Pho-lha-nas, an important Tibetan aristocrat, ruled Tibet with Chinese support in 1728-47 .

Successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries.

Another mound is for Tride Songtsen, who ruled Tibet from 798 to 815.

He and his successors independently ruled Tibet for over eighty years until they were replaced by the Rinpungpa.

"When the Dalai Lama ruled Tibet, there were few schools in the region, and 95 percent of the people were illiterate," the article said.

China has ruled Tibet since Communist troops marched in 1950 and says Tibetans are free to practise their Buddhist faith.

She remains the only woman in Tibetan history to rule Tibet.

The title sikyong had previously been used by regents who ruled Tibet during the Dalai Lama's minority.

He continued to rule central Tibet until his death in 1364, although he left all Mongol institutions in place as hollow formalities.

The first Dalai Lama to rule Tibet was the fifth in 1642.