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Tibetan Studies - Maps & Images of Tibet

Edited by Dr T. Matthew Ciolek

[Est.: 7 Apr 1995. Last updated: 25 Oct 2007.]

The purpose of this document is to provide central access point to online maps and graphics depicting Tibet and Tibetan culture.

The document is a part of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library and of the Tibetan Studies WWW Virtual Library. Please mail tmciolek@ciolek.com if you know of relevant networked resource not in this page. Conversely, please notify maintainers of this document if you feel that any of the URLs listed on this page is no longer good enough to be registered here. Your feed-back will be gratefully appreciated.

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  1. The Tibetan National Flag [graphics & commentaries] (www.ciolek.com,Australia)
  2. Tibet in relation to the rest of the world [map]
  3. Tibet and the surrounding regions [map]
  4. Regions and Towns in Tibet [map]
  5. Maps of Tibet and Qinghai [map]
  6. Additional images of maps are available from Tibet Maps (images.google.com, US); also some useful references can be found in an archive of 1994 email exchanges in Tibet Maps - FAQ (ANU, Australia)
  7. Images of Tibetan Countryside [photographs]
  8. Images of Tibetan People [photographs]
  9. Images of Eminent Tibetans [photographs]
  10. See also photographs in the section Guide to Tibetan Art (Ohio State U, US)

Tibet in relation to the rest of the world

Tibet and the surrounding regions

Regions and Towns in Tibet

Maps of Tibet and Qinghai

  • Eastern Tibet borders ca. 750 CE. (Tibet Environmental Watch, US)
    [Eastern extent of the Tibetan empire in the era of the Yarlung kings and the Tang Dynasty (ca. 7th - 9th c.)]
  • Eastern Tibet borders ca. 1644 CE. (Tibet Environmental Watch, US)
    [Eastern extent of the Tibetan empire from the Late Yarlung Period to the Beginnings of Chinese Expansion into Eastern Tibet]
  • Eastern Tibet borders ca. 1800 CE. (Tibet Environmental Watch, US)
    [The Western Extent of the Manchu Empire during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)]
  • Eastern Tibet borders ca. 1940 (Tibet Environmental Watch, US)
    [Extension of China's administrative and political hegemony along traditional trade routes from Amdo and Kham towards Central Tibet (1940-1950)]
  • Chinese Administrative Regions: Eastern Tibet ca. 1996 (Tibet Environmental Watch, US)
    [PRC's Administrative Control of Eastern Tibet]
  • Missionary Map of Tibet (1897) (www.ciolek.com, Australia)
    [245Kb GIF, Black & White file. The map shows international boundaries, cities, settlements and major trade routes. Sourced from: Shaw, F. Becker. 1897. Missionary Map of Tibet (dotted lines indicate trade routes) / The Scandinavian Alliance Mission has also Tibetan Missionaries in Ghoom, India, in Baksadnar, Bhutan, and in Guntak, Sikkim. In: "The Siege of Tibet," The Missionary Review of the World, vol. X (n.s), February 1897, pp. 91-95 (The Map is printed opposite p. 92) ]
  • A Map of Tibet
    [63Kb GIF, Black & White file. Copyright (c) 1995 mvw--at--vwmaps.com]
  • The historic map of Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion
    [31Kb JPEG, Black & White file. Copyright (c) 1996 info--at--tibet.com
    A Feb 1996 note by info--at--tibet.com: 'What the Chinese now call "Tibet", or Xizang in Chinese, refers exclusively to the so-called "Tibet Autonomous region" founded in 1965, consisting of UTsang (Central and South Tibet) and small part of Kham (south eastern Tibet). The major portion of Kham and Amdo (north eastern Tibet) is incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Quinghaiand Yunnan. The term "Tibet" here will mean the whole of Tibet including the regions of Amdo, Kham and UTsang, that is, the Cholkasum in Tibetan'.]
  • Map of Tibet (and Qinghai) (Purdue U, US)
    Four un-referenced, low-resolution maps: (1) Map of present Tibet, (2) Map of Tubo Dynasty; (3) Map of Tibet in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, (4) Map of Tibetan Distribution published online by the pro-PRC Tibet Study Association (formerly America-Tibet Association), West Lafayette, IN, US.
    [A note (8 Aug 1995) by: andrew (andrew--at--dorje.demon.co.uk)
    Both maps (Map of present Tibet, Map of Tibetan Distribution) show the PRC territorial claim to the North East Frontier Area NEFA - the border zone east of Bhutan and west of Burma. This area is currently governed by India and was ceeded by Tibet to British India under the Simla Convention in 1914. As negotiations were conducted by the then Tibetan Govt. the Chinese have never recognised this boundary. On all western maps the de-facto border is shown.
    On the first map a boundary is shown called Old Provincial Boundary. This was the Chinese claim under the undratified part of the Simla Agreement and was also the de-facto border between 1912 when Chao Er Feng and his Qing Army was forced from Lhasa after the 1910 expedition, and c1918 when the same army was forced back east as far as Gandze.
    On the second map the 'Tibetan distribution' stops at Derge which is incorrect as can be seen by anyone who has been in the area roughly west of Kanding. Also there is no shading in the Yellow River bend area... an obvious error.
    However, the maps appear to have been scanned in from old books and not drawn with some particular aim in mind']
  • Maps of Tibetan Trade Routes (OWTRAD Dromographic Digital Data Archives, www.ciolek.com, Australia)
    [The collegion of digital charts includes: tmcCNm0680a.html, tmcCNm0680b.html, tmcCNm0680c.html (Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan, 680 CE-1950 CE, 'Tea and Horse' routes tmcCNm1920.html (NW China,1920 CE, major roads and caravan routes) tmcCNm1950.html, tmcCNm1950a.html (Tibet, 1900-1950 CE, trade and transportation routes)]
  • THDL Gazetteer of Tibet and the Himalayas (Tibetan & Himalayan Digital Library (THDL), U. of Virginia, US).
    ["The Gazetteer is designed to provide information about all varieties of places in Tibet and the Himalayas, in past and present times - nations, provinces, counties, monasteries, villages, mountains, natural regions and more. The current 2.0 [i.e. Oct/Nov 2006 - ed.] release includes administrative units in contemporary China that have ethnic Tibetan populations, with detailed information only for the subunits of the Tibet Autonomous Region. We are now working on release 3.0 which will include details for all five provinces in China with Tibetan populations [i.e. TAR, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunan], and all politicial districts of Nepal as well. In the subsequent phase we will begin to incorporate our extensive data on Tibetan monasteries."]
  • Tibetan Townships Database (Diamond Bay Research, US)
    [Tibetan Placenames datasets have been produced by the China Historical GIS Project CHGIS for a digital gazetteer in cooperation with the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (U. of Virginia). The source file is available from CHGIS upon request. Coverage: PRC prefectures of Ali, Changdu (Chamdo), Lhasa, Linzhi Naqu, Rigaze (Shigaze), and Shannan. In mid 2001 the database did not provide Tibetan names, nor their long-lat coordinates.]
    See also Asia Maps & GIS Web Resources (Harvard U., US)
  • The Tibet Map Institute [also operating from www.tibetmap.org address] (www.tibetmap.com, France)
    [The site, (not to be confused with the PRC-run travel site www.tibetmap.net) has as an objective the mapping of the Tibetan area using (i) Toponyms given by travellers, cartographers, etc (ii) Landsat satellite photos The aim is to give a picture of Tibet before establishment of the Chinese Administration.
    Presently [March 2003] 80 maps (including more then 7000 place-names) are available from Ngari to Kham (between 28 to 33 degree north and 79 to 99 degree east). Each A3+ map covers 1 by 1 degree of long/lat. with a scale of 1:310 000 (33x45cm). Each A3 map covers 1 by 1 degree of long/lat. with a scale of 1:360 000 (30x42cm). They are named 2788.5 in Chumbi valley. 2885 to 2898 2983 to 2998 3080 to 3098 3179 to 3198 3279 to 3298 Maps are available with different toponym characters: currents names, Wylie transliteration or Tibetan. Current names are in the Classical Tibet maps. A reduced map of central Tibet (scale=1,200,000) is also available.
  • Search Topographic Maps: Tibet (MicroGlobe LLC, US)
    [Over 120 freely downloadable ex-Soviet military topographical maps in scales 1:1M, 1:500k, 1:200k. The site publishes Russian language maps in GIF format, including:
    500k--i47-1 3.51 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Ngoring Hu, Gyaring Hu, Donggi Cona
    500k--i47-2 5.32 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Tangnag, Zhongxin Zhan, Rabyog
    500k--i47-3 5.32 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Dainkog, Mainda, Beca
    500k--i47-4 5.14 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Huang He, Namda, Xia Zanggor
    500k--i48-1 4.84 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Lou-Chih, Ching-Shui-Kung, Tao-Chiang
    500k--i48-3 5.25 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Huang He, Huang-Chiao-Kuan, Yu-Pa-Tu
    500k--j44-1 4.36 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Kyrgyzstan, Wu-T-Ai, Xakur
    500k--j44-2 4.74 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Tongguzbasti
    500k--j44-3 6.64 Mb 1:500 000 - Tibet, Karakoram, Ya-Erh-Ku-Shih-Miao, Yang-Ko-A-Li-Ko]

  • A page of the web site by US Embassy in Beijing provides details of related printed publications:
  • Maps of Lhasa and Tibet (Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala, India)
    •

    Maps of Lhasa

    Images of Tibetan Countryside

    Images of Tibetan People

    Images of Eminent Tibetans

    Additional image files with Tibet-related materials and maps, links to such resources, corrections and comments will be appreciated. Please contact: tmciolek@ciolek.com
    Updates, additions and corrections to this page have been kindly provided by:

    andrew--at--dorje.demon.co.uk, Merrick Lex Berman, Jim Casilio. C. Davis, J. Fletcher, J. Johnson, J. Lebow, Hanno Lecher, Pamela Logan, D. Martin, C. Meehan, Stephen Mikesell, D. Miller, T. Miyatani, S. Tenzin, Dr Susan Whitfield, M. Winkler, Martin von Wyss.

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    Copyright © 1995-present by T. Matthew Ciolek. This Web page may be linked to any other Web pages. Contents may not be altered.

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