| Tibetan Timeline |
|
| Year | Events |
|---|---|
| 416 BC | Nyatri Tsenpo founds a dynasty in Yarlung valley, according to legend |
| 602 AD | Tibet is unified under King Namri Songtsen of the Yarlung dynasty |
| 641 | King Songtsen Gampo marries Princess Wencheng of China, his 2nd wife |
| 670 | Tibet conquers Amdo, Tarim Basin; prolonged warfare with China begins |
| 747 | King Trisong Detsen invites Padmasambhava, yogin of Swat, to Tibet |
| 763 | Tibet captures Changan, capital of Tang China; tribute paid to Tibet |
| 779 | Samye, Tibet's 1st monastery, built by Trisong Detsen & Padmasambhava |
| 792 | Exponents of Indian Buddhism prevail in debate with Chinese at Samye |
| 821 | Tibet signs its last peace treaty with Tang China: "Tibetans shall be happy in Tibet and Chinese shall be happy in China." |
| 842 | King Langdarma murdered by a monk; Tibet splits into several states |
| 1040 | Birth of Milarepa, 2nd hierarch of Kagyupa order and a renown poet |
| 1073 | Founding of Sakya, the first monastery of the Sakyapa monastic order |
| 1206 | An assembly names Genghis Khan first ruler of a unified Mongol nation |
| 1234 | Mongols led by Ogodai Khagan defeat Jurchen and conquer north China |
| 1247 | Sakya Pandita submits to Godan Khan; beginning of the first priest/ patron relationship between a Tibetan lama and a Mongol khan |
| 1261 | Tibet is reunited with Sakya Pandita, Grand Lama of Sakya, as king |
| 1279 | Final defeat of Song by Mongols; Mongol conquest of China complete |
| 1350 | King Changchub Gyaltsen defeats Sakya and founds a secular dynasty |
| 1368 | China regains its independence from the Mongols under Ming dynasty |
| 1409 | Ganden, 1st Gelukpa monastery, built by monastic reformer Tsongkhapa |
| 1435-81 | In prolonged warfare, Karmapa supporters gain control of royal court |
| 1578 | Gelugpa leader gets the title of Dalai ("Ocean") from Altan Khan |
| 1640 | Gushri Khan, leader of Khoshut Mongols, invades and conquers Tibet |
| 1642 | Gushri Khan enthrones the 5th Dalai Lama as temporal ruler of Tibet |
| 1644 | Manchu overthrow Ming, conquer China, and establish the Qing dynasty |
| 1653 | "Great Fifth" Dalai Lama meets Qing Emperor Shunzhi near Beijing |
| 1682 | Fifth Dalai Lama dies; regent conceals death for the next 14 years |
| 1716-21 | Italian Jesuit priest Ippolito Desideri studies and teaches in Lhasa |
| 1717 | Dzungar Mongols invade Tibet and sack Lhasa; Fifth DL's tomb looted |
| 1720 | Dzungars driven out; Qing forces install Kesang Gyatso as the 7th DL |
| 1721 | The position of Amban is created by a 13-point Qing decree on Tibet |
| 1724 | A Qing territorial government is created for Qinghai (Amdo) |
| 1750 | Ambans murder regent; rioters kill Ambans; Qing troops sent to Tibet |
| 1792 | Qing troops enter Tibet to
drive out Gorkha (Nepalese) invaders 29-point Qing decree prescribes "golden urn" lottery for picking DL and PL, bans visits by non-Chinese, and increases Ambans' powers |
| 1854-56 | Nepal defeats Tibet; peace treaty requires that Tibet pay tribute |
| 1904 | British troops under Colonel Younghusband enter Tibet & occupy Lhasa |
| 1910-12 | Qing troops occupy Tibet, shoot at unarmed crowds on entering Lhasa |
| 1911 | Bogh Haan, the Urga "Living Buddha," proclaims Mongolia independent |
| 1912 | Last Qing emperor abdicates; Republic of China claims Mongolia,Tibet |
| 1913 | 13th Dalai Lama
proclaims Tibet a "religious and independent nation" Mongolia and Tibet recognize each other in a treaty signed in Urga |
| 1914 | Britain and Tibet agree to McMahon Line in a treaty signed in Simla |
| 1917-18 | Tibet defeats Chinese forces in Kham, recovers Chamdo (lost in 1910) |
| 1919-21 | Mongolia occupied by a pro-Japanese faction of the Chinese army |
| 1924-25 | Pressure from monks causes DL to dismiss his British-trained officers |
| 1928 | Chiang Kai-shek defeats the northern warlords and reunites China |
| 1930-32 | China captures Derge in Kham in first Sino-Tibetan clash since 1918 |
| 1933 | Truce ends China/Tibet fighting; the 13th Dalai Lama dies at age 58 |
| 1934 | Reting Rimpoche named regent China permitted to open Lhasa mission |
| 1937 | Britain publishes Simla Convention and begins enforcing McMahon Line |
| 1940 | The five-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama |
| 1941 | Unable to keep celibacy vow, Reting is replaced as regent by Taktra |
| 1942 | U.S. army officer goes to Lhasa to present a letter for DL from FDR |
| 1943 | The British Foreign Office affirms that Tibet is "already self- governing and determined to retain [its] independence." |
| 1944 | U.S. military aircraft crash lands near Samye; crew escorted to India |
| 1945 | Newly opened English-language school is closed after monks protest |
| 1946 | The Republic of China recognizes the Mongolian People's Republic |
| 1947 | ex-Regent Reting attempts to kill Regent Taktra with
a package bomb Reting dies while under house arrest; he was apparently poisoned British mission in Lhasa is transferred to a newly independent India |
| 1947-49 | Tibetan Trade Mission travels to India, China, U.S., and Britain; mission meets with British Prime Minister Clement R. Attlee |
| 1949 | People's Republic of China is
proclaimed by Chinese Communist Party PRC recognizes Mongolia, announces its intention to "liberate" Tibet |
| 1950 | Red China invades Tibet; Tibetan army destroyed in battle at Chamdo |
| 1951 | 17-point agreement between China and Tibet; Chinese occupy Lhasa |
| 1956 | Tibetans in Kham and Amdo (Qinghai) begin
revolt against Chinese ruler Dalai Lama visits India for 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha's birth |
| 1957 | The United States begins to arm the Tibetan resistance via CIA |
| 1959 | DL flees to India; 87,000 Tibetans die in anti-Chinese revolt |
| 1960 | International Commission of Jurists: "acts of genocide [have] been committed...to destroy the Tibetans as a religious group." |
| 1960-62 | Tibet experiences its first famine as grain is requisitioned by PLA |
| 1962 | China-India War: China advances beyond McMahon Line, then withdraws |
| 1962-75 | TAR's peasants are herded into communes by collectivization campaign |
| 1963 | DL approves a democratic constitution for the Tibetan exile community |
| 1964 | The Panchen Lama is arrested after calling for Tibetan independence |
| 1965 | China sets up Tibet Autonomous Region in U-Tsang and western Kham |
| 1966-69 | Cultural Revolution: Red Guards vandalize temples, attack "four olds" |
| 1969-71 | Tibet is put under PLA military rule in order to suppress Red Guards |
| 1971 | The United States cuts off military aid to the Tibetan resistance |
| 1974 | Nepal forces the Tibetan resistance to abandon its
base in Mustang Sikkim votes overwhelmingly to join India Ladakh opened to tourists |
| 1976 | The first permanent ethnic Chinese settlers arrive in TAR |
| 1977 | Resistance burns 100 PLA vehicles in last major military operation |
| 1978 | Visitors find 8 temples left in TAR, down from 2,700 in 1959 |
| 1979 | Tibet is opened to non-Chinese tourism for the first time since 1963 |
| 1979-80 | China allows a series of three delegations from DL to visit Tibet |
| 1980 | CCP leader Hu Yaobang visits Lhasa; he promises to "relax" controls
and "restore the Tibetan economy to its pre-1959 level."
"Responsibility system" distributes collectivized land to individuals |
| 1982 | Writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn calls CCP regime in Tibet "more brutal and inhuman than any other communist regime in the world." |
| 1985 | Bomb defused in Lhasa during the TAR 20th anniversary celebration |
| 1987 | Police fire on a massive pro-independence demonstration in Lhasa |
| 1988 | Qiao Shi, politburo member and internal security
chief, visits Tibet
and vows to "adopt a policy of merciless repression." Speaking in Strasbourg, France, the Dalai Lama elaborates on his 1987 "five point" proposal for Tibetan self-government within China. |
| 1989 | Police kill 80-150 in Lhasa's bloodiest riots in 30 years Martial law imposed in Lhasa Dalai Lama receives Nobel Peace Prize |
| 1990 | China lifts martial law in Lhasa 13 months after imposing it |
| 1992 | China creates incentives to encourage foreign
investment in TAR Chen Kuiyuan named CCP leader for Tibet, calls for a purge of those who "act as internal agents of the Dalai Lama clique." Over 30,000 visitors arrive in TAR's "Golden Year of Tibetan Tourism" |
| 1991 | 1,000 Tibetan refugees, chosen by lottery, are admitted to the U.S. |
| 1993 | Residents of Lhasa protest for independence, against inflation and the charging of fees for formally free medical services |
| 1994 | Potala, former residence of the DL, is restored at a cost of $9 mln. |
| 1995 | A report on Chinese human rights violations,
including one case where
a Tibetan nun was beaten to death, is narrowly rejected by
the UN DL recognizes six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as 11th Panchen Lama Lavish festivities are held to mark the TAR's 30th anniversary (9/1) DL visits U.S.; criticizes U.S. for delinking human rights and trade China denounces the Dalai Lama's choice of Panchen Lama |
| 1996 | Bomb explodes near the Lhasa house of a prominent pro-Chinese lama Tibet's worst snowstorm in a century leaves 42 dead in eastern Kham Earthquake in Lijang rates 7.0 on the Richter scale and kills 200 |