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While originally Tibet was its own independent nation, in the 1950s, China claimed sovereignty and Tibet became a part of China. Tibetans are one of China’s most popular ethnic minority. They are also a very old group of people. There has been evidence of people on the Tibetan Plateau around 20,000 years ago. The first semi permanent settlement was around 5,200 years ago. The Ribetan Empire showed up around the 7th century CE. They fought for control of Central Asia with the Chinese and Mongols. They live among the highest mountains in the world and live on plateaus.

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In Tibet, the dominant religion was Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana Buddhism. This means that Tibetan Buddhism has some aspects of Indian Buddhism in it as well. They believed that beings are born on different realms of existence. The realms include animal realm, human realm, godly realm, ghostly realm, etc. This was all based on the karma from their past lives. The religion had 4 major schools, or groups. They were the Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug. Buddhism was formally introduced during the time of the Tibetan Empire(7th-9th century CE). Buddhist scriptures from India were translated into Tibetan under the reign of the Tibetan King Songtsän Gampo. Then, in the 8th century, King Trisong Detsen made it an official religion. In the 13th-14th Century, the Mongols invaded Tibet. While they may have invaded it, Tibet was incorporated very well into the Mongol Empire. Eventually Tibetan Buddhism was adopted as a de facto state religion by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

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Art is a key part of every societies culture. For over a thousand years, artists have played a big role in the cultural life of Tibet. Their designs were everywhere, from furniture , to murals, to religious buildings. Now, most surviving artworks from before the mid 1900s are dedicated to religious subjects. They were usually commissioned by religious establishments and sometimes individuals. Most of them are paintings on cloth, Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings and small statues made of bronze, clay, stucco or wood. A lot of Tibetan art was influenced by other nations such as China and India. Both Tibetan artists and Indian artists make statues of Buddha and bodhisattvas. Another example of outside influence on Tibetan art is that during a campaign to expand his empire, Trisong Detsen pillaged a Persian religious establishment and brought back Persian art, ritual objects and craftsmen. The expansion of any empire would eventually lead to the incorporation of cultures of other places into the already existing culture.

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Tibet is located in East Asia and is surrounded by high mountains, lakes and rivers. The people lived on what is called the Tibetan Plateau, which sits along the Himalayas and more of the highest mountain peaks in the world. Because of this, Tibet is often called “the roof of the world”. Tibet is actually split into two parts, the “lake region” and the “river region”. The lake region is in the west and northwest, while the river region is in the east south and west. Both regions have different cultures, the people in the lake region are more nomadic, while the people in the river region are more agricultural. The river region is known for its fertile mountain valleys and includes the Yarlung Tsangpo River and its major tributary, the Nyang River, the Salween, the Yangtze, the Mekong, and the Yellow River. The lake region is a arid desert. This is mostly because of the extremely high mountain barriers. It is called the Chang Tang, or ‘Northern Plateau’ by the people of Tibet. It is about 700 miles across.

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Due to Tibet’s geographical and climate conditions, Tibetans have very distinct cultures. Since most live high in the mountains, they are pretty isolated and don’t get much influence from outside sources such as other nations. However, that isn’t to say that they don’t get any influence from outside sources. Many Buddhist missionaries from India, Nepal and China who come to Tibet bring along with them arts and customs from their homes. They brought things such as literature, music and even their own beliefs on certain things. Tibetans also have their own customs that are very different from those around them. Due to their location, Tibetans rely a lot of pastoralism. They let their livestock roam around on pastures to graze and breed so that they can have food. They also have different cuisines since they have to rely on what they can find on the mountain range. Sometimes Tibetans combine aspects of other cultures with their own. For example, their architecture. Some buildings have parts of Chinese and Indian influence on it and they are on elevated and sunny sites, like lots of other Tibetan buildings. These are just a few factors of Tibetan culture that has come about due to their unique circumstances. There are other things such as language, astronomy, astrology, medicine and etc, that make their culture so distinct.

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Like all other countries, Tibet had many leaders that have done much for Tibet. The first ruler of Tibet was a man named Nyatari Tsenpo who began his reign in 127 BCE. He was a forefather of the Yarlung Dynsaty. He is said to have descended from heaven onto the sacred mountain Yarlha Shampo. Not much else is known about him. Another important ruler in the history of Tibet was Songsten Gampo. He was the 33rd Tibetan king and the founder of the Tibetan Empire. He ruled from 618 to 641 and then again from 646 to 649 after his son died. He is also credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. He is also the one regarded as the one responsible for creating the Tibetan alphabet. He was the first of the Three Dharma Kings. The second of the Dharma Kings was Trisong Detsen. He ruled from 756 to 797. He, like the other Dharma Kings, helped establish Buddhism in Tibet. Trisong played a pivotal role in the creation of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The third of the Dharma Kings was Ralpacan. Under his rule, the Tibetan Empire had reached its greatest extent. It extended into parts of China, India, Nepal, Kingdom of Khotan, etc. The current leader of the Tibetans is the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

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Prior to 1959, there were three main social groups in Tibet. They were the ordinary laypeople, lay nobility and monks. The ordinary laypeople were basically peasant farmers. These three groups were further divided into another three classes, high, medium and low. A person’s social standing was mostly hereditary. If there were born into a noble family, they would be nobility, same for the other groups. There were also different legal consequences for each group. In Tibetan society, the Dalai Lama was at the very top. Below him in the high class were the nobles, high ranking government officials and monks of pure conduct. Nobles were thought to be descendants of the Dalai Lama, the government officials were usually appointed by the aristocracy, and the monks were usually from the middle class or family of monk officials. The middle class contained most of the population. The people in the middle class ranged from low ranking government officials, to taxpaying and landowning peasants, to landless peasants. The taxpayers were usually those who hereditarily owned land and because elf that had to pay taxes, the landowning peasant are those who bought their lands on their own. The lowest class contained the ragyabpa, or the ‘untouchables’. They consisted of people like blacksmiths and butchers. These people are referred to as ‘untouchables’ because they do “unclean” work.

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.Tibetan mythology consists mainly of mythology stemming from Tibetan culture as well as religious mythology from both Tibetan Buddhism and Bön religion. They are usually passed down orally, through rituals, or through art. There is a myth that came about because of the location of the Tibetans. It was called “Wild Men of the Tibetan Steppes.” It is a story about hairy wild men living on the peaks of Tibet along with mythical white lions. Some called them hairy naked savages while others said that they were just bears. This myth came about because someone found footprints on the mountain side and thought it was hairy wild men. There are also stories about Buddhism and reincarnation. One such story was called “A Ghost in Monk’s Clothes.” It is a story about a soul that was still lingering even after death. He was unable to move on. To be able to move on, he had to understand the samsara and reflect on his life. This is a story that has ties to Buddhism and was most likely used to show children what could happen after you die.