a region of central Asia, which during most of its history has been a self-governing part of China. Beginning in the thirteenth century, it was ruled by Dalai Lamas, or priest kings. It was believed that the spirit of a departed lama was incarnated in some living person, who thereby became his successor. In the early years of the twentieth century, there was a power struggle between the British, the Chinese and the lamas for control of the country which ended in the early 1950s with Tibet being occupied by and virtually absorbed into CommunistChina. —Conquest of Chaos Approved Glossary (8.7.92)