History of European exploration in Tibet

[2] Friar William of Rubruck reported that the Tibetan people ‘were held an abomination among all nations’ due a ritual of drinking from the skulls of their parents.

[5] The first documented Europeans to arrive in Tibet were a pair of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, António de Andrade and Manuel Marques in July or August, 1624.

Andrade and Marques made one failed attempt on the Mana Pass which was blocked by heavy snow, only to realize that the agents of the Raj of Garhwal were in hot pursuit.

Staying in Tibet for only a month, Andrade and Marques would return to Agra by November 1624 to organize a mission trip for the following year.

[7] Cabral and Cacella also provided the first information that reached western civilization about the mystical country of Shambhala (which they transcribed as "Xembala") in their reports to India.

In 1661, two Jesuits, Johannes Grueber of Austria and Albert Dorville (D’Orville) traveled from Peking to Agra, India by way of Lhasa on an Imperial Passport.

[10] The most important of these missionaries was Ippolito Desideri, an Italian Jesuit who left Rome in 1712 with the blessing of Pope Clement XI and arrived in Lhasa on 18 March 1716.

Hedin and his followers made surprisingly accurate and detailed maps of large parts of Tibet compiled extensive documentation of their observations.

Russian explorers reached Lhasa several months later - Gombojab Tsybikov in August 1900, and Ovshe Norzunov in February 1901, officially as Mongolian pilgrims.

They had the advantage of using Nain Singh's publications, Lhasa pilgrimage experiences of their native Buryat and Kalmyk kinsmen, and support of Russian-born associate of the Dalai Lama, Agvan Dorzhiev.

At that very time, Przewalski's student Pyotr Kozlov headed to Tibet and explored the Chinese-controlled part of Kham, but was stopped at the border of Tibetan-controlled territory in October 1900 and had to retreat.