Tibet is ... Description, location, climate, history and interesting facts

Tibet is the most mysterious and inaccessible place on Earth. Especially surprising is the beauty of the local vegetation and the diversity of animals. What is Tibet, and what is its history, read further in the article.

Full information about Tibet

Tibet is rich in its history, as evidenced by the numerous sources of those times when the existence of the Tibetan culture took place independently of other neighboring countries. The history of Tibet with detailed details became known from the period of the expansion of the empire from Bengal to Mongolia.

Let us list the main historical milestones:

• The spread of Buddhism. This period falls on the reign of Songtsen Gampo, from 617 to 650 years. After the death of the tsar, the power officially passes to the grandson, although the minister actually ruled, which led Buddhism into decline.
• Restoration of the teachings of the Buddha accounted for 755-797 years. At that time the texts of the Teaching are translated into Tibetan language, Samye University is being built at the monastery, which today is an important center of Buddhism.
• The construction of monasteries and temples, the introduction of monks in the government of the country (from 815 to 838 years.).
• Persecution of Buddhism, as the country's rule is in the hands of the king of Landarm, a fan of Bon religion. Scientists and monks had to flee the country.
• The collapse of Tibet into small kingdoms. This happened after the death of Landarm, therefore systematic historical information from 842 to 1247 is absent, since the ruler did not have heirs.
• Colonial interests in Tibet from other countries. The culmination of their rivalry is the organization of the British expedition to Tibet in 1903-1904.
• Tibet proclaims itself an independent state from the influence of the central government in 1911, although this event was not recognized in the world.
• The troops of China entered the territory of Tibet in 1950, as a result of which the power of the invaders was established in 17 points. Their presence here the Chinese increased gradually, when, finally, in 1965, Tibet was declared an autonomous region of China.

Location

Tibet is the only autonomous region of China. Tourists are attracted by its mystery and amazing beauty of nature. The indigenous population professes Buddhism, therefore Tibet is regularly visited by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.

Where is Tibet? The space from India to China occupies the Tibetan Plateau, the area of which reaches millions of kilometers. Tibet, located here, borders on many provinces and states: Nepal, India, Burma.

And to find out where Tibet is located, it is enough to recall the Himalayas and the highest mountain in the world - Jomolungma, which received another name - Everest. Its height reaches 8 848 m. To conquer this peak, tourists come from all over the world.

By the way, it is the territory of Tibet that gives birth to many large rivers of Asia. Tsangpo begins its journey from the south, Sutlei and Indus flow near the sacred for the Tibetan mountains Kailash, Salvin and Mekong originate from its eastern lands.

Climate

It is not difficult to understand, determining where Tibet is located - the climate of the territory located 4-8 thousand meters above sea level, wants to be the best. Experts it is characterized as dry subtropical continental. This means that the weather here is unstable, characterized by frequent temperature changes during the day and at night.

Shaky winds and dust storms are frequent visitors in Tibet. Unpredictable and precipitation: in different provinces their number is different and insignificant. Precipitation is small because their height is hampered by the height of the Himalayan ranges, which do not allow monsoon winds from the west to bring heavy rains.

Population

Tibet is an autonomous region. Its territory is huge, but at the same time sparsely populated - it is home to 6 million Tibetans and 7.5 million - Chinese. Literacy of the local population at a low level is less than 50%.

The largest city of the region is Lhasa. Here are the main administrative and religious centers of Tibet. On the territory of the uplands there are other cities of industrial importance: Chamdo, Shigatse and others.

Local residents are engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture. This is their main occupation. In river valleys, they grow wheat, corn, barley, tobacco and vegetables. In addition, they breed sheep, goats and yaks, which are used as draft force.

Vegetation

Tibet is an area in the territory of which sparse vegetation of deserts, steppes and tundra grows. Although there are also forests here. Places of their growth are the valleys of rivers. Above the mark of 6 000 m stretch of eternal snow and glaciers.

The peculiarity of the vegetation of this wonderful land lies in its youth, since the flora of the ancient period was completely destroyed with the onset of the glaciation period. For this area, the belt boundaries and diversity of vegetation inside them are characteristic. Here grows feather grass and sedge, mountaineer and cobresia dwarf, willow and heather, gentian and many other plants.

Animals

In the steppes, deserts and mountains of Tibet, rare animals such as Przewalski's horse, two-humped camel, kulan, etc. are preserved. This locality is the homeland of camels, yaks and donkeys that belong to domestic animals. In the mountain forests there are a lot of marals, roe deer, moose, and in the desert - mountain rams, antelopes, goats, snow leopards and other animals.

Steppes are full of saigas, gazelles, ground squirrels, marmots, carcasses, hares, gerbils, voles. The habitat of the gray wolf is the plains, and the red ones are the mountains. Here are distributed foxes, columns, martens, ferrets, hedgehogs, lynxes, manulas. Tibet is distinguished by the presence of many birds: snow vultures, mountain geese, jackdaws, etc.

Culture

The religion of ethnic Tibetans is the religion of couples and Buddhism. Since the time when Tibet became part of the Celestial Empire, Chinese is official here. But office work and elementary schooling are allowed in Tibetan. Since tuition is paid on the whole territory of the region, the majority of the population remains illiterate, since they have nothing to pay.

When China finally extended its power to the entire territory of Tibet, the ceremony "Celestial Funeral" was banned, which was observed for many centuries by the local population in the burial of the deceased. But since 1974, according to numerous requests of monks and common people, the Chinese government has allowed to hold this ceremony, which Tibetans consider the only possible for their deceased.

Monasteries in the territory of Tibet are controlled by the Chinese. For admission to them, selection criteria have been established. Almost all monasteries (95%) are now destroyed or demolished. The reason for this is inconsistency with the Chinese authorities in their construction.

But today in Tibet magnificently celebrated holidays and festivals, representing a bright spectacle and attracting a lot of tourists.

Tibet is a land rich in traditions and customs, secrets of medicine and cuisine, stunningly beautiful landscapes and mystical holidays.

Tibetan cuisine

Tibet is the land of mysteries and ancient history, which dates back to the time of Buddhist monasteries. Therefore, the first place is occupied by spiritual food. But, in any case, none of the tourists are hungry. The main meal here is meat and vegetables, and a popular dish is sausages from lamb meat and beef, dried in a special way.

Local people use sweet dishes and fruits very rarely. Perhaps the only sweet in Tibet is the brushwood that is eaten with honey. Alcohol is considered incompatible with prayer drink, so the Tibetans treat it with a cool. But a weak wine from rice is sold here.

The main dish of the kitchen is tsampa. For its preparation, egg flour, yak meat, barley beer and tea are used. By the way, tea in Tibet is drunk with the addition of oil and salt.

In the menu for tourists, as a rule, include dishes such as shadpu and churu - cheese based on yak milk. In hotels of large cities, they also prepare a Momo dish, similar to Russian dumplings stuffed with meat or vegetables, and a tukpu soup with meat and noodles dressed with vegetables.

How to get there?

In Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, it is easy to get there if the place of departure is a large city of China. But it is better for tourists to follow another route in order to avoid sharp differences in altitude.

The most popular and sparing tourist route is the following: the group leaves Kunming, follows to Dali, and then to Liyang. The height increases gradually. The last stage is a flight by plane to the city of Lhasa.

From Beijing to the capital of Tibet can be reached by train, which follows the Qinghai railway track for two days, as well as with an organized group using road transport.

It is interesting

When creating the army we needed a lot of money. Since all taxes were already introduced and acted, in 1926 a new tax was introduced, which was levied on all people who had ears. Absurdity, but it was so! However, the Tibetans did not cut their ears, and paid the tax, although no one understood what for. Money was collected for the army for the year.

Tibet, by the way, is the leader in collecting taxes. People paid the tax when they were born, married, sang, danced, beaten in the drum or rang the bell. If the traveler has lost his way on the road, then, before falling asleep on the grass, it was necessary to pay the owners for such an overnight stay.