Kham presently covers a land area distributed between five regions in China, most of it in Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.
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In 1939, an eastern area of Kham was officially established as Xikang Province of China.
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Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast, and collectively known as the Hengduan Mountains.
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Kham was traditionally referred to as Chushi Gangdruk, i e 'The Four Rivers and Six Ranges' and 'The Four Great Valleys'.
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Kham was not controlled by a single king and remained a patchwork of kingdoms, tribes, and chiefdoms whose bases of authority were constantly shifting.
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In 1837, a minor chieftain Gompo Namgyal, of Nyarong in eastern Kham, began expanding his control regionally and launched offensives against the Hor States, Litang, Dege, the Chakla and Batang, becoming the paramount power in the region.
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Central Tibet reasserted its authority over the northern parts of Kham and established the Office of the Tibetan High Commissioner to govern.
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Kham abolished the powers of the Tibetan local leaders and appointed Chinese magistrates in their places.
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Kham introduced new laws that limited the number of lamas and deprived monasteries of their temporal power and inaugurated schemes for having the land cultivated by Chinese immigrants.
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Eastern Kham subsequently became the actual area of control of China's Xikang province.
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The border between eastern and western Kham is the Upper Yangtze - Dri Chu in Tibetan and Jinsha Jiang respectively, in Chinese.
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Western Kham was then set up as a separate Qamdo Territory, then merged into Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965.
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