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Tibetan Empire: A Visual History

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Visual history of an empire

For two centuries the armies of Lhasa fought China, the Arabs and the Turks for Central Asia, and briefly sacked the Tang capital.

Existed
618 to 842
Duration
224 years
Existed
618 to 842
Peak area
About 4.6 million km2 (800)
Capital
Lhasa
Founder
Songtsen Gampo
Peak ruler
Trisong Detsen (755-797)

The Tibetan Empire was created by Songtsen Gampo, who unified the Tibetan plateau in the early seventh century, and lasted until the assassination of Langdarma in 842. It conquered the Tarim Basin cities, Nepal and parts of Yunnan and Gansu, fought the Tang dynasty for 150 years and captured Chang'an for a fortnight in 763. It adopted Buddhism, created the Tibetan script and made a peace treaty with China in 821 that still stands carved outside the Jokhang temple. It collapsed into a century of fragmentation after 842.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Tibetan Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

5006007008009001000110012001300Tibetan Empire (618 to 842)Open: Pushyabhuti dynasty (Harsha's empire)Pushyabhuti dynasty (Harsha's empire) (500 to 647)Open: Goguryeo-Sui WarGoguryeo-Sui War (598 to 614)Open: Western Turkic KhaganateWestern Turkic Khaganate (603 to 742)Open: Tang dynastyTang dynasty (618 to 907)Open: Gurjara-Pratihara dynastyGurjara-Pratihara dynasty (730 to 1036)Open: Uyghur KhaganateUyghur Khaganate (744 to 840)Open: Abbasid CaliphateAbbasid Caliphate (750 to 1258)Open: An Lushan RebellionAn Lushan Rebellion (755 to 763)

Tibetan imperial territory

01.252.53.755618: 1.5670: 3763: 4800: 4.6842: 3.5860: 1625650675700725750775800825850million km2 (approximate)

Timeline of the Tibetan Empire

  1. 618
    Songtsen GampoUnification of the plateau.
  2. 641
    Princess WenchengTang marriage alliance.
  3. 670
    Tarim Basin takenTang's Four Garrisons overrun.
  4. 763
    Chang'an occupiedFor 15 days.
  5. 779
    Samye monasteryBuddhism becomes the state religion.
  6. 821
    Treaty with the TangThe pillar still stands in Lhasa.
  7. 842
    Langdarma assassinatedThe empire fragments.

Songtsen Gampo

Songtsen Gampo (reigned about 618-649) completed the unification begun by his father, subdued the Zhangzhung kingdom, married Nepalese and Chinese princesses, and sent a minister to India to devise a Tibetan alphabet. Tibet's alliance and rivalry with the Tang began at once: the Chinese princess Wencheng arrived in 641, and Tibetan raids on the Tang frontier followed.

Empire at its height

Under Trisong Detsen Tibet took advantage of the An Lushan rebellion to seize Gansu and, in 763, briefly occupy Chang'an and install a puppet emperor. Tibetan armies contested the Tarim Basin with the Tang, the Uyghurs and the Abbasids, reaching the Pamirs and the Oxus. Trisong Detsen made Buddhism the state religion, invited the Indian masters Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita, and founded Samye monastery in 779.

Peace and collapse

The treaty of 821-822 fixed the border with China 'so that Tibetans shall be happy in Tibet and Chinese in China'. But the cost of empire, tension between Buddhist clergy and the old nobility and Bon religion, and a succession dispute after King Langdarma was killed by a Buddhist monk in 842 broke the state. The Uyghurs' fall in 840 and Tang recovery of Gansu in 848 stripped away the empire's edges, and Tibet dissolved into local principalities.

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8 surprising things about the Tibetan Empire

  1. The Tibetan script created around 640 is still used today and is based on an Indian Gupta-era alphabet.
  2. In 763 a Tibetan army briefly captured the Tang capital and put a relative of Princess Jincheng on the throne for two weeks.
  3. The 821 treaty pillar outside the Jokhang is one of the oldest bilingual treaties still standing where it was erected.
  4. Tibet blocked Arab expansion into the Tarim Basin, and Tibetan troops fought both with and against the Abbasids.
  5. Legend says Songtsen Gampo's Chinese and Nepalese wives brought the two most sacred Buddha statues in Tibet.
  6. The Tibetan Empire's soldiers wore heavy chainmail that Chinese sources said covered them entirely except the eyes.
  7. Langdarma was reportedly killed by a monk who hid a bow under his robe while pretending to dance.
  8. After the empire fell, no single ruler governed all Tibet again until the Mongols in the 1200s.

Sources

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