Historically, Derge, which means "land of mercy", was an important centre of Tibetan culture, along with places such as Lhasa and Xiahe.

[1] The kingdom was an important industrial, religious and political center in Eastern Tibet.

In the early 20th century, the kingdom fell into political struggle between the final heirs to the throne, Djembel Rinch'en and Doje Senkel.

[2] The latter, who had enjoyed the backing of the Chinese, yielded the kingdom to China[citation needed] in 1908 in exchange for the ousting of his rival.

It has been estimated that the 217,000 blocks stored at Derge comprise 70% of the Tibetan literary heritage.