TIBET 19th century

Tibet is one of the most controversial regions of the Himalayas and also much talked about region in the non-Tibetan / Chinese world. We now know that Tibet claims itself to be illegally occupied by People's Republic of China while the Chinese claim it as an integral part of its history. There was a time when even today's nation of Mongolia was claimed under China as well, but its independence was formally recognised by China in 1946. But the faith of Tibet is still under China's grip. Here's a brief history of this majestic Himalayan land that seems peaceful, but apparently is not. 

Referred to as Tufan in its initial times, the relation between Tibet and China has always been bittersweet since its origin in the 7th century AD. The names of Tibet varied from Tufan, Thibet, Tubbat etc. and the Tibetan version of their land as Bod (can be found on many modern maps). The golden era of China under the T'ang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD; that covered all today's China except Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Yunnan and added some parts of Central Asia and Vietnam) was the time when Tibet's history started getting shaped in the hands of the Chinese. The peaceful ties between the two kingdoms broke in 670 AD and a raid on the Chinese capital at Ch'ang-an (today's X'ian, Shaanxi province of PRC) was pursued by Tibet in 763 AD. In 824 AD, the disintegration of Tibetan kingdom took place into various fragments, such as: 

1. Maryul (today's Ladakh)
2. Zanskar (in today's Jammu & Kashmir)
3. Guge-Purang (in today's Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and stretching to portions of Tibet)
4. Khasa (in today's northwestern Nepal)
5. Mangyul (in Nepal)
6. Kunlun (in Tibet)
7. Qaidam (in today's Qinghai, China)
8. Tsongkha (in today's Qinghai, China)
9. Gangchen Dzonga (in today's Sikkim)

The following other smaller kingdoms that fragmented and are currently all parts of today's PRC:

1. Chorten Nyima
2. Gang Rinpoche
3. Chomolangma
4. Lapchi
5. Tsanglha Budar
6. Tago
7. Nyenchen Tanglha
8. Yarlha Shampo
9. Dakpa Shelri
10. Bonri
11. Minyak Gangkar
12. Risum Gompa
13. Emei Shan
14. Murdo
15. Nyanpo Yurtse
16. Amnye Machen

Thus we can see the extent of the medieval Tibetan empire that covered today's India, Nepal and PRC. 

In the year 1279 after the Mongols under Kublai Khan defeated the Song Dynasty (and established the Yuan dynasty) of China, Tibet was made as a vassal state to the Mongols. Previously, Tibet failed to pay tributes to the Mongols resulting in skirmishes and raids. In 1368, the ruling Yuan dynasty was replaced by the Ming dynasty that helped Tibet regained its independence. This was also the year ending of the Mongol domination in the region. It was also during this time that the term 'Dalai Lama' started in usage. When the third successor of the Yellow Sect or Gelug was sent to Mongolia, a powerful prince bestowed him with the title 'Dalai (all embracing) Lama'. But it was 1641 when the Mongols intervened to put the 5th Dalai Lama on his spiritual throne at Lhasa. 

Trouble started with the Manchu raids and occupation of the Ming Dynasty in 1644 and established the Ch'ing Dynasty (or the Qing Dynasty; 1644 to 1912) which led to Chinese intervention in Tibetan politics once again. And after centuries of independence, Tibet was now under heavy Chinese political influence. In 1750, Tibet became an autonomous protectorate under the Chinese Empire of the Ch'ing Dynasty. However, Tibet did continue to enjoy the internal autonomy and Chinese law and writing system were not applied. 

Apart from the Ch'ing Dynasty, the Mongol Oirat Khoshut Khanate and Dzungar Khante also had their suzerainties over Tibet between 1641 to 1717 and 1717 to 1720 respectively. But it was only in 1904 when any European power started to interfere in the Tibetan politics. The British launched a raid from India in Tibet in 1904 to which the Chinese protested. The confusion was that the British claimed that the Chinese only had suzerainty and not sovereignty, but the Chinese claimed otherwise. A convention was signed between the British and China on 27th April 1906, that made the British agree on not interfering with Tibetan politics and annexation, while the Chinese declared that it has exclusive rights on Tibet, without mentioning what those rights were. 

In 1912, the Chinese government declared that Tibet, Sinkiang and Mongolia were to be regarded as provinces of China under the newly formed People's Republic of China. The next year on January 11th, Mongolia and Tibet agreed to recognise each other as independent states but no other country recognised this. Between October 1913 to July 1914, a conference was held by the British at Simla, India, which popularly is known as the Simla Conference where Tibet demanded independence from the Chinese. The Chinese government refused to sign and declared that it won't recognise Tibetan independence even if there is a mutual agreement between Tibet and the British. Inspite of the opposition, the agreement was signed by the British and Tibet but not by China. Two more important events were signed during this convention; Tibet was divided into Inner Tibet (Ü-Tsang) and Outer Tibet (eastern Kham and Amdo) and Chinese wouldn't be interfering in it and the McMahon line would be the official boundary between India (today's Arunachal Pradesh) and Tibet. The Chinese didn't agree to either of these claims. 

The Tibetan self-government under the Dalai Lama continued till 1950 when the Communist Chinese forces defeated the Nationalist forces and attacked Tibet, leading to the surrender of Dalai Lama because of weaker forces. In 1951, The Chinese government agreed for a peaceful liberation of Tibet in which Chinese communists agreed to respect the status quo regarding Tibet. 

Below here is a map of 19th century Tibet originally sketched by Samuel Augustus Mitchell.