Khams

Khams, one of three historical regions of Central Asia (the other two being A-mdo and Dbus-Gtsang) into which Tibet was once divided.

Between the 7th and 9th centuries ce, the Tibetan kingdom was extended until it reached the Tarim Basin to the north, China to the east, India and Nepal to the south, and the Kashmir region to the west. The newly added dominions to the east and northeast were called Mdo-Khams. The Khams region extended from what is now the northern area of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, near the town of Sog (Zaindainxoi, or Suoxian) and the upper reaches of the Huang He (Yellow River), southeastward into what is now the western part of Sichuan province. During the reign of the Manchu emperor Yongzheng (1722–35), the area east of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) was taken under Chinese administration, though it was not formally incorporated into the Chinese provincial system.

Such incorporation took place in 1928, when the northwestern Khams region became part of Qinghai province. The southeastern portion of the Khams region long remained in dispute between Tibet and China. In 1956 the disputed area of Khams east of the Yangtze was incorporated into Sichuan province as the Ganze (Garzê) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Khams is the most fertile and populous of the traditional Tibetan regions.