Mongolian

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

1. A native or inhabitant of Mongolia.
2. A member of the Mongol people.
3. Anthropology. A member of the Mongoloid racial division.
4. 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.

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

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

For other uses, see Mongols (disambiguation).

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

Mongols

B. Tserendorj • D.Sükhbaatar • B. Rinchen Yanjmaa • Genghis Khan • A. Amar
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.

Contents 1 Definition 2 Geographic distribution 2.1 Mongolia 2.2 China 2.3 Russia 3 Gallery 4 See also 5 References 6 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. At first it was applied to some small and still insignificant tribes in the area of the Onon River. 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] With the expansion of the Mongol Empire, the Mongols ressetled almost all over Eurasia as were there Tatar-Mongol communities in Egypt and Delhi in 13-14th centuries. With the break of the Empire, the dispersed Mongols quickly adopted the cultures surrounding them and assimilated, forming parts of Tatars (not confused with a tribe in ancient Mongolia), Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Yugurs and Moghuls. However, most of the Mongols remained in their homeland Mongolia. In the 15th century, they began to split as the Four Oirads or the Western Mongols began to challenge the Eastern Mongols' rule. Soon after the death of Esen Tayisi in 1454, the Oirad alliance collapsed, and their migrations to the west began. The Eastern Mongols and Oirads revived in the late 15 century and the early 17th century respectively.

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.

Geographic distribution

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

This map shows Mongolia and Mongol autonomous subjects in the PRC.

The Chinese census of 2000 counted 5.8 million Mongols (according to the narrow definition above). 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 Buryats 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 Kalmykia.^[4]. The Altay people are ethnic Mongols, but speak a Turkic language. Together they amount to roughly a million people.

Gallery

A Mongolian musician	Mongolian women	Dongxiang boys	Kalmyks
Genghis Khan	Altan Khan of the Tumed	Dagvadorj Dolgorsuren (Asashoryu)	Mongolian women

See also

• Mongol Empire
• History of Mongolia
• List of medieval Mongolian tribes and clans

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Mongolian Ethnic Group (China.org.cn June 21, 2005)
2. ^ China Mongolian, Mongol Ethnic Minority, Mongols History, Food
3. ^ "Mongolia: Ethnography of Mongolia". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-27420/Mongolia#394579.hook. Retrieved on 2007-07-22.. 
4. ^ "Kalmyks". World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. 2005. http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=2497. Retrieved on 2008-05-18. 

External links

• Ethnic groups of Mongolia
• Ethnic map of Mongolia

v • d • e Mongol ethnic groups (Yastan) Mongol ethnic groups In Mongolia Khalkha  · Bayid  · Buryat  · Barga  · Darkhad  · Dörvöd  · Dariganga  · Myanghad  · Zakhchin  · Ööld  · Torguud  · Khotgoid  · Üzemchin  · Khamnigan  · Altai Uriankhai  · Khoton  · Tuva Uriankhai  · Tsaatan In China Barga  · Buryat  · Ewenkis  · Chakhar · Khorchin  · Jaruud  · Baarin  · Naiman  · Dörbet  · Kharchin  · Khishigten  · Sünid  · Urad  · Üzemchin  · Ordos  · Khoshut  · Torguud · Ööld · Tümed In China, outside of Greater Mongolia Katso  · Yunnan Mongols  · Sichuan Mongols  · Sogwo Arig In China, recognized as different nationalities Daur  · Yugur  · Dongxiang  · Bonan  · Tu  · Tuvans In Russia Buryat  · Kalmyk  · Tuvans  · Altay people others (mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran) Hazara  · Aymāq  · Moghol

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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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