A historical atlas of Tibet has been long in coming. This is in essence because there is a collective, global amnesia about the civilisation, the culture and politico-socio-economic history of the region, apart from occasional nostalgic eruptions of the Shangri-La sort which fictionalise and romanticise rather than educate and inform (the preservation of Tibetan tradition and cultural and religious beliefs and practices among the Tibetan community in exile in India is a notable exception). Therefore, the publication of A Historical Atlas of Tibet by Karl E. Ryavec (University of Chicago Press, 2015) comes as a much-needed and welcome work of scholarship that should benefit and enlighten committed scholars and Tibet aficionados alike.
This is a 200-page atlas that is a revelation in itself. The writer is an associate professor of world heritage at the University of California, Merced. The work took over two decades to complete ("12 years of research and 8 years of mapmaking"), beginning with the author's work as a geographer at the US Defense Mapping Agency in the early 1990s. The inspiration was his growing interest in Tibet, sparked by two visits to the region. His goal in creating this atlas was practical: the desire to "map the major patterns" in Tibetan culture, history, government, natural resources and trade, among other areas, in a "concise, handy reference volume for the benefit of students and scholars new to Tibetan studies". In the process, Professor Ryavec was privileged to interact with several academicians on Tibet as well as historic Tibetan figures living in exile in Dharamsala. Joseph Schwartzberg, author of the classic 1978 study A Historical Atlas of South Asia (unfortunately out of print) was another inspiration. Ryavec's training as a geographer enabled him to make all the digital maps needed for the atlas project. His ability to integrate GIS (Geographic Information System) into the study of historical and cultural geography, thus building a regional systems model for the study of Tibetan history, using the founding of Buddhist temples and monasteries as one key measure of local economic development (for want of better data), provides for an excellent compendium of knowledge about Tibet.
