Tibet, or THIBET, is the European name of a country in central Asia, lying between China and India. The native name is Bod or Bodyl. Tibet is enclosed between the Kuen Lun and the Himalaya mountains. These chains run eastward from a mountain knot at the southern extremity of the Pamir highland, and continue to diverge from each other till they reach the meridian of Lhassa, when they slightly draw nearer on the east and south-east, where Tibet is bounded by ranges which separate it from China and Indo-China. It is thus surrounded on all sides by mountains, the area so enclosed exceeding in extent 700,000 sq. m., or being eight times the size of Great Britain. Tibet is the loftiest region of such extent on the globe. Its tablelands vary in height from 17,000 to 10,000 feet. It has been estimated that their average height is that of the summit of Mont Blanc; this may be a slight exaggeration, but it impresses on the memory the great elevation of Tibet, the most important fact in its physical geography. The tablelands are loftiest in the west and north, whence they slope gradually to the south and east. Bonvalot certified to the existence of volcanoes. The lowest lands in Tibet are the grooves in which the Indus runs westward and the Sanpo eastward to the bends where they turn to the south, cross the Himalayas, and descend into India. The mountain-girdle which surrounds Tibet has made it an obstacle across which conquerors from Mongolia could not enter India without making a long detour round its western extremity. Another consequence of these barriers has been that Tibet has remained to the present day the region of the globe least known to geographers.
Tibet is divided into provinces equal in extent to European states. These are (1) Chaidam (Tsaidam), a name sometimes given to the country between the Naushan and Alten-tagh chains and the Kuen Lun. It includes the Koko-Nur lake and the Chaidam marsh, and its cold and scanty pastures are frequented by nomads, among whom is the Tibetan race known as the Tanguts. (2) Katchi, also described as the great northern plain, a lofty region of steppes very little known, but crossed by a road from Kiria in Turkestan, and leading to the gold-fields of Thok-Jalung, one of the highest inhabited spots on the globe. (3) East Nari, including Khorsum and Dokthol, an elevated Himalayan country in which the Indus and Sanpo take their rise. It is a country of pastures with a few cultivated tracts. In it is the Lake Manasarovar, surface 15,000 feet high, a sheet of water sacred alike to Tibetans and Hindus. (4) West Nari, or Little Tibet, consisting of Ladakh (q.v.) and Balti, now dependencies of Cashmere (q.v.) and the Indian empire. (5) Yu-tsang, composed of the provinces of Yu and Tsang. It includes the valley of the Sanpo between the meridians of 87° and 92°, the most populous and important part of Tibet. The Sanpo becomes navigable at Jang-lache—elevation 13,600 feet. From thence boats formed of a framework of wood covered with hides descend the river. On reaching their destination after being unloaded they are taken down and conveyed by yaks back to the starting-point. Yu-tsang is traversed by a well-frequented road from east to west. The capital of Yu is Lhassa (q.v.); that of Tsang, Slugatze. (6) Kham, the province drained by the upper courses of the great rivers of China and Indo-China, which run in deep valleys, making it difficult to cross the country. Two great roads traverse Kham, connecting Lhassa with Darchiengo (Ta-chien-lu), the emporium of Chinese trade with Tibet. One is the shortest and official road. It passes through Litang (13,400 feet) and Batang (8150 feet) on the Yang-tse-kiang and Chiando, the capital of Kham, on the Mekhong, and over lofty passes into Lhassa. The commercial road crosses the rivers higher up, where the watercourses are less difficult and there is an abundance of pasture. Near Darchiengo the country seems to be independent alike of China and Tibet, and farther west is Darge, a district described as rich and flourishing. Chiampo and other parts of Kham are under the direct rule of China.
Tibet lies in the latitudes of Delhi, Cairo, Algiers, and Naples, but its inland position and elevation give it a cold, dry, and extreme climate. On the tablelands at an elevation of 14,000 feet the thermometer in May sinks to 7° F. below zero, and over the whole country an arctic winter prevails for five or six months. Owing to the dryness of the air it loses its conductivity, and the inhabitants, dressed in sheepskins, give out long electric sparks on approaching conducting substances. Flesh exposed to the air does not putrefy, but dries and can be reduced to powder. There is a very short but excessively hot summer, more especially in the valleys of the Indus and Sanpo, where the high temperature is more oppressive to Europeans than that of the Indian plains. The northern and western tablelands are without trees. They abound in steppes, in which pasture innumerable herds of wild animals—yaks, horses, asses, goats, antelopes, &c.—undisturbed by man. The pastures of the southern tablelands supply food to the flocks and herds of a large nomad population. Agriculture is confined chiefly to the valleys of the Indus and Sanpo, the grain chiefly grown being barley; the kitchen herbs and fruits of Europe are also cultivated. Agriculture and gardening are difficult arts in Tibet, and the irrigation and terrace cultivation necessary to secure even scanty crops are supposed to have sharpened the intelligence of the peasants and made them strong and laborious. The mineral products of Tibet are of high value, and include gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, mercury, cobalt, borax, sulphur, &c. The Tibetans are good blacksmiths and cutlers; their chief industrial occupation, however, is the preparation of woollen cloth. They are active traders, and large caravans, in which yaks and sheep are the beasts of burden, are constantly traversing the country on their way to the great fairs in Tibet, and the entrepôts of the surrounding countries. At one time there was a busy commerce with India, but since Tibet became a Chinese dependency the passes have been closed. The most important commerce is in the hands of rich Tibetan and Chinese traders, who jealously watch anything likely to interfere with the existing great routes. Of the distribution of population in Tibet little is known. The most densely peopled part of the country is certainly the basin of the Sanpo, in which are the towns of Shigatze and Lhassa. The population is estimated at six millions.
The Tibetans are a Mongolic race, much more closely allied to the Burmese than to the Chinese or Mongols proper. They are broad-shouldered and muscular, and present a striking contrast to the weak-calved Hindus. They have Mongol features, but not in an exaggerated form. They are said to be intelligent, but without initiative; different views have been taken of their moral character, but on the whole they seem to be kindly and truthful. They are very fond of music and dancing. The Tibetans by race people nearly the whole of Tibet. A few nomads, Mongol and Turkish tribes, have penetrated into the northern steppes, and Chinese in large numbers have colonised the south-east.
In Tibet, owing to its isolation, some archaic customs survive. One of these is polyandry, the husbands of one wife being generally brothers. This form of marriage is almost universal among the poor, and seems to give rise to less domestic trouble than might have been expected. The rich are polygamists. Both systems check population. In Little Tibet, where monogamy has penetrated from the west, population increases rapidly. There exist in Tibet two religions: (1) the Bon or Bon-
Pa creed, which is a development of Mongol Shamanism, and is the native religion; and (2) Lamaism (q.v.), a form of the Buddhism introduced from India. The Tibetan clergy are very numerous, there being, it is estimated, one monk for every family. Monasteries and convents are everywhere. In Tibet the performance of elaborate ceremonies is held to be more important than good works, and can only be carried out with the aid of the clergy, who are said to be avaricious, idle, and dissolute.
Since 1720 Tibet has been a dependency of China, which, however, interferes only with foreign and military affairs. Two imperial Chinese delegates reside at Lhassa, one, the amban, the superior of the other; Rockhill says his authority is really infinitesimally small, though he writes despatches as if master of the situation. Civil and religious government are left to the Tibetan clergy, as they were in the old Papal States. In theory supreme rule is in the hands of the Dalai Lama, the sovereign pontiff who resides at Lhassa. The Tesho or Bogdo Lama, who has an inferior spiritual power, resides at Shigatze. The Dalai Lama hands over the active duties of government to the de-sri or king, who rules with the assistance of four ministers. The Tibetan language as spoken differs much from the old written language; it has been losing its monosyllabic character. Books abound in Tibet, and every monastery has its library. The literature consists chiefly of translations from the Sanskrit, and of religious works.
The earliest date in Tibetan history which can be relied on as historical is 639 A.D., when the king Sbrong-tsan-Sgam-po introduced Buddhism from India, and founded Lhassa. His dominions extended from the Himalayas north to the Koko-Nur Lake. In the middle ages down to the 10th century the Tibetan country is said in the Chinese annals to have extended to the Gulf of Bengal, then described as the Tibetan Sea. In the 9th century a war broke out with China which terminated in 821, when bilingual tablets still existing were erected at Lhassa. In 1071 Eastern Tibet was broken up into small states, opening the country to Chinese and Mongol invasion. Kublai Khan, who annexed Tibet to his vast empire, called to his court a Tibetan monk, Phagspa. The latter converted his patron and the Mongols to Buddhism, and the sovereignty of Tibet was conferred on the Dalai-Lamas. In 1720 the Chinese, after many struggles, finally conquered Tibet. Seven years later Batang and other parts of Kham were detached from Tibet, and incorporated with the Chinese province of Sze-chwan. Early in the 18th century Lamas, under the guidance and instruction of Jesuit missionaries, carried out a survey of the Tibetan part of the Chinese empire. From the information supplied D'Anville in 1733 prepared a map of Tibet not yet altogether superseded. In 1840 Ladakh was conquered by the Maharajah of Cashmere, and now is a British dependency. In 1854 there was a struggle between Tibet and Nepal which ended in a treaty by which both countries recognised the suzerainty of China. Eleven years later, in consequence of the refusal of the Tibetan authorities to allow Europeans to enter their country, a system was organised in the interest of science, by which pundits or educated Indians were sent as explorers into Tibet. By this means the old maps have been corrected and much valuable geographical knowledge has been obtained. Prejevalski and other Russian explorers have done for Northern Tibet what the pundits have done for the south. Sikkim, a frontier state through which passes an important route from India into Tibet, became a British dependency in 1850. In 1888 it was attacked by a Tibetan force, and, as the
Chinese government declined and probably was unable to interfere, the invaders were punished by the Anglo-Indian troops. The question was finally settled in March 1890. The Chinese disavowed the war and recalled their amban from Lhasa. Britain retained her possessions. In 1889-90 the journey of M. Bonvalot and Prince Henri d'Orleans across central Asia from Kuldja to Tonquin attracted the attention of French politicians and English merchants. It was said to prove how Russia and France might join hands in Asia. France was to extend westward the frontier of Tonquin to the navigable Mekhong River, and thus secure exclusive possession of the great route into Yunnan and Western Sze-chwan, Chinese provinces belonging geographically rather to Tibet than to China; but the practical efforts of the French to open their route have signally failed.
See the travels of Abbé Huc (q.v.); Hodgson, Essays on the Languages, Literature, and Religion of Nepal and Tibet (1874); Markham, The Mission of G. Bogle to Tibet and T. Manning to Lhasa (1876); Lieutenant G. Kreitner, Im Fernen Osten (Vienna, 1881); H. A. Jäsche, Tibetan Grammar (2d ed. 1883), and A Tibetan-English Dictionary (1882); Prejevalski (q.v.), Reisen in Tibet (Ger. trans. 1884); Desgodius, Le Thibet (2d ed. 1885); W. W. Rockhill, Land of the Lamas (1891); Bonvalot, Across Tibet (trans. 1892); Pratt, To the Snows of Tibet (1892); Mrs Bishop, Among the Tibetans (1894); Hamilton Bower, Across Tibet (1894); M. S. Wellby, Through Unknown Thibet (1898); A. H. Savage Landon, In the Forbidden Land (1898).