History of Mongolia
Encyclopedia
The area of what is now Mongolia
has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu
, the Xianbei
, the Nirun
, the Gökturks
, and others. The Mongol Empire
was founded by Genghis Khan
in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty
in 1368, the Mongols returned to their earlier patterns of internal strife. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism
. At the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty
.
During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921
to firmly establish de-facto independence, and until 1945 to gain international recognition. As a consequence, it came under strong Soviet influence: In 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic was declared, and Mongolian politics began to follow the same patterns as Soviet politics of the time. After the breakdown of communism
in late 1989, Mongolia saw its own Democratic Revolution
in early 1990, which led to a multi-party system
, a new constitution
in 1992, and a transition to a market economy
.
Mongolia has been inhabited for over 800,000 years. Important prehistoric sites are the paleolithic cave drawings
of the Khoid Tsenkheriin Agui (Northern Cave of Blue) in Khovd province, and the Tsagaan Agui (White Cave) in Bayankhongor province. A neolithic
farming settlement has been found in Dornod
province. Contemporary findings from western Mongolia include only temporary encampments of hunters and fishers. The population during the Copper Age
has been described as paleomongolid in the east of what is now Mongolia, and as europid in the west.
In the 2nd millennium B.C, during the bronze age
, western Mongolia was under the influence of the Karasuk culture
. Deer stone
s and the omnipresent kheregsüürs (small kurgan
s) probably are from this era; other theories date the deer stones as 7th or 8th centuries BCE. A vast iron age
burial complex from the 5th-3rd century, later also used by the Xiongnu, has been unearthed near Ulaangom
.
Before the 20th century, some scholars assumed that the Scythians descended from the Mongolic people. The Scythian community inhabited western Mongolia in the 5-6th century. In 2006 the mummy of a Scythian warrior, which is believed to be about 2,500 years old was a 30-to-40 year-old man with blond hair, and was found in the Altai, Mongolia.
weapon
s entered the area in the 3rd century BCE. In general, Mongolia at this point had a similar history to the rest of the steppe
between Siberia
, northern Russia to the north, China
, and the Middle East
and Central Asia
to the south. These steppes were usually inhabited by nomad
ic tribes, sometimes united in confederations of varying sizes. These nomads usually herded animals, traded with and raided more agricultural peoples and each other. However, every now and then, large nomadic confederation
s formed that threatened China, and sometimes the Middle East, Europe
, and beyond. These confederations, while vast and often destructive, rarely lasted, but they did redistribute peoples and disrupt the politics of the regions they attacked. The people in the Mongolia region usually focused their attention on nearby wealthy China, and their confederations greatly influence Chinese history. China's response is a major theme in Mongolian history.
The establishment of the Xiongnu
empire in Mongolia in the 3rd century BCE marks the beginning of statehood on the territory of Mongolia. The founder of the Hunic empire was Toumen
. He was succeeded violently by his son Modu Shanyu
. Then he conquered and unified various tribes. At the peak of its power, the Hun confederacy stretched from Lake Baikal
in the north to the Great Wall
in the south and from the Tian Shan
mountains in the west to the Greater Khingan
ranges in the east.
In 200 BCE the Han Dynasty
of China launched a military campaign into the territory attempting to subjugate the Huns. However the Hun forces ambushed and encircled the Han Emperor Gao at Baideng for seven days. Emperor Gao was forced to submit to the Hun, and a treaty was signed in 198 BCE recognising all the territories to the north from the Great Wall should belong to the Xiongnu, while the territory to the south of the Great Wall should belong to the Han. In addition, China was obliged to marry princesses and pay annual tribute to the Xiongnu. This "marriage alliance
" was far from peaceful, as Hun raids into the fertile southern land never ceased. During the period of Emperor Wen
, Hun raids advanced into China Proper
, ravaged and even besieged near its capital Chang'an
. This continued for 70 years until the reign of Emperor Wu
, whose massive counteroffensives devastated the Xiongnu and sent them towards the road of decline.
In 48 CE, the Xiongnu empire was weakened as it was divided into the southern and northern Huns. The northern Huns migrated to the west.
The Xianbei
that were under the Xiongnu rebelled in 93 BCE ending the Xiongnu domination in Mongolia. Zhizhi Chanyu
, the leader of the northern Xiongnu moved to the west with his people, triggering the Great Migration
. Their descendants, together with the members of other tribes, appeared in Europe in the 5th century as the Huns
of Attila. By then, of course, these people were considerably more mixed ethnically. However, the Xiongnu-Hun connection is not universally accepted.
Recent excavations of Xiongnu graves at the site Gol Mod in the Khairkhan of Arkhangai province, discovered bronze decorations with images of a creature resembling the unicorn
and images of deities resembling the Greco-Roman deities. These discoveries lead to a hypothesis that the Xiongnu had relations with the Greco-Roman world 2000 years ago.
The Xianbei
gained strength beginning from the 1st century CE and were consolidated into a state under Tanshihuai in 147. He expelled the Xiongnu from Jungaria, and pushed the Dinglin to the north of the Sayans
, thus securing domination of the Mongolic elements in what is now Khalkha
and Chaharia. The Xianbei successfully repelled an invasion of the Han Dynasty in 167 and conquered areas of northern China in 180.
The ruler of the Xianbei state was elected by a congress of the nobility. The Xianbei used woodcut tallies called Kemu as a form of non-verbal communication. Besides extensive livestock husbandry, the Xianbei were also engaged at a limited scale in farming and handicraft. The Xianbei fractured in the 3rd century.
Toba, a faction of the Xianbei, established the Toba Wei
empire beyond Mongolia proper in northern China in 386. Toba Wei existed until 581. There are various hypotheses about the language and ethnic links of the Xianbei:
It is also unclear, whether the Mongolic and Tungusic groups of languages had been distinctively diverged by the time of the Xianbei.
A branch of the Xianbei, the Nirun (Rouran) were consolidated under Mugulyu. Shelun assumed the title of Khagan in 402 landmarking the establishment of the state of the Nirun Khaganate. The Toba waged long wars against the Nirun Kaganate. The Altai Turkics
that were subjects of the Nirun revolted in 552 establishing the Turkic Khaganate. The Nirun Khaganate was finally defeated by the Turkics in 555. Part of the Nirun left the present territory of Mongolia. A number of historians maintain that they established the Avar
ian Kaganate between the river Danube and the Carpathian Mountains. The Niruns that stayed in Mongolia became the ancestors of the Tatar
tribes.
The Altai Turkics (Orkhon Turkics, Göktürks
), whose language belonged to the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic languages, were subjects to the Nirun and served as blacksmiths for them. Therefore, the revolt of the Turkics of 552 is often called the "Blacksmiths' rebellion". The uprising was headed by Buman who became the founder of the Göktürk Khaganate. The Chinese dynasties Qi and Zhou surrendered in 570 and began paying tribute to the Göktürks. However, the Turkic Khaganate was partitioned in 590 into an Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates. The Sui Dynasty
of China invaded the Turkic Khaganate in 615, but Shibi kagan repelled the invasion and captured the Sui Emperor. The internal struggle between the Turkic nobles lead to their defeat by the Tang Dynasty of China in 630. The Göktürks continuously struggled against the subjugation by the Tang Dynasty. An uprising of 680 under the leadership of Kutuluk and Tonyukuk led to restoration of the Turkic Khaganate. In the early 8th century, an invading army of 450,000 soldiers headed by Tang Dynasty's Empress Wu Zetian was defeated and chased back by Mojo khagan.
The Uyghurs, who were subjects to the Göktürks, revolted in 745 and founded the Uyghur Khaganate which replaced the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. The Uyghur kagan Bayanchur established Ordu-Baliq
City on the Orkhon river in 751. The Tang Empire invited the Uyghurs to subdue a peasant
rebellion in 755. Successful campaigns of the Uyghur Khaganate led to a peace with the Tang Dynasty of China which paid tribute in silk
and grain
for 12 years after 766.
Though a faction of the Uyghurs were Buddhists, the Manichaeism
became the official religion of the Khaganate in the 8th century. Nevertheless, the majority of the Uyghurs remained shamanists. The culture and economy of the Uyghur Kaganate were more advanced than those of its predecessors. The Uyghurs used a 12-month calendar and calculated the dates of solar
and lunar eclipse
s. The Uyghurs developed their own writing system based on the Sogdian script. The Uyghur Khaganate fell under an invasion of the Yenisei Kirghiz
in 840.
dominance in Mongolia. According to historians, Kirhgiz were not interested in assimilating newly acquired lands; instead, they controlled local tribes through various manaps.
The Khitans were an ethnic group whose language belonged to the Mongolic group. Khagan Ambagyan founded the Khitan Empire in 911. The Khitan Empire covered a significant portion of what is now Mongolia including the basins of the three rivers Kherlen
, Tuul and Orkhon. As it grew strong and occupied parts of China, it came to be called the Liao Dynasty
. The territory of the Khitan Empire consisted of two parts: one populated by pastoral herders in the north and the other populated by croppers in the south. The two parts of the empire actively traded with each other. Lubugu, a grandson of Ambagyan, and a scholar named Tulyubu developed a Grand Alphabet based on the Chinese hieroglyphics in 920. Later, Tela, a son of Ambagyan, developed a Minor Alphabet based on the Uyghur script. A printing
technology developed in the Khitan Empire. The Khitan language was widely studied abroad. The Jurchens, who were subjects to the Kidans, rebelled in 1113 and established in 1125 the Jin Dynasty which replaced the Liao Dynasty. A faction of the Kidans moved to the west, escaping subjugation by the Jurchens. Those Khitans established the Kara-Khitan Khanate
in Eastern Turkestan.
The 12th century Mongolia is characterised by rivalry of numerous tribe
s and confederation
s (khanligs).
A confederation of tribes under the name Mongol was known from the 8th century. The confederations of core Mongol tribes were transforming into a statehood in the early 12th century and became to be known as Khamag Mongol
confederacy. They occupied one of the most fertile lands of the country—the basins of the rivers Onon
, Kherlen and Tuul in the Khentii mountains
. The first khan
of Khamag Mongol recorded in history is Khabul Khan
from Khiyad
tribe. Khabul Khan successfully repelled the invasions of Jin Dynasty. Khabul Khan was succeeded by Ambaghai
Khan from Taichuud tribe. Ambagai was captured by the Tatars while he came to deliver his daughter as a bride to the Tatar confederacy and was given to the Jurchens
of Jin Dynasty who cruelly executed him, nailing to a "wooden donkey". Ambagai was succeeded by Hotula Khan Khan, son of Khabul khan. Hotula Khan was engaged in 13 battles with the Tatars endeavouring to avenge Ambagai Khan. Khamag Mongol was unable to elect a khan after Hotula died, however Khabul's grandson Yesukhei
baghatur
was a major chief
of Khamag Mongol.
Yesukhei was poisoned by the Tatars in 1171 when his eldest son Temujin was 9 years old. Shortly after Yesukhei died, Targudai of Taichuud moved away with the subjects of Yesukhei leaving young Temujin with his mother and younger siblings without support. Hence, Khamag Mongol remained in political crisis until 1189.
The Tatar
confederacy was first recorded in history in 732. The Tatars became subjects of the Khitan in the 10th century. After the fall of the Khitan empire, the Tatars experienced pressure from the Jin Dynasty and were urged to fight against the other Mongol tribes. The Tatars lived on the fertile pastures around the lakes Hulun and Buir and occupied a trade route to China.
The Kereit confederacy was located between the mountain ranges of Khangai and Khentii and centered on the site of nowadays city Ulaanbaatar
in the willow groves of the Tuul river. Markus was Khan of the Kereit in the 12th century. Markus was succeeded by Tooril
khan. In his feud with his brothers for the Kereit throne, he was repeatedly aided by Yesukhei Bagatur of Khamag Mongol.
The Mergid
confederacy was located in the basin of the river Selenge and the Hori Tumet (Buryat
) tribes lived around the lake Baikal
.
The Naiman
confederacy was situated between the mountain ranges of Altai and Khangai. The Ongut tribes lived at the north of Gobi. Other tribes were Olkhunut
, Bayud
, Hongirad, Oin Irgen
and so forth. While most of the Mongolian tribes were Shamanists, Nestorian Christianity was practised in a number of confederations such as Kereit and Ongut.
Temujin (1162–1227) defeated and subjugated the "Three Mergids" in 1189 with the support of Tooril Khan of Kereit, the blood brother of his father. Another ally who helped Temujin in this venture was his own blood brother Jamukha
of Jadaran clan. The Mergids had attacked the home of Temujin and captured his wife Börte
of Hongirad tribe revenging for a much earlier event in which Temujin's father Yesukhei deprived a Mergid chief Chiledu his bride Hoelun
of Olkhunut
tribe, who became the mother of Temujin. The striving of Temujin to free his wife became a reason for the campaign against the Mergids. After the defeat of the Mergid, the reputation of Temiujin rose rapidly and the leading members of the Khamag Mongol aristocracy enthroned him with title Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan
), as the ruler of Khamag Mongol. It is speculated to be an ancient form of the word "Tenggis" -- ocean, sea.
A conflict of the Tatars with the Jin Dynasty became a favourable opportunity for Temujin and Tooril Khan to defeat them in alliance with the Jurchens
. At this point, Tooril Khan was granted the title Wang (王, Chinese for "king
") by the Jin court and since then became known as Wang Khan
. By the year 1201, the Taichuud and Jurkhin tribes were defeated and subjugated. Influential aristocrats of many other tribes and confederations were joining Temujin.
In 1201, a crisis ignited in the Kereit khanlig, in which the siblings of Tooril Wang Khan allied with Inancha Khan of Naiman and defeated Tooril. Wang Khan regained power in his kingdom with the support of Temujin. Temujin finally defeated and subjugated the Tatars in 1202. Nilha (childish) Sengum, son of Wang Khan, envied Temujin as his power was growing and persuaded his father to battle against Temujin. This venture led to a victory of Temujin and conquest of the Kereit Khanlyk. Wang Khan escaped alone into the southern deserts of the Naiman khanlig, where he was caught by the by Naiman patrols, who killed him irritated as he claimed himself as Wang Khan.
Tayan khan of Naiman and his son Kuchulug initiated a campaign against Temujin in 1204. They allied with Jamukha, who competed with Temujin for the power over the Mongolic tribes. The Naiman troops outnumbered the Temujin's troops. At night at the eve of the battle, Temujin ordered each of his warrior to light ten bonfires, thus deceiving and demoralising Tayan khan, who was a weak warlord. Temujin won the battle. Tayan khan was captured but died of his wound, Kuchulug retreated to the river Irtysh
where he was overtaken by Temujin and defeated. After this battle, Kuchulug escaped to Gur-Khan of Kara-Kitai.
As the Khanlyk of Naiman was conquered, Khasar, brother of Temujin, found a dignitary named Tata Tunga, who spread the Uigur alphabet among the Mongols. This alphabet became the basis of the Classical Mongol script.
By the year 1206, all the tribes and confederations of Mongolian steppe had come under the leadership of Temujin. The success of Temujin in consolidation of the Mongols
was due to his flexibility, his cherishing of his friends and his elaborated tactics. A congress of the Mongol aristocrats on the river Onon
in 1206 enthroned Temujin as Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) as Emperor of all Mongolia.
The Mongol Empire and the states that emerged from it played a major role in the history of the 13th and 14th centuries. Genghis Khan
and his immediate successors conquered nearly all of Asia and European Russia
and sent armies as far as central Europe and Southeast Asia.
Genghis Khan abolished the organisation of the former tribe
s and confederation
s and reformed the country into 95 mingats. In this system, a group of households large enough to mobilise 10 warriors were organised into an arbatu (10 warriors), 10 arbatus were organised into a zagutu (100 warriors), 10 zagutus constituted a mingat (1,000 warriors) and 10 mingats constituted a tumetu or tumen
(10,000 warriors). This decimal system was a long tested system that had been inherited from the period of the Xiongnu. With an assumption that each household consisted of 4 persons and every adult male was a warrior, it can be estimated that the entire population of Mongolia was at least 400,000 people and the nation possessed 95,000 cavalrymen.
The newly unified Great Mongol State
became an attractive force for many neighbouring peoples and kingdoms. Beginning from the year 1207, the Uighur state, Taiga people of the river Yenisey and the Karluk kingdom joined Mongolia. The urgent task of Chinggis Khaan was strengthening the independence of his young nation. For a century, the southeastern neighbour Jin Dynasty had been provoking the Mongolic tribes against one another in order to eventually subjugate them. With a purpose of testing the military strength of his state and preparing for a struggle against the Jin Dynasty, Chinggis Khaan conquered the Tangut empire Xi-Xia, which pledged vassalage.
In the year, Mongolia with over 90,000 cavalrymen started a war with the Jin Dynasty which had a multi-million population. At this stage, the Mongols
passed over the Great Wall, invaded Shanxi
and Shandong
provinces, and approached the river Huang He. The "Altan (Golden) Khaan" (Jin Emperor) surrendered in 1214 and gave Genghis Khaan his princess and tribute of gold and silver to his warlords. Genghis Khaan gave out to his warriors the present of the Jin Emperor loaded on 3000 horses. However, the Jin Dynasty continued hostility against Mongolia, hence Genghis Khaan ordered his warlord Guo Wang Mukhulai
of the Jalair clan to complete the conquest of the Jin Dynasty and returned to Mongolia.
Later, the warlord Jebe
of Besud
clan defeated Kuchulug who had become the Gur-Khan of Kara-Khitai. His power was weak as he, a Buddhist, persecuted the indigenous Muslim population.
Genghis Khaan intended to develop friendly relations with the Khwarezm
Empire, which was on a junction of the trade route
s connecting the East and the West and dominated Central Asia
, Iran
and Afghanistan
. Genghis Khaan considered himself a supreme ruler of the East and Khwarezm Shah
a supreme ruler of the West. Khwarezm Shah had an opposite view that there should be only one ruler on earth as there is only one sun in the sky.
The execution of 450 envoys and tradesmen of Chinggis Khaan by Khwarezm Shah 1218 was an announcement of war. The Mongol troops invaded Khwarezm Empire in 1219. Although Khwarezm Shah possessed an army outnumbering the Mongol troops dozen of times, he lacked the courage and initiatives to unite his forces and fight back. The Mongol troops sacked cities Otrar
, Buhara
, Merv
and Samarkand
. Shah's warlord Temur-Melik led a daring resistance when the Mongol troops besieged city Khujand
. Shah's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu
courageously battled with the Mongol army in 1221, but was defeated and escaped to the river Ind
.
Pursuing Khwarezm Shah in 1220, the scout groups of warlords Jebe and Subedei bagathur of Uriankhai
clan conquered northern Iran. They invaded Iraq
, Azerbaijan
, Armenia
and Georgia
in 1221 and entered the territories of the Kipchak Khanate in Crimea
and grasslands of the northern Black Sea
. The Kipchaks allied with the troops of the principalities of Rus
gave battle to the 30,000 cavalrymen of Jebe and Subedei on the river Kalka
in May 1223, but were defeated and were chased up to the river Dnieper.
The Tangut kingdom denied its obligation as a vassal state to take part in the western campaign of Genghis Khaan. Shortly after returning to Mongolia, the Mongol army invaded the Tangut state in 1226 and conquered the capital Ningxia. The Tangut kingdom completely surrendered in March 1227.
The 16 year conquests of Chinggis Khaan resulted in the formation of the Mongol Empire
. Chinggis Khaan died on 16 August 1227 and was buried at site Ihe Ötög on the southern slopes of the Khentii
mountain range.
An Ihe Kurultai
Congress of nobility of 1228 enthroned Ogedei
, who had been nominated by Genghis Khaan. Ogedei Khaan made Karakorum
on the river Orkhon the capital of the Mongol Empire. Karakorum had been a military garrison of Genghis Khaan since 1220. The existence of 12 Buddhist
temple
s, 2 Muslim
mosque
s and 1 Christian
church in city Karakorum indicates the tolerance of the Mongols to all religion
s. The construction of the city was supervised by Otchigin
, the youngest brother of Genghis Khaan. Ogedei Khaan established an effective postal yam
system with well organised posts (‘’örtege’’). The system connected the various regions of the whole Empire. Ogedei Khaan settled down the rebellions in the countries conquered during his father and led an army himself to put down a revolt in Korea
.
Ogedei Khaan completed the conquest of the Jin Dynasty in 1231-1234. He sent princes headed by Batu
, son of Zuchi
, to the west, and they conquered the Bulgar
kingdom on the Volga river and 14 principalities of Rus in 1236-1240, invaded the principalities of Poland, the kingdom of Kingdom of Hungary, Moravia
(then part of the Holy Roman Empire
), and the area of Moldavia
in 1241-1242 and approached the Adriatic sea.
After his 16-year reign, Ogedei Khaan died in 1241 under suspicious circumstances. A rivalry for the throne began between the faction of the houses of Zuchi and Tului on one side and the faction of the houses of Chagatai
and Ogedei on the other side. Ihe Kuriltai of 1246 elected Guyug
, son of Ogedei, as Great Khaan. Guyug Khaan died in 1248.
The traveller from Italy Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
arrived in 1246 and later he wrote the book "Historia Mongolorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus". The faction of Zuchi-Tului houses won the Ihe Kuriltai of 1251 electing Mönghe
, son of Tului, as Great Khaan. Mönghe Khaan sent his cousin Hulagu to conquer Iran. Hulagu completed the conquest of Iran in 1256 and conquered Baghdad
, Caucasus
and Syria
in 1257-1259. Willem van Ruysbroeck of Flanders
arrived in 1254 and later wrote his account "Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, Anno gratia 1253 ad partes Orientales".
Mönghe Khaan died in 1259. He did not have a male offspring. Ihe Kuriltai of 1260 elected Ariq Böke
, a younger brother of Mönghe Khaan as Great Khaan. The same year, Ariq Böke's elder brother Kublai, who was warring in China to conquer the Song Dynasty, elevated himself into Khaan of Mongolia in city Shangdu (or known as Kaiping). A long struggle between the two brothers continued between 1261-1266 until Ariq Böke died.
The Mongol Empire had an establishing effect on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasia
n territory in the 13th and 14th centuries. It enabled exchange of knowledge, inventions and culture between the West and East. This epoch is called Pax Mongolica
.
In Mongolia, the legacy of Genghis Khaan was a superior law code, a written language, and a historical pride.
The establishment of the Yuan Dynasty
(1271–1368) by Kubilai Khaan
accelerated fragmentation of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire fractured into the Yuan Dynasty, the Golden Horde
, Chagatai Khanate
and Ilkhanate
, although later Yuan emperors were seen as the nominal suzerains of the western khanates.
(modern-day Beijing
) by Kublai Khaan in 1264 was opposed by many Mongols. Thus, Ariq Böke's struggle was for keeping the centre of the Empire in Mongolia proper. After Ariq Böke's death, the struggle was continued by Kaidu
, a grandson of Ogedei Khaan and lord Nayan
until 1294.
Kublai invited lama
Drogön Chögyal Phagpa
of Sakya
school of Tibetan Buddhism
to spread Buddhism among the Mongols (the second introduction of Buddhism). Buddhism became the official religion of the Mongol state. In 1269, Kublai Khaan commissioned Phagpa lama to design a new writing system to unify the writing systems of the multilingual Mongol Empire. The Phagspa script
also known as Дөрвөлжин бичиг (Quadratic script) based on the Tibetan script
and written vertically from top was designed to write in Mongolian
, Tibetan
, Chinese
, Uighur and Sanskrit languages and served as the official script of the empire
.
Kublai Khaan announced the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty
in 1271. The Yuan Dynasty included Mongolia
proper, the territories of the former Jin and Song
dynasties and some adjacent territories such as a major part of Southern Siberia
. The Yuan government also set up a top-level institution called Xuanzheng Yuan to govern Tibet
. Korea was its tributary
kingdom. Kublai established a government with institutions resembling the ones in earlier Chinese dynasties, yet at the same time introduced a hierarchy of reliability by dividing the subjects of the Yuan Dynasty into 4 ranks. The highest rank included the Mongols, the second rank included the peoples to the west of Mongolia, the third rank included the subjects of the former Jin Dynasty such as Northern Chinese, the Kidans and Jurchens, and the lowest rank comprised the subjects of the former Song Dynasty such as the Han ethnic group in South China.
By eliminating the Song Dynasty
, Kublai Khaan completed the conquest of China. The fleets of the Yuan Dynasty attempted to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281, but their ships were destroyed in sea storms on both occasions. During the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolia proper was administered by the jinong
, prince royal nominated as successor to the throne, who resided in Karakorum.
The ordinary people experienced hardships during the Yuan Dynasty. Hence, Mongol warriors rebelled against Kublai in 1289. Kublai Khaan died in 1294 and was succeeded by Ölzei Temür Khaan, who continued the fight against Kaidu. Kaidu died in 1301. Scholar Choiji-Odser wrote the book on Mongolian grammar
"Jiruken Tolitu" in 1305. During the reign of Khaisan Külüg Khaan
, who succeeded Ölzei Temür Khaan in 1307, an uprising of ordinary Mongols under the leadership of Alhuitemur took place in 1309. Buyantu Khaan came to power in 1312. The Mongol commoners were exempted from tax in 1314 for a period of 2 years.
In 1333, Togoontemur became Khaan. The city Karakorum was expanded in 1297, underwent capital repairs in 1311 and was expanded again in 1346.
A rebellion called the Red Turban Rebellion
began in China in the 1350s and the Yuan Dynasty fell in 1368. The last Yuan emperor Togoontemur fled north to Yingchang
and died there in 1370. The Yuan remnants, which had retreated to Mongolia, are then referred to as the "Northern Yuan", and continued to resist the Ming rebels
.
Ayushiridara Biligtü Khaan
was enthroned in 1370. The Ming Dynasty
founded by native Chinese began aggressions against Mongolia from the year 1372. Mongol warlord Köke Temür
defeated a 150,000 Ming force on the river Orkhon in 1373. Ming army invaded Mongolia again in 1380 and looted Karakorum
and other cities, but the invasions of Mongolia by Ming armies in 1381 and 1392 were expelled. Nevertheless, Yuan royalists in Yunnan
had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty by the early 1380s.
Nahacu, a Mongol official of Ayushiridara in Liaoyang
province invaded Liaodong with aims of restoring the Yuan Dynasty. However, he, along with his troops (sized about 200,000) finally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in 1387-88 due to famines. Ming Emperor Yongle
invaded Mongolia again in 1409, 1414 and 1422, but was chased out
by Buyanshri Khaan
(1405–1412) and the Oirats. Mongols remained powerful even after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. As the Ming Dynasty understood its own disability of conquering Mongolia by military force, it started a policy of provoking the groups of Mongols to quarrel with one another, as well as economic blockade.
The Golden Horde (Altyn Orda) was founded by Batu
, son of Jochi, in 1243. The Golden Horde
included Volga region, mountains of Ural
, the steppes of the northern Black Sea, Fore-Caucasus, Western Siberia
, Aral Sea
and Irtysh
bassin, and held principalities of Rus in tributary relations.
The capital was initially Sarai Batu
and later Sarai Berke
. This extensive empire weakened under rivalry of the descendants of Batu and split into Khanate of Kazan
, Astrakhan Khanate
, Crimean Khanate
, Siberia Khanate
, Ulug Orda
, Nogai Ordasy
and Aq Orda. A unified Rus conquered Khanate of Kazan in 1552, Astrakhan Khanate in 1556, Siberia Khanate in 1582, and the Russian Empire
conquered Crimean Khanate in 1783.
or Chagatai Ulus separated in 1266 and covered Central Asia, Lake Balkhash
, Kashgaria, Afghanistan and Zhetysu. It was split between settled Transoxania (Ma Wara'un-Nahr) in the west and nomadic Moghulistan
in the east. It is claimed that parts of them still spoke Mongolian until the late 16th century.
Moghulistan gained strength during Timur
(1395–1405), a Mongol warlord from Barlas
clan. Timur defeated Tokhtamysh
Khan of Golden Horde in 1395 and deprived him of Fore-Caucasus. He destroyed the army of the Turkish
sultan
near Angora
, the event which delayed a Turkish conquest of the Byzantine Empire
for half a century. Timur's empire fragmented shortly after he died.
Timur's grandson Ulugh Beg
(1409–1449) ruled Transoxania and during his rule trade and economy of Transoxania achieved significant development. Ulugh Beg built an astronomical
observatory
near Samarkand
in 1429 and wrote his work Zij-i-Sultani
, which comprises the theories of astronomy and a catalogue of over 1000 stars with their precise positions on the celestial sphere
.
A long rivalry of Moghulistan with the Oirats
for trade routes ended with its defeat by the Oirats in 1530. Babur
, a Timurid
ruler of Kabul
, conquered most of India in 1526 and founded the Mughal Empire
. The Mughal Empire fractured into several lesser states in the 18th century and was conquered by the British Empire
in 1858.
The Ilkhanate
, also known as the Hulagu Ulus, formed in 1256 and comprised Iran
, Iraq
, Transcaucasus, eastern Asia Minor
and Western Turkistan
. In 1300, Rashid-al-Din Hamadani in cooperation with Mongol historians commenced writing Jami al-Tawarikh
(Sudur un Chigulgan, Compendium of Chronicles) under the order of Ilkhan Ghazan (1295–1304). The work was completed in 1311 during the reign of Ilkhan Öljeitü (1304–1316). Altan Debter
written by a Mongol historian Bolad
Chinsan served as a basis for writing Jami al-Tawarikh. Hulagu Ulus disintegrated in 1335 into several states one of which was Jalayrid dynasty, ruled by descendants of Mukhali of Jalair.
a century ago had been expelled from China
to Mongolia. The Mongol regime after this time until the 17th century is often referred to as the Northern Yuan Dynasty, or the Forty and the Four (Дөчин дөрвөн хоёр), meaning the forty Tumen
s of the Mongols and the four Tumen
s of the Oirats. A long period of feudal separatism and rivalry for the Khaan's throne started in Mongolia by the early 15th century. The military strength of the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty was that they were able to mobilise an army of 400,000 warriors (40 tumens). Assuming that an average household consisted of 4 people and every adult man was a warrior, it can be estimated that the Mongol population in the Yuan Dynasty counted at least 1,600,000 people. However, the amount of 40 tumens remained only in the name of the Mongols after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty as only 6 tumens were able to retreat to Mongolia and the remaining 34 tumens were lost to the Chinese Ming Dynasty. These 6 tumens were grouped into the 3 tumens of the left wing ruled by Khaan of Mongolia and the 3 tumens of the right wing ruled by Jinong
, vassal of the Khaan.
The Oirats constituted another 4 tumens
. They stayed in Mongolia proper during the Yuan Dynasty and sided Ariq Böke, Kaidu and Nayan in their anti-Kublai struggle. By the 15th century the Oirats occupied the Altay Mountains
region. The Oirats were ruled by a Taishi who was a vassal of the Khaan.
The first half of the 15th century saw a rivalry of Oirat Taishis for the throne of the Khaan and the second half of the 15th century saw a separatist movement of the Taishis in the right wing tumens. Togoon Taishi of Oirat eventually increased his power in the Mongol court and these achievements were tightened under his successor Esen Taishi
. Mongolia was effectively unified under the power of the Oirat Taishi. Esen Taishi led active diplomatic exchanges with Ming China to achieve favourable trading conditions. When diplomacy failed to reach the goal, he led a military campaign in 1449, in which a 500,000 Ming army was defeated by a 20,000 Oirat army, the Ming Emperor was captured and Beijing was besieged. Shortly after this event Esen Taishi defeated the nominal Khaan Togtobuh
in their conflict and became a self-declared Khaan. During his retreat, Togtobuh was caught and assassinated by his ex-father-in-law for an earlier humiliation of his daughter as she was divorced and returned to her parents. The reign of Esen Taishi was short, less than a year—his rivals rebelled and overthrew him in 1454.
Mongolia was once again unified under queen Mandukhai
the Wise and Batmönkh Dayan Khaan
, who subdued the Taishis. Queen Manduhai defeated the Oirats when Batmönkh was still a child. Later Batmönkh subdued the Taishis of the right wings as they refused to accept a suzereign over them—son of Dayan Khaan sent there as a Jinong. After this event, Batmönkh moved his residence from Khalkha to Chaharia, to a proxime neighbourhood to the right wings for tighter control over them. Since then, the Khaans of Mongolia resided in Chaharia up to 1634. The left wing tumens under Dayan Khaan were Khalkha
, Chaharia and Urianhai, and the right wing tumens were Ordos
/Tümed
, Yunshiyebu and Harchin/Horchin.
Dayan Khaan was succeeded by Bodi Alagh Khaan
whose power was however assumed by his uncle Bars Bolud Jinong
as a regent due to the Khaan's young age. As he grew up, Bodi Alagh claimed back his throne and the Jinong yielded.
During the reign of Darayisung Gödeng Khaan
and his successor Tümen Jasagtu Khaan
, the right wings rose in the 16th century under a local lord Altan
(son of Bars Bolad Jinong) who assumed the title of Khan. In order to maintain the unity of the country by peaceful means, Tümen Jasagtu Khaan initiated a Representative government with equal participation of the representatives of the left and right wings. The right wings rivalled with the Oirats for possession of Kukunor (Qinghai
and Altan Khan, who appointed his son as a ruler of Kukunor, defeated the Oirats in 1552. Altan Khan attacked Ming China, but he stopped the raids in 1571, and signed a peace treaty with the Ming court. To achieve favourable conditions in the peace treaty with the Ming Dynasty, Altan Khan occasionally threatened that he may ally with Tümen Khaan to attack China. Altan Khan established the city of Hohhot
in 1557. Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos defeated the Torghut
s at the river Irtysh
around 1560s.
Abtai, the ruler of Khalkha, conquered the Oirats in 1570s, but the latter rebelled in 1588. The Oirats, in turn, were busy in struggle with Moghulistan for trade routes.
Tümen Jasagtu Khaan was succeeded by Buyan Sechen Khaan
who claimed having possessed the "seal of the ancient Taizong Khaan". Buyan's grandson Legdan ascended the throne in 1603. He initiated translation of major Buddhist scriptures into the Mongolian language. By his time, the authority of the Mongolian Khaan had declined to such a degree that Legdan Hutuhtu Khaan came to be known as "Khaan of Chaharia". The failure of his attempts of unification of Mongolia by peaceful means led him to shift to forceful methods. However, this in turn alienated the local lords of Inner Mongolia from him even farther.
The striving of the Mongols to improve their life led naturally to an increase in the number of their livestock. In the extensive livestock husbandry
, on which the medieval Mongolian economy
was based, an excess number of livestock required either expansion of the pasture
s, which may imply conquest of new territories, or exchange of the excess animals and livestock products for products of settled civilisations unavailable in the unsophisticated Mongolian economy. For example, they would be able to wear clothes made of hides and wool in cold seasons, but would certainly need clothes from silk or light fabric in summer. However, the ban on trade with the Mongols by the Ming administration was a reason for armed conflicts. Moreover, there were frequent attempts to offer low prices for the livestock products or to supply low quality reject goods to the Mongols. Thus in protest, there were cases that Mongol traders burned their reject Chinese purchases in front of the Ming officials during the rule of Esen
. Also the Ming administration often issued extremely low import quota
s for trade. They banned selling metal products to the Mongols in suspicion that metal would be remoulded into weapons; however, metal products such as kettle
s were vitally important in the every day life of the herders.
Cities in Mongolia were completely destroyed during Chinese raids in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Thus there was no division of labour between urban and rural economies that was characteristic in other cultures. Some attempts of diversification of the economy were undertaken in the 16th and 17th centuries in peripheral Mongol domains but not in Northern Khalkha. Thus Altan Khan made Chinese grow grain
around the city of Hohhot
. Erdeni Batur
Hongtaiji attempted to develop cereal
and horticulture
production in Dzungaria using captives from Eastern Turkistan and from oases
of Central Asia
. However, these initiatives mainly or exclusively served the ruling classes and the mass of the Mongol commoners received little or no benefit from them.
By the end of the 16th century, several Khanlyk dynasties developed in Khalkha. As Dayan Khaan divided Mongolia to his 11 sons, Northern Khalkha (approximately the territory of modern Mongolia) was given to his youngest son Gersenz Hongtaiji and Southern Khalkha was given to Alchibolad. Northern Khalkha was further divided to Gersenz's 7 sons. The most powerful of Gersenz's grandchildren Abtai received the title of Khan from the Dalai Lama
, and his son Eriyehii Mergen Khan founded the dynasty of the Tushiyetu Khans, who ruled the central heartland of Northern Khalkha. Greatgrandson of Gersenz Sholoi solicited the title of Khan from Dalai Lama during his visit to Tibet and initiated the dynasty of Secen Khans in the east of Khalkha. Another great-grandson of Gersenz Laihur assumed the title of Khan and his son Sumbadai founded the dynasty of the Zasagtu Khans ruling the west of Northern Khalkha. Laihur's cousin Ubashi Hongtaiji
separated from the Zasagtu Khan and initiated the dynasty of Altyn Khan
s of Khotgoid
. The title Altyn Khan was given to him by the Russian authorities.
In the beginning of the 17th century, the Khoshut tribe of Oirat migrated to Kukunor and Torghuts migrated to the basin of the river Volga becoming the Kalmyks. Khara Khula
of Choros
clan unified the Oirats by 1630s and his son Erdeni Batur
Hongtaiji established the Zunghar Khanate
in 1634. The title of Hongtaiji was given to him by Dalai Lama.
with you. If you don't surrender, we'll conquer you." ("Та манд орж өгвөөс, бид шажин ном хийе, орж эс өгвөөс, бид танд довтолмуй".) The Tibetan supreme monks decided to surrender and Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji returned to Ordos with 3 high ranking monks. Tumen Jasaghtu Khaan invited a monk of Kagyu
school in 1576.
Following the advice of his nephew Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji, Altan Khan of Tumet invited the head of Gelug school Sonam Gyatso to his domain. Upon their meeting in 1577, Altan Khan recognised Sonam Gyatso lama a reincarnation of Phagpa
lama. Sonam Gyatso, in turn, recognised Altan a reincarnation of Kublai Khaan. Thus, Altan had the title "khan" he had assumed recognised by Sonam Gyatso while the latter received support of his supremacy over the Tibetan sangha. Since this meeting, the heads of the Gelugpa school became known as Dalai Lama. Altan Khan also bestowed title Ochirdara (Очирдар, from Sanskr. Vajradhara) to Sonam Gyatso.
At the same time ruler of Khalkha
Abtai rushed to Tumet to meet the Dalai Lama. He requested title Khan from Dalai Lama. Although he had already recognised Altan as a Khan besides the Mongolian Khaan Tumen Jasaghtu, Dalai Lama in this case rejected the request under an excuse that "there cannot be two Khans (or Khaans) at the same time". After some hesitation however, he did bestow Abtai the title Khan. Abtai Khan established Erdene Zuu monastery
in 1585 at the site of the former city Karakorum. Thus, eventually most of the Mongolian rulers became Buddhists.
, martang and nagtang painting and sculpture.
An adopted son of Oirat aristocrat Baibagas
Zaya Pandita Namhaijamtso
(1599–1662) reformed the Mongolian script
adapting it to the Oirat dialect. This new script is called Todo bichig.
Zanabazar (1635–1723), head of Buddhism in Khalkha
, was a great master of the Buddhist art. Along with the sculptures of the Twenty One Taras, he created the famous sculptures of Sita Tara and Siyama Tara, inspired by lively images of beautiful Mongolian women. The lotus flower over the left shoulder of Sita Tara is about to blossom and Sita Tara herself is in her mid-teens. The lotus flowers over the shoulders of Siyama Tara have already blossomed and Siyama Tara herself is a woman in the bloom of her beauty. She is aware and proud of her perfect beauty. She has awakened from her meditation, put down her right leg in the moment of standing up to descend from her lotus seat to breastfeed her child; and her children are the sentient beings. Many temples and monasteries were built under Zanabazar's projects. He designed the Soyombo script
for the Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit languages in 1686.
Mathematician
and astronomer
Minggatu of Sharaid discovered 9 trigonometric equations and wrote 42 volumes of "The Roots of Regularites" (Зvй тогтлын бvрэн эх сурвалж), 5 volumes in linguistics (дуун ухаан), and 53 volumes of work on mathematics.
In the area historiography and literature, Shira Tuuji was written in the 16th century, Altan Tobchi
of Lubsandanzan was written in the first half of the 17th century and Erdeniin Tobchi of Sagan Secen Hongtaiji, a descendant of Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji, was written in 1662. In the 1620s, Tsogtu Hongtaiji
of Khalkha wrote his famous philosophic poems and Legdan Hutuhtu Khaan had the 108 volumes of Kangyur
and 225 volumes of Tengyur
translated into the Mongolian language
. A translation theory work "The Source of Wisdom" (Мэргэд гарахын орон) was written under leadership of Rolbiidorji, Janjaa Hutuhtu II.
Bagatur (Тэнгэрийн сүлдэт) who reunified the Jurchen tribes sent a letter to Ligdan Khaan seeking alliance in fighting against the Ming Dynasty. Ligdan denied the proposal mentioning that Nurhaci rules only 3 tumens of the Jurchens while Ligdan himself is a Genghisid ruling the 40 tumens of the Mongols, and that Nurhaci should better refrain from disturbing the Chinese cities-tributaries of him-of Ligdan Khaan. In response, Nurhaci held it necessary to remind him that the 40 tumens are long gone and there are perhaps some 6 tumens of which Chaharia only recognises Ligdan's power as Khaan. Later Nurhaci managed to ally with the vassals of Ligdan Khaan, the taijis of Southern Khalkha, Horchin, Horlos, etc., who pledged to support Nurhaci in his wars against the Ming Dynasty. However their first allied actions were against their own suzerain Ligdan Khaan, defeating him in 1622.
Ligdan Khaan occupied Tumet and Ordos in 1623 to forestall their absorption by the Manchu and advanced into the Manchuria
n lands in 1631. Nevertheless, Manchu
ruler Hong Taiji
(Дээд эрдэмт), successor of Nurhaci
, allied with the Inner Mongolian taijis defeated him again in 1634 and sacked Hohhot. Ligdan retreated to Kukunor where he and his troops were swept by an epidemic. Abahai assumed the title of Khaan of Mongolia in 1636 landmarking the conquest of Inner Mongolia. The Manchus, supported by the troops of the Inner Mongolian taijis, conquered Ming China in 1644 and founded the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, Mongolia encountered Russian expansion on her north. The well-armed Russian Cossaks cruelly subdued the resistance of the Buryats and conquered the Baikal region in 1640-1650s. The uprisings of the Buryats were brutally crushed in 1658 and 1696. The Russians attempted to build ostrog
s in Khövsgöl area, but they were quickly destroyed by the local population.
Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji of Zunghar Khanate
convened a congress of Dzungaria
and Khalkha
in 1640 to ally their forces in struggle against the increasing foreign aggressions. The congress issued a Khalkha-Oirat Law called the "Great Code of the Forty and the Four" (Döchin Dörben Hoyar un Ike Tsagaza). The Congress was attended by 28 rulers from Dzungaria, Khalkha, Kukunor and Kalmykia. Tushiyetu Khan Gombodorji and Secen Khan Sholoi were engaged in a conflict with the Manchu
Qing Dynasty
siding with Tenggis Taiji of Sünid of Inner Mongolia
who revolted against Qing rule in 1646.
Tushiyetu Khan's throne was succeeded by Chahundorji in 1665. Zasagtu Khan Norbo died in 1661 and rivalry started between his successors. This feud eventually involved Altyn Khan, Tushiyetu Khan and the Zunghar Khanate. The crisis continued for decades and evolved into a war between Khalkha and Dzungaria in 1688 leading to a conquest of Khalkha by Galdan Boshugtu Khaan of Zungar Khanate in the course of several battles in the Hangai mountains. The head of the Khalkha Buddhism Boghda Zanabazar, the Khalkha khans and nobles with thousands of their subjects moved in panic to Inner Mongolia
, which had been integrated into the Qing Dynasty. The Khalkha leaders sought Manchu aid in their feud with Galdan Boshugtu Khaan while Kangxi (Энх-Амгалан) cunningly demanded them to become his vassals as a condition for the support. Galdan defeated the joint Manchu, Khalkha and Inner Mongolian troops on the river Ulahui in 1690 and demanded Kangxi to cede to him Önder Gegeen Zanagazar and Tushiyetu Khan Chihundorji. The Qing Emperor called him to Ulaan Budun near Beijing for a "treaty". A joint Manchu, Khalkha and Inner Mongolian army gave ambushed deceived Galdan at Ulaan Budun who then retreated back to Khalkha.
Kangxi organised a congress of the rulers of Khalkha and Inner Mongolia in Dolnuur in 1691 at which the Khalkha feudals formally declared allegiance to the Qing Emperor. However, Khalkha de-facto remained under the rule of Galdan Boshugtu Khaan. Kangxi invaded Khalkha in 1696 and the Oirats were defeated by the outnumbering enemy in a battle at Zuun Mod at the river Terelj
. Galdan Boshugtu Khaan died in 1697 in the region of Kobdo. The Zunghar throne was seized by Galdan's brother Tseveenravdan
in 1689 while the latter was engaged in the war in Khalkha.
Tseveenravdan Khaan stopped the Kazakh
khans that began expanding to the east, and also sent his general Ihe Tserendondov to conquer Tibet in 1716. His force was driven out by Qing troops in 1720, who then occupied Tibet. However, several attempts of the Qing Dynasty to subjugate the Zunghar Khanate failed in the early 18th century. In 1723, the Qing troops subdued the uprising of Luvsandanzan taiji in Kukunor. Tseveenravdan Khaan was succeeded by his son Galdantseren in 1727. Galdantseren Khaan took a series of actions for development of crop production, gardening, and cannon manufacture in Dzungaria. He successfully repelled the aggression of the Qing Dynasty in 1729-31. Moreover, his general Baga Tserendondov advanced into Khalkha and reached the river Kerulen in 1732, but had to retreat after battles with the Khalkha and Qing troops. Galdantseren Khaan died in 1745 and a crisis was ignited among his heirs. After a series of bloodshed among them, Davaachi, supported by Amursanaa, became the new Zunghar Khaan in 1553. Such a feud signalled the Qing Dynasty to prepare for invasion of the Zunghar Khanate.
As soon as he became the new Zunghar Khaan, Davaachi deprived his friend Amursanaa of his wife and then defeated him in a battle in 1754. Amursanaa sought alliance of the Qing Dynasty. He hoped to defeat Davaachi and elevate himself as Khaan of Zunghar Khanate. The Qing administration mobilised horses and other livestock of the Khalkha population for the Zunghar invasion. A 200 thousand army consisting of Khalkha, Inner Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese troops invaded Dzungaria in 1755. The avantguard of the Qing army was led by Amursanaa, Chingünjav Wang and Rechindorji Wang from Khalkha.
While this horde intruded the basin of the river Ili
, Amursanaa captured Davaachi and handed him to the Manchu. This event landmarked the fall of the Zunghar Khanate which inhibited the Qing expansion in Central Asia for over a century. The Qing Emperor Qianlong (Тэнгэрийн тэтгэсэн) demobilised the army and envisaged a congress of Dzungar and other Mongol aristocrats to celebrate the incorporation of Dzungaria into the Qing Dynasty. However, instead of such a joy, he was to face the same year an uprising of Amursanaa against Qing authority over Dzungaria.
As vassals of Qing Emperors, the Mongolian nobles—rulers of the khoshuns were expected to carry out military services commanding their troops in warfare, to personally attend the Emperor in his hunting processions, mobilise resources from the khoshun population and subdue local riots. Their services were generously awarded by the Emperor, and those who performed exceptionally outstanding feats before the Qing Emperor would occasionally be honoured to marry a princess. Disobedience or failure to provide adequate service was severely penalised.
The most heavy burden of the foreign exploitation was laid on the spine of the ordinary Mongolian labourers. They were impoverished during mobilisation of horses and livestock products during preparation of the military campaign against the Zunghar Khanate
besides they had to serve as warriors themselves. Although the military feudal system of Mongolia of the pre-Qing epoch is considered to have been a class society in which an ordinary Mongol was expected to obey his feudal lord as a soldier obeys a commander, it was during the rule of Qing Dynasty when serfdom was effectively introduced to the Mongolian society for the first time. There were 3 forms of serfdom: albatu—state serfs, khamjilga—personal serfs of khoshun rulers and of taijis, and shabi—serfs of Khutuhtus, supreme clergy. To prevent assimilation of the Mongols, the Qing government tried to restrict travels of Han Chinese to Khalkha and to forbid cross-ethnic marriages between the Mongols and Han Chinese.
Soon after the conquest of the Zunghar Khanate, Amursanaa of Hoid rose against the Qing domination and returned to Dzungaria
with his 500 warriors as he was deceived in his hope to take the Zunghar throne with the support of the Qing. A faction of the Oirat aristocrats elevated him as Khaan of the Oirats in 1756. However the followers of Amursanaa lacked unity. The decisive battle was held at a site Sharbal in 1757 when 3000 Oirat troops fought against the 4 times outnumbering enemy. After the 17-day battle, Amursanaa was defeated and fled to city Tobolsk
of Russia where he died. Brutally revenging the Oirat people for their love for freedom, the Qing army committed a genocide, killing every Oirat they met on their way on the territory of the Zunghar Khanate. Of the 600 thousand Dzungar population, only 30 thousand survived. The territory of the Zunghar Khanate was incorporated into the Qing Empire as the province of Xinjiang
. Renchindorj Wang who allowed Amursanaa to abandon his post in the Qing army was cruelly executed in Beijing.
Chingünjav
Wang rose against Qing rule in 1756 abandoning his post and appealed the other nobles of Khalkha to rise for independence. He planned to organise a congress of the Khalkha nobility to elect a future Khaan of Mongolia. He was supported by Boghda Gegeen II, the Khans of the 4 Khalkha aimags and other members of the nobility. However, the Qing court was able to capture Chingunjav before the uprising took its full swing. Chingunjav and his whole family were cruelly executed in 1757, the second Jebtsundamba Khutughtu and Tushiyetu Khan Yampildorji mysteriously died shortly afterwards, and the Qing court decided that future Jebtsundamba Khutughtus would be only found in Tibet, not in Mongolia. Around the same period, an uprising of Sevdenbaljir in Inner Mongolia was subdued.
met during a religious Mandala
offering ceremony to the 8th Bogd Gegeen Jebzundamba Khutuktu (1869–1924) in July 1911 and, in view of the imminent collapse of the Qing Dynasty
, made a decision to seek Mongolian independence. After the Xinhai Revolution
, another decision was made in November 1911 to mobilise 1,000 warriors from each of the four aimags of Khalkha and, in the presence of these Khalkha troops in Urga, the Qing amban
in Urga Sando was deported back to Beijing
. Outer Mongolia became effectively independent on 1 December 1911.
Bogd Gegeen was enthroned as Bogd Khaan (Great Khan, or Emperor) of Mongolia on 29 December 1911 and the era was titled Olan-a Örgugdegsen (Elevated by Many). The Qing high official in Uliastai was deported on 12 January 1912 in the presence of 700 Mongolian warriors mobilised from Sain Noyan Khan aimag. Mongolian troops led by Danbijantsan (Ja Lama), Magsarjav
and the Manlaibaatar Damdinsuren
arrived in the Khovd region in August 1912. After an intense attack supported by the local people, they controlled the city of Kobdo at night to 20 August 1912.
The Bargu people fought against Chinese forces in August 1912, captured the city of Hailar, and announced their willingness to unify with the Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia. A part of Inner Mongols, as well as some Mongols in Qinghai
and Xinjiang
also announced their willingness to join the Bogd Khaanate.
In its historical significance, the establishment of the Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia is comparable with the foundation of the unified Mongol Khaanate
in 1206. With national independence, Mongolia entered the path of modernisation. A parliamentary structure consisting of two chambers, the Upper Hural and the Lower Hural, was formed in 1914. A legal code, "Jarlig yar togtughaghsan Mongol Ulus un hauli zuil-un bichig", was adopted in 1915.
On 3 November 1912, Russian Empire and Mongolia signed a bilateral treaty without participation of China. This treaty meant recognition of Mongolia, its name as the "State of Mongolia" ("Mongol Uls") and its state system as Bogd Khaan monarchy by Russia. Nevertheless, under a strong pressure of Chinese government, the Kyakhta agreement of 1915 between the Russian empire, Mongolia and the Republic of China "downgraded" the independence of Outer Mongolia to autonomy within China. The government of Mongolia maintained a position of preserving Mongolia's independence including Khalkha Mongolia, Khovd region, Inner Mongolia, Barga and Kukunor. The position of Republic of China was to consider all of Mongolia as territories of China. The position of Russia was to reduce Mongolian independence to an autonomy limited to Outer Mongolia only. Negotiations continued for eight months as the Mongolian representatives firmly defended the independence of the country, but finally the government of Mongolia had to accept Russia's position. However, the Outer Mongolia remained effectively outside Chinese control.
Following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, China regained its claims to Outer Mongolia aiming at its conversion into a common Chinese province. In late 1919, the Chinese general Xu Shuzheng
occupied Urga and forced the Bogd Khaan and the leading nobles to sign a document renouncing Mongolia's independence. Leaders of Mongolia's national independence movement, such as Magsarjav or Damdinsuren (died in the prison under brutal torture) were arrested and imprisoned. The Chinese had tighted their control of Mongolia by this time.
Russian White Guard troops led by Baron R.F. von Ungern-Sternberg (Baron Ungern von Sternberg), who had been defeated in the Civil War in Transbaikalian Siberia, invaded Mongolia in October 1920. In October–November 1920, Ungern's troops assaulted the capital, Niislel Khuree, known to Europeans under the name Urga (now Ulaanbaatar
), several times but were repelled with heavy losses. Ungern entered contacts with Mongolian nobles and lamas and received Bogd Khaan's edict to regain independence. On 2–5 February 1921, after fighting a huge battle, he drove the Chinese forces out of Mongolian capital.
One part of the Chinese forces fled to the south to China, and another to the north of Mongolia to enter negotiations with the Far Eastern Republic (a puppet state created by the Soviet Russia). The Bogd Khaan's monarchic power and his government were restored.
The Mongolian People's Party established in early 1921 as a merger of 2 underground revolutionary groups who had their own view on the future of Mongolia. One of these groups was headed by Soliin Danzan and the other group was headed by Bodoo. They sought aid from Soviet Russia
, which was an unacceptable decision for the Bogd Khaan Government. However, for the sake of liberty of the country, Bogd Khaan stamped their letter addressed to the Soviet Government. However, Soviet Government did not want to communicate the Mongolian powers as the Bolsheviks staked on Mongolian People's Party.
The Revolution began on the 18th of March when 400 volunteer troops led by Sukhbaatar attacked the 2000 Chinese garrison in Kyakhta
at the northern frontier of Mongolia. The Mongolian volunteer troops and units of the Soviet Red Army advanced to the south annihilating the remainder of the defeated Chinese troops (who were robbing the peaceful population) and Ungern's White troops. The main battles undertaken by the Mongolian troops took place at Tujiin Nars against the Chinese and at Zelter and Bulnai against the White troops. Simultaneously, Khatanbaatar Magsarjav, who had been sent by Baron Ungern to the western provinces, revolted and allied himself with the Mongolian People's Party. He defeated the White troops led by Kazantsev, Vandanov and general Bakich. Mongolian and Soviet troops led by Khasbaatar and Baikalov withstood a long encirclement by the Whites at lake Tolbo
(nowadays in Bayan-Ölgii aimag). Baron Ungern, after a conspiracy, was lost by his troops and captured by a detachment of the Red Army. The Mongolian People's Party troops and Russian Red Army troops entered Urga in July 1921. The Mongolian People's Government kept the Bogd Khaan as nominal head of state, but the actual power was in the hands of the Mongolian People's Party and its Soviet (esp. Buryat and Kalmyk) counselors. Mysterious death of the Bogd Khaan in 1924 was speedily utilised to promulgate a Soviet-style constitution, abolishing monarchy, and declaring the Mongolian People's Republic on 26 November 1924. Mongolia became completely isolated from the world by People's Party powers followed the Soviets for accomplishment of the Communist experiment. From the other hand, this also created protection against the potential aggression of China which considered Mongolia as its territory at that time.
In 1928, Mongolian politics took a sharp leftward turn, herds were forcibly collectivized, private trade and transport forbidden, monasteries and the nobility came under attack. This led to a economic breakdown and to widespread unrest and uprisings
. As a result the policies were taken back in 1932 under so called Policy of the New Turn (Шинэ эргэлтийн бодлого, Shine ergeltiin boglogo), after the Comintern
had given corresponding "advice". The leftist leaders of Mongolia were purged under pretext of "bending" (нугалаа, nugalaa) the policy of the party. The Policy of the New turn were favoured by the new leaders of Mongolia such as Prime Minister P. Genden who were enthusiastic in the liberalised development of the economy. However, they did not realise that this was a temporary tactical retreat of Stalin and Comintern. Another wave of repressions
began in 1937 and resulted in the almost complete elimination of the Buddhist clergy.
In 1939, Soviet and Mongolian troops fought against Japan in the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol, in Eastern Mongolia. In August 1945, at the end of World War II, Mongolian troops took part in the Soviet operations in Inner Mongolia
.
Also in August, China had agreed to finally recognize Mongolia's independence if a plebiscite were held. The plebiscite took place in the presence of Chinese observers on October 20, 1945, and, according to official numbers, yielded a 100% pro-independence vote.
After the victory (with decisive Soviet assistance) of the Communists in China in 1949, Mongolia initially kept good relations with both of her neighbours, but after the Sino-Soviet split
, she attached herself firmly with the Soviet Union. In 1960, Mongolia gained a seat in the UN, after earlier attempts had failed due to US and ROC
vetos.
The post-war years also saw the acceleration of the drive towards creating a socialist society. In the 1950s, livestock was collectivized again
. At the same time, state farms were established, and, with extensive aid of Russia and China, infrastructure projects like the Trans-Mongolian Railway
were completed. In the 1960s, Darkhan was built with aid from Soviet Union and other COMECON
countries, and in the 1970s the Erdenet
kombinat was created.
organised by the Mongolian Democratic Union on 10 December 1989 landmarks the commencement of the Democratic Movement in Mongolia. The subsequent meetings involved ever increasing numbers of supporters. A meeting with participation of 100,000 people took place on 4 March 1990 on the square at cinema Yalalt, nowadays square of Liberty. The meeting turned into a demonstration marching to the House of the Government, which then hosted the People's Great Hural, Council of Ministers and the Headquarters of MPRP. The demonstrators demanded resignation of the Political Bureau of the MPRP, formation of a Provisional People's Hural within March and separation of MPRP from the government and handed their petition to a representative of the government.
Denial of these demands by the Communist government led to a hunger strike of the 7–9 March 1990 by a number of activists of the Mongolian Democratic Union resulting in the resignation of the Political Bureau of the MPRP and negotiations for political reforms.
The first democratic election was held in July 1990.
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
, the Xianbei
Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
, the Nirun
Rouran
Rouran , Mongolia name Jujan or Nirun Ruanruan/Ruru , Tan Tan , Juan-Juan or Zhu-Zhuwas the name of a confederation of nomadic tribes on the northern borders of Inner China from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century...
, the Gökturks
Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
, and others. The Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
was founded by Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
in 1368, the Mongols returned to their earlier patterns of internal strife. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism
Buddhism in Mongolia
Buddhism in Mongolia derives much of its recent characteristics from Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelugpa school. Traditionally, Mongols worshiped heaven and their ancestors, and they followed ancient northern Asian practices of shamanism, in which human intermediaries went into trance and spoke to...
. At the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
.
During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921
Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921
The Outer Mongolian revolution of 1921 was both a military and political event. With the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, Mongolian revolutionaries expelled Russian White Guards from the country, and created a new state, named the Mongolian People's Republic in 1924. Although nominally...
to firmly establish de-facto independence, and until 1945 to gain international recognition. As a consequence, it came under strong Soviet influence: In 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic was declared, and Mongolian politics began to follow the same patterns as Soviet politics of the time. After the breakdown of communism
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
in late 1989, Mongolia saw its own Democratic Revolution
1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia
The 1990 Peaceful Democratic Revolution in Mongolia was a democratic revolution that started with hunger strikes to overthrow the Mongolian People's Republic and eventually moved towards the democratic present day Mongolia and the writing of the new constitution. It was spearheaded by mostly...
in early 1990, which led to a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
, a new constitution
Constitution of Mongolia
Constitution of Mongolia is the constitution of Mongolia.It was adopted on January 13. 1992, put into force on February 12, and amended in 1999 and 2001. The new constitution established a parliamentary democracy in Mongolia, guaranteeing freedom of religion, rights, travel, expression,...
in 1992, and a transition to a market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
.
Prehistory
Cave painting
Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest European cave paintings date to the Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known...
of the Khoid Tsenkheriin Agui (Northern Cave of Blue) in Khovd province, and the Tsagaan Agui (White Cave) in Bayankhongor province. A neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
farming settlement has been found in Dornod
Dornod Province
Dornod is the easternmost of the 21 aimags of Mongolia. Its capital is Choibalsan.- Population :Halh are the ethnic majority of the Dornod aimag, but Buryat ethnic group is 22.8% of population total concentrated in the north-eastern sums of Dashbalbar, Tsagaan-Ovoo, Bayan-Uul, Bayandun and...
province. Contemporary findings from western Mongolia include only temporary encampments of hunters and fishers. The population during the Copper Age
Copper Age
The Chalcolithic |stone]]") period or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic/Æneolithic , is a phase of the Bronze Age in which the addition of tin to copper to form bronze during smelting remained yet unknown by the metallurgists of the times...
has been described as paleomongolid in the east of what is now Mongolia, and as europid in the west.
In the 2nd millennium B.C, during the bronze age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, western Mongolia was under the influence of the Karasuk culture
Karasuk culture
The Karasuk culture describes a group of Bronze Age societies who ranged from the Aral Sea or the Volga River to the upper Yenisei catchment, ca. 1500–800 BC, preceded by the Afanasevo culture. The remains are minimal and entirely of the mortuary variety. At least 2000 burials are known. The...
. Deer stone
Deer stone
Deer stones are Mongolian ancient megaliths carved with symbols. The name comes from their carved depictions of flying deer. Their purpose and creators are unknown.-Geographic distribution:...
s and the omnipresent kheregsüürs (small kurgan
Kurgan
Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology....
s) probably are from this era; other theories date the deer stones as 7th or 8th centuries BCE. A vast iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
burial complex from the 5th-3rd century, later also used by the Xiongnu, has been unearthed near Ulaangom
Ulaangom
Ulaangom is the capital of Uvs Province in Mongolia. It is located 26 km South-West from the lake Uvs Nuur shore and on the slopes of the Kharkhiraa mountain, 120 km South to the Russian border.- Description :...
.
Before the 20th century, some scholars assumed that the Scythians descended from the Mongolic people. The Scythian community inhabited western Mongolia in the 5-6th century. In 2006 the mummy of a Scythian warrior, which is believed to be about 2,500 years old was a 30-to-40 year-old man with blond hair, and was found in the Altai, Mongolia.
Ancient Period
Mongolia only became politically important after ironIron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s entered the area in the 3rd century BCE. In general, Mongolia at this point had a similar history to the rest of the steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
between Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, northern Russia to the north, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
to the south. These steppes were usually inhabited by nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic tribes, sometimes united in confederations of varying sizes. These nomads usually herded animals, traded with and raided more agricultural peoples and each other. However, every now and then, large nomadic confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
s formed that threatened China, and sometimes the Middle East, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and beyond. These confederations, while vast and often destructive, rarely lasted, but they did redistribute peoples and disrupt the politics of the regions they attacked. The people in the Mongolia region usually focused their attention on nearby wealthy China, and their confederations greatly influence Chinese history. China's response is a major theme in Mongolian history.
Xiongnu Period
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
empire in Mongolia in the 3rd century BCE marks the beginning of statehood on the territory of Mongolia. The founder of the Hunic empire was Toumen
Toumen
Touman – was the earliest known Xiongnu chanyu , reigning from c. 220 to 209 BCE. The name Touman is likely related to Middle Chinese *muan, West Tokharian tmāne, Old Turkic/Mongolian tümen, Modern Persian tumân, all meaning '10,000', a myriad).By the time the Qin Dynasty conquered the other six...
. He was succeeded violently by his son Modu Shanyu
Modu Shanyu
Modu Chanyu was born c. 234 BCE was the fourth known emperor and founder of the Xiongnu Empire after he killed his father in 209 BCE. The years of his rule were 209 BCE to 174 BCE...
. Then he conquered and unified various tribes. At the peak of its power, the Hun confederacy stretched from Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
in the north to the Great Wall
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
in the south and from the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
mountains in the west to the Greater Khingan
Greater Khingan
The Greater Khingan Range , also called the Greater Hing'an Range or Greater Hinggan Range, is a volcanic mountain range in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of China. The range extends roughly 1,200 km from north to south, narrowing towards the south...
ranges in the east.
In 200 BCE the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
of China launched a military campaign into the territory attempting to subjugate the Huns. However the Hun forces ambushed and encircled the Han Emperor Gao at Baideng for seven days. Emperor Gao was forced to submit to the Hun, and a treaty was signed in 198 BCE recognising all the territories to the north from the Great Wall should belong to the Xiongnu, while the territory to the south of the Great Wall should belong to the Han. In addition, China was obliged to marry princesses and pay annual tribute to the Xiongnu. This "marriage alliance
Heqin
Heqin was a term used in ancient China for an alliance by marriage. It usually referred to the Chinese Emperor marrying off a "princess" to an aggressive "barbarian" chieftain or ruler. The theory was that in exchange for the marriage, the chieftain would cease all aggressive actions toward China...
" was far from peaceful, as Hun raids into the fertile southern land never ceased. During the period of Emperor Wen
Emperor Wen of Han
Emperor Wen of Han was the fifth emperor of the Han Dynasty in China. His given name is Heng.Liu Heng was a son of Emperor Gao of Han and Consort Bo, later empress dowager...
, Hun raids advanced into China Proper
China proper
China proper or Eighteen Provinces was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history...
, ravaged and even besieged near its capital Chang'an
Chang'an
Chang'an is an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an. Chang'an literally means "Perpetual Peace" in Classical Chinese. During the short-lived Xin Dynasty, the city was renamed "Constant Peace" ; yet after its fall in AD 23, the old name was restored...
. This continued for 70 years until the reign of Emperor Wu
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han , , personal name Liu Che , was the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty of China, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. Emperor Wu is best remembered for the vast territorial expansion that occurred under his reign, as well as the strong and centralized Confucian state he organized...
, whose massive counteroffensives devastated the Xiongnu and sent them towards the road of decline.
The Xianbei
Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
that were under the Xiongnu rebelled in 93 BCE ending the Xiongnu domination in Mongolia. Zhizhi Chanyu
Zhizhi Chanyu
Zhizhi Chanyu was a Chanyu of the Xiongnu at the time of the first Xiongnu civil war, who held the north and west in contention with his younger brother Huhanye who held the south. His original name in Chinese transcription was Luanti Hutuwusi, i.e...
, the leader of the northern Xiongnu moved to the west with his people, triggering the Great Migration
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
. Their descendants, together with the members of other tribes, appeared in Europe in the 5th century as the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
of Attila. By then, of course, these people were considerably more mixed ethnically. However, the Xiongnu-Hun connection is not universally accepted.
Recent excavations of Xiongnu graves at the site Gol Mod in the Khairkhan of Arkhangai province, discovered bronze decorations with images of a creature resembling the unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
and images of deities resembling the Greco-Roman deities. These discoveries lead to a hypothesis that the Xiongnu had relations with the Greco-Roman world 2000 years ago.
Xianbei Period
Xianbei state
The Xianbei state or Xianbei confederation was a nomadic confederation existed in northern Manchuria and eastern Mongolia from 93 to 234 AD. They descended from the Donghu and spoke a Mongolic language....
gained strength beginning from the 1st century CE and were consolidated into a state under Tanshihuai in 147. He expelled the Xiongnu from Jungaria, and pushed the Dinglin to the north of the Sayans
Sayan Mountains
The Sayan Mountains are a mountain range between northwestern Mongolia and southern Siberia, Russia.The Eastern Sayan extends from the Yenisei River at 92° E to the southwest end of Lake Baikal at 106° E...
, thus securing domination of the Mongolic elements in what is now Khalkha
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
and Chaharia. The Xianbei successfully repelled an invasion of the Han Dynasty in 167 and conquered areas of northern China in 180.
The ruler of the Xianbei state was elected by a congress of the nobility. The Xianbei used woodcut tallies called Kemu as a form of non-verbal communication. Besides extensive livestock husbandry, the Xianbei were also engaged at a limited scale in farming and handicraft. The Xianbei fractured in the 3rd century.
Toba, a faction of the Xianbei, established the Toba Wei
Northern Wei
The Northern Wei Dynasty , also known as the Tuoba Wei , Later Wei , or Yuan Wei , was a dynasty which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 . It has been described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change"...
empire beyond Mongolia proper in northern China in 386. Toba Wei existed until 581. There are various hypotheses about the language and ethnic links of the Xianbei:
- The first and most widely accepted version suggests that the Xianbei were a Mongolic ethnic group and their branches are the ancestors of many Mongolic peoples such as the Nirun, Khitan and Menggu Xibei, who are suggested to be the proto-Mongols.
- The second hypotheses proposes that the Xianbei were a Tungusic ethnic group.
- The third group of historians propose the Xianbei being a common ancestor of both Mongolic and Tungusic groups.
It is also unclear, whether the Mongolic and Tungusic groups of languages had been distinctively diverged by the time of the Xianbei.
Nirun Period
Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
that were subjects of the Nirun revolted in 552 establishing the Turkic Khaganate. The Nirun Khaganate was finally defeated by the Turkics in 555. Part of the Nirun left the present territory of Mongolia. A number of historians maintain that they established the Avar
Uar
The Uar were the largest of three ethnic components constituting the confederation known to the west as the Hephthalites and to the Chinese as Yanda and the dominant ethnicity of Khwarezm...
ian Kaganate between the river Danube and the Carpathian Mountains. The Niruns that stayed in Mongolia became the ancestors of the Tatar
Tatar confederation
Tatar was one of the five major tribal confederations in Mongolian plateau in 12th century. The name "Tatar" was first recorded in history in 732....
tribes.
Turkic Period
Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
), whose language belonged to the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic languages, were subjects to the Nirun and served as blacksmiths for them. Therefore, the revolt of the Turkics of 552 is often called the "Blacksmiths' rebellion". The uprising was headed by Buman who became the founder of the Göktürk Khaganate. The Chinese dynasties Qi and Zhou surrendered in 570 and began paying tribute to the Göktürks. However, the Turkic Khaganate was partitioned in 590 into an Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates. The Sui Dynasty
Sui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....
of China invaded the Turkic Khaganate in 615, but Shibi kagan repelled the invasion and captured the Sui Emperor. The internal struggle between the Turkic nobles lead to their defeat by the Tang Dynasty of China in 630. The Göktürks continuously struggled against the subjugation by the Tang Dynasty. An uprising of 680 under the leadership of Kutuluk and Tonyukuk led to restoration of the Turkic Khaganate. In the early 8th century, an invading army of 450,000 soldiers headed by Tang Dynasty's Empress Wu Zetian was defeated and chased back by Mojo khagan.
Uyghur Period
Ordu-Baliq
Ordu-Baliqalso spelled Ordu Balykh, Ordu Balik, Ordu-Baliq, Ordu Balig, Ordu Baligh , also known as Mubalik, was the capital of the first Uyghur Empire, built on the site of the former Göktürk imperial capital, 17 km north-to-northeast of the later Mongol capital, Karakorum...
City on the Orkhon river in 751. The Tang Empire invited the Uyghurs to subdue a peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
rebellion in 755. Successful campaigns of the Uyghur Khaganate led to a peace with the Tang Dynasty of China which paid tribute in silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
and grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
for 12 years after 766.
Though a faction of the Uyghurs were Buddhists, the Manichaeism
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
became the official religion of the Khaganate in the 8th century. Nevertheless, the majority of the Uyghurs remained shamanists. The culture and economy of the Uyghur Kaganate were more advanced than those of its predecessors. The Uyghurs used a 12-month calendar and calculated the dates of solar
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
and lunar eclipse
Lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a...
s. The Uyghurs developed their own writing system based on the Sogdian script. The Uyghur Khaganate fell under an invasion of the Yenisei Kirghiz
Yenisei Kirghiz
The Yenisei Kirghiz, also known as the Khyagas or Khakas, were an ancient people that dwelled along the upper Yenisei River in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE...
in 840.
Kyrgyz Period
The destruction of Uyghur Khaganate by Kirghiz resulted in the end of TurkicTurkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
dominance in Mongolia. According to historians, Kirhgiz were not interested in assimilating newly acquired lands; instead, they controlled local tribes through various manaps.
Khitan Period
Kherlen River
Kherlen River is a river of 1,254 km length in Mongolia and China.-Course:The river has its origin in the south slopes of the Khentii mountains, near the Burkhan Khaldun mountain in the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area, about 180 km northeast of Ulaanbaatar...
, Tuul and Orkhon. As it grew strong and occupied parts of China, it came to be called the Liao Dynasty
Liao Dynasty
The Liao Dynasty , also known as the Khitan Empire was an empire in East Asia that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper between 9071125...
. The territory of the Khitan Empire consisted of two parts: one populated by pastoral herders in the north and the other populated by croppers in the south. The two parts of the empire actively traded with each other. Lubugu, a grandson of Ambagyan, and a scholar named Tulyubu developed a Grand Alphabet based on the Chinese hieroglyphics in 920. Later, Tela, a son of Ambagyan, developed a Minor Alphabet based on the Uyghur script. A printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
technology developed in the Khitan Empire. The Khitan language was widely studied abroad. The Jurchens, who were subjects to the Kidans, rebelled in 1113 and established in 1125 the Jin Dynasty which replaced the Liao Dynasty. A faction of the Kidans moved to the west, escaping subjugation by the Jurchens. Those Khitans established the Kara-Khitan Khanate
Kara-Khitan Khanate
The Kara-Khitan Khanate, or Western Liao was a Khitan empire in Central Asia. The dynasty was founded by Yelü Dashi, who led the remnants of the Liao Dynasty to Central Asia after fleeing from the Jurchen conquest of their homeland in North and Northeast of modern day China...
in Eastern Turkestan.
Confederations and kingdoms in the 12th century
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s and confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
s (khanligs).
A confederation of tribes under the name Mongol was known from the 8th century. The confederations of core Mongol tribes were transforming into a statehood in the early 12th century and became to be known as Khamag Mongol
Khamag Mongol
Khamag Mongol was a major tribal confederation in Mongolian plateau in 12th century. It is sometimes also considered a predecessor state to the Mongol Empire....
confederacy. They occupied one of the most fertile lands of the country—the basins of the rivers Onon
Onon River
The Onon is a river in Mongolia and Russia of length 818 km and watershed 94,010 km². It originates at the eastern slope of the Khentii Mountains. For 298 km it flows within Mongolia...
, Kherlen and Tuul in the Khentii mountains
Khentii Mountains
The Khentii Mountains are a mountain range in the Töv and Khentii Provinces in northern Mongolia. The chain overlaps the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and includes Mongolia's sacred mountain, Burkhan Khaldun, which is associated with the origin of Genghis Khan.The range forms the watershed...
. The first khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
of Khamag Mongol recorded in history is Khabul Khan
Khabul Khan
Khabul Khan was the first known Khan of the Khamag Mongol confederation and great-grandfather to Genghis Khan.Khabul Khan was a son of Tumbinai Setsen and great-grandson of the Khaidu....
from Khiyad
Borjigin
Borjigin , also known as the Altan urug , were the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors....
tribe. Khabul Khan successfully repelled the invasions of Jin Dynasty. Khabul Khan was succeeded by Ambaghai
Ambaghai
Ambaghai Khan was a khan of Khamag Mongol in 1149-1156, one of the great grandson Khaidu Khan and the cousin and predecessor of Hotula Khan. During his rule, he was captured by the Tatars under the commands of the Chinese Jin Dynasty in response to the Mongols' growing power.In 1211 Genghis Khan...
Khan from Taichuud tribe. Ambagai was captured by the Tatars while he came to deliver his daughter as a bride to the Tatar confederacy and was given to the Jurchens
Jurchens
The Jurchens were a Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century, when they adopted the name Manchu...
of Jin Dynasty who cruelly executed him, nailing to a "wooden donkey". Ambagai was succeeded by Hotula Khan Khan, son of Khabul khan. Hotula Khan was engaged in 13 battles with the Tatars endeavouring to avenge Ambagai Khan. Khamag Mongol was unable to elect a khan after Hotula died, however Khabul's grandson Yesukhei
Yesugei
Yesügei Baghatur , was major chief of the Kiyad-Borjigin clan and the father of Temüjin , Hasar, Hachiun, Temüge, Temülen, Behter, and Belgutei. Yesügei was the son of Bartan Baghatur, who was the son of Khabul Khan, who was recognized as a khagan by the Jin Dynasty...
baghatur
Baghatur
Baghatur is a historical Turco-Mongol honorific title, in origin a term for "hero" or "valiant warrior".The term was first used by the steppe peoples to the north and west of China as early as the 7th century as evidenced in Sui dynasty records...
was a major chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
of Khamag Mongol.
Yesukhei was poisoned by the Tatars in 1171 when his eldest son Temujin was 9 years old. Shortly after Yesukhei died, Targudai of Taichuud moved away with the subjects of Yesukhei leaving young Temujin with his mother and younger siblings without support. Hence, Khamag Mongol remained in political crisis until 1189.
The Tatar
Tatar confederation
Tatar was one of the five major tribal confederations in Mongolian plateau in 12th century. The name "Tatar" was first recorded in history in 732....
confederacy was first recorded in history in 732. The Tatars became subjects of the Khitan in the 10th century. After the fall of the Khitan empire, the Tatars experienced pressure from the Jin Dynasty and were urged to fight against the other Mongol tribes. The Tatars lived on the fertile pastures around the lakes Hulun and Buir and occupied a trade route to China.
The Kereit confederacy was located between the mountain ranges of Khangai and Khentii and centered on the site of nowadays city Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar
Ulan Bator or Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million....
in the willow groves of the Tuul river. Markus was Khan of the Kereit in the 12th century. Markus was succeeded by Tooril
Wang Khan
Wang Khan, also Ong Khan, was the title given to the Kerait ruler Toghrul by the Jurchen Jin Dynasty of China. Like the rest of their tribe he may have been Nestorian Christian...
khan. In his feud with his brothers for the Kereit throne, he was repeatedly aided by Yesukhei Bagatur of Khamag Mongol.
The Mergid
Merkit
The Mergid was one of the five major tribal confederations in Mongolian plateau in the 12th century.The Mergids inhabited in basins of the Selenge River and lower Orkhon River...
confederacy was located in the basin of the river Selenge and the Hori Tumet (Buryat
Buryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
) tribes lived around the lake Baikal
Baikal
Baykal commonly refers to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, Russia.Baykal or Baikal may also refer to:-Russia:*Baykal, Irkutsk Oblast, an urban-type settlement*Baykal, Aurgazinsky District, Republic of Bashkortostan, a village...
.
The Naiman
Naimans
The Naimans, also Naiman Turks or Naiman Mongols, was a Mongolian name given to a group of people dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, having diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitan, and subservient to them until 1177...
confederacy was situated between the mountain ranges of Altai and Khangai. The Ongut tribes lived at the north of Gobi. Other tribes were Olkhunut
Olkhunut
Olkhunut was the tribe of Hoelun, the mother of Temüjin, more widely known as Genghis Khan. They helped Genghis to defeat the Naimans. The Olkhunut people were very closely related to the Khunggirad clan. Their descendants still live in Khovd Province of Mongolia and in Inner Mongolia....
, Bayud
Bayid
The Bayid is third largest subgroup of the Mongols in Mongolia and was a tribe in Four Oirats. Bayids were a prominent clan within the Mongol Empire. Bayids can be found in both Mongolic and Turkic peoples...
, Hongirad, Oin Irgen
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
and so forth. While most of the Mongolian tribes were Shamanists, Nestorian Christianity was practised in a number of confederations such as Kereit and Ongut.
Consolidation of the Mongol State
Jamuqa
Jamukha was a Mongol military and political leader and the chief rival to Temüjin in the unification of the Mongol tribes....
of Jadaran clan. The Mergids had attacked the home of Temujin and captured his wife Börte
Börte
Börte was the first wife of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. Börte became the head of the first Court of Genghis Khan, and Grand Empress of his Empire. Little is known about the details of her early life, but she was betrothed to him at a young age, married at 17, and then...
of Hongirad tribe revenging for a much earlier event in which Temujin's father Yesukhei deprived a Mergid chief Chiledu his bride Hoelun
Hoelun
Hoelun was the mother of Genghis Khan and the wife of his father Yesugei, the chief of the Khamag Mongol confederation.-Early life:...
of Olkhunut
Olkhunut
Olkhunut was the tribe of Hoelun, the mother of Temüjin, more widely known as Genghis Khan. They helped Genghis to defeat the Naimans. The Olkhunut people were very closely related to the Khunggirad clan. Their descendants still live in Khovd Province of Mongolia and in Inner Mongolia....
tribe, who became the mother of Temujin. The striving of Temujin to free his wife became a reason for the campaign against the Mergids. After the defeat of the Mergid, the reputation of Temiujin rose rapidly and the leading members of the Khamag Mongol aristocracy enthroned him with title Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
), as the ruler of Khamag Mongol. It is speculated to be an ancient form of the word "Tenggis" -- ocean, sea.
A conflict of the Tatars with the Jin Dynasty became a favourable opportunity for Temujin and Tooril Khan to defeat them in alliance with the Jurchens
Jurchens
The Jurchens were a Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century, when they adopted the name Manchu...
. At this point, Tooril Khan was granted the title Wang (王, Chinese for "king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
") by the Jin court and since then became known as Wang Khan
Wang Khan
Wang Khan, also Ong Khan, was the title given to the Kerait ruler Toghrul by the Jurchen Jin Dynasty of China. Like the rest of their tribe he may have been Nestorian Christian...
. By the year 1201, the Taichuud and Jurkhin tribes were defeated and subjugated. Influential aristocrats of many other tribes and confederations were joining Temujin.
In 1201, a crisis ignited in the Kereit khanlig, in which the siblings of Tooril Wang Khan allied with Inancha Khan of Naiman and defeated Tooril. Wang Khan regained power in his kingdom with the support of Temujin. Temujin finally defeated and subjugated the Tatars in 1202. Nilha (childish) Sengum, son of Wang Khan, envied Temujin as his power was growing and persuaded his father to battle against Temujin. This venture led to a victory of Temujin and conquest of the Kereit Khanlyk. Wang Khan escaped alone into the southern deserts of the Naiman khanlig, where he was caught by the by Naiman patrols, who killed him irritated as he claimed himself as Wang Khan.
Tayan khan of Naiman and his son Kuchulug initiated a campaign against Temujin in 1204. They allied with Jamukha, who competed with Temujin for the power over the Mongolic tribes. The Naiman troops outnumbered the Temujin's troops. At night at the eve of the battle, Temujin ordered each of his warrior to light ten bonfires, thus deceiving and demoralising Tayan khan, who was a weak warlord. Temujin won the battle. Tayan khan was captured but died of his wound, Kuchulug retreated to the river Irtysh
Irtysh
The Irtysh River is a river in Siberia and is the chief tributary of the Ob River. Its name means White River. Irtysh's main affluent is the Tobol River...
where he was overtaken by Temujin and defeated. After this battle, Kuchulug escaped to Gur-Khan of Kara-Kitai.
As the Khanlyk of Naiman was conquered, Khasar, brother of Temujin, found a dignitary named Tata Tunga, who spread the Uigur alphabet among the Mongols. This alphabet became the basis of the Classical Mongol script.
By the year 1206, all the tribes and confederations of Mongolian steppe had come under the leadership of Temujin. The success of Temujin in consolidation of the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
was due to his flexibility, his cherishing of his friends and his elaborated tactics. A congress of the Mongol aristocrats on the river Onon
Onon River
The Onon is a river in Mongolia and Russia of length 818 km and watershed 94,010 km². It originates at the eastern slope of the Khentii Mountains. For 298 km it flows within Mongolia...
in 1206 enthroned Temujin as Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) as Emperor of all Mongolia.
Formation of the Mongol Empire
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
and his immediate successors conquered nearly all of Asia and European Russia
European Russia
European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...
and sent armies as far as central Europe and Southeast Asia.
Genghis Khan abolished the organisation of the former tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s and confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
s and reformed the country into 95 mingats. In this system, a group of households large enough to mobilise 10 warriors were organised into an arbatu (10 warriors), 10 arbatus were organised into a zagutu (100 warriors), 10 zagutus constituted a mingat (1,000 warriors) and 10 mingats constituted a tumetu or tumen
Tumen
Tumen or Tümen was a part of the decimal system used by Turkic and Mongol peoples to organize their armies. Tumen is an army unit of 10,000 soldiers...
(10,000 warriors). This decimal system was a long tested system that had been inherited from the period of the Xiongnu. With an assumption that each household consisted of 4 persons and every adult male was a warrior, it can be estimated that the entire population of Mongolia was at least 400,000 people and the nation possessed 95,000 cavalrymen.
The newly unified Great Mongol State
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
became an attractive force for many neighbouring peoples and kingdoms. Beginning from the year 1207, the Uighur state, Taiga people of the river Yenisey and the Karluk kingdom joined Mongolia. The urgent task of Chinggis Khaan was strengthening the independence of his young nation. For a century, the southeastern neighbour Jin Dynasty had been provoking the Mongolic tribes against one another in order to eventually subjugate them. With a purpose of testing the military strength of his state and preparing for a struggle against the Jin Dynasty, Chinggis Khaan conquered the Tangut empire Xi-Xia, which pledged vassalage.
In the year, Mongolia with over 90,000 cavalrymen started a war with the Jin Dynasty which had a multi-million population. At this stage, the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
passed over the Great Wall, invaded Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
and Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
provinces, and approached the river Huang He. The "Altan (Golden) Khaan" (Jin Emperor) surrendered in 1214 and gave Genghis Khaan his princess and tribute of gold and silver to his warlords. Genghis Khaan gave out to his warriors the present of the Jin Emperor loaded on 3000 horses. However, the Jin Dynasty continued hostility against Mongolia, hence Genghis Khaan ordered his warlord Guo Wang Mukhulai
Mukhali
Mukhali was an important companion of Genghis Khan born of the Jalair clan in 1170. He served Genghis' enemy in his early days but was captured...
of the Jalair clan to complete the conquest of the Jin Dynasty and returned to Mongolia.
Later, the warlord Jebe
Jebe
Chepe Noyan was one of the prominent Noyans of Genghis Khan. His clan was Besud, which belonged to the Taichud tribe, which was at the time of Genghis Khan under Targudai Khiriltug's leadership....
of Besud
Besudh
The Besudh are one of the major tribes of the Hazara people of Hazarajat, central Afghanistan...
clan defeated Kuchulug who had become the Gur-Khan of Kara-Khitai. His power was weak as he, a Buddhist, persecuted the indigenous Muslim population.
Genghis Khaan intended to develop friendly relations with the Khwarezm
Khwarezm
Khwarezm, or Chorasmia, is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, which borders to the north the Aral Sea, to the east the Kyzylkum desert, to the south the Karakum desert and to the west the Ustyurt Plateau...
Empire, which was on a junction of the trade route
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
s connecting the East and the West and dominated Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Genghis Khaan considered himself a supreme ruler of the East and Khwarezm Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
a supreme ruler of the West. Khwarezm Shah had an opposite view that there should be only one ruler on earth as there is only one sun in the sky.
The execution of 450 envoys and tradesmen of Chinggis Khaan by Khwarezm Shah 1218 was an announcement of war. The Mongol troops invaded Khwarezm Empire in 1219. Although Khwarezm Shah possessed an army outnumbering the Mongol troops dozen of times, he lacked the courage and initiatives to unite his forces and fight back. The Mongol troops sacked cities Otrar
Otrar
Otrar or Utrar is a Central Asian ghost town that was a city located along the Silk Road near the current town of Karatau in Kazakhstan. Otrar was an important town in the history of Central Asia, situated on the borders of settled and agricultural civilizations...
, Buhara
Bukhara
Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
, Merv
Merv
Merv , formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana , was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of...
and Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
. Shah's warlord Temur-Melik led a daring resistance when the Mongol troops besieged city Khujand
Khujand
Khujand , also transliterated as Khudzhand, , formerly Khodjend or Khodzhent until 1936 and Leninabad until 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan. It is situated on the Syr Darya River at the mouth of the Fergana Valley...
. Shah's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu
Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu
Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, also known as Mengübirti or Manguberdi or Minkburny in the east was the last ruler of the Khwarezmid Empire...
courageously battled with the Mongol army in 1221, but was defeated and escaped to the river Ind
Ind
Ind can refer to:* Indianapolis, Indiana* the mathematical symbol for an induced representation* India, abbreviation* Immigration and Nationality Directorate, United Kingdom Home Office* Iota Nu Delta, fraternity* International Nurses Day...
.
Pursuing Khwarezm Shah in 1220, the scout groups of warlords Jebe and Subedei bagathur of Uriankhai
Uriankhai
"Uriankhai" , also known as Urianhai or Uryangkhai, is a term applied to several neighboring ethnic groups...
clan conquered northern Iran. They invaded Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
in 1221 and entered the territories of the Kipchak Khanate in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and grasslands of the northern Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. The Kipchaks allied with the troops of the principalities of Rus
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
gave battle to the 30,000 cavalrymen of Jebe and Subedei on the river Kalka
Kalka
Kalka is a town in the Panchkula district of Haryana, India. The name of the town is derived from the goddess Kali. The town is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and is a gateway to the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh. It is on the National Highway 22 between Chandigarh and Shimla,...
in May 1223, but were defeated and were chased up to the river Dnieper.
The 16 year conquests of Chinggis Khaan resulted in the formation of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
. Chinggis Khaan died on 16 August 1227 and was buried at site Ihe Ötög on the southern slopes of the Khentii
Khentii Mountains
The Khentii Mountains are a mountain range in the Töv and Khentii Provinces in northern Mongolia. The chain overlaps the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and includes Mongolia's sacred mountain, Burkhan Khaldun, which is associated with the origin of Genghis Khan.The range forms the watershed...
mountain range.
Mongol Empire and Pax Mongolica
Kurultai
Kurultai is a political and military council of ancient Mongol and Turkic chiefs and khans. The root of the word "Khural" means political "meeting" or "assembly" in the Mongolian language, it is also a verb for "to be established"...
Congress of nobility of 1228 enthroned Ogedei
Ögedei Khan
Ögedei Khan, born Ögedei was the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire by succeeding his father...
, who had been nominated by Genghis Khaan. Ogedei Khaan made Karakorum
Karakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
on the river Orkhon the capital of the Mongol Empire. Karakorum had been a military garrison of Genghis Khaan since 1220. The existence of 12 Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s, 2 Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s and 1 Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
church in city Karakorum indicates the tolerance of the Mongols to all religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
s. The construction of the city was supervised by Otchigin
Temüge
Temüge was the youngest full-brother of Genghis Khan. As the youngest sibling, Temüge and his mother, by Mongol traditions, were allotted the most land and people by Genghis Khan during his coronation...
, the youngest brother of Genghis Khaan. Ogedei Khaan established an effective postal yam
Yam (route)
Yam is a supply point route messenger system employed and extensively used and expanded by Genghis Khan and used by subsequent Great Khans and Khans.Relay stations were used to give food, shelter and spare horses for Mongol armies messengers...
system with well organised posts (‘’örtege’’). The system connected the various regions of the whole Empire. Ogedei Khaan settled down the rebellions in the countries conquered during his father and led an army himself to put down a revolt in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
.
Ogedei Khaan completed the conquest of the Jin Dynasty in 1231-1234. He sent princes headed by Batu
Batu Khan
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...
, son of Zuchi
Jochi
Jochi was the eldest of the Mongol chieftain Genghis Khan's four sons by his principal wife Börte. An accomplished military leader, he participated in his father's conquest of Central Asia, along with his brothers and uncles.-Early life:...
, to the west, and they conquered the Bulgar
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
kingdom on the Volga river and 14 principalities of Rus in 1236-1240, invaded the principalities of Poland, the kingdom of Kingdom of Hungary, Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
(then part of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
), and the area of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
in 1241-1242 and approached the Adriatic sea.
After his 16-year reign, Ogedei Khaan died in 1241 under suspicious circumstances. A rivalry for the throne began between the faction of the houses of Zuchi and Tului on one side and the faction of the houses of Chagatai
Chagatai Khan
Chagatai Khan was the second son of Genghis Khan and first khan and origin of the names of the Chagatai Khanate, Chagatai language and Chagatai Turks....
and Ogedei on the other side. Ihe Kuriltai of 1246 elected Guyug
Güyük Khan
Güyük was the third Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. As the eldest son of Ögedei Khan and a grandson of Genghis Khan, he reigned from 1246 to 1248...
, son of Ogedei, as Great Khaan. Guyug Khaan died in 1248.
The traveller from Italy Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, or John of Plano Carpini or John of Pian de Carpine or Joannes de Plano was one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. He is the author of the earliest important Western account of northern and central Asia, Rus, and other...
arrived in 1246 and later he wrote the book "Historia Mongolorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus". The faction of Zuchi-Tului houses won the Ihe Kuriltai of 1251 electing Mönghe
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
, son of Tului, as Great Khaan. Mönghe Khaan sent his cousin Hulagu to conquer Iran. Hulagu completed the conquest of Iran in 1256 and conquered Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
in 1257-1259. Willem van Ruysbroeck of Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
arrived in 1254 and later wrote his account "Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, Anno gratia 1253 ad partes Orientales".
Mönghe Khaan died in 1259. He did not have a male offspring. Ihe Kuriltai of 1260 elected Ariq Böke
Ariq Boke
Ariq Böke , the components of his name also spelled Arigh, Arik, Bukha, Buka , was the youngest son of Tolui , a son of Genghis Khan. After the death of his brother the Great Khan Mongke, Ariq Boke briefly took power while his brothers Kublai and Hulagu were absent...
, a younger brother of Mönghe Khaan as Great Khaan. The same year, Ariq Böke's elder brother Kublai, who was warring in China to conquer the Song Dynasty, elevated himself into Khaan of Mongolia in city Shangdu (or known as Kaiping). A long struggle between the two brothers continued between 1261-1266 until Ariq Böke died.
The Mongol Empire had an establishing effect on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
n territory in the 13th and 14th centuries. It enabled exchange of knowledge, inventions and culture between the West and East. This epoch is called Pax Mongolica
Pax Mongolica
The Pax Mongolica is a Latin phrase meaning "Mongol Peace" coined by Western scholars to describe the stabilizing effects of the conquests of the Mongol Empire on the social, cultural, and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory that the Mongols conquered in the 13th and...
.
In Mongolia, the legacy of Genghis Khaan was a superior law code, a written language, and a historical pride.
Fragmentation of the Mongol Empire
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
(1271–1368) by Kubilai Khaan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
accelerated fragmentation of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire fractured into the Yuan Dynasty, the Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
, Chagatai Khanate
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
and Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
, although later Yuan emperors were seen as the nominal suzerains of the western khanates.
Yuan Dynasty
The transition of the capital of the Mongol Empire to DaduKhanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu refers to a city which is now Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China...
(modern-day Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
) by Kublai Khaan in 1264 was opposed by many Mongols. Thus, Ariq Böke's struggle was for keeping the centre of the Empire in Mongolia proper. After Ariq Böke's death, the struggle was continued by Kaidu
Kaidu
Kaidu was the leader of the House of Ogedei and the de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate. He ruled part of modern-day Xinjiang and Central Asia during the 13th century, and actively opposed his uncle, Kublai Khan, who established the Yuan Dynasty in China until his death in 1301...
, a grandson of Ogedei Khaan and lord Nayan
Nayan
'Nayan' or 'nayana' is the Hindi colloquial, but stylized word, derived from the Sanskrit word "nayanam" which means 'eyes' while the correct pronunciation of this word is NAIN.It is sometimes used to refer to the South Indian actress better known as Nayantara....
until 1294.
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
Drogön Chögyal Phagpa
Drogön Chögyal Phagpa
Zhogön Qögyä Pagba, Zhogoin Qoigyai Phagspa or Drogön Chögyal Phagpa , born Lochö Gyäcän or Lochoi Gyaicain , was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He became the first vice-king of Tibet and played an important political role...
of Sakya
Sakya
The Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
school of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
to spread Buddhism among the Mongols (the second introduction of Buddhism). Buddhism became the official religion of the Mongol state. In 1269, Kublai Khaan commissioned Phagpa lama to design a new writing system to unify the writing systems of the multilingual Mongol Empire. The Phagspa script
Phagspa script
The Phags-pa script was an alphabet designed by the Tibetan Lama 'Gro-mgon Chos-rgyal 'Phags-pa for Yuan emperor Kublai Khan, as a unified script for the literary languages of the Yuan Dynasty....
also known as Дөрвөлжин бичиг (Quadratic script) based on the Tibetan script
Tibetan script
The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan language as well as the Dzongkha language, Denzongkha, Ladakhi language and sometimes the Balti language. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday...
and written vertically from top was designed to write in Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
, Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Uighur and Sanskrit languages and served as the official script of the empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
.
Kublai Khaan announced the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
in 1271. The Yuan Dynasty included Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
proper, the territories of the former Jin and Song
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
dynasties and some adjacent territories such as a major part of Southern Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. The Yuan government also set up a top-level institution called Xuanzheng Yuan to govern Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. Korea was its tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
kingdom. Kublai established a government with institutions resembling the ones in earlier Chinese dynasties, yet at the same time introduced a hierarchy of reliability by dividing the subjects of the Yuan Dynasty into 4 ranks. The highest rank included the Mongols, the second rank included the peoples to the west of Mongolia, the third rank included the subjects of the former Jin Dynasty such as Northern Chinese, the Kidans and Jurchens, and the lowest rank comprised the subjects of the former Song Dynasty such as the Han ethnic group in South China.
By eliminating the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, Kublai Khaan completed the conquest of China. The fleets of the Yuan Dynasty attempted to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281, but their ships were destroyed in sea storms on both occasions. During the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolia proper was administered by the jinong
Jinong
Jinong was a title of the Mongols. It was derived from Chinese Jinwang although some historians have suggested it originates from Qinwang...
, prince royal nominated as successor to the throne, who resided in Karakorum.
The ordinary people experienced hardships during the Yuan Dynasty. Hence, Mongol warriors rebelled against Kublai in 1289. Kublai Khaan died in 1294 and was succeeded by Ölzei Temür Khaan, who continued the fight against Kaidu. Kaidu died in 1301. Scholar Choiji-Odser wrote the book on Mongolian grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
"Jiruken Tolitu" in 1305. During the reign of Khaisan Külüg Khaan
Külüg Khan
Külüg Khan , born Khayishan , or Emperor Wuzong of Yuan , was an Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, and is regarded as the seventh Great Khan of the Mongols in...
, who succeeded Ölzei Temür Khaan in 1307, an uprising of ordinary Mongols under the leadership of Alhuitemur took place in 1309. Buyantu Khaan came to power in 1312. The Mongol commoners were exempted from tax in 1314 for a period of 2 years.
In 1333, Togoontemur became Khaan. The city Karakorum was expanded in 1297, underwent capital repairs in 1311 and was expanded again in 1346.
A rebellion called the Red Turban Rebellion
Red Turban Rebellion
The Red Turban Rebellion was an uprising much influenced by the White Lotus Society members that targeted the ruling Yuan Dynasty.- Causes :...
began in China in the 1350s and the Yuan Dynasty fell in 1368. The last Yuan emperor Togoontemur fled north to Yingchang
Yingchang
Yingchang was one of the important cities in the Yuan Dynasty. It was situated on Lake Taal in modern Inner Mongolia.The city of Yinchang was built by the Qongirat Mongols in 1271. The city was the administrative seat of the Mongol prince of Lu...
and died there in 1370. The Yuan remnants, which had retreated to Mongolia, are then referred to as the "Northern Yuan", and continued to resist the Ming rebels
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
.
Ayushiridara Biligtü Khaan
Biligtü Khan
Biligtü Khan, born Ayushiridara , was a ruler of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia...
was enthroned in 1370. The Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
founded by native Chinese began aggressions against Mongolia from the year 1372. Mongol warlord Köke Temür
Köke Temür
Köke Temür , also known as Wang Baobao , was a Han-Naiman general of the Yuan Dynasty. His mother was the daughter of a Mongolian prince while his father was an ethnic Han Chinese with the surname Wang. Before he was given the Mongolian name by the Yuan court in the early 1360s, he was known by his...
defeated a 150,000 Ming force on the river Orkhon in 1373. Ming army invaded Mongolia again in 1380 and looted Karakorum
Karakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
and other cities, but the invasions of Mongolia by Ming armies in 1381 and 1392 were expelled. Nevertheless, Yuan royalists in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty by the early 1380s.
Nahacu, a Mongol official of Ayushiridara in Liaoyang
Liaoyang
Liaoyang is a city in China, Liaoning province, located in the middle of the Liaodong Peninsula. The city is situated on the T'ai-tzu River and forms with Anshan a built up area of 2,057,200 inhabitants in 2010....
province invaded Liaodong with aims of restoring the Yuan Dynasty. However, he, along with his troops (sized about 200,000) finally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in 1387-88 due to famines. Ming Emperor Yongle
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor , born Zhu Di , was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His Chinese era name Yongle means "Perpetual Happiness".He was the Prince of Yan , possessing a heavy military base in Beiping...
invaded Mongolia again in 1409, 1414 and 1422, but was chased out
Battle of Kherlen
The battle of Kherlen was a battle between Borjigin Mongolia and Ming China that took place at the banks of Kherlen River in Mongolia on 23 September 1409....
by Buyanshri Khaan
Öljei Temür Khan
Öljei Temür Khan was the Mongol khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. He was a son of Elbeg Nigülesügchi Khan and younger brother of Gün Temür Khan...
(1405–1412) and the Oirats. Mongols remained powerful even after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. As the Ming Dynasty understood its own disability of conquering Mongolia by military force, it started a policy of provoking the groups of Mongols to quarrel with one another, as well as economic blockade.
Golden Horde
Batu Khan
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...
, son of Jochi, in 1243. The Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
included Volga region, mountains of Ural
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
, the steppes of the northern Black Sea, Fore-Caucasus, Western Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, Aral Sea
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...
and Irtysh
Irtysh
The Irtysh River is a river in Siberia and is the chief tributary of the Ob River. Its name means White River. Irtysh's main affluent is the Tobol River...
bassin, and held principalities of Rus in tributary relations.
The capital was initially Sarai Batu
Sarai (city)
Sarai was the name of two cities, which were successively capital cities of the Golden Horde, the Mongol kingdom which ruled Russia and much of central Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries...
and later Sarai Berke
Sarai (city)
Sarai was the name of two cities, which were successively capital cities of the Golden Horde, the Mongol kingdom which ruled Russia and much of central Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries...
. This extensive empire weakened under rivalry of the descendants of Batu and split into Khanate of Kazan
Khanate of Kazan
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...
, Astrakhan Khanate
Astrakhan Khanate
The Khanate of Astrakhan was a Tatar feudal state that appeared after the collapse of the Golden Horde. The Khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the area adjacent to the mouth of the Volga river, where the contemporary city of Astrakhan/Hajji Tarkhan is now located...
, Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
, Siberia Khanate
Siberia Khanate
The Khanate of Sibir were the patrilineal descendants of Shayban , the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The Khanate had an ethnically diverse population of Siberian Tatars, Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup people. Along with the Khanate of Kazan it was the northernmost Muslim state....
, Ulug Orda
Great Horde
- Dissolution of the Golden Horde :The peripheral regions of the Golden Horde broke off as follows: 1438: Kazan Khanate, 1441: Crimean Khanate, 1466: Astrakhan Khanate The remnant, which became known as the Great Horde, was left with the steppe between the Dnieper and Yaik, the capital Sarai and a...
, Nogai Ordasy
Nogai Horde
The Nogai Horde was a confederation of about eighteen Turkic and Mongol tribes that occupied the Pontic-Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghits constituted a core of the Horde...
and Aq Orda. A unified Rus conquered Khanate of Kazan in 1552, Astrakhan Khanate in 1556, Siberia Khanate in 1582, and the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
conquered Crimean Khanate in 1783.
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai KhanateChagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
or Chagatai Ulus separated in 1266 and covered Central Asia, Lake Balkhash
Lake Balkhash
Lake Balkhash is one of the largest lakes in Asia and 12th largest continental lake in the world. It is located in southeastern Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, and belongs to an endorheic basin shared by Kazakhstan and China, with a small part in Kyrgyzstan. The basin drains into the lake via seven...
, Kashgaria, Afghanistan and Zhetysu. It was split between settled Transoxania (Ma Wara'un-Nahr) in the west and nomadic Moghulistan
Moghulistan
Moghulistan or Mughalistan is a historical geographic unit in Central Asia that included parts of modern-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Chinese Autonomous Region of Xinjiang...
in the east. It is claimed that parts of them still spoke Mongolian until the late 16th century.
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
(1395–1405), a Mongol warlord from Barlas
Barlas
The Barlas were a Mongol - later Turkicized - nomadic confederation in Central Asia and the chief tribe of the Timurids who ruled much of Central Asia, Iran, and South Asia in the Middle Ages.- Origins :According to the Secret History of the Mongols, written during the reign of Ögedei Khan, the...
clan. Timur defeated Tokhtamysh
Tokhtamysh
Tokhtamysh was the prominent khan of the White Horde, who briefly unified the White Horde and Blue Horde subdivisions of the Golden Horde into a single state. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan's eldest grandson, Orda Khan or his brother Tuqa-Timur...
Khan of Golden Horde in 1395 and deprived him of Fore-Caucasus. He destroyed the army of the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
near Angora
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, the event which delayed a Turkish conquest of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
for half a century. Timur's empire fragmented shortly after he died.
Timur's grandson Ulugh Beg
Ulugh Beg
Ulugh Bek was a Timurid ruler as well as an astronomer, mathematician and sultan. His commonly-known name is not truly a personal name, but rather a moniker, which can be loosely translated as "Great Ruler" or "Patriarch Ruler" and was the Turkic equivalent of Timur's Perso-Arabic title Amīr-e...
(1409–1449) ruled Transoxania and during his rule trade and economy of Transoxania achieved significant development. Ulugh Beg built an astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
near Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
in 1429 and wrote his work Zij-i-Sultani
Zij-i-Sultani
Zīj-i Sultānī is a Zij astronomical table and star catalogue that was published by Ulugh Beg in 1437. It was the joint product of the work of a group of Muslim astronomers working under the patronage of Ulugh Beg at Samarkand's Ulugh Beg Observatory...
, which comprises the theories of astronomy and a catalogue of over 1000 stars with their precise positions on the celestial sphere
Celestial sphere
In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere of arbitrarily large radius, concentric with the Earth and rotating upon the same axis. All objects in the sky can be thought of as projected upon the celestial sphere. Projected upward from Earth's equator and poles are the...
.
A long rivalry of Moghulistan with the Oirats
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
for trade routes ended with its defeat by the Oirats in 1530. Babur
Babur
Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
, a Timurid
Timurid Dynasty
The Timurids , self-designated Gurkānī , were a Persianate, Central Asian Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turko-Mongol descent whose empire included the whole of Iran, modern Afghanistan, and modern Uzbekistan, as well as large parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the...
ruler of Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, conquered most of India in 1526 and founded the Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
. The Mughal Empire fractured into several lesser states in the 18th century and was conquered by the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in 1858.
Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
, also known as the Hulagu Ulus, formed in 1256 and comprised Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Transcaucasus, eastern Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and Western Turkistan
Türkistan
*Türkistan is the local name for Turkestan, a region of Central Asia.*Türkistan, Kazakhstan is a historic city and place of pilgrimage in southern Kazakhstan...
. In 1300, Rashid-al-Din Hamadani in cooperation with Mongol historians commenced writing Jami al-Tawarikh
Jami al-Tawarikh
The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, , or Universal History is an Iranian work of literature and history written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century.-The author:...
(Sudur un Chigulgan, Compendium of Chronicles) under the order of Ilkhan Ghazan (1295–1304). The work was completed in 1311 during the reign of Ilkhan Öljeitü (1304–1316). Altan Debter
Altan Debter
The Altan Debter is an early, now lost history of the Mongols. Rashid al-Din had access to it when writing his Chronicles, Jami al-Tawarikh. And it is also believed that The Secret History of the Mongols is based on it....
written by a Mongol historian Bolad
Bolad
Bolad, also known as Bolad chingsang , was a Mongol minister of the Yuan Dynasty, and later served in the Ilkhanate as an ambassador of the Yuan emperor and adviser to the Ilkhans...
Chinsan served as a basis for writing Jami al-Tawarikh. Hulagu Ulus disintegrated in 1335 into several states one of which was Jalayrid dynasty, ruled by descendants of Mukhali of Jalair.
The Forty and the Four
By 1368 the Mongols who established the Yuan DynastyYuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
a century ago had been expelled from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to Mongolia. The Mongol regime after this time until the 17th century is often referred to as the Northern Yuan Dynasty, or the Forty and the Four (Дөчин дөрвөн хоёр), meaning the forty Tumen
Tumen
Tumen or Tümen was a part of the decimal system used by Turkic and Mongol peoples to organize their armies. Tumen is an army unit of 10,000 soldiers...
s of the Mongols and the four Tumen
Tumen
Tumen or Tümen was a part of the decimal system used by Turkic and Mongol peoples to organize their armies. Tumen is an army unit of 10,000 soldiers...
s of the Oirats. A long period of feudal separatism and rivalry for the Khaan's throne started in Mongolia by the early 15th century. The military strength of the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty was that they were able to mobilise an army of 400,000 warriors (40 tumens). Assuming that an average household consisted of 4 people and every adult man was a warrior, it can be estimated that the Mongol population in the Yuan Dynasty counted at least 1,600,000 people. However, the amount of 40 tumens remained only in the name of the Mongols after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty as only 6 tumens were able to retreat to Mongolia and the remaining 34 tumens were lost to the Chinese Ming Dynasty. These 6 tumens were grouped into the 3 tumens of the left wing ruled by Khaan of Mongolia and the 3 tumens of the right wing ruled by Jinong
Jinong
Jinong was a title of the Mongols. It was derived from Chinese Jinwang although some historians have suggested it originates from Qinwang...
, vassal of the Khaan.
The Oirats constituted another 4 tumens
Four Oirats
The Four Oirats or the Alliance of the Four Oirat tribes was the confederation of the Oirat tribes, which marked the rise of the Western Mongols in Mongolian history.Despite the universal currency of the term Four Oirats among Eastern Mongols and Oirats and numerous explanations by...
. They stayed in Mongolia proper during the Yuan Dynasty and sided Ariq Böke, Kaidu and Nayan in their anti-Kublai struggle. By the 15th century the Oirats occupied the Altay Mountains
Altay Mountains
The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in East-Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the original locus of the speakers of Turkic as well as other members of the proposed...
region. The Oirats were ruled by a Taishi who was a vassal of the Khaan.
The first half of the 15th century saw a rivalry of Oirat Taishis for the throne of the Khaan and the second half of the 15th century saw a separatist movement of the Taishis in the right wing tumens. Togoon Taishi of Oirat eventually increased his power in the Mongol court and these achievements were tightened under his successor Esen Taishi
Esen Tayisi
Esen taishi was a powerful Oirat Khagan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia in the 15th century. He is best known for capturing the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in 1450 after the Battle of Tumu Fortress and briefly reuniting the Mongols...
. Mongolia was effectively unified under the power of the Oirat Taishi. Esen Taishi led active diplomatic exchanges with Ming China to achieve favourable trading conditions. When diplomacy failed to reach the goal, he led a military campaign in 1449, in which a 500,000 Ming army was defeated by a 20,000 Oirat army, the Ming Emperor was captured and Beijing was besieged. Shortly after this event Esen Taishi defeated the nominal Khaan Togtobuh
Tayisung Khan, Emperor Taizong of Northern Yuan
Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha was a Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. He was enthroned as the Khagan of the Great Yuan...
in their conflict and became a self-declared Khaan. During his retreat, Togtobuh was caught and assassinated by his ex-father-in-law for an earlier humiliation of his daughter as she was divorced and returned to her parents. The reign of Esen Taishi was short, less than a year—his rivals rebelled and overthrew him in 1454.
Mongolia was once again unified under queen Mandukhai
Mandukhai Khatun
Mandukhai Khatun was the Empress of the Post-imperial Mongolia. She united the warring Mongols with her husband Batmunkh Dayan Khan.- Background :...
the Wise and Batmönkh Dayan Khaan
Dayan Khan
Dayan Khan , was a Mongol khan who reunited the Mongols under Chinggisid supremacy in the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia...
, who subdued the Taishis. Queen Manduhai defeated the Oirats when Batmönkh was still a child. Later Batmönkh subdued the Taishis of the right wings as they refused to accept a suzereign over them—son of Dayan Khaan sent there as a Jinong. After this event, Batmönkh moved his residence from Khalkha to Chaharia, to a proxime neighbourhood to the right wings for tighter control over them. Since then, the Khaans of Mongolia resided in Chaharia up to 1634. The left wing tumens under Dayan Khaan were Khalkha
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
, Chaharia and Urianhai, and the right wing tumens were Ordos
Ordos
-Places:*Ordos Loop of the Yellow River, a region of China*Ordos Desert, in Inner Mongolia*Ordos City, city and district in Inner Mongolia*Ordos International Circuit, a race track in Ordos City.-People:...
/Tümed
Tümed
The Tümed are a Mongol subgroup. Most engage in sedentary agriculture, living in mixed communities in the suburbs of Huhhot. Part of them live along Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia...
, Yunshiyebu and Harchin/Horchin.
Dayan Khaan was succeeded by Bodi Alagh Khaan
Bodi Alagh Khan
Bodi Alagh Khan was the Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. Bodi Alagh Khan was Dayan Khan’s second son’s eldest son and was handpicked by Dayan Khan as his successor...
whose power was however assumed by his uncle Bars Bolud Jinong
Bars Bolud Jinong
Barsbolad Jinong was a Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. Barsbolad Jinong was the third son of Dayan Khan, who appointed his grandson , Bodi Alagh Khan as his successor...
as a regent due to the Khaan's young age. As he grew up, Bodi Alagh claimed back his throne and the Jinong yielded.
During the reign of Darayisung Gödeng Khaan
Darayisung Gödeng Khan
Darayisung Khan , was the Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. Darayisung Khan was the eldest son of Bodi Alagh Khan whom he succeeded as khan. During his rule, Altan Khan became stronger and more disrespectful of the power of the Great Khan and Darayisung Khan was unable to...
and his successor Tümen Jasagtu Khaan
Tümen Jasagtu Khan
Tümen Jasagtu Khan was a 16th century Mongol khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia who reigned from 1558 to 1592. He was the successor of Darayisung Gödeng Khan and had direct rule over the Chahar. It was during his rule that the Mongols conquered Daur and Evenks...
, the right wings rose in the 16th century under a local lord Altan
Altan Khan
Altan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...
(son of Bars Bolad Jinong) who assumed the title of Khan. In order to maintain the unity of the country by peaceful means, Tümen Jasagtu Khaan initiated a Representative government with equal participation of the representatives of the left and right wings. The right wings rivalled with the Oirats for possession of Kukunor (Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
and Altan Khan, who appointed his son as a ruler of Kukunor, defeated the Oirats in 1552. Altan Khan attacked Ming China, but he stopped the raids in 1571, and signed a peace treaty with the Ming court. To achieve favourable conditions in the peace treaty with the Ming Dynasty, Altan Khan occasionally threatened that he may ally with Tümen Khaan to attack China. Altan Khan established the city of Hohhot
Hohhot
Hohhot , is a city in north-central China and the capital of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, serving as the region's administrative, economic, and cultural centre....
in 1557. Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos defeated the Torghut
Torghut
The Torgut are one of the four major subgroups of the Four Oirats. The Torghut ruling dynasty traced its descent to the Kereit ruler Wang Khan's bodyguards....
s at the river Irtysh
Irtysh
The Irtysh River is a river in Siberia and is the chief tributary of the Ob River. Its name means White River. Irtysh's main affluent is the Tobol River...
around 1560s.
Abtai, the ruler of Khalkha, conquered the Oirats in 1570s, but the latter rebelled in 1588. The Oirats, in turn, were busy in struggle with Moghulistan for trade routes.
Tümen Jasagtu Khaan was succeeded by Buyan Sechen Khaan
Buyan Sechen Khan
Buyan Sechen Khan was a Mongol khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia and he was the eldest son of Jasaghtu Khan whom he succeeded. During Buyan Khan’s rule, the Mongol regime once again falling into disarray and although the great khan was recognized as the leader of all Mongols, this was...
who claimed having possessed the "seal of the ancient Taizong Khaan". Buyan's grandson Legdan ascended the throne in 1603. He initiated translation of major Buddhist scriptures into the Mongolian language. By his time, the authority of the Mongolian Khaan had declined to such a degree that Legdan Hutuhtu Khaan came to be known as "Khaan of Chaharia". The failure of his attempts of unification of Mongolia by peaceful means led him to shift to forceful methods. However, this in turn alienated the local lords of Inner Mongolia from him even farther.
The striving of the Mongols to improve their life led naturally to an increase in the number of their livestock. In the extensive livestock husbandry
Extensive farming
Extensive farming or Extensive agriculture is an agricultural production system that uses small inputs of labour, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed....
, on which the medieval Mongolian economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
was based, an excess number of livestock required either expansion of the pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
s, which may imply conquest of new territories, or exchange of the excess animals and livestock products for products of settled civilisations unavailable in the unsophisticated Mongolian economy. For example, they would be able to wear clothes made of hides and wool in cold seasons, but would certainly need clothes from silk or light fabric in summer. However, the ban on trade with the Mongols by the Ming administration was a reason for armed conflicts. Moreover, there were frequent attempts to offer low prices for the livestock products or to supply low quality reject goods to the Mongols. Thus in protest, there were cases that Mongol traders burned their reject Chinese purchases in front of the Ming officials during the rule of Esen
Esen Tayisi
Esen taishi was a powerful Oirat Khagan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia in the 15th century. He is best known for capturing the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in 1450 after the Battle of Tumu Fortress and briefly reuniting the Mongols...
. Also the Ming administration often issued extremely low import quota
Import quota
An import quota is a type of protectionist trade restriction that sets a physical limit on the quantity of a good that can be imported into a country in a given period of time....
s for trade. They banned selling metal products to the Mongols in suspicion that metal would be remoulded into weapons; however, metal products such as kettle
Kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own electric heating element.- Stovetop kettles :...
s were vitally important in the every day life of the herders.
Cities in Mongolia were completely destroyed during Chinese raids in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Thus there was no division of labour between urban and rural economies that was characteristic in other cultures. Some attempts of diversification of the economy were undertaken in the 16th and 17th centuries in peripheral Mongol domains but not in Northern Khalkha. Thus Altan Khan made Chinese grow grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
around the city of Hohhot
Hohhot
Hohhot , is a city in north-central China and the capital of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, serving as the region's administrative, economic, and cultural centre....
. Erdeni Batur
Erdeni Batur
Erdeni Batur was a Choros-Oirat prince and is generally considered the founder of a new Oirat state in Central Asia known as the Dzungar Khanate....
Hongtaiji attempted to develop cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
and horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
production in Dzungaria using captives from Eastern Turkistan and from oases
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. However, these initiatives mainly or exclusively served the ruling classes and the mass of the Mongol commoners received little or no benefit from them.
By the end of the 16th century, several Khanlyk dynasties developed in Khalkha. As Dayan Khaan divided Mongolia to his 11 sons, Northern Khalkha (approximately the territory of modern Mongolia) was given to his youngest son Gersenz Hongtaiji and Southern Khalkha was given to Alchibolad. Northern Khalkha was further divided to Gersenz's 7 sons. The most powerful of Gersenz's grandchildren Abtai received the title of Khan from the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, and his son Eriyehii Mergen Khan founded the dynasty of the Tushiyetu Khans, who ruled the central heartland of Northern Khalkha. Greatgrandson of Gersenz Sholoi solicited the title of Khan from Dalai Lama during his visit to Tibet and initiated the dynasty of Secen Khans in the east of Khalkha. Another great-grandson of Gersenz Laihur assumed the title of Khan and his son Sumbadai founded the dynasty of the Zasagtu Khans ruling the west of Northern Khalkha. Laihur's cousin Ubashi Hongtaiji
Ubasi Khong Tayiji
Ubasi Khong Tayiji was a 17th century Mongolian prince. He was the first Altan Khan of Khalkha who ruled Khotgoids in northwestern Khalkha See Altan Khan of the Khotgoid....
separated from the Zasagtu Khan and initiated the dynasty of Altyn Khan
Altan Khan of the Khalkha
The Altan Khans ruled north-western Mongolia from about 1609 to 1691 at the latest. Altan Khan of Khalkha also known as Altan Khan of Khotogoid ruled over the Khotogoids in northwestern Mongolia and belonged to the Left Wing of the Khalkha Mongols...
s of Khotgoid
Khotgoid
Khotogoid is a subgroup of Mongol people in northwestern Mongolia. The Khotogoid people live roughly between Uvs Lake to the west and the Delgermörön river to the east...
. The title Altyn Khan was given to him by the Russian authorities.
In the beginning of the 17th century, the Khoshut tribe of Oirat migrated to Kukunor and Torghuts migrated to the basin of the river Volga becoming the Kalmyks. Khara Khula
Khara Khula
Khara Khula was a Choros-Oirat prince and tayishi of the Choros tribe. He is best known for forming and leading a coalition of the Four Oirats in battle against Ubasi Khun Tayishi, the Khalkha prince who ruled the Altan Khanate in present-day northwest Mongolia.At the beginning of the 17th...
of Choros
Choros
Choros was the ruling clan of the Zungars and Dorbets and once ruled the whole Four Oirats. They founded the Zunghar Empire in the 17th century. According to a myth, their chiefs reckoned their descent from a boy nourished by a sacred tree, a legend shared with the Uyghur royal family.In the late...
clan unified the Oirats by 1630s and his son Erdeni Batur
Erdeni Batur
Erdeni Batur was a Choros-Oirat prince and is generally considered the founder of a new Oirat state in Central Asia known as the Dzungar Khanate....
Hongtaiji established the Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...
in 1634. The title of Hongtaiji was given to him by Dalai Lama.
The third introduction of Buddhism
Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos and his two brothers invaded Tibet in 1566. He sent an ultimatum to some of the ruling clergy of Tibet stating: "If you surrender, we'll develop the DharmaDharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
with you. If you don't surrender, we'll conquer you." ("Та манд орж өгвөөс, бид шажин ном хийе, орж эс өгвөөс, бид танд довтолмуй".) The Tibetan supreme monks decided to surrender and Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji returned to Ordos with 3 high ranking monks. Tumen Jasaghtu Khaan invited a monk of Kagyu
Kagyu
The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
school in 1576.
Drogön Chögyal Phagpa
Zhogön Qögyä Pagba, Zhogoin Qoigyai Phagspa or Drogön Chögyal Phagpa , born Lochö Gyäcän or Lochoi Gyaicain , was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He became the first vice-king of Tibet and played an important political role...
lama. Sonam Gyatso, in turn, recognised Altan a reincarnation of Kublai Khaan. Thus, Altan had the title "khan" he had assumed recognised by Sonam Gyatso while the latter received support of his supremacy over the Tibetan sangha. Since this meeting, the heads of the Gelugpa school became known as Dalai Lama. Altan Khan also bestowed title Ochirdara (Очирдар, from Sanskr. Vajradhara) to Sonam Gyatso.
At the same time ruler of Khalkha
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
Abtai rushed to Tumet to meet the Dalai Lama. He requested title Khan from Dalai Lama. Although he had already recognised Altan as a Khan besides the Mongolian Khaan Tumen Jasaghtu, Dalai Lama in this case rejected the request under an excuse that "there cannot be two Khans (or Khaans) at the same time". After some hesitation however, he did bestow Abtai the title Khan. Abtai Khan established Erdene Zuu monastery
Erdene Zuu monastery
The Erdene Zuu Monastery is probably the most ancient surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. It is in Övörkhangai Province, near the town of Kharkhorin and adjacent to the ancient city of Karakorum...
in 1585 at the site of the former city Karakorum. Thus, eventually most of the Mongolian rulers became Buddhists.
Cultural renaissance
The second half of the 15th and the 16th centuries saw the revival and flourishing of the Mongolian culture. This period is characterised by development of architecture, fine arts including silk applique, thangkaThangka
A "Thangka," also known as "Tangka", "Thanka" or "Tanka" is a Tibetan silk painting with embroidery, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, famous scene, or mandala of some sort. The thankga is not a flat creation like an oil painting or acrylic painting...
, martang and nagtang painting and sculpture.
An adopted son of Oirat aristocrat Baibagas
Güshi Khan
Güshi Khan , a Khoshut prince and leader of the Khoshut Khanate, who had supplanted the Tumed descendants of Altan Khan. His military assistance to the Gelug school enabled the 5th Dalai Lama to establish political control over Tibet...
Zaya Pandita Namhaijamtso
Zaya Pandit
Zaya Pandita or Namkhaijantsan was a Buddhist missionary priest and scholar of Oirat origin who is the most prominent Oirat Buddhist scholar....
(1599–1662) reformed the Mongolian script
Mongolian script
The classical Mongolian script , also known as Uyghurjin, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most successful until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946...
adapting it to the Oirat dialect. This new script is called Todo bichig.
Zanabazar (1635–1723), head of Buddhism in Khalkha
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
, was a great master of the Buddhist art. Along with the sculptures of the Twenty One Taras, he created the famous sculptures of Sita Tara and Siyama Tara, inspired by lively images of beautiful Mongolian women. The lotus flower over the left shoulder of Sita Tara is about to blossom and Sita Tara herself is in her mid-teens. The lotus flowers over the shoulders of Siyama Tara have already blossomed and Siyama Tara herself is a woman in the bloom of her beauty. She is aware and proud of her perfect beauty. She has awakened from her meditation, put down her right leg in the moment of standing up to descend from her lotus seat to breastfeed her child; and her children are the sentient beings. Many temples and monasteries were built under Zanabazar's projects. He designed the Soyombo script
Soyombo script
The Soyombo script is an abugida developed by the Mongolian monk and scholar Bogdo Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian.It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit....
for the Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit languages in 1686.
Mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
Minggatu of Sharaid discovered 9 trigonometric equations and wrote 42 volumes of "The Roots of Regularites" (Зvй тогтлын бvрэн эх сурвалж), 5 volumes in linguistics (дуун ухаан), and 53 volumes of work on mathematics.
In the area historiography and literature, Shira Tuuji was written in the 16th century, Altan Tobchi
Altan Tobchi
The Altan Tobchi, or Golden Summary , is a 17th century Mongolian chronicle written by Guush Luvsandanzan. Its full title is "Herein is contained the Golden Summary of the Principles of Statecraft as established by the Ancient Khans". Mongolian scholars typically call the work the "Lu Altan Tovch"...
of Lubsandanzan was written in the first half of the 17th century and Erdeniin Tobchi of Sagan Secen Hongtaiji, a descendant of Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji, was written in 1662. In the 1620s, Tsogtu Hongtaiji
Choghtu Khong Tayiji
Tsoghtu Khong Tayiji, born Tümengken , was a noble in Northern Khalkha. He expanded into Amdo to help the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism but was overthrown by Güshi Khan, who supported the rival Geluk sect.He established a base on the Tuul river...
of Khalkha wrote his famous philosophic poems and Legdan Hutuhtu Khaan had the 108 volumes of Kangyur
Kangyur
The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, made up of the Kangyur or Kanjur and the Tengyur or Tanjur .-The Tibetan Buddhist Canon:In addition to earlier foundational Buddhist texts from early Buddhist schools, mostly...
and 225 volumes of Tengyur
Tengyur
The Tengyur or Tanjur is the Tibetan collection of commentaries to the Buddhist teachings, or "Translated Treatises"...
translated into the Mongolian language
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
. A translation theory work "The Source of Wisdom" (Мэргэд гарахын орон) was written under leadership of Rolbiidorji, Janjaa Hutuhtu II.
Qing conquests of Mongolia
By the end of the 17th century, the power of the all-Mongolian Khaan had greatly weakened and the decentralized Mongols had to face the rising new Jurchen statehood on the east. NurhaciNurhaci
Nurhaci was an important Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late sixteenth century in what is today Northeastern China...
Bagatur (Тэнгэрийн сүлдэт) who reunified the Jurchen tribes sent a letter to Ligdan Khaan seeking alliance in fighting against the Ming Dynasty. Ligdan denied the proposal mentioning that Nurhaci rules only 3 tumens of the Jurchens while Ligdan himself is a Genghisid ruling the 40 tumens of the Mongols, and that Nurhaci should better refrain from disturbing the Chinese cities-tributaries of him-of Ligdan Khaan. In response, Nurhaci held it necessary to remind him that the 40 tumens are long gone and there are perhaps some 6 tumens of which Chaharia only recognises Ligdan's power as Khaan. Later Nurhaci managed to ally with the vassals of Ligdan Khaan, the taijis of Southern Khalkha, Horchin, Horlos, etc., who pledged to support Nurhaci in his wars against the Ming Dynasty. However their first allied actions were against their own suzerain Ligdan Khaan, defeating him in 1622.
Ligdan Khaan occupied Tumet and Ordos in 1623 to forestall their absorption by the Manchu and advanced into the Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
n lands in 1631. Nevertheless, Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
ruler Hong Taiji
Hong Taiji
Hong Taiji , also transliterated as Huang Taiji based on the Chinese language transcription of his name, was the first Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.Hong Taiji was the first Emperor of the Qing dynasty after acceding to the title in 1636...
(Дээд эрдэмт), successor of Nurhaci
Nurhaci
Nurhaci was an important Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late sixteenth century in what is today Northeastern China...
, allied with the Inner Mongolian taijis defeated him again in 1634 and sacked Hohhot. Ligdan retreated to Kukunor where he and his troops were swept by an epidemic. Abahai assumed the title of Khaan of Mongolia in 1636 landmarking the conquest of Inner Mongolia. The Manchus, supported by the troops of the Inner Mongolian taijis, conquered Ming China in 1644 and founded the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, Mongolia encountered Russian expansion on her north. The well-armed Russian Cossaks cruelly subdued the resistance of the Buryats and conquered the Baikal region in 1640-1650s. The uprisings of the Buryats were brutally crushed in 1658 and 1696. The Russians attempted to build ostrog
Ostrog (fortress)
Ostrog was a Russian term for a small fort, typically wooden and often non-permanently manned. Ostrogs were encircled by 4-6 metres high palisade walls made from sharpened trunks. The name derives from the Russian word строгать , "to shave the wood". Ostrogs were smaller and exclusively military...
s in Khövsgöl area, but they were quickly destroyed by the local population.
Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji of Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...
convened a congress of Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
and Khalkha
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
in 1640 to ally their forces in struggle against the increasing foreign aggressions. The congress issued a Khalkha-Oirat Law called the "Great Code of the Forty and the Four" (Döchin Dörben Hoyar un Ike Tsagaza). The Congress was attended by 28 rulers from Dzungaria, Khalkha, Kukunor and Kalmykia. Tushiyetu Khan Gombodorji and Secen Khan Sholoi were engaged in a conflict with the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
siding with Tenggis Taiji of Sünid of Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
who revolted against Qing rule in 1646.
Tushiyetu Khan's throne was succeeded by Chahundorji in 1665. Zasagtu Khan Norbo died in 1661 and rivalry started between his successors. This feud eventually involved Altyn Khan, Tushiyetu Khan and the Zunghar Khanate. The crisis continued for decades and evolved into a war between Khalkha and Dzungaria in 1688 leading to a conquest of Khalkha by Galdan Boshugtu Khaan of Zungar Khanate in the course of several battles in the Hangai mountains. The head of the Khalkha Buddhism Boghda Zanabazar, the Khalkha khans and nobles with thousands of their subjects moved in panic to Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
, which had been integrated into the Qing Dynasty. The Khalkha leaders sought Manchu aid in their feud with Galdan Boshugtu Khaan while Kangxi (Энх-Амгалан) cunningly demanded them to become his vassals as a condition for the support. Galdan defeated the joint Manchu, Khalkha and Inner Mongolian troops on the river Ulahui in 1690 and demanded Kangxi to cede to him Önder Gegeen Zanagazar and Tushiyetu Khan Chihundorji. The Qing Emperor called him to Ulaan Budun near Beijing for a "treaty". A joint Manchu, Khalkha and Inner Mongolian army gave ambushed deceived Galdan at Ulaan Budun who then retreated back to Khalkha.
Kangxi organised a congress of the rulers of Khalkha and Inner Mongolia in Dolnuur in 1691 at which the Khalkha feudals formally declared allegiance to the Qing Emperor. However, Khalkha de-facto remained under the rule of Galdan Boshugtu Khaan. Kangxi invaded Khalkha in 1696 and the Oirats were defeated by the outnumbering enemy in a battle at Zuun Mod at the river Terelj
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park is one of the national parks of Mongolia. The Terelj tourist zone has a number of "tourist camps" . It is connected with Ulan Bator by a paved road...
. Galdan Boshugtu Khaan died in 1697 in the region of Kobdo. The Zunghar throne was seized by Galdan's brother Tseveenravdan
Tsewang Rabtan
Tsewang Rabtan was a Choros-Oirat prince and the Khong Tayiji of the Zunghar Khanate from 1697 until his death in 1727. He was married to Lha-bzang Khan's sister.Tsewang Rabtan married his daughter to Lha-bzang Khan's son in 1714...
in 1689 while the latter was engaged in the war in Khalkha.
Tseveenravdan Khaan stopped the Kazakh
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
khans that began expanding to the east, and also sent his general Ihe Tserendondov to conquer Tibet in 1716. His force was driven out by Qing troops in 1720, who then occupied Tibet. However, several attempts of the Qing Dynasty to subjugate the Zunghar Khanate failed in the early 18th century. In 1723, the Qing troops subdued the uprising of Luvsandanzan taiji in Kukunor. Tseveenravdan Khaan was succeeded by his son Galdantseren in 1727. Galdantseren Khaan took a series of actions for development of crop production, gardening, and cannon manufacture in Dzungaria. He successfully repelled the aggression of the Qing Dynasty in 1729-31. Moreover, his general Baga Tserendondov advanced into Khalkha and reached the river Kerulen in 1732, but had to retreat after battles with the Khalkha and Qing troops. Galdantseren Khaan died in 1745 and a crisis was ignited among his heirs. After a series of bloodshed among them, Davaachi, supported by Amursanaa, became the new Zunghar Khaan in 1553. Such a feud signalled the Qing Dynasty to prepare for invasion of the Zunghar Khanate.
As soon as he became the new Zunghar Khaan, Davaachi deprived his friend Amursanaa of his wife and then defeated him in a battle in 1754. Amursanaa sought alliance of the Qing Dynasty. He hoped to defeat Davaachi and elevate himself as Khaan of Zunghar Khanate. The Qing administration mobilised horses and other livestock of the Khalkha population for the Zunghar invasion. A 200 thousand army consisting of Khalkha, Inner Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese troops invaded Dzungaria in 1755. The avantguard of the Qing army was led by Amursanaa, Chingünjav Wang and Rechindorji Wang from Khalkha.
While this horde intruded the basin of the river Ili
Ili River
thumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which is in Kazakhstan...
, Amursanaa captured Davaachi and handed him to the Manchu. This event landmarked the fall of the Zunghar Khanate which inhibited the Qing expansion in Central Asia for over a century. The Qing Emperor Qianlong (Тэнгэрийн тэтгэсэн) demobilised the army and envisaged a congress of Dzungar and other Mongol aristocrats to celebrate the incorporation of Dzungaria into the Qing Dynasty. However, instead of such a joy, he was to face the same year an uprising of Amursanaa against Qing authority over Dzungaria.
Mongolia under Qing rule
After seizing control of Mongolia, the Qing government grouped Khalkha khoshuns into 4 aimags: Tusiyetu Khan aimag, Zasaghtu Khan aimag, Secen Khan aimag and Sain Noyan Khan aimag. In addition, the territories populated by Oirats in the Kobdo region were grouped into Togs Huleg Dalai Khan aimag and Unen Zorigtu Khan aimag. Aimags were governed by aimag congress chigulgan comprising the lords of the khoshuns. The chigulgan daruga ( - official presiding the congress) was appointed from the khoshun lords by the Qing government.As vassals of Qing Emperors, the Mongolian nobles—rulers of the khoshuns were expected to carry out military services commanding their troops in warfare, to personally attend the Emperor in his hunting processions, mobilise resources from the khoshun population and subdue local riots. Their services were generously awarded by the Emperor, and those who performed exceptionally outstanding feats before the Qing Emperor would occasionally be honoured to marry a princess. Disobedience or failure to provide adequate service was severely penalised.
The most heavy burden of the foreign exploitation was laid on the spine of the ordinary Mongolian labourers. They were impoverished during mobilisation of horses and livestock products during preparation of the military campaign against the Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...
besides they had to serve as warriors themselves. Although the military feudal system of Mongolia of the pre-Qing epoch is considered to have been a class society in which an ordinary Mongol was expected to obey his feudal lord as a soldier obeys a commander, it was during the rule of Qing Dynasty when serfdom was effectively introduced to the Mongolian society for the first time. There were 3 forms of serfdom: albatu—state serfs, khamjilga—personal serfs of khoshun rulers and of taijis, and shabi—serfs of Khutuhtus, supreme clergy. To prevent assimilation of the Mongols, the Qing government tried to restrict travels of Han Chinese to Khalkha and to forbid cross-ethnic marriages between the Mongols and Han Chinese.
Soon after the conquest of the Zunghar Khanate, Amursanaa of Hoid rose against the Qing domination and returned to Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
with his 500 warriors as he was deceived in his hope to take the Zunghar throne with the support of the Qing. A faction of the Oirat aristocrats elevated him as Khaan of the Oirats in 1756. However the followers of Amursanaa lacked unity. The decisive battle was held at a site Sharbal in 1757 when 3000 Oirat troops fought against the 4 times outnumbering enemy. After the 17-day battle, Amursanaa was defeated and fled to city Tobolsk
Tobolsk
Tobolsk is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. It is a historic capital of Siberia. Population: -History:...
of Russia where he died. Brutally revenging the Oirat people for their love for freedom, the Qing army committed a genocide, killing every Oirat they met on their way on the territory of the Zunghar Khanate. Of the 600 thousand Dzungar population, only 30 thousand survived. The territory of the Zunghar Khanate was incorporated into the Qing Empire as the province of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
. Renchindorj Wang who allowed Amursanaa to abandon his post in the Qing army was cruelly executed in Beijing.
Chingünjav
Chingünjav
Chingünjav was one of the two major leaders of the 1755 - 1756 rebellion in Outer Mongolia. Although his rebellion failed, he is nowadays often hailed as a fighter for Mongolia's independence from the Manchu, who were ruling China at that time....
Wang rose against Qing rule in 1756 abandoning his post and appealed the other nobles of Khalkha to rise for independence. He planned to organise a congress of the Khalkha nobility to elect a future Khaan of Mongolia. He was supported by Boghda Gegeen II, the Khans of the 4 Khalkha aimags and other members of the nobility. However, the Qing court was able to capture Chingunjav before the uprising took its full swing. Chingunjav and his whole family were cruelly executed in 1757, the second Jebtsundamba Khutughtu and Tushiyetu Khan Yampildorji mysteriously died shortly afterwards, and the Qing court decided that future Jebtsundamba Khutughtus would be only found in Tibet, not in Mongolia. Around the same period, an uprising of Sevdenbaljir in Inner Mongolia was subdued.
Modern Period
Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia
The princes of KhalkhaKhalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
met during a religious Mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
offering ceremony to the 8th Bogd Gegeen Jebzundamba Khutuktu (1869–1924) in July 1911 and, in view of the imminent collapse of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, made a decision to seek Mongolian independence. After the Xinhai Revolution
Xinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...
, another decision was made in November 1911 to mobilise 1,000 warriors from each of the four aimags of Khalkha and, in the presence of these Khalkha troops in Urga, the Qing amban
Amban
Amban is a Manchu word meaning "high official," which corresponds to a number of different official titles in the Qing imperial government...
in Urga Sando was deported back to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. Outer Mongolia became effectively independent on 1 December 1911.
Bogd Gegeen was enthroned as Bogd Khaan (Great Khan, or Emperor) of Mongolia on 29 December 1911 and the era was titled Olan-a Örgugdegsen (Elevated by Many). The Qing high official in Uliastai was deported on 12 January 1912 in the presence of 700 Mongolian warriors mobilised from Sain Noyan Khan aimag. Mongolian troops led by Danbijantsan (Ja Lama), Magsarjav
Khatanbaatar Magsarjav
Khatanbaatar Magsarjav was a Mongolian general and a leading figure in Mongolia's struggle for independence. His contingent of elite 800 Mongol soldiers fought White Russians and Chinese forces over 30 times between 1912 and 1921 without a single defeat. He is often noted by historians as one of...
and the Manlaibaatar Damdinsuren
Damdinsüren
Damdinsüren may refer to one of the following people:* Jamtsangiin Damdinsüren, a Mongolian politician * Tsendiin Damdinsüren, a Mongolian writer and linguist * Bilegiin Damdinsüren, a Mongolian composer...
arrived in the Khovd region in August 1912. After an intense attack supported by the local people, they controlled the city of Kobdo at night to 20 August 1912.
The Bargu people fought against Chinese forces in August 1912, captured the city of Hailar, and announced their willingness to unify with the Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia. A part of Inner Mongols, as well as some Mongols in Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
and Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
also announced their willingness to join the Bogd Khaanate.
In its historical significance, the establishment of the Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia is comparable with the foundation of the unified Mongol Khaanate
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
in 1206. With national independence, Mongolia entered the path of modernisation. A parliamentary structure consisting of two chambers, the Upper Hural and the Lower Hural, was formed in 1914. A legal code, "Jarlig yar togtughaghsan Mongol Ulus un hauli zuil-un bichig", was adopted in 1915.
On 3 November 1912, Russian Empire and Mongolia signed a bilateral treaty without participation of China. This treaty meant recognition of Mongolia, its name as the "State of Mongolia" ("Mongol Uls") and its state system as Bogd Khaan monarchy by Russia. Nevertheless, under a strong pressure of Chinese government, the Kyakhta agreement of 1915 between the Russian empire, Mongolia and the Republic of China "downgraded" the independence of Outer Mongolia to autonomy within China. The government of Mongolia maintained a position of preserving Mongolia's independence including Khalkha Mongolia, Khovd region, Inner Mongolia, Barga and Kukunor. The position of Republic of China was to consider all of Mongolia as territories of China. The position of Russia was to reduce Mongolian independence to an autonomy limited to Outer Mongolia only. Negotiations continued for eight months as the Mongolian representatives firmly defended the independence of the country, but finally the government of Mongolia had to accept Russia's position. However, the Outer Mongolia remained effectively outside Chinese control.
Following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, China regained its claims to Outer Mongolia aiming at its conversion into a common Chinese province. In late 1919, the Chinese general Xu Shuzheng
Xu Shuzheng
Hsu Seu-Cheng or Xu Shuzheng , was a Chinese warlord in Republican China. A subordinate and right-hand man of Duan Qirui, he was a prominent member of the Anhui Clique....
occupied Urga and forced the Bogd Khaan and the leading nobles to sign a document renouncing Mongolia's independence. Leaders of Mongolia's national independence movement, such as Magsarjav or Damdinsuren (died in the prison under brutal torture) were arrested and imprisoned. The Chinese had tighted their control of Mongolia by this time.
Russian White Guard troops led by Baron R.F. von Ungern-Sternberg (Baron Ungern von Sternberg), who had been defeated in the Civil War in Transbaikalian Siberia, invaded Mongolia in October 1920. In October–November 1920, Ungern's troops assaulted the capital, Niislel Khuree, known to Europeans under the name Urga (now Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar
Ulan Bator or Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million....
), several times but were repelled with heavy losses. Ungern entered contacts with Mongolian nobles and lamas and received Bogd Khaan's edict to regain independence. On 2–5 February 1921, after fighting a huge battle, he drove the Chinese forces out of Mongolian capital.
One part of the Chinese forces fled to the south to China, and another to the north of Mongolia to enter negotiations with the Far Eastern Republic (a puppet state created by the Soviet Russia). The Bogd Khaan's monarchic power and his government were restored.
Mongolian People's Republic
The efforts of the Bogd Khaan's Government to receive aid from Japan and USA to regain the independence of Mongolia from the Chinese occupation failed. Later the Chinese forces were defeated by Baron Ungern, but at the same time the Mongolian People's Party had been established. The Russian Bolsheviks saw this party as instrumental for hounding the Ungern's troops Mongolia.The Mongolian People's Party established in early 1921 as a merger of 2 underground revolutionary groups who had their own view on the future of Mongolia. One of these groups was headed by Soliin Danzan and the other group was headed by Bodoo. They sought aid from Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
, which was an unacceptable decision for the Bogd Khaan Government. However, for the sake of liberty of the country, Bogd Khaan stamped their letter addressed to the Soviet Government. However, Soviet Government did not want to communicate the Mongolian powers as the Bolsheviks staked on Mongolian People's Party.
The Revolution began on the 18th of March when 400 volunteer troops led by Sukhbaatar attacked the 2000 Chinese garrison in Kyakhta
Kyakhta
Kyakhta is a town in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Russian-Mongolian border. Population: The town stands directly opposite the Mongolian border town of Altanbulag.-History:...
at the northern frontier of Mongolia. The Mongolian volunteer troops and units of the Soviet Red Army advanced to the south annihilating the remainder of the defeated Chinese troops (who were robbing the peaceful population) and Ungern's White troops. The main battles undertaken by the Mongolian troops took place at Tujiin Nars against the Chinese and at Zelter and Bulnai against the White troops. Simultaneously, Khatanbaatar Magsarjav, who had been sent by Baron Ungern to the western provinces, revolted and allied himself with the Mongolian People's Party. He defeated the White troops led by Kazantsev, Vandanov and general Bakich. Mongolian and Soviet troops led by Khasbaatar and Baikalov withstood a long encirclement by the Whites at lake Tolbo
Tolbo
Tolbo is a sum of Bayan-Ölgii Province in western Mongolia. It is primarily inhabited by ethnic Kazakhs....
(nowadays in Bayan-Ölgii aimag). Baron Ungern, after a conspiracy, was lost by his troops and captured by a detachment of the Red Army. The Mongolian People's Party troops and Russian Red Army troops entered Urga in July 1921. The Mongolian People's Government kept the Bogd Khaan as nominal head of state, but the actual power was in the hands of the Mongolian People's Party and its Soviet (esp. Buryat and Kalmyk) counselors. Mysterious death of the Bogd Khaan in 1924 was speedily utilised to promulgate a Soviet-style constitution, abolishing monarchy, and declaring the Mongolian People's Republic on 26 November 1924. Mongolia became completely isolated from the world by People's Party powers followed the Soviets for accomplishment of the Communist experiment. From the other hand, this also created protection against the potential aggression of China which considered Mongolia as its territory at that time.
In 1928, Mongolian politics took a sharp leftward turn, herds were forcibly collectivized, private trade and transport forbidden, monasteries and the nobility came under attack. This led to a economic breakdown and to widespread unrest and uprisings
1932 armed uprising (Mongolia)
The 1932 armed uprising was a revolt against the communist government of the Mongolian People's Republic. It covered four aimags in the northwest of the country and lasted from April-October 1932. The principal leaders were lamas, but a lot of lay people, among them party members and even members...
. As a result the policies were taken back in 1932 under so called Policy of the New Turn (Шинэ эргэлтийн бодлого, Shine ergeltiin boglogo), after the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
had given corresponding "advice". The leftist leaders of Mongolia were purged under pretext of "bending" (нугалаа, nugalaa) the policy of the party. The Policy of the New turn were favoured by the new leaders of Mongolia such as Prime Minister P. Genden who were enthusiastic in the liberalised development of the economy. However, they did not realise that this was a temporary tactical retreat of Stalin and Comintern. Another wave of repressions
Stalinist purges in Mongolia
The Stalinist repressions in Mongolia had their climax between 1937 and 1939 , under the leadership of Khorloogiin Choibalsan. The purges affected the whole country, although the main focus was on upper party and government ranks, the army, and especially the Buddhist clergy. One very common...
began in 1937 and resulted in the almost complete elimination of the Buddhist clergy.
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
.
Also in August, China had agreed to finally recognize Mongolia's independence if a plebiscite were held. The plebiscite took place in the presence of Chinese observers on October 20, 1945, and, according to official numbers, yielded a 100% pro-independence vote.
After the victory (with decisive Soviet assistance) of the Communists in China in 1949, Mongolia initially kept good relations with both of her neighbours, but after the Sino-Soviet split
Sino-Soviet split
In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...
, she attached herself firmly with the Soviet Union. In 1960, Mongolia gained a seat in the UN, after earlier attempts had failed due to US and ROC
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
vetos.
The post-war years also saw the acceleration of the drive towards creating a socialist society. In the 1950s, livestock was collectivized again
Negdel
Negdel is the common term for the agricultural cooperatives in the Mongolian People's Republic. The full name is Khödöö aj axuin negdel .- Early attempts :...
. At the same time, state farms were established, and, with extensive aid of Russia and China, infrastructure projects like the Trans-Mongolian Railway
Trans-Mongolian Railway
The Trans-Mongolian Railway connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans-Baikal railway in Russia, with the Chinese city of Jining, by way of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia....
were completed. In the 1960s, Darkhan was built with aid from Soviet Union and other COMECON
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organisation under hegemony of Soviet Union comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world...
countries, and in the 1970s the Erdenet
Erdenet
Erdenet is the third-largest city in Mongolia and the capital of the aimag of Orkhon.Located in the northern part of the country, it lies in a valley between the Selenge and Orkhon rivers about 150 miles northwest of Ulan Bator, the capital...
kombinat was created.
Democracy
A modest meeting1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia
The 1990 Peaceful Democratic Revolution in Mongolia was a democratic revolution that started with hunger strikes to overthrow the Mongolian People's Republic and eventually moved towards the democratic present day Mongolia and the writing of the new constitution. It was spearheaded by mostly...
organised by the Mongolian Democratic Union on 10 December 1989 landmarks the commencement of the Democratic Movement in Mongolia. The subsequent meetings involved ever increasing numbers of supporters. A meeting with participation of 100,000 people took place on 4 March 1990 on the square at cinema Yalalt, nowadays square of Liberty. The meeting turned into a demonstration marching to the House of the Government, which then hosted the People's Great Hural, Council of Ministers and the Headquarters of MPRP. The demonstrators demanded resignation of the Political Bureau of the MPRP, formation of a Provisional People's Hural within March and separation of MPRP from the government and handed their petition to a representative of the government.
Denial of these demands by the Communist government led to a hunger strike of the 7–9 March 1990 by a number of activists of the Mongolian Democratic Union resulting in the resignation of the Political Bureau of the MPRP and negotiations for political reforms.
The first democratic election was held in July 1990.
See also
- 1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia1990 Democratic Revolution in MongoliaThe 1990 Peaceful Democratic Revolution in Mongolia was a democratic revolution that started with hunger strikes to overthrow the Mongolian People's Republic and eventually moved towards the democratic present day Mongolia and the writing of the new constitution. It was spearheaded by mostly...
- Architecture of MongoliaArchitecture of MongoliaThe traditional Mongolian dwelling is known as yurt . According to Mongolian artist and art critic N. Chultem, yurts and tents were the basis for the development of traditional Mongolian architecture. In the 16th and 17th centuries, lamaseries were built throughout the country. Many of them started...
- Buddhism in MongoliaBuddhism in MongoliaBuddhism in Mongolia derives much of its recent characteristics from Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelugpa school. Traditionally, Mongols worshiped heaven and their ancestors, and they followed ancient northern Asian practices of shamanism, in which human intermediaries went into trance and spoke to...
- Greater MongoliaGreater MongoliaGreater Mongolia as a region, is the contiguous territories primarily inhabited by ethnic Mongols. It approximately includes the modern state of Mongolia, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China , and the Buryat Republic as well as a few smaller territories in...
- History of AsiaHistory of AsiaThe history of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions such as, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe....
- History of Central AsiaHistory of Central AsiaThe history of Central Asia has been determined primarily by the area's climate and geography. The aridity of the region makes agriculture difficult, and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus, few major cities developed in the region...
- History of ChinaHistory of ChinaChinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
- History of East AsiaHistory of East Asia-Prehistory:In East Asia, the Neolithic period may have begun as early as 7500 BC. The earliest evidence suggests the existence of the Pengtoushan culture in northern Hunan province from about 7500 BC to 6100 BC and of the Peiligang culture in Henan province around from about 7000 BC to 5000...
- History of RussiaHistory of RussiaThe history of Russia begins with that of the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The state of Garðaríki , which was centered in Novgorod and included the entire areas inhabited by Ilmen Slavs, Veps and Votes, was established by the Varangian chieftain Rurik in 862...
- List of Presidents of Mongolia
- MengjiangMengjiangMengjiang , also known in English as Mongol Border Land, was an autonomous area in Inner Mongolia, operating under nominal Chinese sovereignty and Japanese control. It consisted of the then-Chinese provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, corresponding to the central part of modern Inner Mongolia...
- MongoliaMongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
- Mongolian nobilityMongolian nobilityThe Mongolian nobility arose in the 10-12th centuries, became prominent in the 13th century, and essentially governed Mongolia until the early 20th century....
- Mongolian People's Party
- Mongols before Genghis KhanMongols before Genghis KhanThe Mongol tribes emerged from an area which had been inhabited by humans as far back as the Stone Age, over 100,000 years ago. The peoples there went through the bronze age and iron age, then forming tribal alliances and beginning to battle with China...
- Politics of MongoliaPolitics of MongoliaPolitics of Mongolia takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government...
- Stalinist repressions in Mongolia
- TengriismTengriismTengriism is a Central Asian religion that incorporates elements of shamanism, animism, totemism and ancestor worship. Despite still being active in some minorities, it was, in old times, the major belief of Turkic peoples , Bulgars, Hungarians and Mongols...
- Timeline of Mongolian historyTimeline of Mongolian history-Qing Era:*1619-32: Ligden Khan, the last Mongol Great Khan, aims tocentralize imperial control over the various Mongol tribes, but alienates a number of Eastern Mongol tribes who go over to the Manchus....
- Ulugh Beg ObservatoryUlugh Beg ObservatoryThe Ulugh Beg Observatory is an observatory in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Built in the 1420s by the Timurid astronomer Ulugh Beg, it is considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world at the time and the largest in Central Asia before it was destroyed in 1449...
External links
- History of Mongolia - Offers a history of Mongolia from 1203 to the present.
- Map of the Capital Districts of the Kidan Empire
- Map of the Kidan period
- Kidans and Jurjens
- Dual Manichaeism in Uighuria and Iran
- Realm of the Mongols
- Mongolia - Entry on Mongolia from the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia
- Biography of Zanabazar and history of dissemination of Buddhism in Mongolia by Don Croner
