The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet. They number 5.4 million. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Tibetans speak the Tibetic languages, many varieties of which are mutually unintelligible. They belong to the Sino-Tibetan languages. The traditional, or mythological, explanation of the Tibetan people’s origin is that they are the descendants of the monkey Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock ogress Ma Drag Sinmo.
