Tibet Area (administrative division)
A map showing the official divisions of the ROC, Tibet Area is in the southwest of China.
The Tibet Area was a province-level administrative division of the Republic of China and early People's Republic of China. The Republic of China never had any real control over the area, which was controlled by the Kashag government in Lhasa. When the republic was founded in 1912, the Kashag controlled about the same area as the Tibet Area, but later also took control of the western part of Xikang province; thus for the most of the Republic of China period, Lhasa controlled an area which was the same as the Tibet Autonomous Region today. The People's Republic of China controlled Tibet in 1951 and replaced "Tibet Area" with Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965.