Outer Mongolia

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Outer Mongolia (Mongolian: Ар Монгол, Manchu: Tülergi Monggo, Chinese: 外蒙古; pinyin: Wài Měnggǔ) was an administrative division of the Qing Empire. The area was roughly equivalent to that of the modern state of Mongolia. There was and is some confusion about whether Outer Mongolia only consisted of the four Khalkha aimags (Setsen Khan Aimag, Tüsheet Khan Aimag, Sain Noyon Khan Aimag and Zasagt Khan Aimag), or of Khalkha plus Khovd and Tannu-Tuva.^{[citation needed]}

The name "Outer Mongolia" is opposed to Inner Mongolia (内蒙古; Nèi Měnggǔ), today an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. The term comes from the Manchu name for the region "Tülergi Monggo", meaning "Outer Mongolia" or "External Mongolia". In modern Mongolian usage, the term "Ар Монгол" (Ar Mongol) signifying "Northern Mongolia" or "Rear Mongolia" is used. The continued use of the term in the Chinese language is sometimes alleged to reflect a Sinocentric perspective that takes the northern part of Mongolia as "outer", while the southern portion, closer to the center of Chinese civilization, is regarded as "inner".

Today, "Outer Mongolia" is sometimes still informally used to refer to Mongolia. Also to avoid confusion between the sovereign nation of Mongolia and China's Inner Mongolia, media in China generally refer to the former as "State of Mongolia" (蒙古国) instead of just "Mongolia" (蒙古).

See also

• Outer Manchuria
• Outer Northwest China
• Timeline of Mongolian history