Mongolian

Dictionary: Mon·go·li·an (mŏng-gō'lē-ən, -gōl'yən, mŏn-) pronunciation

adj.

Of or relating to Mongolia, the Mongols, or their language or culture.
also mongolian Offensive. Of or relating to Down syndrome.

A native or inhabitant of Mongolia.
A member of the Mongol people.
Anthropology. A member of the Mongoloid racial division.
1. A subfamily of the Altaic language family, Mongolian and Kalmyk being the most important members.
2. Any of the various spoken and written dialects and languages of the Mongols living in Mongolia and China. Also called Mongol.

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Military History Companion: Mongols

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Mongols or Moghuls were one of the Turkic tribes which inhabited the vast steppe lands of central Asia, north of the Gobi desert and the Great Wall of China and south of the Siberian forests. It was a hard land for humans but perfectly suited to the raising of the tough and hardy horses, which provided the livelihood of its peoples. It was said that Mongol children learned to ride before they could walk and their preferred weapon was the short but powerful composite bow, fired from horseback. Tribal rivalries meant that every male Mongol was brought up to be able to fight and hunting expeditions formed the ideal training ground. Traditionally, these steppe lands had no cities, permanent houses, or fixed frontiers. There was no established religion: most of the people adhered to a sort of Shamanism, although Nestorian Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist missionaries were active. Kinship and personal relations remained much more important than religious affiliation,

In the second half of the 12th century, the Mongols were simply one of a number of nomad tribes, the Tatars, Kereits, and Naimans being others, who inhabited this area. Temujin or Temuchin, later known as Genghis Khan, was born c.1162 in a family which had enjoyed a high status among the Mongols but which had fallen on hard times after the death of his father. By a mixture of brute force and clever alliances, the young Temuchin secured the leadership of the Mongols and then went on to lead his followers to victory over the neighbouring tribes, including the Tatars. Ironically the Mongols were often known by this, the name of a people they had defeated.

In 1206 Genghis Khan was acknowledged as the leader of all the central Asian Turkic peoples at a great Kuriltay (meeting) on the Onon river. According to the Mongol accounts, it was at this assembly that Genghis promulgated the great Yasa or Mongol law code and established the Yam or postal service, which was to connect his far-flung domains. However, his new empire was inherently unstable, it had either to expand or break apart, as so many steppe powers had done before. Genghis directed his first attacks against China, an alien culture and both the traditional enemy and cultural model of the steppe peoples. Between 1211 and 1215 he succeeded in reducing most of northern China, though the Sung dynasty remained in control of the south where the canals and irrigation canals made movement for the Mongol horsemen very difficult.

Mongol attacks on the lands to the west only began after 1218 when agents of the Khwarazmshah (Khorezonian Shah), an eastern Iranian ruler, killed merchants trading under the protection of Genghis Khan. In the years that followed, the Mongols systematically destroyed the flourishing cities of north-east Iran: both contemporary observers and the archaeological evidence, confirm the picture of widespread slaughter and the destruction of urban life and cities like Merv, Nishapur, and Balkh never recovered their former prosperity. Terror was used as a weapon and civilian as well as military populations were massacred. The death of Genghis in 1227 hardly interrupted their progress. In 1240 they launched a devastating attack on southern Russia which destroyed the ancient city of Kiev and the neighbouring lands, indirectly opening the way for the expansion of Muscovy. The next year they attacked Germany and defeated Henry of Silesia at the battle of Liegnitz before the army heard of the death of the Great Khan Ugeday in distant Mongolia and broke off the offensive. Western Europe was spared any further attacks and, indeed, popes and crusading monarchs like St Louis of France tried to make alliances with the pagan Mongols against their common Muslim enemies in the Middle East.

The expansion of the empire continued in the next generation. In the east, Khubilai, who was generally accepted as Great Khan, completed the conquest of China but at the same time assimilated traditional Chinese culture and founded the Yuan dynasty, moving his capital from Karakorum on the steppes of Mongolia to Beijing. In the west, his brother Hulegu led another expedition into the Middle East which culminated in 1258 in the capture of Baghdad and the destruction of the Abbasid caliphate, which had provided leaders of Sunni Islam since 750. In the second half of the 13th century the Mongols' domains drifted apart and four main khanates emerged: China, the Chaghatay in central Asia, the Il-Khanate in Iran and Iraq, and the khanate of the Golden Horde in Russia. Until around 1300 there was still a sense of unity and a Pax Mongolica which allowed trading expeditions across its whole extent from Europe to China, as Marco Polo found, but the days of military expansion and conquest were over.

The reasons for the military success of the Mongols have been much debated. Both contemporaries and later historians have noted their hardiness and the extraordinary mobility which Mongol armies enjoyed. Soldiers were trained in vast hunting expeditions where co-ordination and teamwork were developed. Mongol soldiers needed no supply trains or camp followers since they lived off and with their horses. After 1206, the Mongols and the other Turkic tribes functioned as a nation in arms. Among their enemies, like the Chinese and the Iranians, the military were a specialist group, highly trained and well equipped, but fairly small in number. Furthermore, Mongol armies tended to grow in numbers as they spread out and many Turkish peoples in eastern Iran and southern Russia joined them. The Mongols were especially concerned to recruit siege engineers in both China and Iran so that the fortifications, which had resisted many attackers, were taken. A combination of their military skills as mounted archers, their rigorous discipline and toughness meant that the Mongols rapidly created one of the most continuous and extensive empires the world has ever seen.

— Hugh Kennedy

Archaeology Dictionary: Mongols

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[CP]

A confederacy of nomadic tribes who gave their name to the steppe region of northern China—Mongolia. In the early 13th century ad, under their leader Chingis Khan, the Mongols conquered the north China Chin Dynasty. Later, under Chingis and his successors they also conquered the southern dynasty, the Sung, and united China under their own regime known to the Chinese as the Yüan Dynasty (ad 1278–1385). The Mongols also conqered central Asia, Persia, parts of Russia, and most of modern Turkey. They invaded Hungary and eastern Germany, but their advance was halted by news of the death of Chingis Khan. They were expelled from China by the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Chu Yüan-chang.

Columbia Encyclopedia: Mongols

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Mongols (mŏng'gəlz, -gōlz), Asian people, numbering about 6 million and distributed mainly in the Republic of Mongolia, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China, and Kalmykia and the Buryat Republic of Russia. Traditionally the Mongols were a predominantly pastoral people, following their herds of horses, cattle, camels, and sheep on a seasonal round of pasturage, and, when encamped, living in felt-covered yurts. Shamanism was the traditional religion of the Mongols, but Buddhism was introduced in the 16th cent.; competition between the two produced Lamaism, a combination of both. The Mongols have a written language; the earliest extant work written in Mongolian dates from 1240. The origin of the Mongols is obscure, but it is believed that many of the so-called Huns, who invaded Europe, as well as the Khitan, who founded a dynasty (916-1125) in N China, may have been Mongols. However, it was not until the early 13th cent. and the creation of the Mongol empire by Jenghiz Khan that the numerous Mongol tribes, hitherto loosely confederated and constantly feuding, emerged in world history as a powerful and unified nation. The Yasa (Jasagh), or imperial code, was promulgated. It laid down the organizational lines of the Mongol nation, the administration of the army, and criminal, commercial, and civil codes of law. As administrators the Mongols employed many Uigurs, whose script they adopted. From their capital at Karakorum the Mongol hordes swept W into Europe and E into China, and by c.1260 the sons of Jenghiz Khan ruled a far-flung Eurasian empire that was divided into four khanates. They were the Great Khanate, which comprised all of China and most of E Asia (including Korea) and which under Kublai Khan came to be known as the Yüan dynasty; the Jagatai khanate in Turkistan; the Kipchack khanate, or the Empire of the Golden Horde, founded by Batu Khan in Russia; and a khanate in Persia. Actually, the Mongol hordes (particularly those who conquered Russia and penetrated as far as Hungary and Germany) included large elements of Turkic peoples; they came to be known collectively as Tatars. Timur, who conquered most of the Jagatai khanate in the 14th cent. and founded a new empire, claimed descent from Jenghiz Khan, as did Babur, who in the 16th cent. founded the Mughal (i.e., Mongol) empire in India. The Mongols were completely expelled from China by 1382 and soon thereafter lapsed into relative obscurity.

Bibliography

See H. H. Vreeland, Mongol Community and Kinship Structure (2d ed. 1957); E. D. Philips, The Mongols (1969); F. W. Cleaves, ed. and tr., The Secret History of the Mongols (1982).

Wikipedia: Mongols

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"Mongol" redirects here. For the 2007 film, see Mongol (film).

Not to be confused with Mongolians, the citizens of Mongolia.

For other uses, see Mongols (disambiguation).

Mongols

B. Tserendorj • D. Sükhbaatar • B. Rinchen
S. Damdinbazar • Zanabazar • S. Dondogdulam
S. Yanjmaa • Genghis Khan • P. Genden

Total population

~10,000,000
(~0.16% of the world population)

Regions with significant populations

China	~5,800,000^[1]
Mongolia	~2,700,000
Russia	~1,000,000

Languages

Predominantly Mongolic languages;
also Chinese, Russian.

Religion

Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanism.^[1]^[2]
Small Christian and Muslim groups exist.

Related ethnic groups

Khalkha, Daur, Buryats,Tuvans, Hazara, Dörbed, Kalmyks, Oirats, Chahar, Tümed, Moghols, Aimak, Ordos, Bayad, Dariganga, Uriankhai, Üzemchin, Zakhchin

The name Mongol (Mongolian: Mongγol; Cyrillic script: Монгол (help·info) Mongol) specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.

1 Definition
2 History
3 Language
4 Physical characteristics
5 Geographic distribution
6 Gallery
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Definition

A narrow definition includes the Mongols proper, which can be roughly divided into eastern and western Mongols. In a wider sense, the Mongol people includes all people who speak a Mongolic language, such as the Kalmyks of eastern Europe.

The name "Mongol", appeared first in 8th century records of the Chinese Tang dynasty as a tribe of Shiwei, but then only resurfaced in the 11th century during the rule of the Khitan. After the fall of Liao Dynasty in 1125, the Mongols became a leading steppe tribe. However, their wars with the Jin Dynasty and Tatars weakened them severely. In the 13th century, it grew into an umbrella term for a large group of Mongolic and Turkic tribes united under the rule of Genghis Khan under a same identity (mostly cultural).^[3]

History

Main articles: History of Mongolia and Mongols before Genghis Khan

Based on Chinese historical texts the ancestry of the Mongol peoples can be traced back to the Donghu, a nomadic confederation occupying eastern Mongolia and Manchuria, who were defeated by Modu Shanyu of the Xiongnu after he became Emperor in 209 B.C. The identity of the Xiongnu is still debated today. Although some scholars maintain that they were proto-Mongols, the fact that Chinese histories trace certain Turkic tribes from the Xiongnu complicates the issue.^[4] The Donghu, however, can be much more easily labeled proto-Mongol since the Chinese histories exclusively trace all the subsequent Mongolic tribes and kingdoms (mainly Xianbei peoples) from them, although some historical texts claim a mixed Xiongnu-Donghu ancestry for some tribes (e.g. in the case of the proto-Mongolic Khitan).^[5]

Location of the Xianbei and other steppe nations in 300 AD.

Three prominent proto-Mongol groups split from the Xianbei, as recorded by the Chinese histories: the Rouran (claimed by some to be the Avars), the Khitan and the Shiwei (a sub-tribe called the "Shiwei Menggu" is held to be the origin of the Genghisid Mongols).^[6] Their culture was basically nomadic, their religion Shamanism or Buddhism and their military strength formidable. There is still no direct evidence that the Rouran spoke a Mongolic language, although most scholars agree that they were proto-Mongolic.^[7] The Khitan, however, had two scripts of their own and many distinctly Mongolic words are found in their half-deciphered writings that are usually found with a parallel Chinese text (for example, nair=sun, sair=moon, tau=five, jau=hundred, m.r=horse, im.a=goat, n.q=dog, m.ng=silver, u.ul=winter, tau.l.a=rabbit, t.q.a=hen and m.g.o=snake).^[8] There is generally no doubt regarding the Khitan being proto-Mongol.^[9]

Asia in 500 AD, showing the Rouran Empire and its neighbors.

Geographically the Tuoba Xianbei ruled Inner Mongolia and northern China, the Rouran (Yujiulu Shelun was the first to use the title Khagan in 402) ruled Outer Mongolia, the Khitan were concentrated in Southern Manchuria north of Korea and the Shiwei were located to the north of the Khitan. These tribes and kingdoms were soon overshadowed by the rise of the Gok-Turks in 555, the Uyghurs in 745 and the Yenisei Kirghizs in 840. The Tuoba were eventually absorbed into China. The Rouran fled west from the Gok-Turks and either disappeared into obscurity or, as some say, invaded Europe as the Avars. The Khitan, who were practically independent after their separation from the proto-Mongol Kumo Xi in 388 A.D, continued as a minor power in Manchuria until one of them, Abaoji (872-926), established the Khitan Liao Dynasty (907-1125 A.D). The Khitan fled west after their defeat by the Tungusic Jurchens and founded the Kara-Khitan or Western Liao dynasty (1125-1218 A.D) in eastern Kazakhstan. In 1218 Genghis Khan destroyed the Kara-Khitan Kingdom after which the Khitan passed into obscurity. The modern-day minority of Mongolic-speaking Daurs in China are their direct descendants based on DNA evidence.^[10]^[11]

The Shiwei included a tribe called the Shiwei Menggu.^[12] Bodonchir Munkhag (c. 970 A.D) the founder of the House of Borjigin and the ancestor of Genghis Khan is held to be descended from the Shiwei Menggu. The first historically recorded involvement of the Shiwei Mongols in foreign affairs is from the 1130s when there were reciprocally hostile relations between the successive khans of the Khamag Mongol confederation (Qaidu I, Khabul Khan and Ambaghai) and the emperors of the Jin dynasty, the details of which are mainly recorded in the Secret History of the Mongols.^{[citation needed]}

With the expansion of the Mongol Empire, the Mongols settled almost all over Eurasia and carried on military campaigns from the Adriatic Sea to Java and from Japan to Palestine. Mongols simultaneously became Tsars of Russia, Padishahs of Persia, Emperors of China, Great Khans of Mongolia and one Mongol even became Sultan of Egypt (Al-Adil Kitbugha). With the breakup of the Empire, the dispersed Mongols quickly adopted the mostly Turkish cultures surrounding them and got assimilated, forming parts of Tatars (not confused with a tribe in ancient Mongolia), Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Yugurs and Moghuls. However, most of the Mongols returned to Mongolia, retaining their language and culture. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368 the Mongols established their independent regime as Northern Yuan. However, the Oirads or Western Mongols began to challenge the Eastern Mongols under the Borjigin monarchs in the late 14th century.

Present-day Khalkha Mongols and Inner Mongolians are the most prominent of the remaining Eastern Mongols while the Kalmyks in Europe are the main descendants of the Western Mongols. The Khalkha emerged during the reign of Dayan Khan (1464-1543) as one of the seven tumens of the Eastern Mongols. They quickly became the dominant Mongol clan in Outer Mongolia.^[13]^[14]

Language

Main articles: Mongolic language and Mongolian language

A Mongolian yurt

The specific origin of the Mongolic languages and associated tribes is unclear. Some researchers have proposed a link to languages like Tungusic and Turkic, which are often included alongside Mongolic in a hypothetical group called Altaic languages, but this grouping is controversial.

Physical characteristics

In terms of physical characteristics Mongolians exhibit a variety of features, with the typical Asian features being most noticeable. Contrary to preconceptions, flat noses are rather rare among Khalkha or Outer Mongolians. Instead, modestly long noses are far more common because of the colder weather, with the occasional aquiline nose appearing frequently as well. Height and leg length vary from very short to very tall. Hair is typically Asian: straight and coarse, with body hair minimal. Skin color is very light brown, but long exposure to the sun can make it a very dark brown. A certain number of Mongolians mostly on the western parts of the country can exhibit lighter features such as light to dark blond/brown hair, fairer skin, blue or green eyes, hairiness to varying degrees. Some have reddish-light brown hair and pink face particularly due to the cold weather. Epicanthic folds of the eyes exist on almost all Mongolians along with medium height, broader face, dark hair, high and pronounced cheekbones.

Geographic distribution

This map shows the boundary of 13th century Mongol Empire and location of today's Mongols in Mongolia, Russia, Central Asian States and China.

Today, people of Mongol origin live in Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia), Russia, and a few other central Asian countries.

The differentiation between tribes and peoples (nationalities) is handled differently depending on the country. The Tumed, Chahar, Ordos, Bargut (or Barga), Buryats, Dörböd (Dörvöd, Dörbed), Torguud, Dariganga, Üzemchin (or Üzümchin), Bayid, Khoton, Myangad (Mingad), Zakhchin (Zakchin), Darkhad, and Oirats (or Öölds or Ölöts) are all counted as tribes of the Mongols.

Mongolia

The population of Mongolia consists of 92.6% Mongols, numbering approximately 2.7 million. From the middle ages to early modern period the Khalkha, Uriankhai and Buryats were counted as eastern Mongols while the Oirats, living mainly in the Altay region, belonged to the western Mongols.

China

Main article: Ethnic Mongols in China

The Chinese census of 2000 counted 5.8 million Mongols, according to the narrow definition above. It should be noted that 1992 census of China counted only 3.6 million Mongols. Most of them live in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, followed by Liaoning province. Small numbers can also be found in provinces near those two.

Other peoples speaking Mongolic languages are the Daur, Monguor, Dongxiang, Bonan, and parts of the Yugur. Those do not officially count as part of the Mongol nationality, but are recognized as nationalities of their own.

Russia

Main articles: Buriats and Kalmyks

In Russia, the Buriats belong to the eastern Mongols. The western Mongols include the Oirats in the Russian Altay and the Kalmyks at the northern side of the Caspian Sea, where they make up 53.3% of the population of Russia's autonomous province of Kalmykia.^[15]. The Tuva and the Altay people are culturally close to Mongols, but speak Turkic languages. Together they amount to roughly a million people.

Gallery

A Mongolian musician	Dongxiang boys	Kalmyks	Genghis Khan
Altan Khan of the Tumed	Dagvadorj Dolgorsuren (Asashoryu)	Mongolian girl performing Bayad dance

References

^ ^a ^b The Mongolian Ethnic Group (China.org.cn June 21, 2005)
^ China Mongolian, Mongol Ethnic Minority, Mongols History, Food
^ "Mongolia: Ethnography of Mongolia". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-27420/Mongolia#394579.hook. Retrieved 2007-07-22..
^ John Man-Attila: the barbarian king who challenged Rome, p.38
^ Frances Wood-The Silk Road: two thousand years in the heart of Asia, p.48
^ University of California, Berkeley. Project on Linguistic Analysis-Journal of Chinese linguistics, p.154
^ Thomas Hoppe-Die ethnischen Gruppen Xinjiangs: Kulturunterschiede und interethnische, p.66
^ Frederick W. Mote-Imperial China 900-1800‎ - p.405
^ Herbert Franke, John King Fairbank, Denis Crispin Twitchett, Roderick MacFarquhar, Denis Twitchett, Albert Feuerwerker. vol.3-The Cambridge History of China, p.364
^ Uradyn Erden Bulag-The Mongols at China's edge: history and the politics of national unity‎, p.167
^ Ruofu Du, Vincent F. Yip-Ethnic groups in China‎, p.27
^ Paul Ratchnevsky, Thomas Nivison Haining-Genghis Khan: his life and legacy, p.7
^ Juha Janhunen-The Mongolic languages‎, p.177
^ Elizabeth E. Bacon-Obok: A Study of Social Structure in Eurasia, p.82
^ "Kalmyks". World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. 2005. http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=2497. Retrieved 2008-05-18.

External links

v • d • e Mongol ethnic groups (Yastan)

Mongol ethnic groups

In Mongolia	Khalkha · Barga · Bayid · Buryat · Darkhad · Dörvöd · Dariganga · Myanghad · Zakhchin · Ööld · Torguud · Khotgoid · Üzemchin · Khamnigan · Altai Uriankhai · Khoton · Tuva Uriankhai · Selenge Chakhar

In China	Barga · Buryat · Chakhar · Khorchin · Jaruud · Baarin · Dörbet · Kharchin · Khishigten · Sünid · Urad · Üzemchin · Ordos · Onggirat · Khoshut · Torguud · Tuvans · Ööld · Tümed

In China, outside of Greater Mongolia	Katso · Yunnan Mongols · Sichuan Mongols · Sogwo Arig

In China, recognized as different nationalities	Evenks · Daur · Yugur · Dongxiang · Bonan · Tu

In Russia, recognized as different nationalities	Buryat · Kalmyk · Tuvans · · Evenks

others (mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan Iran and Central Asia)	Hazara · Aymāq · Moghol

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Translations: Mongolian

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - mongolsk
n. - mongol (indbygger i Mongoliet)

Nederlands (Dutch)
Mongools, Mongolisch, Mongool

Français (French)
adj. - mongol
n. - Mongol

Deutsch (German)
n. - Mongolisch, Mongole
adj. - mongolisch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μογγολική (γλώσσα)
adj. - μογγολικός

Italiano (Italian)
mongolo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - mongol (m)
adj. - mongólico

Русский (Russian)
монгол, монголка, монгольский язык, монгольский

Español (Spanish)
adj. - mongol, de Mongolia
n. - mongol

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - mongol, mongoliska
adj. - mongolisk, mongol-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
蒙古人的, 蒙古病症的, 蒙古语的, 蒙古人种, 蒙古症患者, 蒙古语, 蒙古人

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 蒙古人的, 蒙古病症的, 蒙古語的
n. - 蒙古人種, 蒙古症患者, 蒙古語, 蒙古人

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 몽고 사람[말]의
n. - 몽고 사람[말]

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - モンゴル語, モンゴル人
adj. - モンゴルの, モンゴル人の, モンゴル語の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) منغولي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של מונגוליה, מונגולי/ת‬
n. - ‮מונגולי/ת, מונגולית (שפה)‬

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		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Military History Companion. The Oxford Companion to Military History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more
		Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mongols". Read more
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