title: Natural justice

text: However, when a hearing requires the balancing of multiple polycentric issues such as natural justice and the protection of confidential information for national security reasons, both the concerns of public security and the right to a fair trial must be adequately met. It was held by the House of Lords in "AF", applying the decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights "A v United Kingdom" (2009), that a person accused of terrorism against whom a control order has been issued must be given sufficient information about the allegations against him to enable him to give effective instructions to his special advocate. If this requirement is satisfied, a fair hearing can be conducted without detailed disclosure of confidential information that might compromise national security. On the facts of the case, a special advocate was not permitted further contact with an applicant or his ordinary legal representatives except with permission of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after viewing confidential (or "closed") materials. The House of Lords recognized that although a special advocate's usefulness is stymied somewhat from having no further instructions after viewing such materials, if the SIAC decides to issue a control order predominantly on the basis of non-confidential (or "open") materials, an applicant cannot be regarded as having been denied an opportunity to challenge the reasonableness of the government's beliefs and suspicions about him. If the evidence against the applicant is largely closed but allegations contained in open material are sufficiently specific, an applicant should be able to provide his legal representatives and special advocate with information to refute it (such as an alibi, if the open material alleges he was at a certain place during a certain period) without having to know the detail or sources of the closed evidence. However, if the evidence revealed to the person consists only of general assertions and the case against him is based solely or to a substantive extent on undisclosed adverse evidence, the fair hearing rule under natural justice will not be satisfied.


title: Natural justice

text: In such cases, there are strong policy considerations supporting the principle that a trial procedure can never be considered fair if a person is kept in ignorance of the case against him or her. First, since the grounds for a reasonable suspicion that a person is involved in terrorist activity can span from incontrovertible evidence to an innocent misinterpretation of facts which can be explained away by the person, in many cases it is impossible for courts to be sure that the disclosure of the evidence will make no difference to the applicant. Secondly, resentment will be felt by the person and his family and friends if sanctions are imposed without any proper explanation of the grounds and when, due to the non-disclosure of information, the person is put in a position where he is unable to properly defend himself. As Lord Phillips put it, "if the wider public are to have confidence in the justice system, they need to be able to see that justice is done rather than being asked to take it on trust".


title: Natural justice

text: The right to be heard in answer to charges before an unbiased tribunal is illustrated in the Singapore case "Tan Boon Chee David v. Medical Council of Singapore" (1980). During a disciplinary hearing, council members were either not conscientious about their attendance or did not attend the whole course of proceedings. This meant they did not hear all the oral evidence and submissions. The High Court held that this had substantially prejudiced the appellant and constituted a fundamental breach of natural justice. On the other hand, mere absence from a hearing does not necessarily lead to undue prejudice. It was held in "Re Teo Choo Hong" (1995) that the function of a lay member of a lawyers' disciplinary committee was to observe and not cast a vote or make a judgment. Thus, the appellant had not suffered undue prejudice.


title: Natural justice

text: On the basis of reciprocity, if one side is allowed to cross-examine his legal opponent at a hearing, the other party must also be given the same opportunity. In addition, when a tribunal decides a case on a basis not raised or contemplated by the parties, or decides it without regarding the submissions and arguments made by the parties on the issues, this will amount to a breach of natural justice. However, a genuine "bona fide" mistake by an adjudicator in omitting to state reasons for not considering a submission is not enough to be a breach of natural justice. This may occur when the submissions were accidentally omitted, or were so unconvincing that it was not necessary to explicitly state the adjudicator's findings.


title: Natural justice

text: There is no inherent common law right to legal representation before a domestic tribunal. A tribunal has the discretion to admit either a legally qualified or unqualified counsel to assist the person appearing before it, based on the facts of the case. When assessing whether a party should be offered legal assistance, the adjudicator should first ask whether the right to be heard applies, and, secondly, whether counsel's assistance is needed for an effective hearing given the subject matter, bearing in mind the consequences of such a denial.


title: Natural justice

text: In "R v Secretary of State for Home Department, ex parte Tarrant" (1983), Webster J. set out six factors to be considered when deciding whether to allow representation by counsel, namely:


title: Natural justice

text: It has also been suggested that where a tribunal hearing concerns the individual's reputation or right to livelihood, there is a greater need for allowing legal representation as this vindicates the idea of equality before the law.


title: Natural justice

text: When one refuses legal representation, one cannot expect to receive a higher "standard" of natural justice. This was enunciated in Singapore in "Ho Paul v. Singapore Medical Council" (2008). Dr. Ho, who had been charged with professional misconduct, chose to appear before the council in person and declined to cross-examine the council's key witness. Subsequently, he argued that he should have been warned of the legal implications of not being legally represented. The High Court rejected this argument and held he had suffered no prejudice. Dr. Ho had been given a fair opportunity of presenting his own case and, most importantly, had not been deprived of his right to cross-examine the witnesses.


title: Natural justice

text: It is also not a court's obligation to provide assistance when a party presents his or her case without legal representation. In "Rajeevan Edakalavan v. Public Prosecutor" (1998), the accused had appeared in person before a magistrate and had entered a plea of guilt. He later petitioned the High Court for criminal revision, arguing that as the magistrate had not informed him of the defences available to him, his plea had been equivocal. The Court held:


title: Natural justice

text: In Singapore, the right to legal representation is contingent on the nature of the inquiry. However, since Article 12 of the Constitution of Singapore guarantees equal protection under the law, it has been suggested that greater weightage should be accorded to this procedural right when balancing it against the competing demand of efficiency.


title: Natural justice

text: Currently, the principles of natural justice in the United Kingdom and certain other jurisdictions do not include a general rule that reasons should be given for decisions. In "R v Northumberland Compensation Appeal Tribunal, ex parte Shaw" (1951), Denning L.J. stated: "I think the record must contain at least the document which initiates the proceedings; the pleadings, if any; and the adjudication; but not the evidence, nor the reasons, unless the tribunal chooses to incorporate them. If the tribunal does state its reasons, and those reasons are wrong in law, certiorari lies to quash the decision." It has been stated that "no single factor has inhibited the development of English administrative law as seriously as the absence of any general obligation upon public authorities to give reasons for their decisions".


title: Natural justice

text: Historically, uncontrolled public decisions have led to poor outcomes and disrespect for the decision-makers. Such decisions also lacked the regularity and transparency that distinguish them from the mere say-so of public authorities. On such grounds, there are obvious benefits for the disclosure of reasons for decisions. First, procedural participation by people affected by a decision promotes the rule of law by making it more difficult for the public authority to act arbitrarily. Requiring the giving of reasons helps ensure that decisions are carefully thought through, which in turn aids in the control of administrative discretion. Secondly, accountability makes it necessary for the public authority to face up to the people affected by a decision. When a public authority acts on all the relevant considerations, this increases the probability of better decision outcomes and, as such, is beneficial to public interests. Another important benefit is that respect for decision-makers is fostered, which increases their integrity in the public's eyes.


title: David Helfgott

text: David Helfgott (born 19 May 1947) is an Australian concert pianist whose life inspired the Academy Award-winning film "Shine", in which he was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor and Alex Rafalowicz.


title: David Helfgott

text: Helfgott was born in Melbourne to Polish Jewish parents Rachel (née Granek) and Elias Peter Helfgott. He won the state final of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition.


title: David Helfgott

text: The awards he won at the Royal College of Music included the Dannreuther Prize for Best Concerto Performance, for his performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, and the Marmaduke Barton Prize.


title: David Helfgott

text: During his time in London, he began showing more definite manifestations of schizoaffective disorder. He returned to Perth in 1970. The following year he married Hungarian Jewish immigrant Clare Papp, who had four children. He worked as a rehearsal pianist for the Western Australian Opera Company.


title: David Helfgott

text: In 1983, his brother Les Helfgott found him a job working at a Perth wine bar called Riccardo's. The co-owner of the bar was a doctor, Chris Reynolds, who played a significant part in Helfgott's rehabilitation and also introduced him to Gillian Murray, whom Helfgott married in 1984.


title: David Helfgott

text: Helfgott was the subject of the 1996 film "Shine", which dealt with the pianist's formative years and struggle with mental illness. Helfgott was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush (adult), Noah Taylor (teenager) and Alex Rafalowicz (child). His brother Les has described the portrayal of their father in both "Shine" and in Gillian Helfgott's biography as "all outright lies". David Helfgott's first wife Clare Papp has also said that Peter Helfgott was "quite badly maligned" in the film.


title: David Helfgott

text: In a letter to the editor of "Limelight", published in the September 2013 edition, Margaret and Les Helfgott refer to certain claims made in an article in the August 2013 edition and state that "there was no estrangement from members of Helfgott's family following his return to Australia. On the contrary, he moved straight back into the family home, and was cared for by our family. Dad was not 'overbearing', and his main objection to David's going abroad was his concern for his son's welfare."


title: David Helfgott

text: Helfgott generally prefers to perform Romantic music, mostly Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann and Rimsky-Korsakov. However, his recordings and performances, especially that of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, have been criticized as "pallid, erratic and incoherent." Of the two commercial recordings released by RCA, the American journal "Fanfare Magazine" was critical not only of Helfgott himself, but also of his producers, who were "marketing Helfgott's pain." The British magazine "Gramophone" was similarly scathing about the exploitative nature of their issue, which, the magazine said, falsely marketed Helfgott as an "unsung genius".


title: David Helfgott

text: On stage, Helfgott is known for his unusual platform manner. In 1997, critic Anthony Tommasini noted that Helfgott "stares into the hall and renders a nonstop commentary of grunts, groans and mutterings". Of a 1997 Helfgott recital in New Zealand, critic Denis Dutton wrote, "If, as Goethe claimed, architecture is frozen music, David Helfgott is the musician who finally proves the converse: that music can also be melted architecture — a structureless rubble of notes."


title: David Helfgott

text: Helfgott lives in The Promised Land, a valley near Bellingen in New South Wales. His second wife Gillian died in 2022, aged 90.


title: David Helfgott

text: The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.


title: David Helfgott

text: The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016.


title: Sodium oxide

text: Sodium oxide is a chemical compound with the formula NaO. It is used in ceramics and glasses. It is a white solid but the compound is rarely encountered. Instead "sodium oxide" is used to describe components of various materials such as glasses and fertilizers which contain oxides that include sodium and other elements.


title: Sodium oxide

text: The structure of sodium oxide has been determined by X-ray crystallography. Most alkali metal oxides MO (M = Li, Na, K, Rb) crystallise in the antifluorite structure. In this motif the positions of the anions and cations are reversed relative to their positions in CaF, with sodium ions tetrahedrally coordinated to 4 oxide ions and oxide cubically coordinated to 8 sodium ions.


title: Sodium oxide

text: Sodium oxide is produced by the reaction of sodium with sodium hydroxide, sodium peroxide, or sodium nitrite:


title: Sodium oxide

text: To the extent that NaOH is contaminated with water, correspondingly greater amounts of sodium are employed. Excess sodium is distilled from the crude product.


title: Sodium oxide

text: Glasses are often described in terms of their sodium oxide content although they do not really contain NaO. Furthermore, such glasses are not made from sodium oxide, but the equivalent of NaO is added in the form of "soda" (sodium carbonate), which loses carbon dioxide at high temperatures:


title: Sodium oxide

text: A typical manufactured glass contains around 15% sodium oxide, 70% silica (silicon dioxide), and 9% lime (calcium oxide). The sodium carbonate "soda" serves as a flux to lower the temperature at which the silica mixture melts. Such soda-lime glass has a much lower melting temperature than pure silica and has slightly higher elasticity. These changes arise because the Na[SiO][SiO]-based material is somewhat more flexible.


title: Sodium oxide

text: Because of this reaction, sodium oxide is sometimes referred to as the base anhydride of sodium hydroxide (more archaically, "anhydride of caustic soda").


title: History of Mongolia

text: Various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu (3rd century BC–1st century AD), the Xianbei state ( AD 93–234), the Rouran Khaganate (330–555), the First (552–603) and Second Turkic Khaganates (682–744) and others, ruled the area of present-day Mongolia. The Khitan people, who used a para-Mongolic language,


title: History of Mongolia

text: founded an empire known as the Liao dynasty (916–1125), and ruled Mongolia and portions of North China, northern Korea, and the present-day Russian Far East.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In 1206, Genghis Khan was able to unite the Mongol tribes, forging them into a fighting force which went on to establish the largest contiguous empire in world history, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368). After the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire, Mongolia came to be ruled by the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) based in Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) and administered as part of the Lingbei Province. Buddhism in Mongolia began with the Yuan emperors' conversion to and dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism.


title: History of Mongolia

text: After collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty in 1368, the Yuan court retreated to the Mongolian Plateau, marking the start of the Northern Yuan dynasty (1368–1635). The Mongols returned to their earlier patterns of internal strife and their old shamanist ways after the collapse of Yuan dynasty. Buddhism reemerged in Mongolia in the 16th and 17th centuries.


title: History of Mongolia

text: At the end of the 17th century, Mongolia became part of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. During the Xinhai Revolution, Mongolia declared independence from China but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish "de facto" independence and until 1945 to gain international recognition. As a consequence, Mongolia came under strong Soviet influence. In 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic was declared, and Mongolian politics began to follow the same patterns as Soviet politics of the time. Following the Revolutions of 1989, the Mongolian Revolution of 1990 led to a multi-party system, a new constitution in 1992, and a transition to a market economy.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The climate of Central Asia became dry after the large tectonic collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. This impact threw up the massive chain of mountains known as the Himalayas. The Himalayas, Greater Khingan and Lesser Khingan mountains act like a high wall, blocking the warm and wet climate from penetrating into Central Asia. Many of the mountains of Mongolia were formed during the Late Neogene and Early Quaternary periods. The Mongolian climate was more humid hundreds of thousands of years ago. Mongolia is known to be the source of priceless paleontological discoveries. The first scientifically confirmed dinosaur eggs were found in Mongolia during the 1923 expedition of the American Museum of Natural History, led by Roy Chapman Andrews.


title: History of Mongolia

text: During the middle to late Eocene Epoch, Mongolia was the home of many Paleogene mammals with Sarkastodon and Andrewsarchus being the most prominent of them.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Homo erectus possibly inhabited Mongolia as much as 800,000 years ago but fossils of Homo erectus have not yet been found in Mongolia. Stone tools have been found in the southern, Gobi, region, perhaps dating back as much as 800,000 years. Important prehistoric sites are the Paleolithic cave drawings of the "Khoid Tsenkheriin Agui" (Northern Cave of Blue) in Khovd province, and the "Tsagaan Agui" (White Cave) in Bayankhongor Province. A neolithic farming settlement has been found in Dornod Province. Contemporary findings from western Mongolia include only temporary encampments of hunters and fishers. The population during the Copper Age has been described as "paleomongolid" in the east of what is now Mongolia, and as "europid" in the west.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Slab Grave culture of the late Bronze and early Iron Age, related to the proto-Mongols, spread over Northern, Central and Eastern Mongolia,


title: History of Mongolia

text: Inner Mongolia, Northwest China (Xinjiang, Qilian Mountains etc.), Manchuria, Lesser Khingan, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast and Zabaykalsky Krai.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Deer stones (also known as reindeer stones) and the omnipresent Khirigsüürs (small kurgans) probably are from this era; other theories date the deer stones as 7th or 8th centuries BC. Deer stones are ancient megaliths carved with symbols that can be found all over central and eastern Eurasia but are concentrated largely in Siberia and Mongolia. Most deer stones occur in association with ancient graves; it is believed that stones are the guardians of the dead. There are around 700 deer stones known in Mongolia of a total of 900 deer stones that have been found in Central Asia and South Siberia. Their true purpose and creators are still unknown. Some researchers claim that deer stones are rooted in shamanism and are thought to have been set up during the Bronze Age around 1000 BC, and may mark the graves of important people. Later inhabitants of the area likely reused them to mark their own burial mounds, and perhaps for other purposes. In Mongolia, the Lake Baikal area, and the Sayan and Altai Mountains, there are 550, 20, 20, and 60 known deer stones respectively. Moreover, there are another 20 deer stones in Kazakhstan and the Middle East (Samashyev 1992) and 10 further west, specifically in Ukraine and parts of the Russian Federation, including the provinces of Oren burg and the Caucasus, and near the Elbe River (Mongolian History 2003). According to H.L. Chlyenova, the artistic deer image originated from the Sak tribe and its branches (Chlyenova 1962). Volkov believes that some of the methods of crafting deer stone art are closely related to Scythians (Volkov 1967), whereas Mongolian archaeologist D. Tseveendorj regards deer stone art as having originated in Mongolia during the Bronze Age and spread thereafter to Tuva and the Baikal area (Tseveendorj 1979).


title: History of Mongolia

text: A vast Iron Age burial complex from the 5th-3rd centuries, later also used by the Xiongnu, has been unearthed near Ulaangom.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Before the 20th century, some scholars assumed that the Scythians descended from the Mongolic people. The Scythian community inhabited western Mongolia in the 5-6th centuries. In 2006, the mummy of a Scythian warrior, which is believed to be about 2,500 years old was a 30-to-40-year-old man with blond hair, was found in the Altai Mountains, Mongolia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In historical times Eurasian nomads were concentrated on the steppe lands of Central Asia. Furthermore, it is assumed that the Turkic peoples have always inhabited the western, the Mongols the central, and the Tungusic peoples the eastern portions of the region.


title: History of Mongolia

text: By the 8th century BC, the inhabitants of the western part of Mongolia evidently were nomadic Indo-European migrants, either Scythians


title: History of Mongolia

text: With the appearance of iron weapons by the 3rd century BC, the inhabitants of Mongolia had begun to form clan alliances and lived a hunter and herder lifestyle. The origins of more modern inhabitants are found among the forest hunters and nomadic tribes of Inner Asia. They inhabited a great arc of land extending generally from the Korean Peninsula in the east, across the northern tier of China to present-day Kazakhstan and to the Pamir Mountains and Lake Balkash in the west. During most of recorded history, this has been an area of constant ferment from which emerged numerous migrations and invasions to the southeast (into China), to the southwest (into Transoxiana—modern Uzbekistan, Iran, and India), and to the west (across Scythia toward Europe).


title: History of Mongolia

text: The area of modern Mongolia has been inhabited by groups of nomads since ancient times. The ancient population had a nomadic and hunter lifestyle and lived a fairly closed life. While most of Central Asia had a fairly similar nomadic lifestyle where moving in and around national boundaries and mixing with different settlements was common, the situation in the Mongolian steppes was unique because migration was limited by natural barriers such as the Altai Mountains in the west, the Gobi Desert in the south and the freezing wastelands of Siberia in the north, all unsuitable for nomadic-based living. These greatly limited migrations, although they also kept out invaders. The clans in Mongolia only allied with other Mongolian clans, with which they shared the same language, religion, and way of life. This would later be a huge advantage in uniting the people in Mongolia against the threat of the expanding Chinese empires. There were repeated conflicts with the Chinese dynasties of Shang and especially Zhou, which had begun conquering and enslaving the Mongolic people in an expansive drift. During the Warring States Period (475–221 BC) in China, the northern states of Zhao, Yan, and Qin had begun to encroach into and conquer parts of southern Mongolia. By the time the Qin dynasty had united all of China's kingdoms into one empire in the 3rd century BC, the Xiongnu confederacy had formed in the Mongolian plains, transforming all of the independent clans into one single state that reassured their safety and independence from an expanding Qin.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The establishment of the Xiongnu empire in Mongolia in the 3rd century BC marks the beginning of statehood on the territory of Mongolia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses and some scholars, including Paul Pelliot and Byambyn Rinchen, insisted on a Mongolic origin.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The first significant appearance of nomads came late in the 3rd century BC, when the Chinese repelled an invasion of the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu in Wade–Giles romanisation) across the Yellow River from the Gobi. A Chinese army, which had adopted Xiongnu military technology—wearing trousers and using mounted archers with stirrups—pursued the Xiongnu across the Gobi in a ruthless punitive expedition. Fortification walls built by various Chinese warring states were connected to make a 2,300-kilometre Great Wall along the northern border, as a barrier to further nomadic inroads.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The founder of the Xiongnu empire was Toumen. He was succeeded violently by his son Modu Shanyu, who then conquered and unified various tribes. At the peak of its power, the Xiongnu confederacy stretched from Lake Baikal in the north to the Great Wall in the south and from the Tian Shan mountains in the west to the Greater Khingan ranges in the east. In the 2nd century BC the Xiongnu turned their attention westward to the region of the Altai Mountains and Lake Balkash, inhabited by Indo-European-speaking nomadic peoples, including Yuezhi (Yüeh-chih in Wade–Giles), who had relocated from China's present-day Gansu Province as a result of their earlier defeat by the Xiongnu. Endemic warfare between these two nomadic peoples reached a climax in the latter part of the 3rd century and the early decades of the 2nd century BC; the Xiongnu were triumphant. The Yuezhi then migrated to the southwest where, early in the 2nd century, they began to appear in the Oxus (the modern Amu Darya) Valley, to change the course of history in Bactria, Iran, and eventually India.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In 200 BC, the Han dynasty of China launched a military campaign into the territory, attempting to subjugate the Xiongnu. However the Xiongnu forces ambushed and encircled the Han Emperor Gaozu at Baideng for seven days. Emperor Gao was forced to submit to the Xiongnu, and a treaty was signed in 198 BC recognising all the territories to the north from the Great Wall should belong to the Xiongnu, while the territory to the south of the Great Wall should belong to the Han. In addition, China was obliged to marry princesses and pay annual tribute to the Xiongnu. This "marriage alliance" was far from peaceful, as Xiongnu raids into the fertile southern land never ceased. During the period of Emperor Wen, Xiongnu raids advanced into China Proper, ravaged and even besieged near its capital Chang'an. This continued for 70 years until the reign of Emperor Wu, whose massive counteroffensives devastated the Xiongnu and sent them towards the road of decline.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Xiongnu again raided northern China about 200 BC, finding that the inadequately defended Great Wall was not a serious obstacle. By the middle of the 2nd century BC, they controlled all of northern and western China north of the Yellow River. This renewed threat led the Chinese to improve their defences in the north, while building up and improving the army, particularly the cavalry, and while preparing long-range plans for an invasion of Mongolia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: By 176 BC, domain of the Xiongnu was in size. Xiongnu capital ("Luut; Dragon") located on the beach Orkhon River, Central Mongolia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Between 130 and 121 BC, Chinese armies drove the Xiongnu back across the Great Wall, weakened their hold on Gansu Province as well as on what is now Inner Mongolia, and finally pushed them north of the Gobi into central Mongolia. Following these victories, the Chinese expanded into the areas later known as Manchuria, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, and Inner Asia. The Xiongnu, once more turning their attention to the west and the southwest, raided deep into the Oxus Valley between 73 and 44 BC. The descendants of the Yuezhi and their Chinese rulers, however, formed a common front against the Xiongnu and repelled them.


title: History of Mongolia

text: During the next century, as Chinese strength waned, border warfare between the Chinese and the Xiongnu was almost incessant. Gradually the nomads forced their way back into Gansu and the northern part of what is now China's Xinjiang. In about the middle of the 1st century AD, a revitalized Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25-220) slowly recovered these territories, driving the Xiongnu back into the Altai Mountains and the steppes north of the Gobi. During the late 1st century AD, having reestablished the administrative control over southern China and northern Vietnam that had been lost briefly at beginning of this same century, the Eastern Han made a concerted effort to reassert dominance over Inner Asia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The concept of Mongolia as an independent power north of China is seen in the letter sent by Emperor Wen of Han to Laoshang Chanyu in 162 BC (recorded in the Hanshu):


title: History of Mongolia

text: The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses and some scholars, including A.Luvsandendev, , Henry Howorth, Rashpuntsag, Alexey Okladnikov, Peter Pallas, Isaak Schmidt, Nikita Bichurin and Byambyn Rinchen, insisted on a Mongolic origin.


title: History of Mongolia

text: There are many cultural similarities between the Xiongnu and Mongols such as yurt on cart, composite bow, board game, horn bow and long song. Mongolian long song is believed to date back at least 2,000 years. Mythical origin of the long song mentioned in "Book of Wei (Volume 113).


title: History of Mongolia

text: In AD 48, the Xiongnu empire was weakened as it was divided into the southern and northern Xiongnu. The northern Xiongnu migrated to the west. They established Üeban state (160–490) in modern Kazakhstan and Hunnic Empire (370s–469) in Europe. The Xianbei that were under the Xiongnu rebelled in AD 93, ending the Xiongnu domination in Mongolia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Recent excavations of Xiongnu graves at the site Gol Mod in the Khairkhan of Arkhangai province, discovered bronze decorations with images of a creature resembling the unicorn and images of deities resembling the Greco-Roman deities. These discoveries lead to a hypothesis that the Xiongnu had relations with the Greco-Roman world 2000 years ago.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Although the Xiongnu finally had been split into two parts in AD 48, the Xianbei (or Hsien-pei in Wade–Giles) had moved (apparently from the east) into the region vacated by the Xiongnu. The Xianbei were the northern branch of the Donghu (or Tung Hu, the Eastern Hu), a proto-Mongol group mentioned in Chinese histories as existing as early as the 4th century BC. The language of the Donghu is believed to be proto-Mongolic to modern scholars. The Donghu were among the first peoples conquered by the Xiongnu. Once the Xiongnu state weakened, however, the Donghu rebelled. By the 1st century AD, two major subdivisions of the Donghu had developed: the proto-Mongolic Xianbei in the north and the Wuhuan in the south.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Xianbei gained strength beginning from the 1st century AD and were consolidated into a state under Tanshihuai in 147. He expelled the Xiongnu from Jungaria, and pushed the Dingling to the north of the Sayans, thus securing domination of the Mongolic elements in what is now Khalkha and Chaharia. The Xianbei successfully repelled an invasion of the Han dynasty in 167 and conquered areas of northern China in 180.


title: History of Mongolia

text: There are various hypotheses about the language and ethnic links of the Xianbei and the most widely accepted version suggests that the Xianbei were a Mongolic ethnic group and their branches are the ancestors of many Mongolic peoples such as the Rouran, Khitan and Menggu Xibei, who are suggested to be the proto-Mongols.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The ruler of the Xianbei state was elected by a congress of the nobility. The Xianbei used woodcut tallies called "Kemu" as a form of non-verbal communication. Besides extensive livestock husbandry, the Xianbei were also engaged on a limited scale in farming and handicraft. The Xianbei fractured in the 3rd century.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Xianbei established an empire, which, although short-lived, gave rise to numerous tribal states along the Chinese frontier. Among these states was that of the Toba (T'o-pa in Wade–Giles), a subgroup of the Xianbei, in modern China's Shanxi Province.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Wuhuan also were prominent in the 2nd century, but they disappeared thereafter; possibly they were absorbed in the Xianbei western expansion. The Xianbei and the Wuhuan used mounted archers in warfare, and they had only temporary war leaders instead of hereditary chiefs. Agriculture, rather than full-scale nomadism, was the basis of their economy. In the 6th century, the Wuhuan were driven out of Inner Asia into the Russian steppe.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Chinese control of parts of Inner Asia did not last beyond the opening years of the 2nd century AD, and, as the Eastern Han dynasty ended early in the 3rd century AD, suzerainty was limited primarily to the Gansu corridor. The Xianbei were able to make forays into a China beset with internal unrest and political disintegration. By 317 all of China north of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) had been overrun by nomadic peoples: the Xianbei from the north; some remnants of the Xiongnu from the northwest; and the Chiang people of Gansu and Tibet (present-day China's Xizang Autonomous Region) from the west and the southwest. Chaos prevailed as these groups warred with each other and repulsed the vain efforts of the fragmented Chinese kingdoms south of the Yangtze River to reconquer the region.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Tuoba, a faction of the Xianbei, established the Tuoba Wei empire beyond Mongolia proper in northern China in 386. By the end of the 4th century, the region between the Yangtze and the Gobi, including much of modern Xinjiang, was dominated by the Tuoba. Emerging as the partially sinicized state of Dai between AD 338 and 376 in the Shanxi area, the Tuoba established control over the region as the Northern Wei (AD 386–533). Northern Wei armies drove back the Rouran (also referred to as Ruru or Juan-Juan by Chinese chroniclers), a newly arising nomadic Mongol people in the steppes north of the Altai Mountains, and reconstructed the Great Wall. During the 4th century also, the Huns left the steppes north of the Aral Sea to invade Europe. By the middle of the 5th century, Northern Wei had penetrated into the Tarim Basin in Inner Asia, as had the Chinese in the 2nd century. As the empire grew, however, Tuoba tribal customs were supplanted by those of the Chinese, an evolution not accepted by all Tuoba. Tuoba Wei existed until 581.


title: History of Mongolia

text: A branch of the Xianbei, the Rouran (also known as Nirun) were consolidated under Mugulyu. In the late 5th century, the Rouran established a powerful nomadic empire spreading generally farther north of Northern Wei. It was probably the Rouran who first used the title khan. The Rouran ruled Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan, part of Gansu, northern Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, parts of Northeastern China and southern Siberia. The Hephthalite Empire was a vassal state to the Rouran for 100 years. Shelun assumed the title of "Khagan" in 402 landmarking the establishment of the state of the Rouran Khaganate. The Tuoba waged long wars against the Rouran Khaganate. The Altai Turkics that were subjects of the Rouran revolted in 552 establishing the Turkic Khaganate. The Rouran Khaganate was finally defeated by the Turkics in 555. Part of the Rouran left the present territory of Mongolia. A number of historians maintain that they established the Avarian Kaganate between the river Danube and the Carpathian Mountains. The Rourans that stayed in Mongolia became the ancestors of the Tatar tribes. The Tatars and other Mongol tribes lived in the eastern part Mongolia during the Turkic period. Other Mongols that migrated east returned in the 8th century.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Northern Wei in northern China was disintegrating rapidly because of revolts of semi-tribal Tuoba military forces that were opposed to being sinicized, when disaster struck the flourishing Rouran Khaganate. The Altai Turkics (Orkhon Turkics, Göktürks), known as "Tujue" to Chinese chroniclers, were subjects to the Rouran and served as blacksmiths for them. In 552 AD the Göktürks revolted against their Rouran rulers. The uprising began in the Altai Mountains, where many of the Türk were serfs working the iron mines. Therefore, the revolt of the Turkics of 552 is often called the "Blacksmiths' rebellion". The uprising was headed by Bumin, who became the founder of the Turkic Khaganate. Thus, from the outset of their revolt, they had the advantage of controlling what had been one of the major bases of Rouran power. Between 546 and 553, the Türks overthrew the Rouran and established themselves as the most powerful force in Central Asia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Northern Qi and Northern Zhou dynasties of China surrendered in 570 and began paying tribute to the Göktürks. However, the newly established Sui dynasty in China stopped sending tribute to the Göktürks and constant war between Sui and the Turkic Khaganate began. The Turkic Khaganate was partitioned in 583 into an Eastern Turkic Khaganate and Western Turkic Khaganate by the plot made by the Sui dynasty of China. Finally in 584, the Eastern Turks recognised Sui suzerainty. The Turkic Khaganate began to revolt and hasten the border in 615 after the Emperor Yang of Sui's failed expedition in Goguryeo. The internal struggle between the Turkic nobles lead to their defeat by the Tang dynasty of China in 630. From 629 to 648, a reunited China—under the Tang dynasty (618-907)—destroyed the power of the Eastern Turks north of the Gobi; established suzerainty over the Khitan, a semi-nomadic Para-Mongolic people who lived in areas that became the modern Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin; and established the Anbei Protectorate in the Mongolian Steppes. The Uyghur khagan was installed as Anbei protector, who inhabited the region between the Altai Mountains and Khitan's land. Between 641 and 648, the Tang conquered the Western Turks, re-establishing Chinese sovereignty over Xinjiang and exacting tribute from west of the Pamir Mountains. The Göktürks continuously struggled against the subjugation by the Tang dynasty started in 679. An uprising of 682 under the leadership of Kutuluk and Tonyukuk led to restoration of the Turkic Khaganate, known as the Second Turkic Khaganate in historiography.


title: History of Mongolia

text: For a brief period at the beginning of the 7th century, a new consolidation of the Türks, under the Western Türk ruler Tardu, again threatened China. In 701, Tardu's army besieged Chang'an (modern Xi'an), then the capital of China. Tardu was turned back, however, and, upon his death two years later, the Türkic state again fragmented. The Eastern Türks nonetheless continued their depredations, occasionally threatening Chang'an. In the early 8th century, an invading army of 450,000 soldiers headed by the Wu Zhou empress regnant Wu Zetian was defeated and chased back by Mojo Khagan. The Türkic empire finally ended in 744 by the joint Chinese, Uighur and other nomadic forces.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Uyghurs, who were subjects to the Göktürks, revolted in 745 and founded the Uyghur Khaganate which replaced the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. The Uyghur kagan Bayanchur established Ordu-Baliq City on the Orkhon river in 751. The Tang Empire invited the Uyghurs to subdue the An Lushan rebellion in 755. Successful campaigns of the Uyghur Khaganate led to a peace with the Tang dynasty of China which paid compensation for the suppression of An in silk and grain for 12 years after 766.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Though a faction of the Uyghurs were Buddhists, the Manichaeism became the official religion of the Khaganate in the 8th century. Nevertheless, the majority of the Uyghurs remained shamanists. The culture and economy of the Uyghur Kaganate were more advanced than those of its predecessors. The Uyghurs used a 12-month calendar and calculated the dates of solar and lunar eclipses. The Uyghurs developed their own writing system based on the Sogdian script. The Tang dynasty surreptitiously encouraged the Yenisei Kirghiz and the Karluks to attack the Uyghurs and the Uyghur Khaganate fell under an invasion of the Yenisei Kirghiz in 840.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The destruction of Uyghur Khaganate by Yenisei Kirghizes resulted in the end of Turkic dominance in Mongolia. According to historians, Kirghiz were not interested in assimilating newly acquired lands. The Kirghiz state was centered on Khakassia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Khitans were an ethnic group whose language was related to the Mongolic languages. Its khagan Yelü Abaoji claimed imperial title in 916 and established the Liao dynasty. The Liao dynasty covered a significant portion of what is now Mongolia including the basins of the three rivers Kherlen, Tuul and Orkhon. The Khitans occupied the areas vacated by the Turkic Uyghurs bringing them under their control.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Liao dynasty soon grew strong and occupied parts of Northern China, including modern-day Beijing. By 925, the Khitans ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and much of China proper north of the Yellow River. By the middle of the 10th century, Khitan chieftains had established themselves as emperors of northern China, and the Liao dynasty is considered a dynasty of China. The Khitans built cities and exerted dominion over their agricultural subjects as a means of consolidating their empire.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The territory of the empire consisted of two parts: one populated by pastoral herders in the north and the other populated by croppers in the south. The two parts of the empire actively traded with each other. Lubugu, a grandson of Ambagyan, and a scholar named Tulyubu developed a Grand Alphabet based on the Chinese hieroglyphics in 920. Later, Tela, a son of Ambagyan, developed a Minor Alphabet based on the Uyghur script. A printing technology developed in the Liao territory. The Khitan language was widely studied abroad.


title: History of Mongolia

text: A Tungusic people, the Jurchens, ancestors of the Manchus, formed an alliance with the Song dynasty and reduced the Liao dynasty to vassal status in a seven-year war (1115–1122). The Jurchen leader Wanyan Aguda proclaimed himself the founder of a new empire, the Jin dynasty. Scarcely pausing in their conquests, the Jurchens subdued neighboring Goryeo in 1226 and invaded the territory of their former allies, the Song dynasty, to precipitate a series of wars with the Song that continued through the remainder of the century.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Liao dynasty fell in 1125. Some Khitans fled west under the leadership of Yelü Dashi after their defeat by the Jurchens and founded the Western Liao dynasty (1124–1218) in present-day Xinjiang and eastern Kazakhstan with capital in Balasagun, modern Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the Western Liao also controlled some highly autonomous vassalized states, such as Khwarezm, the Eastern and the Western Kara-Khanids, etc. In 1218, Genghis Khan destroyed the Western Liao, after which the Khitans passed into obscurity. The modern-day minority of Mongolic-speaking Daurs in China are their direct descendants based on DNA evidence and other Khitans assimilated into the Mongols (Southern Mongols), Turkic peoples and Han Chinese.


title: History of Mongolia

text: 12th-century Mongolia was characterized by rivalry between many tribes and confederations (khanligs or khanate).


title: History of Mongolia

text: Some Shiwei tribes, though little is known, have been considered the ancestors of the Mongols according to ancient Chinese records. Term "Shiwei" was an umbrella term of the Mongolic and Tungusic peoples in the 6th to 12th centuries. During the 5th century, they occupied the area east of the Greater Khingan Range, what is the Hulunbuir, Argun (Ergune), Nen (Noon), Middle Amur, and the Zeya Watersheds. They may have been divided into five to twenty tribes. They were said to be dressed in fish skins. They may have been nomadic, staying in the marshy lowlands in the winter and the mountains during the summer. The burial was by exposure in trees. Their language is described as being similar to Manchu-Tungusic languages and Khitan. The Turkic Khaganate installed tuduns, or governors over the Shiwei and collected tribute. Other Shiwei may have stayed and become the Evenks. The Kitans conquered the Shiwei during the late 9th century. One Shiwei tribe, living near the Amur and Ergune rivers, was called the "Menggu" (Mongol).


title: History of Mongolia

text: The confederations of core Mongol tribes were transforming into a statehood in the early 12th century and came to be known as the Khamag Mongol confederacy. The people of Mongolia at this time were predominantly spirit worshipers, with shamans providing spiritual and religious guidance to the people and tribal leaders.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Khamag Mongols occupied one of the most fertile areas of the country—the basins of the rivers Onon, Kherlen and Tuul in the Khentii mountains. The first known khan of Khamag Mongol is Khabul Khan from Khiyad tribe. Khabul Khan successfully repelled the invasions of Jin dynasty. He was succeeded by Ambaghai Khan from Taichuud tribe. Ambagai was captured by the Tatars while he came to deliver his daughter as a bride to the Tatar confederacy and was given to the Jurchens of Jin dynasty who cruelly executed him, nailing to a "wooden donkey". Ambagai was succeeded by Hotula Khan, son of Khabul Khan. Hotula Khan engaged in 13 battles with the Tatars endeavouring to avenge Ambagai Khan. Khamag Mongol was unable to elect a khan after Hotula died. However, Khabul's grandson Yesukhei baghatur was a major chief of Khamag Mongol.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Yesukhei was poisoned by the Tatars in 1171 when his eldest son Temujin was 9 years old. Shortly after Yesukhei died, Targudai Kiriltug of Taichuud moved away with the subjects of Yesukhei, leaving young Temujin, his mother and his younger siblings without support. Hence, Khamag Mongol remained in political crisis until 1189.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In the 12th century the Khamag Mongol Khanate, Tatar confederation, Keraite Khanate, Merkit confederation, Naiman Khanate were five major Mongolic tribal confederations and khanates in the Mongolian plateau.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Tatar confederacy first appeared in recorded history in 732. The Tatars became subjects of the Khitan in the 10th century. After the fall of the Khitan empire, the Tatars experienced pressure from the Jin dynasty and were urged to fight against the other Mongol tribes. The Tatars lived on the fertile pastures around the lakes Hulun and Buir and occupied a trade route to China.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Keraites between the mountain ranges of Khangai and Khentii were centered on the site of today's city Ulaanbaatar in the willow groves of the Tuul river. Markus Buyruk Khan was khan of the Keraites in the 12th century. Markus was succeeded by Tooril khan. In his feud with his brothers for the throne of the Keraites, he was repeatedly aided by Yesukhei Bagatur of Khamag Mongol.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Mergid confederacy was located in the basin of the river Selenge. The Hori Tümeds and Buryats lived around the lake Baikal.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Naiman confederacy was situated between the mountain ranges of Altai and Khangai. The Ongut tribes lived at the north of Gobi. Other tribes were Olkhunut, Bayud, Khongirad, Oirats and so forth. While most of the Mongolian tribes were Shamanists, Nestorian Christianity was practiced in a number of confederations such as Keraites and Ongut.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Temujin (1162–1227) defeated and subjugated the "Three Mergids" in 1189 with the support of Tooril Khan of Kereit, the blood brother of his father. Another ally who helped Temujin in this venture was his own blood brother Jamukha of Jadaran clan. The Mergids had attacked the home of Temujin and captured his wife Börte of Hongirad tribe revenging for a much earlier event in which Temujin's father Yesukhei deprived a Mergid chief Chiledu his bride Hoelun of Olkhunut tribe, who became the mother of Temujin. The striving of Temujin to free his wife became a reason for the campaign against the Mergids. After the defeat of the Mergid, the reputation of Temujin rose rapidly and the leading members of the Khamag Mongol aristocracy enthroned him with title Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan), as the ruler of Khamag Mongol. It is speculated to be an ancient form of the word ""Tenggis""—ocean, sea.


title: History of Mongolia

text: A conflict of the Tatars with the Jin dynasty became a favorable opportunity for Temujin and Tooril Khan to defeat them in alliance with the Jurchens. At this point, Tooril Khan was granted the title Wang (王, Chinese for "king") by the Jin court and since then became known as Wang Khan. By the year 1201, the Taichuud and Jurkhin tribes were defeated and subjugated. Influential aristocrats of many other tribes and confederations were joining Temujin.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In 1201, a crisis ignited in the Keraite khanlig, in which the siblings of Tooril Wang Khan allied with Inancha Khan of Naiman and defeated Tooril. Wang Khan regained power in his kingdom with the support of Temujin. Temujin finally defeated and subjugated the Tatars in 1202. Nilha (childish) Sengum, son of Wang Khan, envied Temujin as his power was growing and persuaded his father to battle against Temujin. This venture led to a victory of Temujin and conquest of the Kereit Khanlyk. Wang Khan escaped alone into the southern deserts of the Naiman khanlig, where he was caught by the Naiman patrols, who killed him irritated as he claimed himself as Wang Khan.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Tayan khan of Naiman and his son Kuchlug initiated a campaign against Temujin in 1204. They allied with Jamukha, who competed with Temujin for the power over the Mongolic tribes. The Naiman troops outnumbered the Temujin's troops. At night at the eve of the battle, Temujin ordered each of his warrior to light ten bonfires, thus deceiving and demoralising Tayan khan, who was a weak warlord. Temujin won the battle. Tayan khan was captured but died of his wound, Kuchlug retreated to the river Irtysh where he was overtaken by Temujin and defeated. After this battle, Kuchlug escaped to Gur-Khan of Kara-Kitai.


title: History of Mongolia

text: As the Khanlyk of Naiman was conquered, Khasar, brother of Temujin, found a dignitary named Tatar-Tonga/Tata Tunga, who spread the Uighur alphabet among the Mongols. This alphabet became the basis of the Classical Mongol script.


title: History of Mongolia

text: By 1206, all the tribes and confederations of Mongolian steppe had come under the leadership of Temujin. The success of Temujin in consolidation of the Mongols was due to his flexibility, his cherishing of his friends and his elaborated tactics. A congress of the Mongol aristocrats on the river Onon in 1206 enthroned Temujin as "Chingis Khaan" ("Genghis Khan") as Emperor of all Mongols.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Mongol Empire and the states that emerged from it played a major role in the history of the 13th and 14th centuries. Genghis Khan and his immediate successors conquered nearly all of Asia and European Russia and sent armies as far as central Europe and Southeast Asia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Genghis Khan abolished the organization of the former tribes and confederations and reformed the country into 95 mingats. In this system, a group of households large enough to mobilize ten warriors was organized into an arbatu, 10 arbatus were organized into a zagutu (100 warriors), 10 zagutus constituted a mingat (1,000 warriors) and 10 mingats constituted a tumetu or tumen (10,000 warriors). This decimal system was a long-tested system that had been inherited from the period of the Xiongnu. With an assumption that each household consisted of four persons and every adult male was a warrior, it can be estimated that the entire population of Mongolia was at least 750,000 people and the nation possessed 95,000 cavalrymen.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The newly unified Great Mongol State became an attractive force for many neighbouring peoples and kingdoms. Beginning from 1207, the Uighur state, Taiga people of the river Yenisey and the Karluk kingdom joined Mongolia. The urgent task of Genghis Khan was strengthening the independence of his young nation. For a century, the southeastern neighbour Jin dynasty had been provoking the Mongolic tribes against one another in order to eventually subjugate them. With a purpose of testing the military strength of his state and preparing for a struggle against the Jin dynasty, Genghis Khan conquered the Tangut-led Western Xia, which pledged vassalage.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In the year, the Mongols, with over 90,000 cavalrymen, started a war with the Jin dynasty which had a multi-million population. At this stage, the Mongols passed over the Great Wall, invaded Shanxi and Shandong provinces, and approached the river Yellow River. The "Altan (Golden) Khaan" (Jin Emperor) surrendered in 1214 and gave Genghis Khan his princess and tribute of gold and silver to his warlords. Genghis Khan gave out to his warriors the tribute of the Jin Emperor loaded on 3000 horses. However, the Jin dynasty continued hostility against Mongolia, hence Genghis Khan ordered his warlord Guo Wang Mukhulai of the Jalair clan to complete the conquest of the Jin dynasty and returned to Mongolia.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Later, the warlord Jebe of Besud clan defeated Kuchulug who had become the Gur-Khan of Qara Khitai. His power was weak as he, a Buddhist, persecuted the indigenous Muslim population.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Genghis Khan intended to develop friendly relations with the Khwarezm Empire, which was on a junction of the trade routes connecting the East and the West and dominated Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan. Genghis Khan considered himself a supreme ruler of the East and Khwarezm Shah a supreme ruler of the West. Khwarezm Shah had an opposite view that there should be only one ruler on earth as there is only one sun in the sky.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The execution of 450 envoys and tradesmen of Genghis Khan by Khwarezm Shah 1218 was an announcement of war. The Mongol troops invaded Khwarezm Empire in 1219. Although Khwarezm Shah possessed an army outnumbering the Mongol troops dozen of times, he lacked the courage and initiatives to unite his forces and fight back. The Mongol troops sacked cities Otrar, Buhara, Merv and Samarkand. Shah's warlord Temur-Melik led a daring resistance when the Mongol troops besieged city of Khujand. Shah's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu courageously battled with the Mongol army in 1221, but was defeated and escaped to the river Indus.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Pursuing Khwarezm Shah in 1220, the scout groups of warlords Jebe and Subedei bagathur of Uriankhai clan conquered northern Iran. They invaded Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in 1221 and entered the territories of the Kipchak Khanate in Crimea and grasslands of the northern Black Sea. The Kipchaks allied with the troops of the principalities of Rus gave battle to the 30,000 cavalrymen of Jebe and Subedei on the river Kalka in May 1223, but were defeated and were chased up to the river Dnieper.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Western Xia denied its obligation as a vassal state to take part in the western campaign of Genghis Khan. Shortly after returning to Mongolia, the Mongol army invaded the Western Xia in 1226 and conquered the capital Zhongxing (中兴府), located in modern Yinchuan. The Western Xia completely surrendered in March 1227.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Mongolic Khitans and Tuyuhuns or Monguor people (1227) came under rule of the Mongol Empire after its conquest of the Western Xia and Jin dynasties. The Qara Khitai (Western Liao) was conquered by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1218.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The 16-year conquests of Genghis Khan resulted in the formation of the Mongol Empire. He died on 16 August 1227 and was buried at site Ihe Ötög on the southern slopes of the Khentii mountain range.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The 1228 Congress of nobility known as Kurultai enthroned Ogedei, who had been nominated by Genghis Khan. Ogedei Khan made Karakorum on the river Orkhon the capital of the Mongol Empire. Karakorum had been a military garrison of Genghis Khan since 1220. The existence of 12 Buddhist temples, 2 Muslim mosques and 1 Christian church in city Karakorum indicates the tolerance of the Mongols to all religions. The construction of the city was supervised by Otchigin, the youngest brother of Genghis Khan. Ogedei Khan established an effective postal yam system with well-organized posts (‘’örtege’’). The system connected the various regions of the whole Empire. Ogedei Khan settled down the rebellions in the countries conquered during his father and led an army himself to put down a revolt in Korea.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Ogedei Khan completed the conquest of the Jin dynasty in 1231–1234. He sent princes headed by Batu, son of Zuchi, to the west, and they conquered 14 principalities of Rus in 1236–1240, invaded the principalities of Poland, the Kingdom of Hungary, Moravia (then part of the Holy Roman Empire), and the area of Moldavia in 1241–1242 and approached the Adriatic sea.


title: History of Mongolia

text: After his 16-year reign, Ogedei Khan died in 1241 under suspicious circumstances. A rivalry for the throne began between the faction of the houses of Zuchi and Tului on one side and the faction of the houses of Chagatai and Ogedei on the other side. The Kuriltai of 1246 elected Guyug, son of Ogedei, as Great Khan. Guyug Khan died in 1248.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The traveller from Italy Giovanni da Pian del Carpine arrived in 1246 and later he wrote the book "Historia Mongolorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus". The faction of Zuchi-Tului houses won the Kuriltai of 1251 electing Mönghe, son of Tului, as Great Khan. Mönghe Khan sent his second younger brother Hulagu to conquer Iran. Hulagu completed the conquest of Iran in 1256 and conquered Baghdad, Caucasus and Syria in 1257–1259. Willem van Ruysbroeck of Flanders arrived in 1254 and later wrote his account "Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, Anno gratia 1253 ad partes Orientales".


title: History of Mongolia

text: Mönghe Khan died in 1259, without leaving behind a son. The Kuriltai of 1260 elected Ariq Böke, the youngest brother of Mönghe Khan, as Great Khan. The same year, Mönghe Khan's first younger brother Kublai, who was warring in China to conquer the Song Dynasty, elevated himself into Great Khan in city Shangdu (or known as Kaiping). The Toluid Civil War was fought between the two brothers from 1261 to 1264 until Ariq Böke surrendered.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Mongol Empire had an establishing effect on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory in the 13th and 14th centuries. It enabled exchange of knowledge, inventions and culture between the West and East. This epoch is called Pax Mongolica.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In Mongolia, the legacy of Genghis Khan was a superior law code, a written language, and a historical pride.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The establishment of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) by Kublai Khan accelerated the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire fractured into four khanates including the Yuan dynasty based in China, and the three western khanates, i.e. the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate, although later Yuan emperors were seen as the nominal suzerains of the western khanates.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The transition of the capital of the Mongol Empire from Karakorum to Khanbaliq (Dadu, modern-day Beijing) by Kublai Khan in 1264 was opposed by many Mongols. Thus, Ariq Böke's struggle was for keeping the center of the Empire in Mongolia homeland. After Ariq Böke's death, the struggle was continued by Kaidu, a grandson of Ogedei Khan and "de facto" ruler of the Chagatai Khanate until 1301 as well as lord Nayan in 1287, although the Mongolian steppe was controlled by Kublai Khan and his successors after the Toluid Civil War.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Kublai invited lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa of Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism to spread Buddhism throughout his realm (the second introduction of Buddhism among the Mongols). Buddhism became the "de facto" state religion of the Mongol Yuan state. In 1269, Kublai Khan commissioned Phagpa lama to design a new writing system to unify the writing systems of the multilingual empire. The 'Phags-pa script, also known as the "Square script", was based on the Tibetan script and written vertically from top was designed to write in Mongolian, Tibetan, Chinese, Uighur and Sanskrit languages and served as the official script of the empire.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Kublai Khan announced the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in 1271. The Yuan dynasty included modern-day Mongolia, the territories of the former Jin and Song dynasties and some adjacent territories such as a major part of southern Siberia. Kublai established a government with institutions resembling the ones in earlier Chinese dynasties such as the Zhongshu Sheng to lead the civil administration in the Yuan realm, yet at the same time introduced a hierarchy of reliability by dividing the subjects of the Yuan dynasty into 4 ranks. The highest rank included the Mongols, the second rank included the peoples to the west of Mongolia, the third rank included the subjects of the former Jin dynasty such as Northern Chinese, the Khitans and Jurchens, and the lowest rank comprised the subjects of the former Song dynasty such as the Han ethnic group in South China.


title: History of Mongolia

text: As for Mongolia itself, since the Mongolian Plateau is where the ruling Mongols of the Yuan dynasty came from, it enjoyed a somewhat special status during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, although the capital of the dynasty had been moved from Karakorum to Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) since the beginning of Kublai Khan's reign, and Mongolia had been turned into a province known as the Lingbei Branch Secretariat by the early 14th century. After the capture of the Yuan capital by the Ming dynasty founded by Han Chinese in 1368, the last Yuan emperor Toghon Temür fled north to Shangdu, then to Yingchang and died there in 1370. The Mongols under his son and successor Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara retreated to the Mongolian steppe and fought against the Ming. The Mongolian steppe became the ruling center of the Northern Yuan dynasty which would last until the 17th century.


title: History of Mongolia

text: By 1368, the Mongols who established the Yuan dynasty a century ago had been expelled from China proper to the Mongolian Plateau. The Dongxiangs, Bonans, Yugur and Monguor people came under rule of Han-led Ming dynasty. The rump state of the Yuan dynasty after this time until the 17th century is often referred to as the Northern Yuan dynasty, or the Forty and the Four (Дөчин дөрвөн хоёр), meaning the forty Tumens of the Mongols and the four Tumens of the Oirats.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara was enthroned in 1370 after the death of the last Yuan emperor. The Ming dynasty founded by ethnic Han began aggressions against the Northern Yuan from the year 1372. Mongol warlord Köke Temür defeated a 150,000 Ming force on the river Orkhon in 1373. Ming army invaded the Northern Yuan again in 1380 and looted Karakorum and other cities, but the invasions of the Northern Yuan by Ming armies in 1381 and 1392 were expelled. Nevertheless, Yuan royalists in Yunnan had surrendered to the Ming dynasty by the early 1380s.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Naghachu, a Mongol commander of Ayushiridara in Liaoyang province, invaded Liaodong with aims of restoring the Yuan dynasty. However, he, along with his troops (sized about 200,000) finally surrendered to the Ming dynasty in 1387–88 after a successful diplomacy of the latter. The Ming dynasty sent Qui Fu's cavalry into Mongolia, but was chased out by Buyanshri Khan (1405–1412). In response, the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty personally invaded the Northern Yuan in 1409, 1414, 1422, 1423, and 1424. Mongols remained powerful even after the fall of the Yuan dynasty but number of the Mongols decreased due to the fall of the Mongol Empire, wars and assimilation (turkization). As the Ming dynasty understood its own disability of conquering the Mongolian Plateau by military force, it started a policy of provoking the groups of Mongols to quarrel with one another, as well as economic blockade.


title: History of Mongolia

text: A long period of feudal separatism and rivalry for the Khan's throne started in Mongolia by the early 15th century. The military strength of the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty was that they were able to mobilize an army of 400,000 warriors (40 tumens). Assuming that an average household consisted of 4 people and every adult man was a warrior, it can be estimated that the Mongol population in the Yuan dynasty counted at least 1,600,000 people. However, the amount of 40 tumens remained only in the name of the Mongols after the fall of the Yuan dynasty as only 6 tumens were able to retreat to Mongolia and the remaining 34 tumens were lost to the Ming dynasty. These 6 tumens were grouped into the 3 tumens of the left wing ruled by the Mongol Khan and the 3 tumens of the right wing ruled by Jinong, vassal of the Khan. There were about 250,000 Mongols staying in South China and many of these Mongols who were unable to retreat to Mongolia were killed by the Chinese.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Oirats constituted another 4 tumens. They stayed in Mongolia proper during the Yuan dynasty and sided Ariq Böke, Kaidu and Nayan in their anti-Kublai struggle. By the 15th century the Oirats occupied the Altai Mountains region. The Oirats were ruled by a Taishi who was a vassal of the Khan.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The first half of the 15th century saw a rivalry of Oirat Taishis for the throne of the Khan and the second half of the 15th century saw a separatist movement of the Taishis in the right wing tumens.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In the late 14th century Mongolia was divided into two parts: Western Mongolia (Oirats) and Eastern Mongolia (Khalkha, Southern Mongols, Barga, Buryats).


title: History of Mongolia

text: Western Mongolian Oirats and Eastern Mongolian Khalkhas vied for domination in Mongolia since the 14th century and this conflict weakened Mongolian strength.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In 1434, Eastern Mongolian Taisun Khan's (1433–1452) prime minister Western Mongolian Togoon Taish reunited the Mongols after killing Eastern Mongolian another king Adai (Khorchin). Togoon died in 1439 and his son Esen Taish became prime minister.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Togoon Taishi of Oirat eventually increased his power in the Northern Yuan court and these achievements were tightened under his successor Esen Taishi. Mongolia was effectively unified under the power of the Oirat Taishi. Esen Taishi led active diplomatic exchanges with the Ming dynasty to achieve favorable trading conditions. When diplomacy failed to reach the goal, he led a military campaign in 1449, in which a 500,000 Ming army was defeated by a 20,000 Oirat army, the Zhengtong Emperor was captured and Beijing was besieged. Shortly after this event Esen Taishi defeated the nominal Khan Togtobuh in their conflict and became a self-declared Khan. During his retreat, Togtobuh was caught and assassinated by his ex-father-in-law for an earlier humiliation of his daughter as she was divorced and returned to her parents. The reign of Esen Taishi was short, less than a year—his rivals rebelled and overthrew him in 1454.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Khalkha emerged during the reign of Dayan Khan (1479–1543) as one of the six tumens of the Eastern Mongolic peoples. They quickly became the dominant Mongolic clan in Mongolia proper.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Mongolia was once again unified under queen Mandukhai the Wise and Batmönkh Dayan Khan, who subdued the Taishis. Queen Manduhai defeated the Oirats when Batmönkh was still a child. Later Batmönkh subdued the Taishis of the right wings as they refused to accept a suzereign over them—son of Dayan Khan sent there as a Jinong. After this event, Batmönkh moved his residence from Khalkha to Chaharia, to a proxime neighbourhood to the right wings for tighter control over them. Since then, the Mongol Khans resided in Chaharia up to 1634. The left-wing tumens under Dayan Khan were Khalkha, Chaharia and Urianhai, and the right-wing tumens were Ordos/Tümed, Yunshiyebu and Kharchin/Khorchin.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Dayan Khan was succeeded by Bodi Alagh Khan whose power was however assumed by his uncle Bars Bolud Jinong as a regent due to the Khan's young age. As he grew up, Bodi Alagh claimed back his throne and the Jinong yielded.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Mongols voluntarily reunified during Eastern Mongolian Tümen Zasagt Khan rule (1558–1592) for last time after the Mongol Empire. During the reign of Darayisung Gödeng Khan and his successor Tümen Jasagtu Khan, the right wings rose in the 16th century under a local lord Altan (son of Bars Bolad Jinong) who assumed the title of khan. In order to maintain the unity of the country by peaceful means, Tümen Jasagtu Khan initiated a representative government with equal participation of the representatives of the left and right wings. The right wings rivaled with the Oirats for possession of Upper Mongolia (Qinghai) and Altan Khan, who appointed his son as a ruler of Upper Mongolia (Kukunor), defeated the Oirats in 1552. Altan Khan attacked the Ming dynasty, but he stopped the raids in 1571, and signed a peace treaty with the Ming court. To achieve favorable conditions in the peace treaty with the Ming dynasty, Altan Khan occasionally threatened that he may ally with Tümen Khan to attack the Ming dynasty. Altan Khan established the city of Hohhot in 1557. Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos defeated the Torghuts at the river Irtysh around the 1560s.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Abtai Sain Khan, the ruler of Khalkha, conquered the Oirats in the 1570s, but the latter rebelled in 1588. The Oirats, in turn, were busy in struggle with Moghulistan for trade routes.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Tümen Jasagtu Khan was succeeded by Buyan Sechen Khan who claimed having possessed the "seal of the ancient Taizong Khan". Buyan's grandson Ligden ascended the throne in 1603. He initiated translation of major Buddhist scriptures into the Mongolian language. By his time, the authority of the Northern Yuan khan had declined to such a degree that Legdan Hutuhtu Khan came to be known as "Khan of Chaharia". The failure of his attempts of unification of Mongolia by peaceful means led him to shift to forceful methods. However, this in turn alienated the local lords of Inner Mongolia from him even farther.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The striving of the Mongols to improve their life led naturally to an increase in the number of their livestock. In the extensive livestock husbandry, on which the medieval Mongolian economy was based, an excess number of livestock required either expansion of the pastures, which may imply conquest of new territories, or exchange of the excess animals and livestock products for products of settled civilizations unavailable in the unsophisticated Mongolian economy. For example, they would be able to wear clothes made of hides and wool in cold seasons, but would certainly need clothes from silk or light fabric in summer. However, the ban on trade with the Mongols by the Ming administration was a reason for armed conflicts. Moreover, there were frequent attempts to offer low prices for the livestock products or to supply low quality reject goods to the Mongols. Thus in protest, there were cases that Mongol traders burned their reject Chinese purchases in front of the Ming officials during the rule of Esen. Also the Ming administration often issued extremely low import quotas for trade. They banned selling metal products to the Mongols in suspicion that metal would be remoulded into weapons; however, metal products such as kettles were vitally important in the every day life of the herders.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Cities in Mongolia were completely destroyed during Chinese raids in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The Ming Empire attempted to invade Mongolia in the 14-16th centuries, however, the Ming Empire was defeated by the Oirat, Southern Mongol, Eastern Mongol and united Mongolian armies. Thus there was no division of labor between urban and rural economies that was characteristic in other cultures. Some attempts of diversification of the economy were undertaken in the 16th and 17th centuries in peripheral Mongol domains but not in Northern Khalkha. Thus Altan Khan made Chinese grow grain around the city of Hohhot. Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji attempted to develop cereal and horticulture production in Dzungaria using imported Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Chinese and Taranchis. However, these initiatives mainly or exclusively served the ruling classes and the mass of the Mongol commoners received little or no benefit from them.


title: History of Mongolia

text: By the end of the 16th century, several Khanlig dynasties developed in Khalkha. As Dayan Khan divided Mongolia among his eleven sons, Northern Khalkha (approximately the territory of modern Mongolia) was given to his youngest son Gersenz Hongtaiji and Southern Khalkha was given to Alchibolad. Northern Khalkha was further divided among Gersenz's seven sons and their sons. Abtai, the most powerful of Gersenz's grandchildren, received the title of Khan from the Dalai Lama, and his son Eriyehii Mergen Khan founded the dynasty of the Tushiyetu Khans, who ruled the central heartland of Northern Khalkha. Gersenz's great-grandson Sholoi solicited the title of Khan from Dalai Lama during his visit to Tibet and initiated the dynasty of Secen Khans in the east of Khalkha. Another great-grandson of Gersenz Laihur assumed the title of Khan, and his son Sumbadai founded the dynasty of the Zasagtu Khans, ruling the west of Northern Khalkha. Laihur's cousin Ubashi Hongtaiji separated from the Zasagtu Khan and initiated the dynasty of Altan Khans of Khotgoid. The title Altan Khan was given to him by the Russian authorities.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In the beginning of the 17th century, the Khoshut tribe of Oirat migrated to Kukunor, and Torghuts migrated to the basin of the river Volga, becoming the Kalmyk people. Khara Khula of the Choros clan unified the Oirats by the 1630s, and his son Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji established the Dzungar Khanate in 1634. The title of Hongtaiji was given to him by the Dalai Lama.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos and his two brothers invaded Tibet in 1566. He sent an ultimatum to some of the ruling clergy of Tibet demanding their submission. The Tibetan supreme monks decided to surrender and Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji returned to Ordos with three high ranking monks. Tumen Jasaghtu Khan invited a monk of the Kagyu school in 1576.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Following the advice of his nephew Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji, Altan Khan of Tumet invited the head of the Gelug school Sonam Gyatso to his domain. Upon their meeting in 1577, Altan Khan recognized Sonam Gyatso lama as a reincarnation of Phagpa lama. Sonam Gyatso, in turn, recognized Altan as a reincarnation of Kublai Khan. Thus, Altan added legitimacy to the title "khan" that he had assumed, while Sonam Gyatso received support for the supremacy he sought over the Tibetan sangha. Since this meeting, the heads of the Gelugpa school became known as Dalai Lamas. Altan Khan also bestowed the title Ochirdara (Очирдар, from Sanskr. Vajradhara) to Sonam Gyatso.


title: History of Mongolia

text: At the same time the ruler of Khalkha Abtai rushed to Tumet to meet the new Dalai Lama. He requested the title Khan from him. Although the new Dalai Lama had already recognized Altan as a Khan in addition to the extant Mongolian Khan Tumen Jasaghtu, the Dalai Lama in Abtai's case rejected the request with the excuse that "there cannot be two Khans at the same time." After some hesitation however, he did give Abtai the title Khan. Abtai Khan established the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585 at the site of the former city of Karakorum. Thus, eventually most Mongolian rulers became Buddhists.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The second half of the 15th and the 16th centuries saw the revival and flourishing of Mongolian culture. This period is characterized by development of architecture, fine arts including silk applique, thangka, martang and nagtang painting, and sculpture.


title: History of Mongolia

text: An adopted son of Oirat aristocrat Baibagas, Zaya Pandita Namhaijamtso (1599–1662), reformed the Mongolian script, adapting it to the Oirat dialect. This new script is called Todo bichig.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Zanabazar (1635–1723), head of Buddhism in Khalkha, was a great master of the Buddhist art. Along with the sculptures of the Twenty One Taras, he created the famous sculptures of Sita Tara and Siyama Tara, inspired by lively images of beautiful Mongolian women. The lotus flower over the left shoulder of Sita Tara is about to blossom and Sita Tara herself is in her mid-teens. The lotus flowers over the shoulders of Siyama Tara have already blossomed and Siyama Tara herself is a woman in the bloom of her beauty. She is aware and proud of her perfect beauty. She has awakened from her meditation, put down her right leg in the moment of standing up to descend from her lotus seat to breastfeed her child; and her children are the sentient beings. Many temples and monasteries were built under Zanabazar's projects. He designed the Soyombo script for the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Sanskrit languages in 1686.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Mathematician and astronomer Minggatu of Sharaid discovered nine trigonometric equations and wrote 42 volumes of "The Roots of Regularites" (Зvй тогтлын бvрэн эх сурвалж), 5 volumes in linguistics (дуун ухаан), and 53 volumes of work on mathematics.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In the area of historiography and literature, the "Shira Tuuji" was written in the 16th century, the "Altan Tobchi" of Lubsandanzan was written in the first half of the 17th century, and the "Erdeniin Tobchi" of Sagan Secen Hongtaiji (a descendant of Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji), was written in 1662. In the 1620s, Tsogtu Hongtaiji of Khalkha wrote his famous philosophic poems and Legdan Hutuhtu Khan had the 108 volumes of Kangyur and 225 volumes of Tengyur translated into the Mongolian language. A translation theory work, "The Source of Wisdom" (Мэргэд гарахын орон) was written under leadership of Rolbiidorji, Janjaa Hutuhtu II.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In the early 17th century the Northern Yuan dynasty was divided into three parts: the Khalkha, Inner Mongols and Buryats. By the end of the 17th century, the power of the all-Mongolian Khan had greatly weakened and the decentralized Mongols had to face the rising new Jurchen statehood on the east. The last Mongol khagan was Ligdan Khan in the early 17th century. He got into conflicts with the Manchus over the looting of Chinese cities, and managed to alienate most Mongol tribes. In 1618, Ligden signed a treaty with the Ming dynasty to protect their northern border from the Manchus attack in exchange for thousands of taels of silver. Nurhaci Bagatur (Тэнгэрийн сүлдэт) who reunified the Jurchen tribes sent a letter to Ligdan Khan seeking alliance in fighting against the Ming dynasty. Ligdan denied the proposal mentioning that Nurhaci rules only three tumens of the Jurchens while Ligdan himself is a Genghisid ruling the 40 tumens of the Mongols, and that Nurhaci had better refrain from disturbing the Chinese cities-tributaries of him-of Ligdan Khan. In response, Nurhaci held it necessary to remind him that the 40 tumens are long gone and there are perhaps some six tumens of which only Chaharia recognizes Ligdan's power as Khan. Later Nurhaci managed to ally with the vassals of Ligdan Khan, the "taiji"s or princes of Southern Khalkha, Horchin, Horlos, etc., who pledged to support Nurhaci in his wars against the Ming dynasty. However their first allied actions were against their own suzerain Ligdan Khan, who they defeated in 1622.


title: History of Mongolia

text: By the 1620s, only the Chahars remained under Ligdan's rule. The Chahar army was defeated in 1625 and 1628 by the Inner Mongol and Manchu armies due to Ligdan's faulty tactics.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Ligdan Khan occupied Tumet and Ordos in 1623 to forestall their absorption by the Manchu and advanced into the Manchurian lands in 1631. Nevertheless, Manchu ruler Hong Taiji, successor of Nurhaci, allied with the Inner Mongolian "taiji"s defeated him again in 1634 and sacked Hohhot. The Manchus secured control over Inner Mongolia in 1632 and Ligdan's army moved to fight Tibetan Gelugpa sect (Yellow Hat sect) forces. The Gelugpa forces supported the Manchus, while Ligdan supported the Kagyu sect (Red Hat sect) of Tibetan Buddhism. Ligdan Khan died in 1634 on his way to Tibet when his troops were swept by an epidemic.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Hong Taiji assumed the title of Khan of the Mongols in 1636, marking the conquest of Inner Mongolia. The Qing dynasty, supported by the troops of the Inner Mongolian "taiji"s, conquered Ming dynasty in 1644.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji of the Dzungar Khanate convened a congress of Western Mongolian Dzungars and Khalkas in 1640 to ally their forces in struggle against increasing foreign aggression. The congress issued a Khalkha-Oirat Law called the "Great Code of the Forty and the Four" or "Mongol-Oirat Code" ("Döchin Dörben Hoyar un Ike Tsagaza"). The Congress was attended by 28 rulers from Dzungaria, Khalkha, Kukunor, and Kalmykia. Tushiyetu Khan Gombodorji and Secen Khan Sholoi were engaged in a conflict with the Manchu Qing dynasty siding with Tenggis Taiji of Inner Mongolia who revolted against Qing rule in 1646.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Chahundorji succeeded to Tushiyetu Khan's (Tusheet Khan) throne in 1665. Zasagtu Khan Norbo (Norvo) died in 1661 and rivalry started between his successors. This feud eventually involved Altan Khan, Tushiyetu Khan, and the Dzungar Khanate. The crisis continued for decades and evolved into a war between Khalkha and Dzungaria in 1688, leading to the conquest of Khalkha by Galdan Boshugtu Khan, king of the Dzungar Khanate, in the course of several battles in the Hangai mountains.


title: History of Mongolia

text: In 1688, Galdan attacked Khalkha following the murder of his younger brother by Tusheet Khan Chakhundorj (the main or Central Khalkha leader) and the Khalkha-Oirat War began.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The head of the Khalkha Buddhism Boghda Zanabazar, the Khalkha khans and nobles with thousands of their subjects moved in panic to Inner Mongolia, which had been integrated into the Qing dynasty. A few Khalkhas fled north of Outer Mongolia where Russia threatened to exterminate them if they failed to submit, but many submitted to Galdan Boshugtu. The Khalkha leaders sought Manchu aid in their feud with Galdan Boshugtu Khan while the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty cunningly demanded that they become his vassals as a condition for his support. Galdan demanded that the Kangxi Emperor cede him Önder Gegeen Zanagazar and Tushiyetu Khan Chahundorji. The Kangxi Emperor refused and decisive battle took place near UlaanBudan where Galdan was defeated and fled back deeper into Khalkha territory.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Dzungar throne was then seized by Galdan's brother, Tsewang Rabtan in 1689 while the latter was engaged in the war in Khalkha and this event made it impossible for Galdan to fight the Qing Empire. Galdan sent his army to "liberate" Inner Mongolia after defeating the Khalkha army and called Inner Mongolian nobles to fight for Mongolian independence. Some Inner Mongolian nobles, Tibetans, Kumul Khanate and some Moghulistan's nobles supported his war against the Qing Empire, however, Inner Mongolian nobles did not join the battle against the Manchus.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The Kangxi Emperor organized a congress of the rulers of Khalkha and Inner Mongolia in Dolnuur in 1691 at which the Khalkha feudatories (the Khalkha Khanate or Eastern Mongolia) by Zanabazar's decision formally declared allegiance to the emperor. However, Khalkha "de facto" remained under the rule of Galdan Boshugtu Khan. Chakhundorj fought against the Russian invasion of northern Mongolia until 1688. Zanabazar struggled to bring together the Oirats and Khalkhas before the war. Qing forces invaded Khalkha in 1696 and the Oirats were defeated by the outnumbering enemy in a battle at Zuun Mod at the river Terelj. Galdan Boshugtu Khan died in 1697 in the region of Kovd.


title: History of Mongolia

text: There were three khans in Khalkha of which Zasagt Khan Shar (Western Khalkha leader) was Galdan's ally. Tsetsen Khan (Eastern Khalkha leader) did not engage in this conflict. The Mongols who fled to Outer and Inner Mongolia returned after the war. Some Khalkhas mixed with the Buryats. Tsewang Rabtan continued the war against the Manchus to liberate Eastern, Upper and Inner Mongolia after Galdan Boshugtu, however, his action against Galdan made northern Mongols fight against Russia without the help of other Mongols. The Russian and Qing Empires supported his actions because this coup weakened Western Mongolian strength.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Mongolia encountered Russian expansion on her northern border in the 17th century. The Buryats had fought against Russian invasion since the 1620s. The well-armed Russian Cossacks cruelly subdued the resistance of the Buryats and conquered the Baikal region in 1640-1650s. The uprisings of the Buryats were brutally crushed in 1658 and 1696. The Russians attempted to build ostrogs in Khövsgöl area, but they were quickly destroyed by the local population. The Buryat region was formally annexed to Russia by treaties in 1689 and 1727, when the territories on both the sides of Lake Baikal were separated from Mongolia. In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk established the northern border of Manchuria north of the present line. The Russians retained Trans-Baikalia between Lake Baikal and the Argun River north of Mongolia. The Treaty of Kyakhta (1727), along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk, regulated the relations between Imperial Russia and the Qing Empire until the mid nineteenth century. It established the northern border of Mongolia. Oka Buryats revolted in 1767 and Russia completely conquered the Buryat region in the late 18th century.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Teswang Rabtan stopped the eastern expansion of the Kazakh khans, and also sent his general Ihe Tserendondov to conquer Tibet in 1716. His force was driven out by Qing troops in 1720, who then occupied Tibet. However, several attempts by the Qing dynasty to subjugate the Dzungar Khanate failed in the early 18th century. In 1723, the Qing troops subdued the uprising of Luvsandanzan taiji in Kukunor. Tsewang Rabtan was succeeded by his son Galdan Tseren in 1727.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Galdan Tseren took a series of actions to develop of crop production, gardening, and cannon manufacture in Dzungaria. He successfully repelled the aggression of the Qing dynasty in 1729–31. Moreover, his general Baga Tserendondov advanced into Khalkha and reached the River Kerulen in 1732, but had to retreat after battles with Khalkha and Qing troops. Galdan Tseren died in 1745 and a crisis arose among his heirs. After a series of bloody clashes among them, Dawachi, supported by Khoi-Oirat prince Amursana became the new Dzungar Khan in 1753. The feud was a sign to the Qing dynasty to prepare for the invasion of the Dzungar Khanate.


title: History of Mongolia

text: As soon as he became Khan, Dawachi deprived his friend Amursana of his wife and then defeated him in a battle in 1754. Amursana sought an alliance with the Qing dynasty, hoping to defeat Dawachi and elevate himself to the position of Khan of the Dzungar Khanate. The Qing administration mobilized horses and other livestock of the Khalkha population for the Dzungar invasion. A 200,000 strong army consisting of Khalkha, Inner Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese troops invaded Dzungaria in 1755. The vanguard of the Qing army was led by Amursana, king Chingünjav and King Renchindorji of the Khalkhas. The Dzungar Khanate was conquered by the Manchus in 1755–1758 due to conflicts between their leaders and military commanders.


title: History of Mongolia

text: While this horde entered the Ili River Basin, Amursana captured Davaachi and handed him to the Manchu. This event marked the fall of the Dzungar Khanate, which had impeded Qing expansion into Central Asia for over a century. The Qianlong Emperor demobilized the army and envisaged a congress of Dzungar and other Mongol aristocrats to celebrate the incorporation of Dzungaria into the Qing Empire.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Soon after the conquest of the Dzungar Khanate, Amursana, Chingünjav of Khotogoid and Inner Mongolian Khorchin Wang Sevdenbaljir rose up against Qing domination. Some Inner Mongol and Khalkha nobles supported this uprising but the second Jebtsundamba Khutughtu and Tushiyetu Khan Yampildorji mysteriously died shortly afterwards.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Chingünjav rose against Qing rule in 1756 abandoning his post and appealed to the other nobles of Khalkha to rise for independence. Around the same period, an uprising of Sevdenbaljir in Inner Mongolia was subdued. Sevdenbaljir was arrested before this uprising to prevent the Inner Mongols uniting their force. He planned to organize a congress of the Khalkha nobility to elect a future Khan of Mongolia. Chingunjav was supported by Boghda Gegeen II, the Khans of the four Khalkha aimags and other members of the nobility. However, the Qing court was able to capture Chingunjav before the uprising took its full swing. Chingunjav and his whole family were cruelly executed in 1757, and the Qing court decided that future Jebtsundamba Khutughtus would be only found in Tibet, not in Mongolia. Renchindorj Wang who allowed Amursanaa to abandon his post in the Qing army was cruelly executed in Beijing.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Amursanaa returned to Dzungaria with his 500 warriors as he was deceived in his hope to take the Dzungar throne with the support of the Qing Empire. A faction of the Oirat aristocrats elevated him as Khan of the Oirats in 1756. However, Amursana's followers lacked unity. The decisive battle took place at Sharbal in 1757 when 3,000 Oirat troops fought against a four times outnumbering enemy. After the 17-day battle, Amursana was defeated and fled to Tobolsk in Russia where he died but the Dzungars continued their war against Manchu invasion until 1758. Brutally revenging the Oirat people for their love for freedom, the Qing army carried out the Dzungar genocide, killing every Oirat they met on their way in the territory of the Dzungar Khanate. Of the 600,000 Dzungar population, only 30 thousand survived. Some scholars estimate that about 80% of the Dzungar population were destroyed by a combination of warfare and disease during the Qing conquest of the Dzungar Khanate in 1755–1758. Mark Levene, a historian whose recent research interests focus on genocide, has stated that the extermination of the Dzungars was "arguably the eighteenth century genocide par excellence." The territory of the Dzungar Khanate was then incorporated into the Qing Empire as Xinjiang, which later became a province.


title: History of Mongolia

text: After seizing control of Outer Mongolia, the Qing government grouped Khalkha khoshuns into 4 aimags (province): Tusiyetu Khan aimag, Zasaghtu Khan aimag, Secen Khan aimag and Sain Noyan Khan aimag. In addition, the territories populated by Oirats in the Kobdo region were grouped into Togs Huleg Dalai Khan aimag and Unen Zorigtu Khan aimag. Aimags were governed by aimag congress chigulgan comprising the lords of the khoshuns. The chigulgan daruga ( - official presiding the congress) was appointed from the khoshun lords by the Qing government.


title: History of Mongolia

text: As vassals of Qing Emperors, the Mongolian nobles—rulers of the khoshuns were expected to carry out military services commanding their troops in warfare, to personally attend the Emperor in his hunting processions, mobilize resources from the khoshun population and subdue local riots. Their services were generously awarded by the Emperor, and those who performed exceptionally outstanding feats before the Qing Emperor would occasionally be honoured to marry a princess. Disobedience or failure to provide adequate service was severely punished.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The most heavy burden of the foreign exploitation was laid on the spine of the ordinary Mongolian laborers. They were impoverished during mobilization of horses and livestock products during preparation of the military campaign against the Dzungar Khanate besides they had to serve as warriors themselves. Although the military feudal system of Mongolia of the pre-Qing epoch is considered to have been a class society in which an ordinary Mongol was expected to obey his feudal lord as a soldier obeys a commander, it was during the Qing rule when serfdom was effectively introduced to the Mongolian society for the first time. There were 3 forms of serfdom: albatu—state serfs, khamjilga—personal serfs of khoshun rulers and of taijis, and shabi—serfs of Khutuhtus, supreme clergy. To prevent assimilation of the Mongols, the Qing government tried to restrict travels of Han Chinese to Khalkha and to forbid cross-ethnic marriages between the Mongols and Han Chinese. In the later Qing period however, the Qing policy changed with the "New Policies" (Xin zheng) in the early 20th century, which called for the sinification of Mongolia through Han Chinese colonisation.


title: History of Mongolia

text: The official name of the state was "Ikh Mongol Uls", meaning the "Great Mongolian State". Yuan Shikai, the President of the newly formed Republic of China considered the new republic to be the successor of the Qing and claimed Outer Mongolia as part of its territory. This claim was legally provided for in the Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor signed by the Empress Dowager Longyu on behalf of the six-year-old Xuantong Emperor: "[...] the continued territorial integrity of the lands of the five races, Manchu, Han, Mongol, Hui, and Tibetan into one great Republic of China" ([...] ). The Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China adopted in 1912 specifically established frontier regions of the new republic, including Outer Mongolia, as integral parts of the state. While the Qing referred to their state as "Zhongguo" (the term for "China" in modern Chinese) in official documents such as treaties, it implemented different ways of legitimization for different peoples in the Qing Empire, such as acting as Khan to the Mongols. As a result, the Mongols considered themselves as subjects of the Qing state outside China or "Khitad", and the position of Mongols was that their allegiance had been to the Qing monarch, not the Chinese state. When declaring its independence the Mongolian government led by the Bogd Khan posited to Yuan Shikai that both Mongolia and China had been administered by the Manchus, but after the fall of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in 1911 it was simply that the contract about their submission to the Manchus had become invalid.


title: History of Mongolia

text: Bogd Gegeen was enthroned as Bogd Khaan ("Holy King") of Mongolia on 29 December 1911 and a new era name, "Olan-a Örgugdegsen" (; ; lit. "Elevated by Many"), was declared. The Qing high official in Uliastai was deported on 12 January 1912 in the presence of 700 Mongolian warriors mobilized from Sain Noyan Khan aimag. Mongolian troops led by Danbijantsan (Ja Lama), Magsarjav, and the Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren arrived in the Khovd region in August 1912. After an intense attack supported by the local people, they captured the city of Kobdo during the night of 20 August 1912. At the same time, while many Mongol leaders outside Outer Mongolia sent statements to support Bogd Khan's call of Mongolian reunification, in reality however, most of them were too prudent or irresolute to attempt joining the Bogd Khan regime.