The gorges and basins of the Yellow River between the Kokonor and the Gannan valleys: Guide, Jainca, Rebgong (Tongren), Tongde and Zeku.
Tibetan farmers grow barley on the river terraces and herd on the plateau above. Wikipedia's Amdo article names Rongwo, the great monastery of Rebgong, without a date; it is a later foundation, as are Kumbum and Labrang. Dantig, the old teaching house of the Amdo revival, stands on the north-east edge at Hualong (Dantig). In 1200 this is a country of clan chiefs, headmen and small temples.
Who holds it
- Title
- Clan chiefs and village headmen, with the lamas of the small teaching houses
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No chief or lama is named for 1200 (see Rebgong chiefs).
Overlord
None. The Xia prefectures of Kuozhou and Jishi lie on its north-east edge; no Xia hold over the clans is shown.
What it holds
- River terraces and villages
- Summer grass on the plateau above the gorges
- Fords and ferries (general pattern)
How it was acquired
By inheritance and custom.
Allies and rivals
Xia at Kuozhou and Jishi; the Tsongkha tribes; the Gannan villages; the Golog.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing; no dated event.
Wealth
Barley, herds, wool, tolls on fords.
Military
Clan levies; no numbers.
Customs
Clan and village headmen; tsowa tribes in the high pastures (Wikipedia, Amdo).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Geography and later monastic history only.
On the map: No source gives a boundary for 1200; the drawing follows the modern counties and valleys and the neighbouring sheets' anchors.
Primary sources for Tibet (centre)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Amdo (read this session)
- Wikipedia, Tongren, Qinghai (Rebgong; read this session)
- Wikipedia, Tsongkha (cites Twitchett 1994, Smith 2006, Tuttle 2013; read this session)
- Author's recall of the secondary literature (Petech, Tucci, Stein, Davidson, Smith, Kapstein, Dunnell): not re-read this session, so marked 'recalled' in the text
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.