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Historical Tibet

The name Tibet long covered half of Kashmir in the west occupied by peoples of Tibetan origin. But by 1920 three regions were excluded from Tibet: (1) Little Tibet, between 74° and 79° east long., included in Kashmir, and composed of Baltistan and Ladakh; (2) and (3) the two regions known as Ku-ku-nor and the Ts'aidam, or Ch'aidam, lying south of the Nanshan, cast of the Altin-tagh, and north of the curve formed by the eastern and southeastern extension of the Kuen-lun system, bearing the names of Akka, Tolai, Angirtekahia, IiarkhanBhOba, Shuga, etc.

Before the collapse of Imperial China, the length of Tibet from east to west was computed to be over 1,500 miles, its breadth varies from 150 miles in the west to 700 in the east. The area of the country was about 800,000 square miles ; and all this space had only about 5,000,000 inhabitants. The land could not very well bear a greater population. All travellers have only one word with which to describe the fertility of the country-barrenness. For eight mouths of the year, from October to April, the entire land, valley, hill and plain is under snow; ^akes and rivers are frozen and bitter winds sweep over the country. In the summer mouths from May to October a change commences and the contrast is seen particularly in Western Tibet. Unlike the northern section, which is a region of great plains, this portion rejoices in deep and protected vales. Here the snows melt and form sparkling streams, the woods are robed in green and nature awakes from her snowy bed. In the north, a soft down like grass springs up everywhere, making a wide green carpet sometimes plain, sometimes undulating with the slopes of hills and valleys.

Tibet is the highest and most massive plateau in the world, si/spended between the two greut continental chains of the Kuen-lun and the Himalaya. This lofty tableland contrasts sharply with the lowlands of Hindustan on one side of it and the desert of the Tarim basin on the other, the latter being one of the lowest depressions in the interior of any continent; so that the highest plateau on the earth's surface rises close to one of the deepest depressions in the interior of the dry land. Within the mountains forming the periphery of this wide-spreading highland three distinct physical features may be recognized: (1) The great plain stretching away from the western confines of Tibet for about 700 miles east and spanning the parallels of latitude between the Kuen-lun and the valley of the Sanpo, which collects the northern drainage of the Himalaya; (2) the valleys and ranges of soutli Tibet, including the valley of the Sanpo or upper Brahmaputra; and (3) the intricate system of ranges and gorges in the east and southeast which contain the sources of great rivers of China, IndoChina, Siam, and Burma.

The table-land or high plateau has an elevation of 14,000 to 17,000 feet in the west and slopes very gradually to the east and south. Some important areas have not yet been visited, but explorers' routes seem to show that most of the surface is a mass of mountains and valleys, the elevations rising from 2000 to 3000 feet above the plain. A great many depressions eontain lakes which are salt unless they are drained to other lakes, the entire hydrography being a system of closed basins.

The long east and west depression of south Tibet is still very high land, its ranges running parallel with the Himalaya and its fertile valleys containing most of the population of Tibet. The valley of the Sanpo is most important both for agriculture and transportation. In this southern part of the country are the seat of the government and the centres of culture and refinement; and far in the west of south Tibet, within a few days' march of one another, are the sources of three great rivers — the Brahmaputra, Sutlej, and Indus.

Eastern Tibet is a mass of ranges, partly covered with timber. It has more streams that rise in neighboring valleys, but reach different seaa as great rivers, than any other part of the world. The mountains among which they rise have a larger rainfall than the plains to the west, for they are reached by moist winds from the Indian Ocean. Thus the headwaters of the Hoang, the Yangtse, the Mekong, and the Salwin rivers are already important streams before leaving Tibet. These highlands, 15 times more extensive than the Alps, are not so well known as the western plateau.

Owing to the dryness of the air, precipitation, either as rain or snow, is small except among the eastern ranges to which humid winds have access. The climate, however, is severe on account of the great elevation in latitudes corresponding with those of the Mississippi delta and Memphis. Explorers have found the winter cold, combined with deficiency of oxygen on the plateau, almost unendurable, and several of them have lost all their pack animals. The rarefaction of the air and the clearness of the sky give the rays of the summer sun full power and the hottest of days are often succeeded by night temperatures below freezing. The extremes of temperature are less in the partly wooded and lower levels of east and south Tibet.

Trees do not grow on the table-lands except in sheltered depressions, and then they are stunted. It has been settled that the flora, so far as the northern and eastern sections are concerned, belongs to the Arctic alpine division of the great northern region. In the south, the hot summer days, with irrigation, perfect a large variety of fruits and farm products. In the sheltered valleys of southeast and east Tibet are forests of timber still untouched.

Tibet made up in its wealth of animal life what it lacked in the fertility of its soil. The grassy plains supported enormous numbers of those wild animals which are needed so much by Tibetans who were mostly either a pastoral people or are engaged in acting as carriers of trade between the emporiums of Central Turkestan, Western China and Northern India. Of horses and goats, wild and domestic, they have an abundance. They also had oxen, mules and sheep. But the animal peculiar to this land was the long-haired yak. Musk deer, antelopes, marmots and stags are found in good numbers.

The river system of Tibet calls for mention. The rivers of Northern and Central Tibet all seem to end in salt lakes which evaporate and disminish every year in size. The rivers of the south and south west flow through deep gorges, increasing in volume as they proceed in their course and empty themselves into the ocean. With respect to the entire system the whole of Northern and Central Tibet acts as a water-shed, in an easterly direction; the Hoangho, the Yangtse Kiang and the Mekong cut through China into Indo-China to join the sea, while in a westerly direction the Indus and the Sutlej breaking through theHimalayas water the plains of India.

The climate alternates between extremes of heat and cold, not only with the different seasons of the year but in summer with the time of the day. Eight months of a cold and severe winter are succeeded by four months of scorching heat. This is due to the extreme rarefication of the air which presents very little obstruction to the sun's rays. Warm days do not wane into pleasant nights ; they break off into severe freezing nights. So sharp is the contrast in elevation and climate between this country and all the plains around.

Prior to the 20th Century Tibet was roughly divided into two Zones the northern and southern ; the northern Zone formed the ranging ground of the nomadic tribes, the southern Zone inhabited by the settled people. The nomads belonged to different tribes and were known by many names, the term which embraces the greatest number of them is Champa; they wander about the extensive plain known as Changtang, hence their name. Besides these were the Kambas, so called because they came from Kham, in the south east of Tibet. Both Khambas and Champas were Buddhists (in the Tibetan sense of the word) like the rest of the people but their sons may not become Lamas. Champas did not intermarry with other tribes. Another class of these nomads were known as Dokpas, they did not wear pigtails but wear their hair long and as regards character possessed more spirit and bluster than the other two tribes. A fourth class of people were the Chukpas, or brigands, who infested the plains and eked out a tolerably comfortable living by preying upon their roofless brethren. The method employed by these brigands in their attacks on nomads was very simple. The nomads lived in tents and when the Chakpas came upon an unguarded tent by night, they first cut the ropes, which brings the tent down, and while the people inside attempted to escape from the folds they cut them down. All nomads carried out with them their tents wherever they go ; never accustomed to agriculture they did not care for the products of the soil and, for subsistence, they relied on the flesh and produce of their herds. They partook but sparingly of flour and dried fruits, blessing them as luxuries.

Judged hy their language alone, Tibetans proper belonged to the Tibeto-Indo-Chinese branch. In the permanently settled portions of the country, where centers of population had existed for centuries, the people varied considerably from the original type, the result being a mixed type, becoming more Chinese towards China, or more Indian (Nepalese or Kashmiri) southward or westward. This mixture was in part due to the concubinage of native women with foreign traders, soldiers, pilgrims, officials, etc., and in part to the system of polyandry. Monogamy long prevailed among the nomads, but elsewhere polyandry was common, one woman becoming the wife of the brothers of a family, the oldest being considered the father of all the children, the others being regarded merely as uncles.

The Tibetans were chiefly a pastoial and agricultural people. The stretch of plain to the north of Changtang supported immense herds of wild animals. Here the numad loved to wander from place to place driving goats and sheep and living on the milk and flesh they yield. Whenever in wanderings they can assist a trader in transporting goods from one part of the country to another, and were able to provide better fare for himself and his children. In the West, agriculture was the pursuit of the majority of the people. They formed a peasantry cultivating their own lands and, assisted by miscellaneous sources of income, they managed to pay the taxes imposed on them and get a fair living.

The Tibetans had castes ; but compared with what obtains in India, the restrictions imposed by caste were few. The only people who belonged to the low castes were blacksmiths and musicians ; intermarriage with the higher castes was the one thing forbidden to them by social usage, otherwise there was not a shred of the restrictions which existed in India. Old Tibet followed the feudal serfdom characterized by "temporal and religious administration". Under the system, monks and nobles sat over serfs and slaves, who are personally attached to their masters.

In accordance with the legal codes followed in old Tibet, people were divided into three classes each composed of three sub-classes. Those on the upper class enjoyed a life value measured with gold while those on the lower class with a piece of straw rope. The court and prison followed rules that allow them to punish those who broke the legal codes in dozens of ways, such as gouging out their eyes, cut off their ears, or chop off their hands or feet.

In old Tibet, the three estate holders, who made up less than 5 percent of the Tibetan population, owned almost all land, grasslands, mountains and forests, and the overwhelming majority of animals in Tibet. Ownership by feudal manors dominated. In the meantime, however, serfs and slaves, who accounted for more than 95 percent of the Tibetan population enjoyed no property or means of production. This forced them to be attached to the three estate holders. In addition to high land rent, they had to pay dozens of kinds of taxes, plus dozens of kinds of corvee labor free from any charge. A child of a serf or slave was born serf or slave.