Tibet has a border of 3300 miles with India. But the Himalayas were a great barrier and as such cultural and military contacts between India and Tibet was minimal. The Tibetan's were however closely connected with the Chinese since ancient time, but at no time was Tibet a part of China. The current Tibetan culture has been formed since the time the Lama culture was established in Tibet. The Tibetan form of Buddhism came from India when the Bodhisattva left from South India to preach Buddhism to the Tibetans. Buddhism became a state religion and was spread in Tibet by the edict of the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai became the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism was called upon to assume full political power as well. The Dalai Lama to protect Tibetan culture from outside influence forbade outside contacts and Tibet …show more content…
In 1893, the Ch'ing court signed the “Tibet India Treaty” also referred to as Sikkim-Tibet Treaty under duress as Britain was the paramount power and controlled India and also had a big say in China
To emphasize British power an invasion under Colonel Francis YoungHusband was launched against Tibet in 1903. The Tibet army was routed and the British Army seized Lhasa in 1904, forcing Tibetan officials to endorse the Lhasa Treaty. The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933) fled to Mongolia and was stripped of his powers. This gave the Chinese under the Ch'ing government to established direct rule over Tibet for the first time in 1910. At that time the Dalai Lama fled to British India.
Chinese rule did not last long and In 1912, Tibet became an independent country when the Ch'ing Dynasty was overthrown by the Hsinhai Revolution. The Dalai Lama returned to Tibet from British India and proclaimed the independence of the Empire of Tibet. Tibet was effectively an Independent nation till