INTRODUCTION The traditional homeland of the Central Asian people known as the Mongols is a vast highland region called the Mongolian Plateau which is now divided politically into the independent country of Mongolia historically called Outer Mongolia and an autonomous region of China Inner Mongolia The Mongols share a common language and a tradition of following a nomadic way of life herding livestock They also share a most remarkable remarkable history The Mongol Empire which began in the early thirteenth century CE Horses graze on the steppes in the southern region of the Gobi a desert straddling the China-Mongolia border The Altai Mountains can be seen in the distance beyond the desert’s western reaches 4
was formed when various various nomadic Mongol tribes came together in a single nation and it expanded to become one of the greatest continental continental empires of all time A woman cares for her goats outside a tent-like dwelling known as a yurt in part of the Gobi Desert A traditional lifestyle in Mongolia today is not so different from what it would have been during the Mongol Empire Over many centuries centuries including the period of the Mongol Empire the social structure and culture of the Mongols Mongols showed very little change Traditional Mongol Mongol society was based on the family the clan and the tribe with clan names derived from those of common male ancestors ancestors As clans merged the tribal name was taken from that of the strongest clan In the tribe weaker clans retained their own headmen and livestock but were subordinate to the strongest clan In periods of tribal unity khans Mongol monarchs assigned commanders commanders to territories from which troops and revenues were gathered Mongol history alternated between periods of tribal conflict and tribal consolidation Among the tribes that held power in Mongolia were the Xiongnu a confederated empire that warred with the young Chinese state for centuries before 5 IntroductIon
THE MONGOL EMPIRE dissolving in 48 CE The Khitan ruled in Manchuria and North China where they established the Liao dynasty 907 1125 and formed an alliance with a little known tribal confederacy known as All the Mongols After the fall of the Liao the Tatars a Mongol people but not members of the league appeared as allies of the Juchen the Khitan's successors During this time Genghis Khan came to power within the All the Mongols league and was proclaimed EUROPE RUSSIA MONGOLIA Black Sea Caspian Sea a Beijing KOREA Kaesong JAPAN Mediterranean Sea PERSIA HIMAL TIBET CHINA Huang TALAYAS East China Sea Chang liar AFRICA INDIA PACIFIC OCEAN Arabian Sea Bay of Bengal South China Sea Mongol Empire at the death of Genghis Khan 1227 Mongol Empire at the death of Kublai Khan 1294 Boundary of the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan Great Wall now 0 0 500 1 000 miles 500 1 000 kilometers INDIAN OCEAN 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica Inc The Mongol Empire grew to cover a vast territory
khan in 1206 He skillfully gained control over the Mongols outside the league Under the leadership of Genghis Khan and his successors the Mongols established an empire that reached from what are now China and Korea in the east to eastern Europe and the shores of the Persian Gulf in the west At the height of their power they overthrew the rulers of northern and southern China and reunited China under Mongol Mongol rule as the Yuan dynasty The Mongols were the first foreigners to rule all of China The western part of their empire in Russia and eastern Europe was known as the Golden Horde The power of the Mongol Empire declined greatly in the fourteenth century 7 introduCtion
