Amdo - Definition and Overview

Amdo (Tibetan: ཨ༌མདོ, Chinese: 安多, Pinyin: Ānduō) is considered the northern part of Tibet by Tibetans and is the place from where the present Dalai Lama comes from. The Amdo dialect is also one of the major dialects of the Tibetan language. The region of Amdo is distributed mainly in the Chinese province of Qinghai, with smaller parts in Gansu and Sichuan. About 35% of all Tibetans consider themselves to be living in Amdo.