De L’Asie. Figure IX. Grand Lama

Title

De L’Asie. Figure IX. Grand Lama

Description

View of the great Lama in Tibet.

ca. 1683

Artist

Mallet (1630-1706)

Alain Manesson Mallet (1630- 1706 ) was a French cartographer and engineer. He started his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV, became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. He also served under the King of Portugal, before returning to France, and his appointment to the court of Louis XIV. His military engineering and mathematical background led to his position teaching mathematics at court. His major publications were Description de L'Univers (1683) in 5 volumes, and Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre (1684) in 3 volumes. His Description de L'Universe contains a wide variety of information, including star maps, maps of the ancient and modern world, and a synopsis of the customs, religion and government of the many nations included in his text. It has been suggested that his background as a teacher led to his being concerned with entertaining his readers. This concern manifested itself in the charming harbor scenes and rural landscapes that he included beneath his description of astronomical concepts and diagrams. Mallet himself drew most of the figures that were engraved for this book.

Historical Description

Tibet is an extensive highland in Central Asia that is often referred to as the roof of the world. The Kingdom of Tibet came into being at the beginning of the 7th century. Between the 7th and 10th centuries, Tibet was a strong, warlike empire. After the weakening of the position of the Tibetan kings in the 10th century, the formative form of Tibetan society developed in central Tibet. In 1240, Tibet was conquered by the Mongolian Khan Güyük Khan and incorporated into his empire. The area of China was only occupied by the Mongols at the same time, no special state rights were granted to the Chinese, so that there has been no sovereign China since then. In 1368, the Han Chinese, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, overthrew the Mongol foreign rulers and restored China's independence and sovereignty, in whose territory the Ming Dynasty, which ruled until 1644, established itself. Although "succession riots" broke out in Tibetan territory, a direct influence of the Ming rule on the sovereignty of Tibet, as the Mongolian Yuan dynasty sought, cannot be proven from this time. A measure of the Ming dynasty is known, however, but it was only indirectly related to Tibet. Initially, in her area of rule, she passed a law that prohibited her own population from learning the teachings of Buddhism from Tibet. In 1578 the Altan Khan, a Mongolian ruler, a member of the Tümed, enthroned the first Dalai Lama. In 1717, Tsewangrabtan's army occupied Lhasa and killed Lhabsang Khan. The Manchurian emperor Kangxi used this weakness of the Mongols and marched to Lhasa in 1720. The emperor placed the 7th Dalai Lama in office and declared the area of Tibet a protectorate. At that time, a garrison of Qing Dynasty imperial soldiers was stationed in Lhasa. After the Emperor's death, the Manchu withdrew their troops in 1723. In 1727, the new Manchu Emperor Yongzheng established the office of an Amban in Tibet, which controlled the government in Lhasa. From 1751, with the consent of the Manchu, the Dalai Lama took over political reign as well as religious office. From 1751 to 1756 the 7th Dalai Lama Kelsang Gyatsho ruled in Lhasa. In 1774, British official George Bogle of the East India Company contacted government agencies in Tibet while traveling through Bhutan to Tibet. The company wanted to eliminate Bhutan's mediating role in trade with Tibet. In the 19th century, people lived in a feudal system among the lamas. In spring 1912 there was only a small Chinese garrison in Lhasa. The Dalai Lama returned and moved to Lhasa in June 1912. After the last Manchu-Chinese troops were driven out of Lhasa in early January 1913, the Dalai Lama solemnly proclaimed Tibetan independence on February 14, 1913. After the takeover of power by the Communist Party and the founding of the People's Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong in October 1949, the claim to Tibet and its connection to the Chinese "mother country" reawakened. After negotiations with China began, representatives of the Tibetan government signed the 17-point agreement under political pressure in Beijing on May 23, 1951, but did not have the authority to do so from their government. The agreement established Tibet's integration in China.