History of European exploration in Tibet
Encyclopedia
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
has attracted European missionaries and explorers for over 500 years. The location of Tibet, deep in the Himalaya mountains, made travel to Tibet extraordinarily difficult at any time, in addition to the fact that it traditionally was forbidden to all western foreigners. The internal and external politics of Tibet, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, and the northern Indian kingdoms combined rendered entry into Tibet politically difficult for all Europeans. The combination of inaccessibility and political sensitivity made Tibet a mystery and a challenge for Europeans well into the 20th century. These obstacles did not deter a number of missionaries, scholars, geographers, soldiers and mystics from making the attempt.
12th–16th century
The earliest European reports of Tibet were from Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela who left Sargasso, Spain in 1160 and travelled to BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
before returning to Spain in 1173. Based on his discussions with learned men, Rabbi Benjamin describes Tibet as being the land of musk
Musk
Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a...
and as being four days journey from Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
.
Less than 100 years later, an emissary was sent by Louis IX
Louis IX
Louis IX may refer to:* Louis IX of France .* Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria "the Rich" * Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt ....
to the Mangu Khan in Karakorum
Karakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
in 1253. Friar William of Rubruck
William of Rubruck
William of Rubruck was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. His account is one of the masterpieces of medieval geographical literature comparable to that of Marco Polo....
reported that the Tibetan people ‘were held an abomination among all nations’ due a ritual of drinking from the skulls of their parents. Friar William was also the first to describe a Tibetan lama’s garments in detail.
The first documented European claim to have visited Tibet came from Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone was an Italian late-medieval traveler...
a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
who claimed to have traveled through Tibet in about 1325. Odorico’s record was later plagiarized and popularized by John de Mandeville.
By 1459 the general location of Tibet was clearly known as Thebet appears on the Fra Mauro Map
Fra Mauro map
The Fra Mauro map, "considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography" according to Roberto Almagià, is a map made around 1450 by the Venetian monk Fra Mauro...
in close proximity to its correct location.
17th century
The first documented Europeans to arrive in Tibet were a pair of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, António de AndradeAntónio de Andrade
Father António de Andrade was a Jesuit priest and explorer from Portugal. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1596. From 1600 until his death in 1634 he was engaged in missionary activity in India...
and Manuel Marques in July or August, 1624. Andrade and Marques' eight month journey began in Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
, where they joined the procession of the Emperor Jehangir and proceeded to Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
under the protection of the Emperor. In Delhi, Andrade and Marques disguised themselves as Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
pilgrims and joined a caravan bound for the Hindu shrine of Badrinath. The caravan followed the Ganges River
Ganges River
The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...
to Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
and Garhwal
Garhwal Kingdom
Garhwal Kingdom was a princely state in north-western Uttarakhand, India, ruled by the Panwar dynasty. It was founded in 888 AD and existed until it was annexed by the Gorkhas in 1803...
where they were discovered. The Raj of Garhwal detained and interrogated both men for a week before allowing Andrade and Marques to proceed. Andrade and Marques rejoined the caravan and reached Badrinath, probably in early June 1624. In Badrinath, they left the caravan and proceeded to Mana
Mana
Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
, the last town before the Mana Pass
Mana Pass
Mana Pass , alternatively as Māna La, Chirbitya, Chirbitya-la, or Dungri La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas between India and Tibet...
and the border of Tibet. Andrade and Marques made one failed attempt on the Mana Pass which was blocked by heavy snow, only to realize that the agents of the Raj of Garhwal were in hot pursuit. Marques remained in Mana to deflect the pursuit and rejoined Andrade and a group of Tibetans for a second successful assault on Mana Pass in either July or August 1624. The two were welcomed warmly by the King and Queen of Guge
Guge
Guge was an ancient kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, within Ngari Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, China. At various points in history after 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast area including south-eastern Zanskar, Upper Kinnaur,...
, becoming the first documented Europeans to enter Tibet. Staying in Tibet for only a month, Andrade and Marques would return to Agra by November 1624 to organize a mission trip for the following year. In 1625 with the full support of the King and Queen of Guge, Andrade and Marques established a permanent mission at Tsaparang
Tsaparang
Tsaparang was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Guge in the Garuda Valley, through which the upper Sutlej River flows, in Ngari Prefecture near the border of Ladakh. It is 278 km south-southwest of Ali and 26 km west of the 11th century monastery at Thöling, and not far west of Mount Kailash...
.
On the advice of Andrade, a mission was dispatched to southern Tibet from India in 1627. The Portuguese missionaries João Cabral
João Cabral
João Cabral was a Jesuit missionary, who, along with Estêvão Cacella, were the first Europeans to enter Bhutan in 1627. The following year he became the first European to visit neighboring Nepal....
and Estêvão Cacella
Estêvão Cacella
Estêvão Cacella was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary.-Life:Cacella was born in Aviz in 1585, joined the Jesuits at the age of nineteen, and sailed for India in 1614 where he worked for some years in Kerala...
were welcomed at Shigatse
Shigatse
Shigatse is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region , People's Republic of China, with a population of 92000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
by the King of Utsang. Cabral and Cacella established a mission at Shigatse in 1628.
Cabral and Cacella also provided the first information that reached western civilization about the mystical country of Shambhala
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala or Shangri-la is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia...
(which they transcribed as "Xembala") in their reports to India.
Both missions were evacuated in 1635 as the missions became embroiled in the rivalry between the Red Hat Sect
Red Hat Sect
In Tibetan Buddhism, the "Red Hat" sects or schools include the three oldest of the four main schools, to wit:*Nyingma*Sakya*KagyuSome others consider only the Nyingma school to be a "Red Hat" sect....
and the Yellow Hat Sect. It would be twenty-five years before the next documented Europeans visited Tibet.
In 1661, two Jesuits, Johannes Grueber of Austria and Albert Dorville
Albert Dorville
Albert Dorville, was a Belgian Jesuit priest, Missionary in China and cartographer.-Biography:...
(D’Orville) traveled from Peking to Agra, India by way of Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
on an Imperial Passport.
18th century
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
from Europe. The most important of these missionaries was Ippolito Desideri
Ippolito Desideri
Ippolito Desideri was an Italian Jesuit missionary in Tibet and the first European to have successfully studied and understood Tibetan language and culture.-Biography:...
, an Italian Jesuit who left Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1712 with the blessing of Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI , born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was Pope from 1700 until his death in 1721.-Early life:...
and arrived in Lhasa on 18 March 1716. Desideri’s various journeys between 1716 and 1721, when he was withdrawn by Rome, encompassed a circuit of the Tibetan borders with Nepal, modern Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The Capuchins became the sole Christian missionaries in Tibet for the next twenty-five years. The Capuchins met increased opposition from Tibetan lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
s before finally being expelled from Tibet in 1745.
Nearly thirty years later, in 1774, the English nobleman George Bogle came to Shigatse
Shigatse
Shigatse is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region , People's Republic of China, with a population of 92000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
to investigate trade for the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. He not only befriended the Panchen Lama
Panchen Lama
The Panchen Lama , or Bainqên Erdê'ni , is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...
at Tashilhunpo
Tashilhunpo
Tashilhunpo Monastery , founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, the First Dalai Lama, is a historic and culturally important monastery next to Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet....
but married a Tibetan woman and introduced the first potato crop into Tibet.
Nineteenth Century
However, by the 19th century, the situation of foreigners in Tibet grew more precarious. The British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
was encroaching from northern India into the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
of the tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
s was expanding south into Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. Each power became suspicious of the other's intent in Tibet, a country neither knew anything about. China, which claimed Tibet as a protectorate, fanned Tibet's fears that foreigners in the country threatened its gold fields and established religious faith of Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
. By the 1850s, Tibet had banned all foreigners from the country and shut its borders to all except nationals of neighbouring countries. Mutilation, death and torture awaited any Tibetan who unwittingly gave assistance to a foreigner, as the government believed it would affect the fate of the country and destroy its culture and religion.
Pundit (explorer)
The term pundit or pandit was used in the second half of the 19th century to denote native surveyors who explored regions to the north of India for the British....
, counted their strides on their travels across Tibet and took readings at night. Nain Singh
Nain Singh
Pandit Nain Singh Rawat was one of the first of the pundits who explored the Himalayas for the British. He hailed from the Johaar Valley of Kumaon...
, the most famous, measured the longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
and latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
and altitude of Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
and traced the Yarlung Tsangpo River far westward without being discovered.
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
entered Tibet from the north and gathered much scientific information but never reached Lhasa in his three attempts across the plateau. From the 1870s to 1900, many tried to cross Tibet across the high plains but failed and tales of incredible physical hardship, ferocious weather, avalanches, bandits and monks escorting any explorers back to the Indian borders began to emerge in Europe.
The first American to attempt to trek to Lhasa was William Rockhill
William Rockhill
William Rockhill was a U.S. Representative from Indiana.Born in Burlington, New Jersey, Rockhill attended the public schools.He moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1822.He engaged in agricultural pursuits....
, a young diplomat in Beijing in 1889. Disguised as a Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
n, speaking Tibetan and Chinese, he failed because his guides deserted him in a vast uninhabited plateau. Two years later in 1891 he tried again and was repelled only 177 km (110 mi) from Lhasa. However he gathered much information on his travels about Tibetan culture and religion.
In 1895, George Littledale
George Littledale
Clement St. George Royds Littledale and his wife Teresa were known in their time as the greatest British Central Asia travellers of the nineteenth century. Littledale is also considered by many hunters to be one of the greatest big game hunters of all time...
, an English nobleman and his wife, nephew, and dog (a fox terrier
Fox Terrier
Fox Terrier refers primarily to two different breeds of the terrier dog type: the Smooth Fox Terrier and the Wire Fox Terrier. Both of these breeds originated in the 19th century from a handful of dogs who are descended from earlier varieties of British terriers, and are related to other modern...
named Tanny) set out for Lhasa from northern India. Fearing detection they travelled at night, and were stopped by 500 armed Tibetans only 49 miles from Lhasa. Neither a bribe or the insistence that Littledale's wife was Queen Victoria's sister would spare them and they were expelled. However the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
awarded Littledale a gold medal and his dog Tanny was made an Honorary fellow with a silver collar.
In 1892, Annie Taylor
Annie Royle Taylor
Annie Royle Taylor was an English Evangelical missionary to China and the first Western woman known to have visited Tibet. She attempted to reach the "forbidden" city of Lhasa. -Early life:...
, a frail English missionary, became the first European to approach Lhasa in modern times. She came within only three days' march of the capital, surviving bandits, betrayal, and illness, and finally persuading a Tibetan judge to let her live if she turned back. In 1898, a Canadian missionary medical doctor, Susie Rijnhart
Susanna Carson Rijnhart
Susanna Carson Rijnhart, better known as Susie Rijnhart, was a Canadian medical doctor, Protestant missionary, and Tibetan explorer. She was the second Western woman known to have visited Tibet, after Annie Royle Taylor.-Early life and marriage:...
and her husband and baby attempted to reach Lhasa from the north. The couple came to within one hundred miles of Lhasa before being turned back. The baby died and the husband disappeared, but Dr. Rijnhart survived and made her way alone out of Tibet.
British experience in Tibet (particularly the instructions by Sarat Chandra Das
Sarat Chandra Das
Sarat Chandra Das was an Indian scholar of Tibetan language and culture most noted for his two journeys to Tibet in 1879 and in 1881 - 1882-Biography:...
) was used by the first known Japanese explorer of Tibet, Zen monk Ekai Kawaguchi
Ekai Kawaguchi
was a Japanese Buddhist monk, famed for his four journeys to Nepal , and two to Tibet , being the first recorded Japanese citizen to travel in either country.Until March, 1891, he had been the Rector of the Zen in Tokyo (February 26, 1866 – February 24, 1945) was a Japanese Buddhist monk,...
, who crossed into Tibet in 1899 disguised as a Chinese monk, reached Lhasa and stayed for long enough to serve the Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet.During 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal"...
as a therapist.
Russian explorers reached Lhasa several months later-- Gombojab Tsybikov
Gombojab Tsybikov
Gombojab Tsybikov , was a Russian explorer of Tibet from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology, ethnography, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia and Mongolia....
in August 1900, and Ovshe Norzunov in February 1901, officially as Mongolian pilgrims. They had the advantage of using Nain Singh's publications, Lhasa pilgrimage experiences of their native Buryat
Buryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
and Kalmyk
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
kinsmen, and support of Russian-born associate of the Dalai Lama, Agvan Dorzhiev
Agvan Dorzhiev
Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev, also Agvan Dorjiev or Dorjieff , was a Russian-born monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo...
. Tsybikov and Norzunov became the first photographers of Lhasa known by name, and the earliest published photographers of the city. For Norzunov, a Kalmyk nobleman and devout Buddhist, it was his second visit to Lhasa, but his earlier trip, taken in 1898–1899, was not supported by Russia or have exploration on agenda.
At that very time, Przewalski's student Pyotr Kozlov
Pyotr Kozlov
Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov was a Russian and Soviet traveler and explorer who continued the studies of Nikolai Przhevalsky in Mongolia and Tibet.Although prepared by his parents for military career, Kozlov chose to join Przhevalsky's expedition. After his mentor's death, Kozlov continued travelling in...
headed to Tibet and explored the Chinese-controlled part of Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
, but was stopped at the border of Tibetan-controlled territory in October 1900 and had to retreat.
20th century
The beginning of the 20th century saw violence. British India became frustrated over its relations with Tibet and was concerned that Tibet might favor Russia during this period of Anglo-Russian rivalry. In 1904, a military expedition led by Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
, a British colonel, forced its way to Lhasa leaving hundreds of Tibetan soldiers dead. After imposing a treaty, the brigade withdrew; the British wanted Tibet to remain closed to all foreigners except themselves. Sir Charles Bell
Charles Alfred Bell
Sir Charles Alfred Bell K.C.I.E. , born in Calcutta, was a British-Indian tibetologist. He was educated at Winchester College. After joining the Indian Civil Service, he was appointed Political Officer in Sikkim in 1908...
, who was installed as the political representative for Tibet became a scholar of Tibetology
Tibetology
Tibetology refers to the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance...
and advisor and close friend of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...
including Swedish explorer Sven Hedin
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...
who defied the British and continued a decade-long task of mapping out western and southern Tibet. Alexandra David-Neel
Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners...
, a French Buddhist scholar and mystic arrived in Shigatse
Shigatse
Shigatse is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region , People's Republic of China, with a population of 92000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
, where she was ordained by the Panchen Lama
Panchen Lama
The Panchen Lama , or Bainqên Erdê'ni , is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...
. Later, aged 53 and disguised as a beggar, she became the first European woman to reach Lhasa. Brigadier-General George Pereira
George Pereira
Brigadier-General George Edward Pereira, CB, CMG, DSO was a British explorer in Central Asia, Tibet and Western China; a soldier, writer and diplomatist.-Early life and family:...
was the first European to walk from Peking to Lhasa, and the first to describe the Amne Machin
Amne Machin
Amne Machin is the highest peak of a mountain range named Amne Machin , or, in Chinese,Animaqing Shan in the province of Qinghai in west-central China.-Geography:...
massif in eastern Tibet in 1921–2; his journals were edited by Sir Francis Younghusband. Giuseppe Tucci
Giuseppe Tucci
Giuseppe Tucci was an Italian scholar of oriental cultures, specialising in Tibet and history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian Fascism, and he used idealized portrayals of Asian traditions to support Italian ideological campaigns...
, an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
archaeologist began a 20 year study of Tibet in 1927, travelling thousands of miles on foot to produce some of the definitive European books on Tibetan religion and culture.
At the start of the Second World War, two Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n mountaineers in the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
became prisoners of war at Dehra Dun in northern British India. Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.He is best known for his books Seven Years in Tibet and The White Spider .-Athletics:...
and his companion Peter Aufschnaider escaped prison and crossed the border, reaching Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
across the mountains. Whilst in Lhasa, Harrer became a close friend of Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
while Aufschnaider undertook some important cartography and geographical mapping of the area. Ultimately returning to Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Heinrich Harrer documented his story in the book Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War and the interim period before the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in...
published in 1953, which aroused great interest and became a popular travel book. The Dalai Lama, still a boy, also invited well-known American commentators Lowell Thomas
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...
and Lowell Thomas Jr. to visit Tibet in 1949. As he hoped, their films created worldwide sympathy and gestures of good will to the country which was facing invasion by, and eventually a complete takeover by the PRC
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. After 1951, the Chinese invited several foreign journalists to report favourably about progress in the country, but with minimal effect.
Since the 1970s, Tibet has gradually become more open to foreigners. In 2009, 5.6 million tourists visited Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
and spent ¥
Renminbi
The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...
5.6 billion. Both were 150% increases from 2008.