Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lama in 1780 and the ban on foreign contact that came after the Gurkha invasion of Tibet
in 1788, Britain lost all official contact with Tibet.
Meanwhile, Britain watched nervously as the Russian empire swallowed up Central
Asia, pushing its borders 1000km further towards India. The reported arrival of Russian
'adviser' Agvan Dorjieff in Lhasa exacerbated fears that Russia had military designs on
British India, the 'jewel in the crown' of the empire.
When Dorjieff led an envoy from the Dalai Lama to Tsar Nicholas II in 1898, 1900 and
1901, and when British intelligence confirmed that Lhasa had received Russian missions
(while similar British advances had been refused), the Raj broke into a cold sweat. There
was even wild conjecture that the tsar was poised to convert to Buddhism.
It was against this background that Russophobe Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, decided
to nip Russian designs in the bud. In late 1903 a British military expedition led by Colonel
Francis Younghusband entered Tibet via Sikkim. After several months waiting for a
Tibetan delegation, the British moved on to Lhasa, where it was discovered that the Dalai
Lama had fled to Mongolia with Dorjieff. However, an Anglo-Tibetan convention was
signed following negotiations with Tri Rinpoche, the abbot of Ganden whom the Dalai
Lama had appointed as regent in his absence. British forces withdrew after spending just
two months in Lhasa.
The missing link in the Anglo-Tibetan accord was a Manchu signature. In effect, the ac-
cord implied that Tibet was a sovereign power and therefore had the right to make treaties
of its own. The Manchus objected and, in 1906, the British signed a second accord with
the Manchus, one that recognised China's suzerainty over Tibet. In 1910, with the Manchu
Qing dynasty teetering on collapse, the Manchus made good on the accord and invaded
Tibet, forcing the Dalai Lama once again into flight - this time into the arms of the British
in India.
