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The THL Place Dictionary provides information about all varieties of places in Tibet and the Himalayas, in past and present times – nations, provinces, counties, monasteries, villages, mountains, natural regions, and more. It currently includes contemporary administrative units in China that have Tibetan populations and administrative units in Nepal. At present, there are a number of lengthy descriptions of individual places, and we have extensive materials that we are importing into the Place Dictionary throughout 2011. Technically, we have integrated the Place Dictionary into THL’s multimedia holdings, so that it shows associated images for each place.
To get an idea of the possibilities, here are links to featured places:
- Tibet, Tibetan Empire
- Monasteries & Temples: Sera Monastery, Labrang Monastery, Wencheng Gongzhu Temple
- Settlements: The City of Lhasa
- Central Tibetan Historical Polities: Sakya, Drigung, Ganden Palace
- Amdo Cultural Regions & Historical Polities: Chentsa, Choné Kingdom, Dhitsa, Huaré, Repgong
- Contemporary Cultural Regions: Chungpa
- Contemporary administrative units: Wendu
Forthcoming
In 2010 and 2011, we are working at importing thousands of place descriptions and essays which we have collected over the past decades. Many are reprints, but others are original work that can't be found elsewhere. These include:
- Tibetan-language modern essays on over 500 monasteries in Eastern Tibet (Kham)
- Tibetan-language modern essays on a wide range of monasteries in Central Tibet from Chönpel, who has been doing fieldwork
- English-language studies of Bönpo Monasteries on the Tibetan plateau
- Historical descriptions of Tibetan Monasteries from the Baidurya Serpo
Read Our Documentation & Participate
End-users wanting to learn more about the Place Dictionary should read the HELP files.
We are looking for people from all walks of life to participate, ranging over a historical study of a place, a tourism description of site, photographs, videos, hand drawn maps, and much more. If you are interested, please email us using the "contact us" link at the bottom of this page. You can also take a look at the Editor's Manual.