Tibetan Culture Gallery
བོད་ཀྱི་གླེགས་བམ།
History of Tibet
The Roof of the World
Tibet is a vast and beautiful country. It is bounded on three sides by some of the highest mountains in the world – the rugged Karakorams and Ladakh mountains in the west, the wild and remote Chang Tang range to the north, and the great rock barrier of the Himalayas that runs for 2,400 kilometers along Tibet’s southern border. No wonder Tibet has been called the ‘Roof of the World’, for the average height of the land is around 4,500 meters.
The Yarlung Kings
In the past, traditional accounts of Tibetan history have tended to dismiss the years before King Songtsen Gampo, and the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet, as a time of darkness and barbarity. This is partly because most of the early…
The Tibetan Empire
The great Songtsen Gampo, King of all of Tibet, was determined to marry the daughter of the Emperor of China. Such a great match would be fitting for a ruler of his power and prestige. But T’ai-Tsung, the Chinese Emperor…
The Expanding Empire
In the rugged mountains of what is present-day Afghanistan, a long line of horsemen wound their way across the barren hillside. Below them, snaking across the plain, lay the glittering waters of the River Oxus…
Foreign Intervention
The years following the death, or disappearance of the Sixth Dalai Lama are ones of some confusion in Tibet. The Dalai Lama appointed by Lhazang Khan was not accepted by the Tibetans. As we have seen, they appointed…
Seeds of Decay
The achievements of the Tibetans between the seventh and ninth centuries are quite remarkable. How did they manage it? It is possible that the population of Tibet was larger at that time than it is today…