|
>>Geography
Culture Page
Travel Page
>Physical Geography
Tibet is often referred to as 'the roof of the world' and with good reason, with most of the country sitting high upon the Tibetan plateau. Tibet's southern border encompasses much of the 2,500km long Himalya range, containing 4 of the world's tallest mountains. Mount Everest, or Qomolangma (trans: 'Mother of the Earth') as it is known by Tibetans To the north lie the Altyn Tag and Kunlun ranges, whilst to the west lies the Karakoram range. The average altitude of Tibet is estimated to be around 4950 m (4000 m for TAR). The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), comprising Utsang and Western Kham shares a 3,482 km international border with India, Bhutan, Nepal and Burma. It is bordered to the north and east by the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang (East Turkestan to its native Uyghur population), Quinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.
Physically, Tibet may be divided into two parts, the "lake region" in the west and north-west, and the "river region", which spreads out on three sides of the former on the east, south, and west. Both regions receive limited amounts of rainfall as they lie in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, however the region names are useful in contrasting their hydrological structures, and also in contrasting their different cultural uses which is nomadic in the lake region and agricultural in the river region.
Hisorically, Tibet was divided into 3 main regions;
Amdo
Northern, and predominantly, north-eastern Tibet. The region of Amdo is distributed mainly in the Chinese province of Qinghai, with smaller parts in Gansu and Sichuan. About 35% of all Tibetans consider themselves to be living in Amdo, whereas Chinese occupants would refer to the relevant Chinese province that Amdo has now been divided into.
Kham
Kham comprises a total of 50 contemporary counties, distributed between the Chinese provinces of Sichuan (16 counties), Yunnan (3 counties), and Qinghai (6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region (25 counties).
Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast. Numerous rivers, including the Mekong, Yangtze, Yalong, and the Salween flow through Kham.
From the time of collapse of the Tibetan empire in the 10th century until the 1950s, the people of Kham have maintained a large degree of independence from both Lhasa and China, aided by the rugged nature of their homeland. Kham itself was never controlled by a single king, but was comprised of a patchwork of two dozen or more chiefdoms.
In 1932, an agreement signed between Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui and Tibetan forces formalized the partition of Kham into two regions: Eastern Kham, which was administered by Chinese forces, and Western Kham, which was administered by Tibet. Eastern Kham subsequently became the actual area of control of China's Xikang province. The border between eastern and western Kham is the Yangtze River.
In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang rulers of China by communist forces in the Chinese Civil War, the People's Liberation Army entered western Kham. Western Kham was then set up as a separate Qamdo Territory then merged into Tibet Autonomous Region in 1960. Meanwhile, Xikang province, comprising eastern Kham, was merged into Sichuan province in 1955. The border between Sichuan and Tibet Autonomous Region has remained the Yangtze River.
Ü-Tsang Ü and Tsang are actually 2 separate, distinct regions, however, the two are often referred to together as Ü-Tsang. Ü-Tsang was formed by the merging of the two earlier power centers: Ü in central Tibet, controlled by Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism under the early Dalai Lamas, and Tsang extending from Gyantse to points west, controlled by the rival Sakyapa sect. Military victories by the powerful Fifth Dalai Lama consolidated power over the combined region in the 17th century. Ü-Tsang also comprises Ngari, where Mount Kailash, the holy mountain of Buddhists, Hindus and Jains is located.
Mount Kailash (Khang Rinpoche in Tibetan- translation: "precious jewel of the snows") is the source of 4 of the great rivers of Asia are located, each running in 4 separate directions;
the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet), to the east
the Indus to the north
the Sutlej to the west
and the Karnali to the south.
Ü-Tsang is the cultural heartland of the Tibetan people, and the capital of Ü, Lhasa, is the capital of Tibet. The traditional capital of Tsang is Tibet's second city, Shigatse.
>Climate
For approximately 8-9 months a year, Tibet's atmosphere is very dry, with most rainfall coinciding with the monsoon season between June - September. Despite this, the Monsoon far lesser impact than it does on neighbouring countries India and Nepal. Due to the height of the Himalayas, little of thee monsoon rains make it over the Himalaya watershed, and that which does predominantly affects eastern and southern Tibet. As a consequence, much of Tibet remains in a desert-like state for much of the year, one of the reasons it is so sparsely populated. During the summer, the suns strong beams melt glaciers, causing rivers to have a high flow output due to the glacial meltwaters. As is typical of main desert-like environments, summer temperatures can range from very hot during the day to freezing at night. Outside of summer, Tibet can be extremely cold, experiencing some of the widest temperature ranges on the planet.
>Geology
Around 125 million years ago, India broke away from the protocontinent Gondwanaland,, drifting across the Tethys Sea on a collision course with Laurasia. Around 60 million years ago, these 2 huge landmasses collided, the Indian plate forced the Laurasian plate to rise above it, creating two huge parallel ridges- the present day Himalaya, and other ranges. The Indian plate is continuing to move northwards to this day, meaning that the Tibetan plateau is rising by around 10 cm a year. However, there is little rise recorded in mountain height, most probably due to erosion negating the effects.
>The Environment
Tibetan Buddhists have long recognised the intricate and fragile balance between man and nature, with the great Fifth Dalai Lama issuing an edict which says that the environment and animals must be protected. Buddhism has principles of avoiding over consumption, and forbids the taking of animal lives. That said, most Tibetans residing in Tibet eat a large amount of meat due to the lack of vegetables growing high up on the plateau.
there is great concern about the environmental damage done in Tibet since the Chinese invasion. There is considerably more litter (although in fairness, this is a global issue, and not solely symptomatic of Chinese rule) and pollution, caused by Chinese mining and industrial processing of raw materials. Tibetan beliefs had previouslly forbade the extraction of materials from the ground, perhaps pre-emptive of the damage which could be done, and has been realised since 1950. On the Nepal-Tibet border, the rivers have piles of rubbish in. This is symptomatic of most of the rivers in Tibet, who's waters supply over 45 % of the world's population, and oveer 85% of Asia.
Increasingly rapid modernisation (Lhasa has sprawled dramatically in recent years) is increaasing industrial pollution, and pollution from vehicles has inevitably increased. Parts of western Lhasa are frequently covered by a thin layer of toxic dust emitted from cement factories on Lhasa's outskirts. All said, pollution tends to be concentrated in urban areas, or to the north of Lhasa, where large-scale mining is occurring. Most of Tibet remains the same wilderness it was hundreds of years ago, albeit lacking much of Tibet's traditional fauna, much of which has been killed off since 1950.
>Mining and Natural Resources Extraction
The Mandarin Chinese name for Tibet, 'Xizang', means 'Western treasure house', and the name is justified. Tibet is one of the most mineral-rich areas of land on Earth- many speculate that the Chinese have long known this, and is a key reason it sees Tibet as so strategically important. Recent surverys show that Tibet has huge resources of boron, chromium, copper, gold, lithium, silver, uranium and zinc. One mine in the north of the TAR is believed to conain over 50% of the world's lithium depositws. Up to 140 new mining sites have been opened in recent years to extract these minerals and resources, and mining now accounts for around a third of Tibet's industrial output. With mining being a major source of environmental problems, and (especially in China), a major loss of human life, there are great concerns over Tibet's increasing mined output.
|
|
