Tibet
FIRST STAMPS
China, March 1911.
FIRST STAMPS ISSUED December
1912.
CURRENCY
1911, as
India.
1912, 62/3 trangka = 1 sang.
Buddhist state
ruled by the Dalai Lama. Chinese influence, intermittent in the 18th century,
was dormant in the 19th when Russian ambitions were in the ascendant. The
Chinese gradually re-occupied Tibet in 1950-9, and the land is now ruled as an
autonomous region of China.
Postal History
The
Tibetan Frontier Commission set up temporary POs in 1903 using Indian stamps
from Khamba long and elsewhere, and passing mail over their supply lines via
Gangtok (in Sikkim). The Younghusband Expedition set up FPOs on its 1904
mission to Lhasa, passing their mail over a 16,000 ft pass via Gyantse to
Siliguri, their Indian base. Indian PAs were later set up in Gantok, Gyantse,
Pharijong (reputedly the highest permanent PO in the world) and Yatung. These
have functioned until recent times. Various special cachets have been used on
mail from Mount Everest expeditions (1924, 1933, etc). Some Chinese POs were
opened in 1909.
Used stamps of China overprinted
in Chinese and Tibetan with value in annas and rupees, March 1911.
Has used stamps of China since
1951-60. |
