HISTORY. The early history of Tibet is leg endary and obscure. In the middle of the eighth century Tibet extended from Ku-ku-nor and Ladakh on the north into India in the south, while on the east the tribesmen came into fre quent conflict with China, mid it is recorded that they even entered Chang-an, the capital, in 763. In 747 the famous Indian wizard and teacher, Padma-sambhava, had arrived; he made a long missionary journey through the country, everywhere vanquishing the Shamanistic devils, and laid the foundation of Lamaism. In 749 the first monastery was built. .:\luni-tsanpo came to the throne in 789. In order to better the condi tion of the poor, he compelled the rich to share their wealth with the indigent. This leveling process was unsuccessful. Lang-dharma, who died in 899, left only minor sons; the kingdom was broken up into two, later into a'number of petty principalities, and it was easy for Genghis Khan to incorporate Tibet into his empire in 1206.
Kublai Khan, the conqueror of China, actively promoted the spread of Buddhism throughout the Mongol Empire. Buddhism having entered from India and China in the first half of the seventh century, the language was reduced to writing, the translation of the sacred books was begun, and about 650 the first temple—the Lab rang, at Lhasa—was erected. From this time forth the internal history of Tibet is the history of the struggle of Buddhism (already corrupt) with the indigenous Shamanism (q.v.), the rise and development of Lamaism (q.v.) and the Lamaistic hierarchy, the abolition of the kingly dignity and the establishment of the supremacy of the Grand Lama at Lhasa as the head of both Church and State. In 1270 he made the chief of the Sakya sect head of the Church, and con ferred on him the temporal power. Near the end of the fourteenth century arose Tsong-k'a-pa (q.v.), the great reformer, through whose ef forts Lamaism was purified somewhat, and a new and powerful sect, the Gelugpa, was founded. In 1642 Kushri Khan, the Mongol Prince of Ku ku-nor, conquered Tibet, and in 1645 made over the sovereignty of it to the Grand Lama of the time, with the title of Dalai (or Tale) Lama. He has continued ever since to be both the head of the State and the head of the Church, the Chinese Empire having eon firmed him in both I offices in 1650. In 1717 the Sungars invaded the
country, hut were driven out by Chinese armies in 1720. when Eastern Tibet was placed under the direct rule of Chinese officials, a Kansu and Sge-chuer. In 1774 Warren Hastings sent from India an envoy to negotiate friendly eommercial relations between Tibet and the British East India Company. He was well received. Another embassy was sent tinder Turner in 1783. but his efforts were made futile by the policy of the company under the administratiOn of Lord Corn wallis, who, under treaty engagements with Nepal, assisted the Gurkhas when in 1790 they invaded Tibet and plundered Tashilunpo. They were driven out in 1792, and since then the passes between India and Tibet have been closed. In 1893 a convention was signed opening Ya tung (q.v.) on the Tibetan frontier as a Brit ish trade-mart. The list of Europeans who have entered Tibet in more recent times comprises Bagle in 1774; Turner in 1733; Manning in 1811; Hue and Gabet in 1846; Przhevalski in 1870-71, 1879, and Roekhill in ISS9 and 1891-92 ; Bonvolot in 1889; Bower in 1390-91; Littledale, 1894; Sven Hedin during his journeys of 1894-97 and 1899-1902; Miss Taylor, and a few others. Alany 'pundits,' trained by the great Trigonometrical Survey of India, have fre quently traversed it and have procured much valuable information regarding the country. Much of it. however, is 'confidential,' and is still unpublished.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Le Tibet (2d ed., Bibliography. Le Tibet (2d ed., Paris, 1335) ; Rockhill, The Land of the Lamas (New York, 1301) ; id.. Diary of a Journey Through Mongolia acrd Tibet (Washington, IS94) ; id., :Votes on the Ethnology of Tibet (ib., 1S95) ; id., A Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet (New York, 1902) ; Bower, Diary of a Journey Across Tibet (London, 1894) ; Carey, Adventures in Tibet, with Miss Taylor's Diary (Boston, 1901) ; Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet (Lon don, 1895) ; id., Among the Himalayas (ib.. 1899; Reijnhart, With the Tibetans (ib., 1901) ; Hedin, Central Asia and Tibet (New York, 1903) ; ke, Tibetan Grammar (2d ed., London, 1381 1 ; Sandberg, Handbook of Colloquial Tibetan (Cal cutta, 1394) ; Jiischke, Tibetan-English Diction ary (London, 1881) ; Dietion-naireThibetain-latin fran-fais (Hong Kong, 1899).