Tibet – An autonomous region in East Asia.
Posted by Vikas Acharya on May 2, 2022Tibet is located in the middle of the high mountain ranges of Central Asia, between the Kunlun and the Himalayas. Its height is up to 16,000 feet. The area here is 47,000 square miles. The Tibetan plateau is bounded in the east by Shikang, in the west by Kashmir, in the south by the Himalaya Mountains and in the north by the Kunlun Mountains. This plateau is the origin of the great rivers of East Asia, Hwangho, Mekong, etc., which originate from the eastern region. The eastern region receives some rainfall and forests are found up to a height of 1200 feet. Here some valleys are 5,000 feet high, where farmers do agriculture. The aridity of the climate increases towards the north And instead of forests, grasslands are found more. The population density gradually decreases. Animal husbandry increases in place of agriculture. Saidan Valley and Kikonir district is particularly famous for animal husbandry.The Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) is the main river of the rough lands of outer Tibet, which flows east from Lake Mansarovar and then turns south and drains into the Bay of Bengal through India and Bangladesh. To the north of its valley are several small salt water lakes, of which Nam Tso (aka Tengri Nor) is the main one. This is meager rainfall and little cultivable.
In the valley of Tsangpo, the major cities of Lhasa, Gyantse and Shigatse etc. are located. Much of outer Tibet is fit only for pastoralism due to its dry climate and this has become the main occupation of its inhabitants. Yak is the main among the harsh cold-tolerant animals, which along with milking also performs the function of carrying the load. Apart from this, sheep and goats are also reared. In addition to salt, there are abundant reserves of gold and radium-active minerals in this vast area. Building railroads in the rugged plateau is very difficult and costly, so only mountain roads and some highways (roads) are the main means of transport, although the Qinghai-Tibet railroad has been ready. Roads connect the towns located in the valley of the Tsangpo River. The construction work of Peking-Lhasa Highway and Lhasa-Kathmandu Highway is in the completion stage. When these are completed, it will be directly related to neighboring countries. China and India were the first countries to engage in trade with Tibet. The residents here used to get tea from China and clothes and food items from India in exchange for salt, leather and wool etc. The construction of the Tibet-Xinjiang highway connecting Tibet and Xinjiang through the Aksai Chin area of Ladakh has been completed.
