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Ü-Tsang (Tibetan: དབུས་གཙང་, Wylie: Dbus-gtsang, simplified Chinese: 卫藏; traditional Chinese: 衛藏; pinyin: Wèizàng), or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Tsang-po (Gtsang-po) watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the vast Chang Tang (Byang-thang) plateau to the north. The Himalayan range defined Ü-Tsang's southern border. The present Tibet Autonomous Region corresponds approximately to what was ancient Ü-Tsang and western Kham.
Ü-Tsang was formed by the merging of two earlier power centers: Ü (Dbus) in central Tibet, controlled by the Gelukpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism under the early Dalai Lamas, and Tsang (Gtsang) which extended from Gyantse (Rgyang-rtse) to points west, controlled by the rival Sakyapa (Sa-skya-pa) sect. Military victories by the powerful Fifth Dalai Lama consolidated power over the combined region in the 17th century.
Ü-Tsang is the cultural heartland of the Tibetan people. Successive Dalai Lamas have ruled Tibet from the Potala and Norbulingka palaces in Lhasa. Jokhang Temple, perhaps the most holy temple in Tibetan Buddhism, is also located there. The Tibetan language dialect spoken in Lhasa is used as a lingua franca in Ü-Tsang and the Tibetan Exile koine language is also based largely on it.
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