongol Empire and that changed its internal system of government,introducing the Dalai Lamas,as well as subjecting Tibet to political rule under the Yuan dynasty. Tibetan foreign relations during the Ming dynasty are opaque,with Tibet being either a tributary state or under full Chinese sovereignty. But by the 18th century,the Qing dynasty indisputably made Tibet a subject. In the early 20th century,after a successful invasion,Britain established a trading relationship with Tibet and was permitted limited diplomatic access to "Outer Tibet",basically Shigatse and Lhasa. Britain supported Tibetan autonomy under the 13th Dalai Lama but did not contest Chinese suzerainty;while "Inner Tibet",areas such as Amdo and Kham with mixed Chinese and Tibetan populations to the east and north,remained nominally under the control of the Republic of China although that control was seldom effective. Although the sovereignty of Tibet was unrecognized,Tibet was courted in unofficial visits from Nazi Germany,Imperial Japan,and the United States during and after World War II. The foreign relations of Tibet ended with the Seventeen Point Agreement that formalized Chinese sovereignty over most all of political Tibet in 1951.
The 13th Dalai Lama,Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet,enthroned during a turbulent modern era. He presided during the Collapse of the Qing Dynasty,and is referred to as "the Great Thirteenth",responsible for redeclaring Tibet's national independence,and for his national reform and modernization initiatives.
The British expedition to Tibet,also known as the Younghusband expedition,began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the Tibet Frontier Commission,whose purported mission was to establish diplomatic relations and resolve the dispute over the border between Tibet and Sikkim. In the nineteenth century,the British had conquered Burma and Sikkim,with the whole southern flank of Tibet coming under the control of the British Indian Empire. Tibet was ruled by the 13th Dalai Lama under the Ganden Phodrang government as a Himalayan state under the protectorate of the Chinese Qing dynasty until the 1911 Revolution,after which a period of de facto Tibetan independence (1912–1951) followed.
The Tibetan sovereignty debate concerns two political debates regarding the relationship between Tibet and China. The first debate concerns whether Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and parts of neighboring provinces are within the People's Republic of China (PRC) that are claimed as political Tibet should separate themselves from China and re-establish themselves as they were prior to 1959. Many of the points in this political debate rest on the points which are within the second debate,about whether Tibet was independent or subordinate to China during certain periods of its history. China has claimed control over Tibet since the 13th century,though this has been contested. All countries officially recognize Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China and do not acknowledge it as an independent state. While Tibetan independence advocates argue Tibet had periods of de facto independence,Chinese control was solidified in the 1950s. Today,Tibet has limited autonomy under Beijing’s oversight.
Bogd Khan was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924,following the state's de facto independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet,he was the third most important person in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy as the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu,below only the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama,and therefore also known as the "Bogdo Lama". He was the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism in the Bogd Khaganate. His wife Tsendiin Dondogdulam,the Ekh Dagina,was believed to be a manifestation of White Tara.
Gustaf John Ramstedt was a Finnish diplomat,orientalist and linguist. He was also an early Finnish Esperantist,and chairman of the Esperanto-Association of Finland.
Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev was a Russian-born monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism,sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo. He was popularly known as the Sokpo Tsеnshab Ngawang Lobsang to the Tibetans.
Gombojab Tsybikov was a Russian explorer of Tibet from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in ethnography,Buddhist Studies,and after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia and Mongolia.
The Simla Convention,officially the Convention Between Great Britain,China,and Tibet,was an ambiguous treaty concerning the status of Tibet negotiated by representatives of the Republic of China,Tibet and Great Britain in Simla in 1913 and 1914. The Simla Convention provided that Tibet would be divided into "Outer Tibet" and "Inner Tibet". Outer Tibet,which roughly corresponded to Ü-Tsang and western Kham,would "remain in the hands of the Tibetan Government at Lhasa under Chinese suzerainty",but China would not interfere in its administration. "Inner Tibet",roughly equivalent to Amdo and eastern Kham,would be under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government. The convention with its annexes also defined the boundary between Tibet and China proper and that between Tibet and British India.
The Bogd Khanate of Mongolia was a de facto country in Outer Mongolia between 1911 and 1915 and again from 1921 to 1924. By the spring of 1911,some prominent Mongol nobles including Prince Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren persuaded the Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to convene a meeting of nobles and ecclesiastical officials to discuss independence from Qing China. On 30 November 1911 the Mongols established the Temporary Government of Khalkha. On 29 December 1911 the Mongols declared their independence from the collapsing Qing dynasty following the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution. They installed as theocratic sovereign the 8th Bogd Gegeen,highest authority of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia,who took the title Bogd Khan or "Holy Ruler". The Bogd Khaan was last khagan of the Mongols. This ushered in the period of "Theocratic Mongolia",and the realm of the Bogd Khan is usually known as the "Bogd Khanate".
The 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu was the 9th reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu,the third highest lama in the Tibetan Buddhism hierarchy and the spiritual leader of the Gelug lineage among the Khalkha Mongols. Although recognized as the reincarnation of the Bogd Khan in 1936,his identity was kept a secret by the Dalai Lama until 1990,due to the persecution of the Buddhist religion by the Communist Mongolian People's Republic,and he did not reside in Mongolia until the final year of his life.
Tibet was a de facto independent state in East Asia that lasted from the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912 until its annexation by the People's Republic of China in 1951.
Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren,born Jamsrangiin Damdinsüren,was a military commander,Pan-Mongolist and diplomat who led Mongolia's struggle for independence in 1911.
Worried about its national interests after a 1903 British expedition,Qing China in 1910 sent a military force of 2,000 troops to Tibet,then its protectorate,to increase its authority in the region. This led to turmoil in Tibet,causing the Dalai Lama to flee to British India and a rupture in Sino-Tibetan relations.
The Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang was the Tibetan system of government established by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642,when the Oirat lord Güshi Khan who founded the Khoshut Khanate conferred all spiritual and political power in Tibet to him in a ceremony in Shigatse. During the ceremony,the Dalai Lama "made a proclamation declaring that Lhasa would be the capital of Tibet and the government of would be known as Gaden Phodrang" which eventually became the seat of the Gelug school's leadership authority. The Dalai Lama chose the name of his monastic residence at Drepung Monastery for the new Tibetan government's name:Ganden (དགའ་ལྡན),the Tibetan name for Tushita heaven,which,according to Buddhist cosmology,is where the future Buddha Maitreya resides;and Phodrang (ཕོ་བྲང),a palace,hall,or dwelling. Lhasa's Red Fort again became the capital building of Tibet,and the Ganden Phodrang operated there and adjacent to the Potala Palace until 1959.
Tibet under Qing rule refers to the Qing dynasty's rule over Tibet from 1720 to 1912. The Qing rulers incorporated Tibet into the empire along with other Inner Asia territories,although the actual extent of the Qing dynasty's control over Tibet during this period has been the subject of political debate. The Qing called Tibet a fanbu,fanbang or fanshu,which has usually been translated as "vassal","vassal state",or "borderlands",along with areas like Xinjiang and Mongolia. Like the preceding Yuan dynasty,the Manchus of the Qing dynasty exerted military and administrative control over Tibet,while granting it a degree of political autonomy.
The Convention of Lhasa,officially the Convention Between Great Britain and Thibet,was a treaty signed in 1904 between Tibet and Great Britain,in Lhasa,the capital of Tibet,then a protectorate of the Qing dynasty. It was signed following the British expedition to Tibet of 1903–1904,a military expedition led by Colonel Francis Younghusband,and was followed by the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906.
