No other land has captured man's imagination quite like Tibet. Hidden away behind the highest mountains on earth, and ruled over by a mysterious God-king, it was for centuries a land forbidden to all outsiders. In this remarkable and ultimately tragic narrative, Peter Hopkirk recounts the forcible opening up of this medieval Buddhist kingdom by inquisitive Western travellers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the race to reach Lhasa, Tibet's sacred capital. This epic, often harrowing tale, which ends with the Chinese invasion of 1950, draws on a colourful cast of gatecrashers from nine different countries. Among them were adventurous young officers on Great Game missions, explorers and mountaineers, mystics and missionaries. All took their lives in their hands, including three intrepid women. Some were never to return.

Portrays the experiences of nineteenth and twentieth-century spies, soldiers, explorers, missionaries, mystics, and mountain climbers as they traveled through Tibet to reach the city of Lhasa

Two authors' passion for India and the Great Game

Two authors' passion for India and the Great Game.

First published in 1928, this volume constituted the results of expeditions by the famous archaeologist and explorer of Central Asia, Albert von Le Coq. Funded by the last German emperor, Wilhelm II, and von Le Coq’s own brewing and winery empire, the second and third German expeditions ventured to Turfan in the Xinjiang region of China. Travelling East expecting to find Greek influences, the expedition in fact uncovered extensive networks of Buddhist and Manichaean cave temples in the Northwest China. This volume includes extensive images in addition to a record of the expedition’s journeys and discoveries.

This book analyses the trade system in Ladakh (India), a busy entrepôt for Silk Route trade between Central and South Asia. The author's research combines anthropological, historical, and archaeological methods of investigation to present a cultural history of South/Central Asia.