Khampa

The Khampas are the Tibetans of Kham, the eastern Tibetan frontier of gorges, traditionally the Four Rivers and Six Ranges. Songtsen Gampo's armies brought it into the Tibetan Empire in the seventh century, but after the empire's ninth-century collapse Kham never again bowed to a single ruler. Its valleys became a patchwork of chiefdoms and estates, among them Degé, Chakla, Lingtsang, Nangchen and the Hor States, where Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya monasteries stood beside secular forts.

In 1337 the country around Nyarong, Litang and Tsawarong was still ruled by local headmen and lamas. Güshi Khan's 1639 campaign overthrew the King of Beri and drew Kham into the Dalai Lama's orbit; in 1677 its border with China was settled in Lhasa's favor.

After the Qing drove out the Dzungars in 1717–1720, the frontier was redrawn along the Jinsha River in 1725–1726, eastern-bank lands becoming imperial territory under tusi chieftains. Famed horsemen, traders and raiders, they kept their fierce pride under whichever distant power claimed their valleys.