60 free Tibet trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Tibet trivia quiz covers the highest region on Earth from every angle: its geography and rivers, the seventh-century empire that once occupied a Chinese capital, the Dalai Lamas and the Gelug school, the palaces and temples of Lhasa, and everyday life built around barley, yaks and butter tea. The easy questions handle the basics: what Tibetans call the Potala's city, where the current Dalai Lama lives, and which mountain on Tibet's border is the world's tallest. The harder end is for travellers and history readers: the king who founded the empire and married a Nepalese and a Chinese princess, the Mongolian origin of the title 'Dalai', the altitude of the Tanggula Pass on the world's highest railway, the four religions that hold Mount Kailash sacred, why sky burial is practical on the plateau, the events of 10 March 1959, and the meaning of the snow lions on the exile flag. There are also questions on the Panchen Lama, tsampa, prayer wheels, Losar, the Tibetan script and the mastiff that briefly became the world's priciest dog. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for Tibet, Lhasa, the Dalai Lamas and related topics before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, our Himalayas, Buddhism and China quizzes are natural next stops.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of roughly how much?
4,380 m
That is about 14,000 feet, and the whole plateau is often nicknamed the Roof of the World.
Q 02Which mountain, on Tibet's border with Nepal, is the region's highest point?
Mount Everest
It stands 8,848.86 metres above sea level according to the latest survey.
Q 03What is Tibet's own name for itself?
Bod
Some scholars trace it to the Sanskrit Bhautta; Chinese authorities have used the pinyin Xizang in English documents since 2023.
Q 04Which city has been Tibet's religious and administrative capital since the mid-17th century?
Lhasa
At 3,656 metres it is one of the highest cities in the world, and its name means 'place of gods'.
Q 05Before it became the capital, Lhasa was called Rasa, meaning what?
Goats
Goats were used to move earth during construction of the great temple, and the name changed to 'place of gods' afterwards.
Q 06Who was the 33rd king of Tibet and founder of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th century?
Songtsen Gampo
He is the first of Tibet's 'Three Dharma Kings' and traditionally introduced Buddhism to the country.
Q 07Princess Wencheng, who wed the empire's founder in 640, was a niece of which dynasty's emperor?
Tang
His other famous foreign wife was a Nepalese princess credited with a great role in establishing Buddhism in Tibet.
Q 08In late 763, Tibetan troops occupied which Chinese capital for fifteen days?
Chang'an
China had been weakened by the An Lushan rebellion; the city is modern Xi'an.
Q 09The 821-823 peace treaty between Tibet and China was inscribed on a pillar outside which Lhasa temple?
Jokhang
An earlier 783 border treaty is commemorated by the Shol Potala Pillar.
Q 10Which king's assassination in 842 marks the beginning of the Tibetan Empire's dissolution?
Langdarma
He had murdered his brother Tritsuk Detsen in 838 and persecuted Nyingma monasteries before being killed himself.
Q 11Tibetan tradition credits which 7th-century minister with creating the Tibetan script?
Thonmi Sambhota
He is said to have adapted it from India's Gupta script around 620, though the earliest chronicles never mention him.
Q 12The word 'Dalai' in Dalai Lama comes from Mongolian and means what?
Ocean
Altan Khan gave the title to Sonam Gyatso in 1578; 'Gyatso' is the Tibetan word for ocean.
Q 13Sonam Gyatso, the first to receive the title in 1578, is counted as which Dalai Lama?
The 3rd
His two predecessors in the lineage were awarded the title posthumously.
Q 21What is the 14th Dalai Lama's religious name?
Tenzin Gyatso
Tibetans also call him Kundun ('The Presence') and Yizhin Norbu ('The Wish-Fulfilling Gem').
Q 22The 14th Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in which year?
1989
He retired as political head of the exile government in 2011 to make way for elected leadership.
Q 23The Dalai Lama's government-in-exile is based in which Indian hill town?
Dharamshala
It was first set up in Mussoorie in April 1959 and moved the following year.
Q 24The 1959 Lhasa uprising began on which date, now observed by exiles as Tibetan Uprising Day?
Q 14The Dalai Lamas belong to which school of Tibetan Buddhism, also known as the Yellow Hats?
Gelug
Its founder Je Tsongkhapa's disciples established the great monasteries of Ganden, Drepung and Sera near Lhasa.
Q 15Which Dalai Lama, 'the Great', unified central Tibet and ordered the Potala Palace built?
The 5th
He won a prolonged civil war against the Kagyu and Jonang sects and the Tsangpa prince.
Q 16The Potala Palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of which bodhisattva?
Avalokiteśvara
The Dalai Lamas are held to be his incarnations; the palace has 13 storeys, over 1,000 rooms and 200,000 statues.
Q 17On which hill in Lhasa does the Potala Palace stand?
Marpo Ri
The name means Red Mountain, and the site once held an earlier palace attributed to the empire's founder.
Q 18Lhasa's Jokhang temple was built around 640 to house a Buddha statue brought by which queen?
Bhrikuti
Her Jowo Mikyo Dorje now sits in the Ramoche temple, while Wencheng's Jowo Shakyamuni remains in the great temple.
Q 19What is the Barkhor in Lhasa?
A pilgrim circuit and market around the Jokhang
The walk around the temple takes about 20 minutes and is marked by four stone incense burners.
Q 20The 14th Dalai Lama was born in 1935 in the village of Taktser in which traditional Tibetan region?
Amdo
Born Lhamo Thondup to a farming family, he was recognised in 1939 and enthroned in Lhasa in February 1940.
10 March
Protests were fuelled by fears that the Chinese planned to arrest the Dalai Lama at a dance performance in the military headquarters.
Q 25Which US agency gave Tibetan fighters training, Nepal camps and aerial supply drops around 1959?
The CIA
Armed resistance had begun in the eastern regions in 1956 after socialist reforms were imposed there.
Q 26What is the 1951 document under which China annexed Central Tibet called?
The Seventeen Point Agreement
It followed the Battle of Chamdo, and the Dalai Lama's government was abolished after the failed 1959 uprising.
Q 27Which British officer led the 1904 expedition into Tibet and negotiated the resulting convention?
Francis Younghusband
Launched amid Great Game fears of Russian influence, it began as a border dispute mission and became an invasion.
Q 28The province-level region China created to replace the old Tibet Area was established in which year?
1965
It covers over 1.2 million square kilometres, about half of cultural Tibet, with roughly three people per square kilometre.
Q 29The Panchen Lama, second in spiritual authority to the Dalai Lama, traditionally heads which monastery?
Tashilhunpo
It stands in Tibet's second city, and each Panchen Lama is held to be an incarnation of the buddha Amitābha.
Q 30Which mountain in western Tibet is sacred to Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and followers of Bön alike?
Mount Kailash
No recorded ascent has ever been made and climbing is prohibited; pilgrims circumambulate it instead.