Shigatse, the capital of Tsang province (western Tibet), is 380km west of Lhasa via Gyantse through the southern friendship highway and 280km west of Lhasa via the northern friendship highway along the river. 
For centureis tension has existed between Lhasa, the capital of U (central Tibet), and Shigatse, the capital of Tsang (wetern Tibet). After the collapse of the Pamotrupa dynasty in 1418, the center of political power in Tibet shifted from teh Yarlung Valley region to Tsang, first to Rinpung (east of Shigatse) and then, in 1565, to shigatse itself (at that time called Samdrup Tse). 
The town became the base of the powerful king of Tsang, who, allied with the Karmapas at Tsurpu monastery, sought to gain control over the whole Tibet. In 1610 the King's authority was tenuously extended by the powerful Geluk school and their patrons. The conflict culminated in 1642 in the defeat of the Tsang king by the principal Geluk patron, the Mongol Gushri Khan, and the enthronement of the Fifth Dalai Lama in the vanquished king's capital.
Shortly after the Great Fifth assumed power, he officially declared his teacher to be an incarnation of Buddha Amitabha and entitled him as the Panchen Lama. From that point on the authority of the Panchen tended to outweigh that of the district governor, appointed from Lhasa, who resided in the defeated king's castle in the town.
Because of its proximity to India, Shigatse was one of the first towns in Tibet to be visited by Westerners. In January 1628 the first two missionaries to reach Tsang, the Portugues Jesuits Cacella and Cabral, arrived in Shigatse, where they were granted an audience with the king of Tsang, whom Cabral described as " a young man of twentytwo, of a fair complexion, in good health and above all, very religious and generous towards the poor.' Shigatse, he continued,  "is at the foot of a mountain on whose top lies a fortress. The contruction of the fort is after the plan of those in Portugal, the only thing wanting is artillery. The inside of the houses are gilded and painted, and the wing containing the king's apartment is really worth seeing. Hangings are much used in all his rooms, the plainer ones being o Chinese damask, but the others are equal to the very best in Portugal."
Today Shigatse has a poor reputation among travelers to Tibet, justifiably based on the singularly unattractive sprawl of functional Chinese buildings that constitute the modern town. This impression has led visitors to ingore the delightful warren of valleys and townhouses of the old quarter, which is situated between Tashi Lhunpo monastery and the ruins of the fort, behind the market.
Shigatse has population of about 40,000 and after Lhasa is the second largest town in Tibet.