ABSTRACT
Historical background Tibet’s formation as a recognizable nation began as far back as the fourth century. In the early seventh century Tibetans, under Songtsen Gambo, converted to Buddhism and adopted a written language based on the Ranjana script – both imports from India . . . Tibetans came to control much of their region, including parts of Nepal, Burma, India and present-day Xinjiang (China) and they did it the old-fashioned way, through warfare. They pointedly refused to defer to Tang Dynasty emperors and in the eighth century even briefly captured Changan, the Chinese capital, leading to the negotiation of borders between the two states. Effective Chinese control over Tibet did not come until the late eighteenth century and even then was mostly supervisory. Early in the last century even that began to fall apart, as did China’s hold on other parts of its periphery. To enhance their position in India the British worked intermittently to reinforce the de facto Tibetan state.
