Tibet
Subject
Subject Source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Scope Note: Tibet has an ancient history, although it is currently an autonomous region of China. It occupies over 400,000 square miles of plateaus and mountains of Central Asia. The area was introduced to Buddhism in the 7th century. It developed as an independent and isolated cultural and religious entity characterized by the Tibetan language and Tibetan Buddhism. It was controlled by the Chinese beginning with the Manchu dynasty ca. 1720. It was closed to foreigners until 1860s, then invaded by Communists in 1950. An anti-Chinese rebellion was crushed by Chinese forces in 1959 and its traditional religious institutions were abolished by the Chinese.