| The Tibetan language is generally considered to be a | | | | were killed by British army. |
| Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language | | | | When the mission reached Lhasa, the Dalai Lama had |
| family, distantly related to Chinese (Sinitic languages). | | | | already fled to Urga in Mongolia, but a treaty was |
| In general, the history of Tibet begins with the reign | | | | signed by lay and ecclesiastical officials of the Tibetan |
| of Songtsän Gampo (604–650 CE). | | | | government, and by representatives of the three |
| Tibet continued as a Central Asian empire until the | | | | monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden. The |
| late 9th century. | | | | treaty made provisions for the frontier between |
| Mongols & Manchus | | | | Sikkim and Tibet to be respected, for freer trade |
| In 1240, the Mongols marched into central Tibet and | | | | between British and Tibetan subjects, and for an |
| attacked several monasteries. Köden, younger | | | | indemnity to be paid from the Tibetan Government |
| brother of Mongol ruler Güyük Khan, | | | | to the British Government for its expenses in |
| participated in a ceremony recognizing the Sa-skya | | | | dispatching armed troops to Lhasa. It also made |
| lama as temporal ruler of Tibet in 1247. The Mongol | | | | provision for a British trade agent to reside at the |
| khans had ruled northern China since 1215. They were | | | | trade mart at Gyantse. The provisions of this 1904 |
| the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan was | | | | treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty signed |
| a patron of Tibetan Buddhism and appointed the | | | | between Britain and China, in which the British also |
| Sa-skya Lama his "Imperial preceptor," or chief | | | | agreed "not to annex Tibetan territory or to |
| religious official. Tibetans viewed this relationship as an | | | | interfere in the administration of Tibet.". The position |
| example of yon-mchod, or priest-patron relationship. | | | | of British Trade Agent at Gyantse was occupied |
| In practice, the Sa-skya lama was subordinate to the | | | | from 1904 up until 1944. It was not until 1937, with |
| Mongol khan. The collapse of the Yuan dynasty in | | | | the creation of the position of "Head of British |
| 1368 led to the overthrow of the Sa-skya in Tibet. | | | | Mission Lhasa", that a British officer had a permanent |
| Tibet was then ruled by a succession of three | | | | posting in Lhasa itself. |
| secular dynasties. In the 16th century, Altan Khan of | | | | In the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906 which |
| Tumet Mongolian tribe supported the Dalai Lama's | | | | confirmed the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty of 1904, Britain |
| religious lineage to be the dominant religion among | | | | agreed "not to annex Tibetan territory or to |
| Mongols and Tibetans. | | | | interfere in the administration of Tibet" while China |
| Beginning in the early 18th century, the Qing | | | | engaged "not to permit any other foreign State to |
| government sent a resident commissioner (amban) to | | | | interfere with the territory or internal administration |
| Lhasa. Tibetan factions rebelled in 1750 and killed the | | | | of Tibet". In the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, |
| ambasa. Then, a Qing army entered and defeated | | | | Britain also recognized the "suzerainty of China over |
| the rebels and installed an administration headed by | | | | Thibet" and, in conformity with such admitted |
| the Dalai Lama. The number of soldiers in Tibet was | | | | principle, engaged "not to enter into negotiations with |
| kept at about 2000. The defensive duties were | | | | Thibet except through the intermediary of the |
| partly helped out by a local force which was | | | | Chinese Government." The Qing central government |
| reorganized by the resident commissioner, and the | | | | established direct rule over Tibet for the first time in |
| Tibetan government continued to manage | | | | 1910. The thirteenth Dalai Lama fled to British India in |
| day-to-day affairs as before. | | | | February 1910. In the same month, the Chinese Qing |
| British influence | | | | government issued a proclamation deposing the Dalai |
| In 1904 a British diplomatic mission, accompanied by a | | | | Lama and instigating the search for a new incarnation. |
| large military escort, forced its way through to Lhasa. | | | | While in India the Dalai Lama became a close friend |
| The head of the diplomatic mission was Colonel | | | | of the British Political Officer Charles Bell. The official |
| Francis Younghusband. The principal motivation for | | | | position of the British Government was that they |
| the British mission was a fear, which proved to be | | | | would not intervene between China and Tibet, and it |
| unfounded, that Russia was extending its footprint | | | | would only recognize the de facto government of |
| into Tibet and possibly even giving military aid to the | | | | China within Tibet at this time. In Bell's history of |
| Tibetan government. But in his way to Lhasa, | | | | Tibet, he would write of this time that "the Tibetans |
| Younghusband killed 1300 tibetans in Gyam-Tse (as | | | | were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an |
| written in "The Great Game" of Peter Hopkirk), | | | | aggression for which the British Military Expedition to |
| because the natives were in fear of what kind of | | | | Lhasa and subsequent retreat [and consequent |
| unequal treaty the English would offer to the | | | | power vacuum within Tibet] were primarily |
| Tibetans. Some documents claim that 5000 tibetans | | | | responsible". |