#khitans

KHITAN AMBUSH, 10TH-12TH CENTURY MONGOLIA

After the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840, the Mongolian plateau went through a new period. From Xiongnu times through to the Uyghurs, it had been the centre of great empires. After 840, the eastern steppes became a more fragmented region, which over the following centuries was dominated or heavily influence by states based in north China or Central Asia: the Khitan-ruled Liao Dynasty, the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty, and the Qara-Khitai.

Of these states, the Khitan Liao (916-1125) exerted the most power over Mongolia proper, incorporating most of it into their empire and ruling it directly, establishing networks of garrisons, settlements and forts across the region. They divided the peoples of the plateau into a number of bu 部, often translated as "tribes" but more akin to "unit." These were administered by a Khitan xiangwen, a Khitan form of the Chinese title xianggong 相公 (chancellor). In time this was Mongolized into senggüm, and a common name component by 12th/13th century Mongolia. (Most famously born by Ong Khan's son Senggüm-Nilqa).

As a part of this process of consolidating their rule (and controlling the potential threat of the northern nomads) the Liao and their successors sought to control the access the iron in the steppes, either by minimizing and forbidding trade of iron implements and even coins from North China to Mongolia.

Yet archaeologically the Khitan period is rather rich in findings of iron tools and even cast-iron in Mongolia (especially in the Khitan forts). I suspect the Khitan did not ban it entirely, but tried to control its distribution as well to make the nomads dependent on them, keeping an eye on it in order to ensure they weren't stockpiling weaponry. And I suspect as well, they took it upon themselves to break up local metallurgy networks that would have challenged this, as I have shown here.

You can learn more about the Khitans and metallurgy in the Mongol Empire in my latest video

General Information Mongolia is a country in North Central Asia, landlocked between Russia and China. The Mongolian homeland is divided into Outer Mongolia, the independent state which this article primarily refers to, and Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China (most ethnic Mongols actually live in the latter). Mongols likely are descendants of various nomadic tribes that lived in the region over 1.000 years ago such as the Huns, Xiongnu and Khitans. The concept of a Mongolian nation largely arose with the rise of Genghis Khan, who united all Mongol speaking tribes, becoming the “ruler of All The Mongols” and founder of the Mongol Empire around the early 13th century. The Mongol Empire rapidly grew into the world’s leading military power and conquered large parts of Eurasia. Over the next few generations however the Mongol Empire became increasingly fragmented, and the Han Chinese Ming dynasty overthrowing the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty in 1368 is usually considered its end, though some Mongol states like the Northern Yuan (until 1635) and the Golden Horde (until 1502) continued on. Mongolia later became part of the Manchu Qing dynasty (Inner Mongolia earlier than Outer Mongolia). With the fall of Qing, Mongolia declared its independence in January 1913, with the new head of state Bogd Khan controlling the area of Outer Mongolia. After his death, the socialist Mongolian People’s Republic was declared in 1924. Like many other Eastern bloc states, Mongolia started its transition to democracy in 1990. About 90% of the 3 Million inhabitants of the country are Ethnic Mongols, with Khalka Mongols (80+%) being by far the biggest groups. Other inhabitants are mostly Central Asian Turks such as Kazakhs, in bigger cities there are some Russians and Chinese. About 53% of inhabitants are Buddhist, 39% have no religion. The capital is Ulaanbaatar.

Traditional vs. Cyrillic Script In Mongolia, you will see a lot of Cyrillic Script - but not exclusively. Mongol has been transcribed in many different alphabets throughout history. The most traditional Mongol alphabet is one that was adapted from an Uyghur alphabet during Genghis Khan’s times. This is still the primarily used writing system for Mongol language texts in Inner Mongolia. In the country of Mongolia however, due to Soviet influence a Latin script was used in the 1930s (during the time of the latinisation movement in the Soviet Union) and starting 1941, Cyrillic became the standard writing system and still predominates today. Just recently in 2020 the Mongolian government announced plans to soon use both scripts again in official documents.

Ger, the Mongolian Yurt An important part of Mongolian culture is the ger, a type of tent used in the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Mongols. In rural areas many pgople still live in gers today. There are a lot of traditions and superstitions related to the Ger: The door has to face South, the North is the place of honour (appropriate for religious or family pictures/objects, as well as the direction where the leader or oldest of a ger tends to sit), the West is the men’s side, the East the women’s side. The stove is at the centre. Visitors should ideally approach the ger from Southwest and never step on the threshold, open the door with the left hand and do the first step with the right leg.

~ Anastasia Economy The economy of Mongolia has traditionally been based on agriculture and livestock. Mongolia's economic freedom score is 62.4, making its economy the 86th freest in the 2021 Index. Mongolia's economy is rated as moderately free. The worst days are definitely behind, at its height one-third of GDP disappeared almost overnight in 1990–91 due to, at the time of the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Mongolia was driven into a deep recession.

Mongolian Empire  The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen. The Mongol Empire covered 9.15 million square miles of land - more than 16% of the earth's landmass.The empire was established by Genghis Khan. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia. Genghis Khan was a very high performer mainly due to the unique combination of strategic vision, political smarts and battlefield cruelty that gave Genghis unparalleled success. More details might be found on the video below.

~ Damian

Chinggis Khan's Quest for Eternal Life? Qiu Chuji, 1219-1223

Perhaps the most well known religious figure of the early Mongol Empire was the Taoist master, Qiu Chuji, known also as Master Changchun. In 1219, Qiu Chuji was summoned to make the long trek to meet Chinggis Khan, and bring to him the elixir for eternal life. Since Chinggis has been dead for 800 years, obviously they were not successful in this endeavor, but we do see here a rather different side of Chinggis than we have before. 

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Translations of Qiu Chuji's journey: 

 Bretschneider, E. Notes on Chinese Medieval Travellers to the West. London: Trübner & Co, 1875. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=QwXwHwwtnYYC&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA23 (starts page 15) 

 Bretschneider, E. Mediæval Researches From Eastern Asiatic Sources. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1888. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/changchun.html