Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1640-42
Mongolian Gushri Khan executes the King of Tsang and hands over religious and secular power to
the fifth Dalai Lama. Lhasa becomes the capital and construction begins on the Potala.
1652
The Manchu Emperor Shunzhi invites the fifth Dalai Lama to China; to mark the occasion the Yel-
low Temple is built on the outskirts of Běijīng.
1695
Completion of Potala Palace. The death of the fifth Dalai Lama is announced the following year,
though in reality he had died 15 years previously.
1706
Lhabzang Khan's army marches into Lhasa, deposes (and likely poisons) the sixth Dalai Lama
and installs Yeshi Gyatso, who is not accepted by Tibetans as a Dalai Lama.
1716-21
Italian priest Ippolito Desideri travels to the Guge Kingdom and Lhasa, where he lives for five
years, trying to convert Tibetans to Catholicism. He is the first Westerner to see Mt Kailash.
1724
The Manchu Qing dynasty appoints a resident Chinese ambanto run Tibet.
1774
Scotsman George Bogle, aged 27, travels to Tibet to investigate the opening of trade and spends
the winter at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse.
1788
Chinese troops expel Nepali invaders from Tibet. Three years later the Nepali troops return and
are beaten back again.
