Namri Songtsen

Namri Songtsen (Wylie: gnam ri srong btsan), also known as "Namri Löntsen" (Wylie: gnam ri slon mtshan) (570?–618?/629) was, according to tradition, the 32nd King of Tibet of the Yarlung Dynasty, which until his reign ruled only the Yarlung Valley. He expanded his kingdom to rule the central part of the Tibetan Plateau. His actions were decisive in the setting up of the Tibetan Empire (7th century), to which he can be named co-founder with his son, Songtsän Gampo.

Namri Songtsen was a member of the Yarlung tribe, located to the southeast of Lhasa, in the fertile Yarlung Valley where the Tsangpo (known in India as the Brahmaputra) supported both agriculture and human life. The Tibetan plateau was, at this time, a mosaic of clans of mountain shepherds with simple nomadic organizations where intertribal fighting and razzia sorties are part of the local economy. Each clan had several chiefs. These clans had few material and cultural exchanges according to topography, climate, and distances, which means that each clan, located in a specified network of valleys, had its own culture with little in common with other clans. These "proto-Tibetans" were isolated from relations with the outside world, though some mountain groups to the east in Sichuan, Qinghai and the 'Azha kingdom dwelt in border areas contiguous with, or within, the Chinese empire. Early Chinese sources appear to mention proto-Tibetan peoples in a few rare cases, if the Qiang and Rong do indeed refer to them. This changed dramatically by the beginning of Tang Dynasty, the Tibetan kingdom becoming a powerful player in the military history of Eastern and Central Asia.

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