Tibet
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Tibet. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a dependency of the Chinese Empire, in central Asia, between China and India; area about 463,200 square miles; pop. about 2,000,000. The native name is Bod or Bodyul. Tibet is enclosed by the Kuenlun and the Himalaya Mountains. These claims run E. from a mountain knot at the S. extremity of the Pamir highland, and continue to diverge from each other till they reach the meridian of Lhassa, when they draw slightly nearer to the E. and S. E., where Tibet is bounded by ranges which separate it from China and Indo-China. Topography.- Tibet is the loftiest region of such extent on the globe. Its table-lands vary in height from 17,000 to 10,000 feet. It has been estimated that their average height is that of the summit of Mont Blanc. The table-lands are loftiest in the W. and N., whence they slope gradually to the S. and E. Bonvalot certified to the existence of volcanoes. The lowest lands in Tibet are the grooves in which the Indus runs W. and the Sanpo E. to the bends where they turn to the S., cross the Himalayas, and descend into India. The mountain girdle which surrounds Tibet has made it an obstacle across which conquerors from Mongolia could not enter India without making a long detour. Another consequence of these barriers has been that Tibet has remained to the present day the region of the globe least known to geographers. Provinces. Tibet is divided into provinces equal in extent to European states. There are (1) Chaidam (Tsaidam), a name sometimes given to the country between the Nanling and Altentagh chains and the Kuenlun. It includes the Koko-Nur lake and the Chaidam marsh, and its cold and scanty pastures are frequented by nomads, among whom is the Tibetan race known as the Tanguts. (2) Katchi, also described as the great N. plain, a lofty region of steppes very little known, but crossed by a road from Kiria, in Turkestan, and leading to the gold fields of Thok-Jalung, one of the hihest inhabited spots on the globe. (3) East Nari, including Khorsum and Dokthol, an elevated Himalyan country in which the Indus and Sanpo take their rise. It is a country of pastures with a few cultivated tracts. In it is the Lake Manasarowar, surface 15,000 feet high, a sheet of water sacred alike to Tibetans and Hindus. (4) West Nari, or Little Tibet, consisting of Ladakh and Balti, now dependencies of Kashmir (Indian empire). (5) Yu-tsang, composed of the provinces of Yu and Tsang. It includes the valley of the Sanpo between the meridians of 87° and 92°, the most populous and important part of Tibet. The Sanpo becomes navigable at Janglache -elevation 13,600 feet: Yu-tsang is traversed by a well-frequented road from E. to W. The capital of Yu is Lhassa; that of Tsang, Shigatze. (6) Kham, the province drained by the upper courses of the great rivers of China, and Indo- China, which run in deep valleys, making it difficult to cross the country. Two great roads traverse Kham, connecting Lhassa with Darchiendo (Ta-chien-lu), emporium of Chinese trade with Tibet. POTALA PALACE AT LHASSA, TIBET The shortest and official road passes through Litang (13,400 feet and Batang (8,150 feet) on the Yangtze river, and Chiamdo, the capital of Kham, on the Mekhong, and over lofty passes into Lhassa. The commercial road crosses the rivers higher up where the watercourses are less difficult and there is an abundance of pasture. Near Darchiendo the country seems to be independent alike of China and Tibet, and farther W. is Darge, a district described as rich and flourishing. Chiamdo and other parts of Kham are under the direct rule of China. Climate and Agriculture. -Tibet lies in the latitudes of Delhi, Cairo, Algiers, and Naples, but its inland position and elevation give it a cold, dry, and extreme climate. On the table-lands at an elevation of 14,000 feet the thermometer in May sinks to 7° F. below zero, and over the whole country an arctic winter prevails for five or six months. Owing to the dryness of the air, it loses its conductivity, and the inhabitants, dressed in sheepskins, give out long electric sparks on approaching conducting substances. Flesh exposed to the air does not putrefy, but dries and can be reduced to powder. There is a very short but excessively hot summer, more especially in the valleys of the Indus and Sanpo, where the high temperature is more oppressive to Europeans than that of the Indian plains. The N. and W. tablelands are without trees. They abound in steppes, in which pasture herds of wild animals-yaks, horses, asses, goats, antelopes, etc. The pastures of the S. table-lands supply food to the flocks and herds of a large nomad population. Agriculture is confined chiefly to the valleys of the Indus and Sanpo, the grain chiefly grown being barley; the kitchen herbs and fruits of Europe are also cultivated. Irrigation and terrace cultivation are necessary to secure even scanty crops. Minerals. The mineral products of Tibet are of high value, and include gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, mercury, cobalt, borax, salt, sulphur, etc., but few mines are yet developed. Industries and Commerce. - The Tibetans are good blacksmiths and cutlers; their chief industrial occupation, how ever, is the preparation of woolen cloth. They are active traders, and large caravans, in which yaks and sheep are the beasts of burden, are constantly traversing the country on their way to the great fairs in Tibet, and the entrepôts of the surrounding countries. Lhassa is the chief mart, and here are found silk, carpets, tea and hardware from China; leather goods and livestock from Mongolia; rice, tobacco, sugar, pearls, coral, etc., from the S. At one time there was a busy commerce with India, but since Tibet became a Chinese dependency the passes have been closed. In 1894, Yatung on the frontier of India was opened by treaty as a trade mart and the Chinese and Indian governments each stationed an official at that post. The most important commerce is in the hands of rich Tibetan and Chinese traders, who jealously watch anything likely to interfere with the existing great routes. Of the distribution of population in Tibet little is known. The most densely peopled part of the country is certainly the basin of the Sanpo, in which are the towns of Shigatze and Lhassa. Ethnology, etc. The Tibetans are a Mongolic race, much more closely allied to the Burmese than to the Chinese or Mongols proper. They are broad-shouldered and muscular and have Mongol features, but not in an exaggerated form. They are said to be intelligent, but without initiative. The Tibetans by race people nearly the whole of Tibet. A few nomads, Mongols and Turkish tribes, have penetrated into the N. steppes, and Chinese in large numbers have colonized the S. E. In Tibet polyandry is practiced, the husbands of one wife being generally brothers. This form of marriage is almost universal among the poor. The rich are polygamists. Both systems check population. In Little Tibet, where monogamy has penetrated from the W., population increases rapidly. Religion and Literature. There exist in Tibet two religions: (1) the Bon or Bon-Pacreed, which is a development of Mongol Shamanism, and is the native religion; and (2) Lamaism, a form of the Buddhism introduced from India. The Tibetan clergy are very numerous, there being, it is estimated, one monk for every family. The Tibetan language as spoken differs much from the old written language; it has been losing its monosyllabic character. Books abound in Tibet, and every monastery has its library. The literature consists chiefly of translations from the Sanskrit, and of religious works. The art of engraving by wooden blocks has for centuries been used by the Tibetans. Government. - Since 1720 Tibet has been a dependency of China, which, however, interferes only with foreign and military affairs. There are two imperial Chinese residents or Ambans at Lhassa. Civil and religious government are left to the Tibetan clergy. In theory supreme rule is in the hands of the Dalai Lama, the sovereign pontiff, who resides at Lhassa. The Tesho or Bogdo Lama, who has an inferior spiritual power, resides at Shigatze. The Dalai Lama hands over the active duties of government to the de-sri or king, who rules with the assistance of four ministers. History. The earliest date in Tibetan history which can be relied on as historical is A. D. 639, when the King Sbrongtori tsan-Sgam-po introduced Buddhism from India, and founded Lhassa. His dominions extended from the Himalayas N. to the Koko-Nur lake. In the Middle Ages down to the 10th century the Tibetan country is said in the Chinese annals to have extended to the Gulf of Bengal, then described as the Tibetan sea. In the 9th century a war broke out with China, which terminated in 821, when bilingual tablets still existing were erected at Lhassa. In 1071 eastern Tibet was broken up into small states, opening the country to Chinese and Mongol invasion. Kublai Khan, who annexed Tibet to his vast empire, called to his court a Tibetan monk, Phagspa. The latter converted his patron and the Mongols to Buddhism, and the sovereignty of Tibet was conferred on the Dalai Lamas. In 1720 the Chinese, after many struggles, finally conquered Tibet. Seven years later Batang and other parts of Kham were detached from Tibet, and incorporated with the Chinese province of Szechuen. Early in the 18th century Lamas, under the guidance and instruction of Jesuit missionaries, carried out a survey of the Tibetan part of the Chinese empire. From the information supplied, D'Anville, in 1733, prepared a map of Tibet. In 1840 Ladakh was conquered by the Maharajah of Kashmir, and now is a British dependency. In 1854 there was a struggle between Tibet and Nepal which ended in a treaty by which both countries recognized the suzerainty of China. Eleven years later, in consequence of the refusal of the Tibetan authorities to allow Europeans to enter their country, a system was organized by Major Montgomerie, of the Indian government, in the interest of science, by which pundits or educated Indians were sent as explorers into Tibet. By this means the old maps were corrected and much valuable geographical knowledge was obtained. Prejevalski and other Russian explorers have done for northern Tibet what the pundits have done for the south. Among other explorers and travelers may be mentioned Marco Polo, who made Tibet known to Europe in the 13th century; Bogle and Turner sent out by Warren Hastings in the 18th century; and in the 19th, Manning, Captain Strachey, the Jesuits Huc and Gabet, Bower, the brothers Schlagintweit, Miss Taylor, Dr. Sven Hedin and A. H. Savage Landor. Sikkim, a frontier State through which passes an important route from India into Tibet, became a British dependency in 1850. In 1888 it was attacked by a Tibetan force, and, as the Chinese government declined and probably was unable to interfere, the invaders were punished by the Anglo-Indian troops. The question was finally settled in March, 1890. The Chinese disavowed the war and recalled their Ambah from Lhassa. Britain retained her possessions. In 1889-1890 the journey of M. Bonvalot and Prince Henri d'Orleans across central Asia from Kuldja to Tonking attracted the attention of French politicians and English merchants; but the practical efforts of the French to open a route to the Mekong river signally failed. In 1899 a Russian envoy paid a visit to the Dalai Lama in Lhassa, and the latter in turn sent a mission to St. Petersburg in 1900. In 1904-1905 Lhassa was reached by a small English armed force by fighting, and this force was withdrawn after British terms were complied with. A protest made by China led to an Anglo- Chinese conference in 1906, which resulted in China's suzerainty over Tibet. In 1911, during the Chinese Revolution, the Tibetans expelled the Chinese government. In 1912 the Anglo-Indian government protested against China's assumed sovereignty over Tibet, which led to a tripartite conference at Suila in 1913, but nothing satisfactory resulted and the question involved is still unsettled.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) In this country, the stronghold of Buddhism, all superstition circles around the national religion, which at the same time has absorbed into itself the aboriginal beliefs and demonology. Nowhere perhaps has such a vast amount of pure superstition crystallised around the kernel of Buddhism, the pure doctrines of which were found by the Hindu conquerors of the Tibetans to be totally unsuited to the Hunnish aborigines of the country, who before the advent of Buddhism were in the aministic stage of religion. This was allowed to revive and rites and ceremonies, charms and incantations, of the very nature which Buddha had so strongly condemned, clustered quickly around his philosophy in Tibet. From this sprang the tantra system, which is almost a purely magical one. It was founded by Asanga, a monk of Peshawar, who composed its gospel, the Yogachchara Bhumi Sastra in the sixth century A.D. Basing his pantheon upon the debased system of Buddhism then prevalent, Asanga reconciled it to native requirements by placing a number of Saivite devil-gods and goddesses in the lower Buddhistic heavens. These he made subservient to the Buddha. His religion was speedily adopted by the barbarian tribes of Tibet, who sacrificed readily to the deities of this new religion. Very naturally they exaggerated the magical side of it, their main object being to obtain supernatural power by means of spoken spells and words of power. A very considerable literature sprang up in connection with the new faith, which has been scathingly commented upon by disciples of the purer Buddhism as being nothing more or less than mere barbarian sorcery. Of course the monkish class of lamas found it impossible altogether to ignore the tantra system, but Tsongkapa in the middle of the fourteenth century unhesitatingly condemned the whole system. The lamas had and have an esoteric form of Buddhism, which has but little in common with the tantra system of the people, but we find them at festivals and so on unbending so far as to represent the various devils and fiends of this faith. As literature, the tantras may be considered as a later development of the puranas, but they are without any poetic value. They are regarded as gospels by the Saktas, or worshippers of Kali, Durga or Purvati the wife of Siva, or some other creative agency. They abound in magical performances and mystic rites-a great many of which are of a quite unspeakable character. They usually take the form of a dialogue between Siva and his wife. There were originally sixty-four tantras, but as yet no satisfactory scholarly examination has been made of them.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
or Thibet, a country of Central Asia, subject to China. Area, 463,200 square miles. Population, 6,430,000. Tibet lies between India and Chinese Turkestan, occupying the roughest region of the world. The lakes of this region are the highest in the world, being 17,000 feet above the level of the sea. The climate is dry; the summers are hot; the winters are cold; the vegetation is scanty. A few sheltered valleys are productive of wheat, oats, barley, and vegetables. The greater portion of the country is either desert or alpine. Terrific storms prevail in the winter time. The goat, yak, and sheep occur both wild and domesticated. Lassa, on the Brahmaputra river, is the capital. The people are related to the Chinese. Their religion is a form of Buddhism. The head of the church is the grand lama. The people are controlled by religious orders dwelling in monasteries. The common people are oppressed and impoverished. Europeans are regarded with suspicion. The trade of the country is chiefly with China, to which wool, furs, gems, gold, and musk are exported. See Yak ; Lassa ; Buddhism ; Everest ; Nepal; China 2026 Editor's Note: Tibet had just been invaded by Britain (the Younghusband expedition, 1904) and would declare independence from China in 1913 — the ambiguity this entry inherits still shapes headlines today. See the 1904 expedition . (Ed: BR 2026-06-24)