Tibet is a place that, throughout history,
has always somehow remained isolated.
Tall mountains and harsh climate have guarded this place from Intruders for hundreds of years.
and kept the land mystery for most.
But, over the course of the last century,
and even into the 21st century
this region has gone through some drastic political changes.
and this has led to a lot of confusion about Tibet.
Some people call it a country, others an autonomous zone.
Some people want to free it
while others want to, well, the exact the opposite.
So, what's going on here?
Is Tibet a country?
Well, first things first, let's look at a definition of country.
Most simply, a country is a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.
In this definition I see three criteria
and I want to look at each one individually.
Let's start with the last part: occupying a particular territory.
Tibet can be found here in a region unsurprisingly named the Tibetan plateau
in more or less the dead center of Asia
found within the borders of China.
This is by far the highest region on the planet in terms of altitude
as it contains the entire Himalayan mountain range
and has an average elevation above 4,900 meters!
Here are some of the world's tallest mountains
including the tallest on earth - Mt. Everest
But the Tibetan plateau is more of a geographic determination rather than a political one
so we need to go a little deeper.
And not everyone can agree on the extent of Tibet
But it began looking something like this in 618 CE, when
Songsten Gampo united the Yarlung River Valley creating the first Tibetan Empire.
It's reported, too, that he also brought Buddhism to Tibet.
Under Gampo
Tibet came to control the Kingdom of Nepal through a marriage
and then the Kingdom of Zhangzhung through a failed marriage and then conquest.
At its greatest extent, around the year 780,
the Tibetan Empire looked something like this.
At this point the Tibetan Empire encompassed nearly
4 million square kilometers! This today would be
the 7th largest country in the world - right under
Australia, and roughly the same size as India
and Pakistan combined. But, as many empires have
learned before and since, you can't get that big without a
few people wanting to take some land for themselves.
Soon, the Chinese came in from the East to reclaim much of their lost
territory.
The Turkic Uyghurs to the North helped the Chinese in this struggle, and even the Arabs to the
far West of the Empire started to invade as well.
While these invasions did shrink AND weaken the Empire,
they did NOT totally destroy it.
Finally, Tibet ended up looking something like this.
Within this there were three major regions:
There's Amdo and Kham, which are more or less equal in size
And what's left is Ü-Tsang, the largest of the three
However, Amdo gradually split away and integrated more
into China. Culturally it's still
Tibetan, but when talking about Tibet as a possible country
it's not really included.
Parts of Kham also fall under this designation.
For our purposes, Tibet will include all of Ü-Tsang
And about a half of Kham, as this is the area
China defines as the Tibet Autonomous Region.
And that's for the most part what people are fighting to free.
So, with this definition, Tibet is over 1,200,000 square kilometers
or, in other words, Tibet is just a little bigger than the country of South Africa
and just a little smaller than the country of Mali.
That would make Tibet potentially the 25th largest country in the world.
Despite most of China being densely populated,
Tibet has a population of only around 3 million people.
That means there's only two and a half people for every square kilometer.
If you need something to compare that to,
China as a whole hosts 145 people per square kilometer
Yeah, Tibet is basically China's Alaska.
Mountainous, out of the way, and sparsely populated.
But, there you go. We have a "particular territory."
Now let's look at the first part: a Nation
This might be confusing for some because, to many,
a nation is synonymous with a country.
But, to get technical, a nation is
any large aggregate of people inhabiting a particular territory, united by a common
descent, history, culture, or language.
Ok, yeah, so it's pretty similar
but what matters is this part:
united by something they all have in common.
First up, 90% of the Tibet Autonomous Region are ethnically Tibetan
rather than Han Chinese, who make up the vast majority of people in the rest of China
Descent: check!
This alone is enough, but let's take a look at the others anyway.
Next, being under the Tibetan empire for so long
has given the region much the same story.
So, History: check!
Life here is dominated by Tibetan Buddhism
and surviving the elements
So, Culture: check!
And people here for the most part speak the same language, Tibetan:
another check.
So yeah, Tibet is definitely a nation.
Alright, all Tibet needs now is its own government
and here's where the issue begins.
The first thing you need to know is that in 1642
the highest monk in the school of Tibetan Buddhism declared himself
the ruler of Tibet.
This monk's title became the Dalai Lama
and ever since, whoever holds this title
is recognized as the ruler of Tibet by the people who live here.
This type of rule,
where people of religious significance control the land is called a
theocracy and does count as government.
Since 1642, the Dalai Lama continued to govern,
even while briefly under the administration of the Qing dynasty of China.
And the Dalai Lama's rule lasted until the 1950's.
Until this point,
it's fair to say that Tibet was an independent country.
You can see on maps from this time, which clearly show
Tibet as separate from anything else.
But then China went through a civil war and a Communist revolution
All of a sudden, China's priorities changed.
The new People's Republic of China came to Tibet and negotiated
with the 14th Dalai Lama
In what's called the 17-point Agreement
the Dalai Lama affirmed China's control over Tibet
while still sparing it some autonomy.
Soon after, the Dalai Lama was forced into exile
by the Chinese government
and he now lives in India
But still, to this day, the Dalai Lama,
the person everyone in Tibet accepts as their leader,
believes that Tibet should be a part of China.
But what he calls for is
more freedom for Tibet to run its own affairs.
In an attempt to assimilate Tibet into Chinese culture,
all religion was heavily restricted
and over 6,000 monasteries were destroyed,
effectively erasing much of the Tibetan culture and history.
China claims to be an atheist society,
so religion isn't really tolerated
and shrines, or even just pictures,
of the Dalai Lama
can result in arrests or worse.
While in India, however,
the Dalai Lama established what's called the Government-in-exile.
They try to maintain influence on the region
from the outside, but China's power has only increased since then.
In 1962, China briefly fought a war with India
and mobilized military forces into Tibet
to defend the border,
establishing serious military presence in the region
and redoubling Tibet's importance in guarding China's southwestern border
Then, in 2007,
large mineral deposits in Tibet were reported
estimated to have a value of
around $128 billion dollars.
This deposit could double China's store of valuable metals like
copper, lead, and zinc
This would mean that China would no longer depend
on other nations for these raw materials,
needed for manufacturing.
So, due to Tibet's strategic military position
and resource richness,
China is unlikely to loosen its grip on the region anytime soon.
What this means is that, in terms of government,
the Chinese definitely control Tibet
so our third requirement is not met.
Tibet is not a country, despite
what many people might think
And unlikely to be come one as China's military capabilities
and global influence only increase.
Before I end, however, I just want to say
that isn't to say that Tibet shouldn't be a country
This video isn't about my opinion,
I'm just trying to present the facts.
The Chinese government has committed some atrocities in Tibet
since gaining control, and if you want to know more about why
people continue to fight to free Tibet,
as someone from Tibet.
They'll be able to answer your questions way better than I ever could.
That being said, I hope you enjoyed this video
and if you have anything to say, please bring it up in the comments.
Other than that, please like this video. You already watched the whole thing
so you might as well, and if you haven't already, why not subscribe?
That's it for me this week, I'll be back soon with another video. Thanks.