History of Tibet

The conflict between China and Tibet:
The conflict between China and Tibet: The individual nomadic tribes in the Tibetan highlands were united under a strong King in the 7th Century, and soon became a military power which the bordering Chinese empire had to reckon with. The Tibetan hordes which always appeared on the horizon like gathering storm clouds were feared in a way that only the Huns were dreaded later in history. Bitter feuds were fought over the present day Xinjiang and Gansu, yet Tibet secured control of the silk road which ran through the important centre of Kashgar, and finally raided and plundered Chang´an - the Chinese capital and greatest metropolis of the world in those days.

The rise of the Tibetanempire" was abruptly interrupted however, when one of the 9th Century rulers brought discordance into the country. For political reasons he suppressed the Tibetan Buddhism in favour of the original indigenous shamanistic Bon-religion and played the individual powers in his country off against each other. After his murder the kingdom declined into small rivalling princedoms. When, after two centuries of anarchy, Lamaism finally won through in the 11th century - as a form of Buddhism which incorporated elements of the Bon-religion a well as those from the Indian esoteric Tantra - the spiritual leaders gained political power.