From Wikipedia

Mongols



Genghis Khan's picture at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan

History of Mongolia

Before Genghis Khan

Mongol Empire

Khanates

- Chagatai Khanate

- Golden Horde

- Ilkhanate

- Yuan Dynasty

Northern Yuan

Timurid Empire

Mughal Empire

Crimean Khanate

Khanate of Sibir

Zunghar Khanate

Qing Dynasty (Mongolia during Qing)

Republic of China

Mongolian People's Republic (Outer Mongolia)

Modern Mongolia

Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia)

People's Republic of China (Inner Mongolia)

Buryat Mongolia

Kalmyk Mongolia

Hazara Mongols

Aimak Mongols

Timeline

edit box

Main articles: Mongols before Genghis Khan, Khamag Mongol, and Genghis Khan

Before the rise of the Jin Dynasty founded by the Jurchens, the Khitan Liao Dynasty had ruled over Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin Dynasty overthrew the Liao Dynasty, and attempted to gain control over former Liao territory in Mongolia. However, the Mongols under Qabul Khan, great grandfather of Temujin (Genghis Khan), pushed out the forces of the Jin Dynasty from their territory in the early 12th century. Eventually the Mongols and the Tatars began a deadly rivalry. The Golden Kings of the Jin Dynasty encouraged the Tatars in order to keep the nomads weak. There were five main powerful khanliks (tribes) in the Mongolian plateau at the time: Kereyds, Mongols, Naimans, Merkits and Tatars.

Mongol Empire in 1227 at Genghis' death

Temujin, the son of a Mongol chieftain, who suffered a difficult childhood, united the nomadic, previously ever-rivaling Mongol-Turkic tribes under his rule through political manipulation and military might. As allies, his father's friend, powerful Kereyd chieftain Wang Khan Toghoril and childhood anda (close friend) Jamukha of the Jadran clan helped him to defeat the Merkits—whose army stole his wife Borte—the Naimans and Tatars. Temujin forbade looting and raping of his enemies without permission, and he divided the spoils to Mongol warriors and their families instead of giving all to the aristocrats. He thus held the title Khan—however, his uncles were also legitimate heirs to the throne. This decision brought conflict among his generals and associates and persuaded Jamukha and the Kereyds to leave Temujin. For rival aristocrats, the latter was no more than an insolent usurper. Temujin's powerful position and reputation among the Mongols and other nomads raised the fears of Kereyd elites. Virtually all his uncles, cousins and other clan chieftains had turned against him. Temujin's forces were nearly defeated in an ensuing war, but he recovered and was reinforced by tribes loyal to him. In 1203-1205, the Mongols under Temujin destroyed all the remaining rival tribes and brought them under his sway. In 1206, Temujin was crowned as the Khaan of the Ikh Mongol Uls (Mongol Empire) at a Kurultai (general assembly/council) and assumed the title "Chingis Khan" (or more commonly known as "Chenghis Khan", probably meaning Oceanic ruler or Universal ruler) instead of the old tribal titles such as Gur Khan or Tayang Khan. This event essentially marked the start of the Mongol Empire under the leadership of Genghis Khan.

Chenghis Khan appointed his loyal friends as the heads of army units and households. He also divided his army into arbans (each with 10 people), zuuns (100), myangans (1000) and tumens (10,000) of decimal organization. The Kheshig or the Imperial Guard was founded and divided into day (khorchin, torghuds) and night guards (khevtuul). Genghis Khan rewarded those who had been loyal to him and placed them in high positions. Most of those people were hailed from very low-rank clans. Compared to the units he gave to his loyal companions, those assigned to his own family members were quite fewer. He proclaimed new law of the empire Ikh zasag or Yassa and codified everything related to the everyday life and political affairs of the nomads at the time. For example he forbade the hunting of animals during the breeding time, the selling of women, theft of other's properties as well as fighting between the Mongols, by his law. Genghis Khan appointed his adopted brother Shigi-Khuthugh supreme judge (jarughachi) and ordered him to keep a record. In addition to family, food and army, he also decreed religious freedom and supported domestic and international trade. Genghis Khan exempted poor people and clerics with their properties from taxation. Thus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians from Manchuria, North China, India and Persia joined Genghis Khan long before his foreign conquests. The Khaan adopted Uyghur script which would form the Uyghur-Mongolian script of the empire and ordered Uyghur Tatatunga who served the khan of Naimans before to instruct his sons.

He quickly came into conflict with the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchens and the Western Xia of the Tanguts in northern China. Under the provocation of the Muslim Khwarezmid Empire, he moved into Central Asia as well, devastating Transoxiana and eastern Persia, then raiding into Kievan Rus' (a predecessor state of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) and the Caucasus. Before dying, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, but as custom made clear, it remained the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with the Mongol aristocracy, constituted the ruling class.