| Geography of Tibet |
Tibet, a rich and beautiful land, is located at
the main part of Qinghai-Tibet plateau, south-West frontier of
China. Tibet borders with Sichuan, Yuannan, Qinghai And Xinjiang;
to the south contiguous to India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and
Burma, and bounded by Kashmir on the west. When the word Tibet
is mentioned something icy chills the readers' nerves. In fact
it snows only once or twice in a year and owing to the
perpetuity of bright sunshine, it is not at all cold during the
daytime even in the coldest of the winter. Tibet is so sunny
that it produces a year-round sunshine of over 3,000 hours in a
year. Its old name-"land of snow" - the name by which Tibet is
almost popularly known as, is always thickly covered with snow
with hardly any signs of inhabitation. In fact, it is correct
only when it is referred to the world greatest ranges located in
Ima, the Tisi, and like. These ranges, run by leaps and bounds
across the country showing their beautiful snow covered peaks
against the bluest of skies.
Geographically, Tibet can be divided into three major parts, the
east, north and south. The eastern part is forest region,
occupying approximately one-fourth of the land. Virgin forests
run The entire breadth and length of this part of Tibet. The
northern part is open grassland, where nomads and yak and sheep
dwell here. This part occupies approximately half of Tibet. The
southern and central part is agricultural region, occupying
about one-fourth of Tibet's land area. with all major Tibetan
cities and towns such as Lhasa, Shigatse, Gyantse and Tsetang
located in this area, it is considered the cultural center of
Tibet. The total area of the Tibet Autonomous Region is
1,200,000 square kilometers and its population is 1,890,000. The
region is administratively divided into one municipality and six
prefectures. The municipality is Lhasa, while the six
prefectures are Shigatse, Ngari, Lhaoka, Chamdo, Nakchu and
Nyingtri (kongpo). The People's Government of the Tibet
Autonomous Region exercises the highest administrative authority
in Tibet. |
