Kunggar Ngawang Dawa of Gelupa Bod (Tibet)

The history of Tibet is one of the meticulously recorded in the region, thanks to the number of texts which are preserved, though most of them now chronicles about the Ruler of the region. The name "Tibet" itself is derived from foreign sources such as the Arabic Tibat/Tobatt, Persian Tubatt or Chinese Tubo/Tufan and etc, which are often disputed, though the origin of the term Tibet is found written in English as Thibet in 1827. The Language itself is unique to the region, as described by Linguistics, a part of Tibetan-Burmese Language family that are non Sinistic (non-chinese origins).

Much of its early history are still subjects to research, though one of the earliest recorded was the semi-mythical and historical Kingdom which flourished in the area was the Zhangzhung between 16th Century BCE and 7th Century AD, an ancient culture often associated with the Indegenous Bon religion, whose dominion lies in central and western part of Tibet. Much of its cultural and philosophical association contributed to the development of Tibetan Buddhism, and the surviving trace of its language could be associated with the Kinnauri speaking people that lives in the Himachal Pradesh.

According to traditional accounts, the birth of proper Tibetan State is associated with the rise of the Yarlung Dynasty in the wake of rebellion which was instigated by a group of people, against Gudri Zingpoje, a vassal of Zhangzhung under the Lig Myi Dynasty. The rebellion succeeded, while at the same time, the Tribes from the Yarlung Valley, formed by the Yarlung Tsangpo river, were united under under Namri Songsten, one of the prominent tribal chieftain in the Valley. He launched his conquest of the neighboring tribes and pacified the region until he gained control of the region which became Lhasa in 630 AD. Namri Songsten himself was assassinated in 618 during a failed coup which was subdued by his son, Songstän Gampo, who succedeed him as the First Great Emperor of Tibet, establishing a centralized and organized state which would later became known as the Tibetan Empire.

It was during his reign that Buddhism was introduced to Tibet, though, initially only at the royal court, from Songstän marriage to a Chinese princess. According to some sources, He would later subdue the remaining Zhangzhung kingdom in the west, and incorporated its territory into the greater Tibetan Empire. Under successive emperors, the Tibet territories greatly expanded which incorporated modern-day Sikkim, East Turkistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, north Pakistan, north Afghanistan, north India, north Nepal, Bhutan and parts of China, often clashing with the regional powers like the Abassids Caliphate and Persians who ruled the west, Chinese to the East, Turkic People to the North and Indians to the South. It was also during this time that Buddhism spread to the majority of the region, replacing the traditional Bon faith, though zome aspects of the Bon faith is either incorporated, or influenced Tibetan Buddhism in someway or another.

By the early 9th century, Tibet was already plagued by external troubles as well as internal instability. This was the result of several power blocks which competed for power within the Tibetan court, as well as the collapse of the Uyghur Khanate which saw many influx migrants to the region, causing tension to the local populace. Alas, after the death of its last emperor, Langdarma, in 842, the Tibetan empire collapsed into several warring factions rebelling against the remnants of the Imperial Tibet, as well as powerful regional warlords that rose to take advantage of the disunity and chaos that plagued Tibet. It was not until the subjugation done by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty of China, that Tibet was once again, brought into unity, albeit as part of the Mongol Empire in the late 13th century.