He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and given the name "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal".

The 13th Dalai Lama was born in the village of Thakpo Langdun, one day by car, south-east from Lhasa,[4] and near Sam-ye Monastery, Tak-po province, in June 1876[5] to parents Kunga Rinchen and Lobsang Dolma, a peasant couple.

[6] Agvan Dorzhiev (1854–1938), a Khori-Buryat Mongol, and a Russian subject, was born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Udinsk, to the east of Lake Baikal.

[10] After the British expedition to Tibet by Sir Francis Younghusband in early 1904, Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga in Mongolia, almost 2,400 km (1,500 mi) to the northeast of Lhasa, a journey which took four months.

The Dalai Lama spent over a year in Urga and the Wang Khuree Monastery (to the west from the capital) giving teachings to the Mongolians.

[citation needed] After the Dalai Lama fled, the Qing dynasty immediately proclaimed him deposed and again asserted sovereignty over Tibet, making claims over Nepal and Bhutan as well.

[12] The Treaty of Lhasa was signed at the Potala between Great Britain and Tibet in the presence of the Amban and Nepalese and Bhutanese representatives on 7 September 1904.

The expedition also led to a sudden and heavy-handed Chinese intervention in Tibetan areas, to develop, assimilate, and bring the regions under strong Qing central control.

[17] The Tibetan Lamas in Batang proceeded to revolt in 1905, massacring Chinese officials, French missionaries, and Christian Catholic converts.

[23][non-primary source needed] Sir Francis Edward Younghusband wrote that At the same time, on the opposite side of Tibet they were still more actively aggressive, expelling the Roman Catholic missionaries from their long-established homes at Batang, massacring many of their converts, and burning the mission-house.

I am telegraphing to you the news of the massacre.In October 1906, John Weston Brooke was the first Englishman to gain an audience with the Dalai Lama, and subsequently he was granted permission to lead two expeditions into Tibet.

[28] Also in 1906, Sir Charles Alfred Bell, was invited to visit Thubten Chökyi Nyima, the 9th Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo, where they had friendly discussions on the political situation.

[29] The Dalai Lama later stayed at the great Kumbum Monastery near Xining and then travelled east to the most sacred of four Buddhist mountains in China, Wutai Shan located 300 km from Beijing.

Mannerheim wrote his diary and notes in Swedish to conceal the fact that his ethnographic and scientific party was also an elaborate intelligence gathering mission for the Imperial Russian army.

The Dalai Lama, "accompanied by six ministers and a small escort" which included his close aide, diplomat and military figure Tsarong Dzasa, fled via Jelep La[37] to Sikkim and Darjeeling, where they stayed almost two years.

[39] After his return from exile in India in 1913, Thubten Gyatso assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the Maharaja and the British Political officer in Sikkim and the king of Nepal rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it.

[citation needed] Thubten Gyatso built a new medical college (Mentsikang) in 1913 on the site of the post-revolutionary traditional hospital near the Jokhang.

[43] Legislation was introduced to counter corruption among officials, a national taxation system was established and enforced, and a police force was created.

Thubten Gyatso sent four promising students to England to study, and welcomed foreigners, including Japanese, British and American visitors.

[44] As a result of his travels and contacts with foreign powers and their representatives (e.g., Pyotr Kozlov, Charles Alfred Bell and Gustaf Mannerheim), the Dalai Lama showed an interest in world affairs and introduced electricity, the telephone and the first motor cars [citation needed] to Tibet.

In the last decade of his life, the Dalai Lama's personal attendant, Thubten Kunphela rose to power and led several important projects for the modernization in Tibet.

[53] By August, the Tibetans lost so much land to Liu Wenhui and Ma Bufang's forces that the Dalai Lama telegraphed the British authorities in India for assistance.