The beginning of the Tibetan presence in France can be traced back to 1908, when the great tibetologist Jacques Bacot, back from his trip in the Tibetan borderlands, arrived in the city of Marseille with his guide and translator Adjroub Gompo. The latter would later write about his discovery of France in his tale "Travel of the named Adjroub Gompo of Patong", which would feature as an appendix in Bacot's book "Tibet in revolt". In 1909, Adjroub Gompo came back alone to Tibet in order to prepare Jacques Bacot's second travel there.

In 1925, Alexandra David Néel returned to France arriving in Le Havre, with lama Aphur Yongden, her adopted son. They traveled back to to Asia together, from 1937 to 1946, before settling permanently in the city of Digne-les-Bains, where Yongden would die in 1955.>

In late 1960, thanks to a couple of Tibetologist Alexander and Ariane MacDonald, Dagpo Rinpoché arrived in Paris with Thupten Phuntshog and a couple, Tashi Dolma and Lobsang Tensing. Dagpo Rinpoché worked with the Professor Rolf A. Stein, a Tibetologist, who would become professor at the prestigious Parisian university Collège de France. In 1963, he joined the Inalco¹ institute where he taught Tibetan language and civilisation at under the name of M.Jampa until 1992. Thupten Phuntshog and Lobsang Tensing also worked with french Tibetologists...

In October 1962, thanks in particular to Admiral Paul Ortoli, a hero of the French Liberation from the Nazis and former chief of staff to General De Gaulle's in London, and to his wife Brynhild Helander, a pupil of Dagbo Rinpoché, France welcomed 20 exiled Tibetan children, aged 6 to 10 (10 boys and 10 girls), and granted them the status of "Pupilles de la Nation" – the nation's orphans. They came with a couple of guardians (Mr. and Mrs Norgyé). Until they reached their majority, they were housed and schooled in La Coûme (region of Pyrénées orientales), Bléneau (region of Yonne) and then in Valpré (in the city of Ecully, in the Rhône region), with the Assumptionists religious congregation. Some of them stayed in France. Others settled in Switzerland, England and Canada. In 1965, l'ORTF – the French organisation for radio and télévision – documented their stay in La Coûme in a short film.

(https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/caf86013664/les-enfants-du-tibet)

After the foudation of a short-lived gelugpa centre at La Chapelle-Vielle-Forêt (region of Yonne) in 1964, and the arrival of Guéshé Yonten Gyatso – who would become a research director at the French science research centre CNRS – and Ngawang Dakpa – who would work for the Inalco, Tibetan buddhism gradually developed in France. In the 1970s, great Tibetan masters came to France (Kalou Rinpoché, the 16th Karmapa, Dudjom Rinpoché, Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoché, Pawo Rinpoché...) and with the help of patrons and students, set up dharma centers mostly belonging to the Kagyu and Nyima Schools, but also to the Gelug and Sakya schools. Tibetan lamas settled in those centers and became their spiritual directors/managers (Pema Tulku, Wangyal Rinpoché, Jigme Rinpoché, Guendune Rinpoché, Lama Teunsang, Gueshé Lobsang Tengyé, Phendé Rinpoché...). Dagpo Rinpoché, a retiree from Inalco, founded the Guépèle institute, a gelugpa centre in the region of Paris, at his students'request. Several of those centres would be recognised by the French state as religious congregations.

At the same time, a few other Tibetan refugees came to France to study, work, start a family and settle. In this small community of just a few dozen people, the first children of the second generation were born. In 1981, after they operated in an informal way for a few years, the "Tibetan community of France and its Friends" structured itself by applying for an official status in France under the 1901 law which regulates associations. The first Tibetan store opened on Burcq street, in the Montmartre district in Paris in 1985, and in 1988 France's first Tibetan restaurant was established in Paris' Montagne Sainte-Geneviève (Tashi Delek). Many more would follow suit. A Tibetan Bureau was also created in Paris by the Tibetan Central Administration in 1993.

Even if the Tibetan community only counted a few thousand members (300 to 400 people) until the end of the 20^th century and the early 21^th, the life of the Tibetan community was already structured around historic days or events and symbolic places : The Losar new year celebration, the commemoration of March the 10^th of 1959, His Highness the Dalai Lama's birthday on the 6^th of July, the Festival of Tibet and Himalaya in June and September (since 2000) - and different districts of Paris : Montagne Sainte Genevève, Trocadero and Esplanade des Droits de l'Homme, as well as the Great Pagoda of "Vincennes' woods" host yearly celebrations and events. On a very different scale, great gatherings occured during this period when the Dalai Lama visited France. From his first trip in 1982 (during which he visited Alexandra David-Néel's home in Digne) to his most recent in 2016, the Dalai Lama visited France 24 times, and even stayed for 3 weeks in 1993.

A major change happened starting from 2010-2012 when the number of Tibetan refugees swelled and the community grew. For some of them, the first contact with France takes place in the city of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (in the region of Yvelines), where a boat named "Je sers" (I serve) and the Pierre Blanche (White Stone) Association mark the first step of their new life – sometimes a hard step to take. New places where the community gather appear : Stalingrad-La Chapelle districts and the garden of Eole in northern Paris, where more and more restaurants are established, as well as some suburb cities where families gather. New associations help refugees to integrate in society and to meet up – a growing number of them being Tibetan ones. Sunday schools are also being set up so that children born and schooled in France can learn and use the Tibetan language. In 2024, the 10 000 to 15 000-strong Tibetan community, which is dynamic et willing to preserve its Tibetan values and culture, shows a great willingness to integrate itself in its host country without forgetting its identity, at a time when it's more and more endangered in Tibet itself.