India and Tibet

by Sir Francis Younghusband

Published December 1985
The British military and political expedition which, under the command of Francis Younghusband, entered Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in August 1904, marked the culmination of Britain's attempts, over 140 years, to establish good relations with Tibet. A treaty was signed but, in 1910, Tibet was invaded by China. This book, first published in the year of the Chinese invasion, is Younghusband's own account of the expedition, its nature, and the profound consequences of its repudiation.

In 1882, Francis Younghusband was commissioned into the First King's Dragoon Guards who were then stationed in India. Younghusband soon launched into his career of exploration with two brief sorties into the Himalayas. The Heart of a Continent, first published in 1896, tells of Younghusband's journey through Manchuria and along the Silk Road into Chinese Turkistan. The narrative allows the archair traveller a vicarious enjoyment of the excitement, the hardships, and the achievements of the Great Game being played at the time in Central Asia by Russia and Great Britain.