Tibetan Empire (jan 1, 618 – jan 1, 842)

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The Tibetan Empire (Tibetan: བོད་ཆེན་པོ, Wylie: bod chen po, lit. 'Great Tibet'; Chinese: 吐蕃; pinyin: Tǔbō / Tǔfān) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songsten Gampo in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 38th king Trisong Detsen. The 821–823 treaty concluded between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty delineated the former as being in possession of an area larger than the Tibetan Plateau, stretching east to Chang'an, west beyond modern Afghanistan, and south into modern India and the Bay of Bengal.

The Yarlung dynasty was founded in 127 BC in the Yarlung Valley. The Yarlung capital was moved to Lhasa by the 33rd king Songsten Gampo, and into the Red Fort during the imperial period which continued to the 9th century. The beginning of the imperial period is marked in the reign of the 33rd king of the Yarlung dynasty, Songtsen Gampo. The power of Tibet's military empire gradually increased over a diverse terrain. During the reign of Trisong Detsen, the empire became more powerful and increased in size. At this time, a 783 treaty between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty defined the borders, as commemorated by the Shol Potala Pillar in Lhasa.[4] Borders were again confirmed during the later reign of the 41st king Ralpacan through his 821–823 treaty between the Tibetan Empire and Tang dynasty, which was also commemorated by three inscribed stelae.[5][4] In the opening years of the 9th century, the Tibetan Empire controlled territories extending from the Tarim Basin to the Himalayas and Bengal, and from the Pamirs into what are now the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan. The murder of King Rapalchen in 838 by his brother Langdarma, and Langdarma's subsequent enthronemen followed by his assassination in 842 marks the simultaneous beginning of the dissolution of the empire period.

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