# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mongols

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​MONGOLS, the name of one of the chief ethnographical divisions of the Asiatic, peoples (see also Turks). The early history of the Mongols, like that of all central-Asian tribes, is extremely obscure. Even the meaning of the name “Mongol” is a disputed point, though a general consent is now given to Schott’s etymology of the word from mong, meaning brave. From the earliest and very scanty notice we have of the Mongols in the history of the T’ang dynasty of China (A.D. 619–690) and in works of later times, it appears that their original camping-grounds were along the courses of the Kerulen, Upper Nonni and Argun rivers. But in the absence of all historical particulars of their origin, legend, as is usual, has been busy with their early years. The Mongol historian Sanang Setzen gives currency to the myth that they sprang from a blue wolf; and the soberest story on record is that their ancestor Budantsar was miraculously conceived of a Mongol widow. By craft and violence Budantsar gained the chieftainship over a tribe living in the neighbourhood of his mother’s tent, and thus left a heritage to his son. Varying fortunes attended the descendants of Budantsar, but on the whole their power gradually increased, until Yesukai, the father of Jenghiz Khan, who was eighth in descent from Budantsar, made his authority felt over a considerable area. How this dominion was extended under the rule of Jenghiz Khan is shown in the article Jenghiz Khan, and when that great conqueror was laid to rest in the valley of Kilien in 1227 he left to his sons an empire which stretched from the China Sea to the banks of the Dnieper.
Over the whole of this vast region Jenghiz Khan set his second surviving son Ogotai or Ogdai as khakan, or chief khan, while to the family of his deceased eldest son Juji he assigned the country from Kayalik and Khwarizm to the borders of Bulgar and Saksin “where’er the hoofs of Mongol horse had tramped”; to Jagatai, his eldest surviving son, the territory from the borders of the Uighur country to Bokhara; while Tulé, the youngest, received charge of the home country of the Mongols, the care of the imperial encampment and family, and of the archives of the state. The appointment of Ogdai as his successor being contrary to the usual Mongol custom Ogdai Khan.of primogeniture, gave rise to some bitterness of feeling among the followers of Jagatai. But the commands of Jenghiz Khan subdued these murmurs, and Ogdai was finally led to the throne by his dispossessed brother amid the plaudits of the assembled Mongols. In accordance with Mongol customs, Ogdai signalized his accession to the throne by distributing among his grandees presents from his father’s treasures, and to his father’s spirit he sacrificed forty maidens and numerous horses. Once fairly on the throne, he set himself vigorously to ​follow up the conquests won by his father. At the head of a large army he marched southwards into China to complete the ruin of the Kin dynasty, which had already been so rudely shaken, while at the same time Tulé advanced into the province of Honan from the side of Shensi. Against this combined attack the Kin troops made a vigorous stand, but the skill and courage of the Mongols bore down every opposition, and over a hecatomb of slaughtered foes they captured Kai-fēng Fu, the capital of their enemies. From Kai-fēng Fu the emperor fled to Ju-ning Fu, whither the Mongols quickly followed. After sustaining a siege for some weeks, and enduring all the horrors of starvation, the garrison submitted to the Mongols, and at the same time the emperor committed suicide by hanging. Thus fell in 1234 the Kin or “Golden” dynasty, which had ruled over the northern portion of China for more than a century.
But though Ogdai’s first care was to extend his empire in the rich and fertile provinces of China, he was not forgetful of the obligation under which Jenghiz Khan’s conquests in western Asia had laid him to maintain his supremacy over the kingdom of Khwarizm. This was the more incumbent on him since Jelāl ed-dīn, who had been driven by Jenghiz into India, had returned, reinforced by the support of the sultan of Delhi, whose daughter he had married, and, having reconquered his hereditary domains, had advanced westward as far as Tiflis and Kelat. Once more to dispossess the young sultan, Ogdai sent a force of 300,000 men into Khwarizm. With such amazing rapidity did this army march in pursuit of its foe that the advanced Mongol guards reached Amid (Diarbekr), whither Jelāl ed-dīn had retreated, before that unfortunate sovereign had any idea of their approach. Accompanied by a few followers, Jelāl ed-dīn fled to the Kurdish Mountains, where he was basely murdered by a peasant. The primary object of the Mongol invasion was thus accomplished; but, with the instinct of their race, they made this conquest but a stepping-stone to another, and without a moment’s delay pushed on still farther westward. Unchecked and almost unopposed, they overran the districts of Diarbekr, Mesopotamia, Erbil and Kelat, and then advanced upon Azerbāijān. In the following year (1236) they invaded Georgia and Great Armenia, committing frightful atrocities. Tiflis was among the cities captured by assault, and Kars was surrendered at their approach in the vain hope that submission would gain clemency from the victors. Meanwhile, in 1235, Ogdai despatched three armies in as many directions. One was directed against Korea, one against the Sung dynasty, which ruled over the provinces of China south of the Yangtsze Kiang, and the third was sent westward into eastern Europe. This last force was commanded by Batu, the son of Juji, Ogdai’s deceased eldest brother, who took with him the celebrated Sabutai Bahadur as his chief adviser. Bolgari, the capital city of the Bulgars, fell before the force under Sabutai, while Batu pushed on over the Volga. With irresistible vigour and astonishing speed the Mongols made their way through the forests of Penza and Tambov, and appeared before the “beautiful city” of Ryazan. For five days they discharged a ceaseless storm of shot from their balistas, and, having made a breach in the defences, carried the city by assault on the 21st of December 1237. “The prince, with his mother, wife, sons, the boyars and the inhabitants, without regard to age or sex, were slaughtered with the savage cruelty of Mongol revenge; some were impaled, some shot at with arrows for sport, others were flayed or had nails or splinters of wood driven under their nails. Priests were roasted alive, and nuns and maidens ravished in the churches before their relatives. ‘No eye remained open to weep for the dead.’ ” Moscow, at this time a place of little importance, next fell into the hands of the invaders, who then advanced against Vladimir. After having held out for several days against the Mongol attacks, the city at length succumbed, and the horrors of Ryazan were repeated. If possible, a more dire fate overtook the inhabitants of Kozelsk, near Kaluga, where, in revenge for a partial defeat inflicted on a Mongol force, the followers of Batu held so terrible a “carnival of death” that the city was renamed by its captors Mobalig, “the city of woe.” With the tide of victory thus strong in their favour the Mongols advanced against Kiev, "the mother of cities,” and carried it by assault. The inevitable massacre followed, and the city was razed to the ground.
Victorious and always advancing, the Mongols, having desolated this portion of Russia, moved on in two divisions, one under Batu into Hungary, and the other under Baidar and Kaidu into Poland. Without a check, Batu marched to the neighbourhood of Pest, where the whole force of the kingdom was arrayed to resist him. The Hungarian army was posted on the wide heath of Mohi, which is bounded by “the vine-clad hills of Tokay,” the mountains of Lomnitz, and the woods of Diosgyor. To an army thus hemmed in on all sides defeat meant ruin, and Batu instantly recognized the dangerous position in which his enemies had placed themselves. To add to his chances of success he determined to deliver his attack by night, and while the careless Hungarians were sleeping he launched his battalions into their midst. Panic-stricken and helpless, they fled in all directions, followed by their merciless foes. Two archbishops, three bishops, and many of the nobility were among the slain, and the roads for two days’ journey from the field of battle were strewn with corpses. The king, Bēla IV., was saved by the fleetness of his horse, though closely pursued by a body of Mongols, who followed at his heels as far as the coast of the Adriatic, burning and destroying everything in their way. Meanwhile Batu captured Pest, and on Christmas Day 1241, having crossed the Danube on the ice, took Esztergom by assault. While Batu had been thus triumphing, the force under Baidar and Kaidu had carried fire and sword into Poland. While laying waste the country they received the announcement of the death of Ogdai, and at the same time a summons for Batu to return eastwards into Mongolia.
While his lieutenants had been thus carrying his arms in all directions, Ogdai had been giving himself up to ignoble ease and licentiousness. Like many Mongols, he was much given to drink, and it was to a disease produced by this cause that he finally succumbed on the 11th of December 1241. He was succeeded by his son Kuyuk, who reigned only seven years. Little of his character is known, but it is noticeable that his two ministers to whom he left the entire conduct of affairs were Christians, as also were his doctors, and that a Christian chapel stood before his tent. This leaning towards Christianity, however, brought no peaceful tendencies with it. On the death of Kuyuk dissensions which had been for a long time smouldering between the houses of Ogdai and Jagatai broke out into open war, and after the short and disputed reigns of Kaidu and Chapai, grandsons of Ogdai, the lordship passed away for ever from the house of Ogdai. It did not go, however, to the house of Jagatai, but to that of Tulē.
On the 1st of July 1251 Mangu, the eldest son of Tulé, and nephew to Ogdai, was elected khakan. With perfect impartiality, Mangu allowed the light of his countenance to fall upon the Christians, Mahommedans and Buddhists among his subjects although Shamanism was recognized as the state religion. Two years after hisMangu Khan. accession his court was visited by Rubruquis (q.v.) and other Christian monks, who were hospitably received. The description given by Rubruquis of the khakan’s palace at Karakorum shows how wide was the interval which separated him from the nomad, tent-living life of his forefathers. It was “surrounded by brick walls. . . . Its southern side had three doors. Its central hall was like a church, and consisted of a nave and two aisles, separated by columns. Here the court sat on great occasions. In front of the throne was placed a silver tree, having at its base four lions, from whose mouths there spouted into four silver basins wine, kumiss, hydromel and terasine. At the top of the tree a silver angel sounded a trumpet when the reservoirs that supplied the four fountains wanted replenishing.” On his accession complaints reached Mangu that dissensions had broken out in the province of Persia, and he therefore sent a force under the command of his Hulagu. brother Hulagu to punish the Ismailites or Assassins (q.v.), who were held to be the cause of the disorder. Marching ​ by Samarkand and Karshi, Hulagu crossed the Oxus and advanced by way of Balkh into the province of Kuhistan or Kohistan. The terror of the Mongol name induced Rukneddin Gurshah II. (Rokn al-din), the chief of the Assassins, to deprecate the wrath of Hulagu by offers of submission, and he was so far successful that he was able to purchase a temporary immunity from massacre by dismantling fifty of the principal fortresses in Kohistan. But when once the country had thus been left at the mercy of the invaders, their belief in the old saying “Stone dead hath no fellow” sharpened their battle-axes, and, sparing neither man, woman, nor child, they exterminated the unhappy people. Rukneddin having been killed, 1256 (see Assassins), Hulagu marched across the snowy mountains in the direction of Bagdad to attack the last Abbasid caliph and his Seljuk protectors. On arriving before the town he demanded its surrender. This being refused, he laid siege to the walls in the usual destructive Mongol fashion, and at length, finding resistance hopeless, the caliph was induced to give himself up and to open the gates to his enemies. On the 15th of February 1258 the Mongols entered the walls and sacked the city (see Caliphate ad fin). While at Bagdad Hulagu gave his astronomer, Nāsir al-dīn permission to build an observatory. The town of Maragha was the site chosen, and, under the superintendence of Nāsir al-dīn and four western Asiatic astronomers who were associated with him, a handsome observatory was built, and furnished with “armillary spheres and astrolabes, and with a beautifully-executed terrestrial globe showing the five climates.” The fall of Bagdad was almost contemporaneous with the end of the Seljuks of Konia as an independent power, though their actual destruction did not take place until 1308 (see Seljuks). One terrible result of the Mongol invasion was a fearful famine, which desolated the provinces of Irak-Arabi, Mesopotamia, Syria and Rūm. But, though the inhabitants starved, the Mongols had strength and energy left to continue their onward march into Syria. Aleppo was stormed and sacked, Damascus surrendered (1260) and Hulagu was meditating the capture of Jerusalem with the object of restoring it to the Christians when he received the news of Mangu’s death, and, as in duty bound, at once set out on his return, to Mongolia, leaving Kitboga (Kitubuka) in command of the Mongol forces in Syria.
Hitherto a vassal of Mangu, as is shown by his striking coins bearing the name of Mangu as well as his own, Hulagu was now recognized as ruler of the conquered provinces. He assumed the title of ilkhan, and, although acknowledging the khakan as supreme lord, was practically independent. The title of ilkhan was that borne by his successors, who ruled over Persia for about a century (see infra, “The Ilkhans of Persia”).
While Hulagu was prosecuting these conquests in western Asia, Mangu and his next brother Kublai were pursuing a like course in southern China. Southward they even advanced into Tong-king, and westward they carried their arms over the frontier into Tibet. But in one respect there was a vast difference between the two campaigns. Under the wise command of Kublai all indiscriminate massacres were forbidden, and probably for the first time in Mongol history the inhabitants and garrisons of captured cities were treated with humanity. While carrying on the war in the province of Szech’uen Mangu was seized with an attack of dysentery, which proved fatal after a few days’ illness. His body was carried into Mongolia on the backs of two asses, and, in pursuance of the custom of slaughtering every one encountered on the way, 20,000 persons were, according to Marco Polo, put to the sword.
At the Kuriltai, or assembly of notables, which was held at Shang-tu after the death of Mangu, his brother Kublai (see Kublai Khan) was elected khakan. For thirty-five years he sat on the Mongol throne, and at his death in 1294, in his seventy-ninth year, he was succeeded by his son Timur Khan, or, as he was otherwise called, Oldjeitu or Uldsheitu Khan (Chinese Yuen-chēng). The reign of this sovereign was chiefly remarkable for the healing of the division which had for thirty years separated the families of Ogdai and Jagatai from that of the ruling khakan. Uldsheitu was succeeded by his nephew Khaissan, who was gathered to his fathers in February 1311, after a short reign, and at the early age of thirty-one. His nephew and successor, Buyantu (Chinese Yen-tsung), was a man of considerable culture, and substantially patronized Chinese literature. Among other benefits which he conferred on letters, he rescued the celebrated inscription-bearing “stone drums,” which are commonly said to be of the Chow period (1122–255 B.C.), from the decay and ruin to which they were left by the last emperor of the Kin dynasty, and placed them in the gateway of the temple of Confucius at Peking, where they now stand. After a reign of nine years, Buyantu was succeeded by his son Gegen (Chinese Ying-tsung), who perished in 1323 by the knife of an assassin. Yissun Timur (Chinese Tai-ting-ti), who was the next sovereign, devoted himself mainly to the administration of his empire. He divided China, which until that time had been apportioned into twelve provinces, into eighteen provinces, and rearranged the system of state granaries, which had fallen into disorder. His court was visited by Friar Odoric, who gives a minute description of the palace and its inhabitants. Speaking of the palace this writer says:—
“Its basement was raised about two paces from the ground, and within there were twenty-four columns of gold, and all the walls were hung with skins of red leather, said to be the finest in the world. In the midst of the palace was a great jar more than two paces in height, made of a certain precious stone called merdacas (jade); its price exceeded the value of four large towns. . . . Into this vessel drink was conducted by certain conduits from the court of the palace, and beside it were many golden goblets, from which those drank who listed. . . . When the khakan sat on his throne the queen was on his left hand, and a step lower two others of his women, while at the bottom of the steps stood the other ladies of his family. All those who were married wore upon their heads the foot of a man as it were a cubit and a half in length, and at the top of the foot there were certain cranes’ feathers, the whole foot being set with great pearls, so that if there were in the whole world any fine and large pearls they were to be found in the decoration of those ladies.”
The following years were years of great natural and political convulsions. Devastating floods swept over China, carrying death and ruin to thousands of homes; earthquakes made desolate whole districts; and in more than one part of the empire the banners of revolt were unfurled. Under various leaders the rebels captured a number of cities in the provinces of Kiang-nan and Honan, and took possession of Hang-chow, the capital of the Sung emperors. At the same time pirates ravaged the coasts and swept the imperial vessels off the sea.
In 1355 a Buddhist priest named Chu Yuen-chang became so impressed with the misery of his countrymen that he threw off his vestments and enrolled himself in the rebel army. His military genius soon raised him to the position of a leader, and with extraordinary success he overcame with his rude levies the trained legions of the Mongol emperor. While unable to defeat or check the rebels in the central provinces, Toghon Timur Khan was also called upon to face a rebellion in Korea. Nor were his arms more fortunate in the north than in the south. An army which was sent to suppress the revolt was cut to pieces almost to a man. These events made a dream which the emperor dreamt about this time of easy interpretation. He saw in his sleep “a wild boar with iron tusks rush into the city and wound the people, who were driven hither and thither without finding shelter. Meanwhile the sun and the moon rushed together and perished.” “This dream,” said the diviner, “is a prophecy that the khakan will lose his empire.” The fulfilment followed closely on the prophecy. By a subterfuge the rebels, after having gained possession of most of the central provinces of the empire, captured Peking. But Toghon Timur by a hasty flight escaped from his enemies, and sought safety on the shores of the Dolon-nor in Mongolia. For a time the western provinces of China continued to hold out against the rebels, but with the flight of Toghon Timur the Mongol troops lost heart, and in 1368 the ex-Buddhist priest ascended the throne as the first sovereign of the Ming or “Bright” dynasty, under the title of Hung-wu.
Thus ended the sovereignty of the house of Jenghiz Khan in China, nor need we look far to find the cause of its fall. Brave ​ and hardy the Mongols have always shown themselves to be; but the capacity for consolidating the fruits of victory, for establishing a settled form of government, and for gaining the allegiance of the The Mongols expelled from China.conquered peoples, have invariably been wanting in them.
Not content with having recovered China, the emperor Hungwu sent an army of 400,000 men into Mongolia in pursuit of the forces which yet remained to the khakan. Even on their own ground the disheartened Mongols failed in their resistance to the Chinese, and at all points suffered disaster. Meanwhile Toghon Timur, who did not long survive his defeat, was succeeded in the khakanate by Biliktu Khan, who again in 1379 was followed by Ussakhal Khan. During the reign of this last prince the Chinese again invaded Mongolia, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the khan’s forces in the neighbourhood of Lake Buyur. Besides the slain, 2994 officers and 77,000 soldiers are said to have been taken prisoners, and an immense booty to have been secured. This defeat was the final ruin of the eastern branch of the Mongols, who from this time surrendered the supremacy to the western division of the tribe. At first the Keraits or Torgod, as in the early days before Jenghiz Khan rose to power, exercised lordship over the eastern Mongols, but from these before long the supremacy passed to the Oirad, who for fifty years treated them as vassals. Notwithstanding their subjection, however, the Keraits still preserved the imperial line, and khakan after khakan assumed the nominal sovereignty of the tribe, while the real power rested with the descendants of Toghon, the Oirad chief, who had originally attached them to his sceptre. Gradually, however, the Mongol tribes broke away from all governing centres, and established scattered communities with as many chiefs over the whole of eastern Mongolia. The discredit of having finally disintegrated the tribe is generally attached to Lingdan Khan (1604–1634), of whom, in reference to his arrogant and brutal character, has been quoted the Mongolian proverb: “A raging khakan disturbs the state, and a raging saghan (elephant) overthrows his keepers.”
At this time the Mongols, though scattered and in isolated bodies, had recovered somewhat from the shock of the disaster which they had suffered at the hand of the first Ming sovereign of China. When first driven northwards, they betook themselves to the banks of the Kerulen, from whence they had originally started on their victorious career; The Chakhars. but gradually, as the Chinese power became weaker among the frontier tribes, they again pushed southwards, and at this time had established colonies in the Ordus country, within the northern bend of the Yellow River. The Mongol royal family and their immediate surroundings occupied the Chakhar country to the north-west of the Ordus territory, where they became eventually subjugated by the Manchus on the overthrow of the Ming dynasty in 1644 by the present rulers of China. At times the old vigour and strength which had nerved the arm of Jenghiz Khan seemed to return to the tribe, and we read of successful expeditions being made by the Ordu Mongols into Tibet, and even of invasions into China. The relations with Tibet thus inaugurated brought about a rapid spread of Buddhism among the Mongolians, and in the beginning of the 17th century the honour of having a Dalai Lama born among them was vouchsafed to them. In 1625 Toba, one of the sons of Bushuktu Jinung Khan, went on a pilgrimage to the Dalai Lama, and brought back with him a copy of the Tanjur to be translated into Mongolian, as the Kanjur had already been. But though the prowess of the Ordu Mongols was still unsubdued, their mode of living was as barren and rugged as the steppes and rocky hills which make up their territory. Their flocks and herds, on. which they are entirely dependent for food and clothing, are not numerous, and, like their masters, are neither well fed nor well favoured. But though living in this miserable condition their princes yet keep up a certain amount of barbaric state, and the people have at least the reputation of being honest.
Several of the tribes who had originally migrated with those who finally settled in the Ordu territory, finding the country to be so inhospitable, moved farther eastward into richer pastures. Among these were the Tumeds, one of whose chiefs, Altan Khan (Chinese Yen-ta), is famous in later Mongol history for the power he acquired. For many years during the 16th century he carried on a not altogether unsuccessful war with China, and finally, when peace was made (1571), the Chinese were fain to create him a prince of the empire and to confer a golden seal of authority upon him. In Tibet his arms were as successful as in China; but, as has often happened in history, the physical conquerors became the mental subjects of the conquered. Lamaism has always had a great attraction in the eyes of the Mongols, and, through the instrumentality of some Lamaist prisoners whom Altan brought back in his train, the religion spread at this time rapidly among the Tumeds. Altan himself embraced the faith, and received at his court the Bogda Sodnam Gyamtso Khutuktu, on whom he lavished every token of honour. One immediate effect of the introduction of Buddhism among the Tumeds was to put an end to the sacrifices which were commonly made at the grave of their chieftains. In 1584 Altan died, and was succeeded by his son Senge Dugureng Timur. The rich territory occupied by the Tumeds, together with the increased intercourse with China which sprang up after the wars of Altan, began to effect a change in the manner of life of the people. By degrees the pastoral habits of the inhabitants became more agricultural, and at the present day, as in Manchuria, Chinese immigrants have so stamped their mark on the fields and markets, on the towns and villages, that the country has become to all intents and purposes part of China proper.
Passing now from the inner division of the Mongols who live in the southern and eastern portions of the desert we come to the outer division, which occupies the territory to the north of the desert. Of these the chief are the Kalkas, who are divided into the Western and Eastern Kalkas. These people form the link of communication between Europe The Kalkas. and eastern Asia. Early in the 17th century the Russians sent an embassy to the court of the Golden Khan with the object of persuading the Mongol khan to acknowledge allegiance to the tsar. This he did without much hesitation or inquiry, and he further despatched envoys to Moscow on the return of the Russian embassy. But the allegiance thus lightly acknowledged was lightly thrown off, and in a quarrel which broke out between the Khirghiz and the Russians the Kalkas took the side of the former. The breach, however, was soon healed over, and we find the Golden Khan sending an envoy again to Moscow, asking on behalf of his master for presents of jewels, arms, a telescope, a clock, and “a monk who had been to Jerusalem that he might teach the Kalkas how the Christians prayed.” Their submission to Russia on the north did not save them, however, from the Chinese attacks on the south. At that time the present Manchu dynasty ruled in China, and to the then reigning sovereign the Kalkas gave in their submission. For some time the Chinese yoke sat lightly on their consciences, but difficulties having arisen with the Kalmucks, they were ready enough to claim the protection of China. To cement the alliance the emperor K’ang-hi invited all the Kalka chiefs to meet him at the plain of Dolon-nor. This ceremony brought the separate history of the Kalkas to a close, since from that time they have been engulfed in the Chinese Empire.
During the Kin dynasty of China the Keraits, as has been pointed out, were for a time supreme in Mongolia, and it was during that period that one of the earliest recognized sovereigns, Merghus Buyuruk Khan, sat on the throne. In an engagement with a neighbouring Tatar tribe their khan was captured and sent as a propitiatory present to the Kin emperor, who put him to death by nailing him on a wooden ass. On the treacherous Tatar chief the widow determined to avenge herself, and chose the occasion of a feast as a fitting opportunity. With well-disguised friendship she sent him a present of ten oxen, a hundred sheep and a hundred sacks of koumiss. These, last, however, instead of being filled with skins of the liquor which Mongolians love so well, contained armed men, who, when the Tatar was feasted, rushed from their concealment and killed him. ​ A grandson of Merghus was the celebrated Wang Khan, who was sometimes the ally and sometimes the enemy of Jenghiz Khan, and has also been identified as the Prester John of early western writers. In war he was almost invariably unfortunate, and it was with no great difficulty, therefore, that his brother Ki Wang detached the greater part of the Kerait tribes from his banner, and founded the Torgod chieftainship, The Torgod. named probably from the country where they settled themselves. The unrest peculiar to the dwellers in the Mongolian desert disturbed the Torgod as much as their neighbours. Their history for several centuries consists of nothing but a succession of wars with the tribes on either side of them, and it was not until 1672, when Ayuka Khan opened relations with the Russians, that the country obtained an even temporarily settled existence. Its position, indeed, at this time made it necessary that Ayuka should ally himself either with the Russians or with his southern neighbours the Turks, though at the same time it was obvious that his alliance with the one would bring him into collision with the other. His northern neighbours, the Cossacks of the Yaik and the Bashkirs, both subject to Russia, had the not uncommon propensity for invading his borders and harassing his subjects. This gave rise to complaints of the tsar’s government and a disposition to open friendly relations with the Krim khan. A rupture with Russia followed, and Ayuka carried his arms as far as Kazan, burning and laying waste the villages and towns on his route and carrying off prisoners and spoils. Satisfied with this vengeance, he advanced no farther, but made a peace with the Russians, which was confirmed in 1722 at an audience which Peter the Great gave him at Astrakhan. On Ayuka’s death shortly after this event, he was succeeded by his son Cheren Donduk, who received from the Dalai Lama a patent to the throne. But this spiritual support availed him little against the plots of his nephew Donduk Ombo, who so completely gained the suffrages of the people that Cheren Donduk fled before him to St Petersburg, where he died, leaving his nephew in possession. With consummate impartiality the Russians, when they found that Donduk Ombo had not only seized the throne but was governing the country with vigour and wisdom, formally invested him with the khanate. At his death he was succeeded by Donduk Taishi, who, we are told, went to Moscow to attend the coronation of the empress Elizabeth, and to swear fealty to the Russians. After a short reign he died, and his throne was occupied by his son Ubasha. The position of the Torgod at this time, hemmed in as they were between the Russians and Turks, was rapidly becoming unbearable, and the question of migrating “bag and baggage” was very generally mooted. In the war between his two powerful neighbours in 1769 and 1770, Ubasha gave valuable assistance to the Russians. His troops took part in the siege of Ochakov, and gained a decided victory on the river Kalaus. Flushed with these successes, he was in no mood to listen patiently to the taunts of the governor of Astrakhan, who likened him to a “bear fastened to a chain,” and he made up his mind to break away once and for all from a tutelage which was as galling as it was oppressive. He determined, therefore, to migrate eastward with his people, and on the 5th of January 1771 he began his march with 70,000 families. In vain the Russians attempted to recall the fugitives, who, in spite of infinite hardships, after a journey of eight months reached the province of Ili, where they were welcomed by the Chinese authorities. Food for a year’s consumption was supplied to each family; and land, money and cattle were freely distributed. It is believed that 300,000 persons survived to receive the hospitality of the Chinese. By this desperate venture the Torgod escaped, it is true, the oppression of the Russians, but they fell into the hands of other masters, who, if not so exacting, were equally determined to be supreme. The Chinese, flattered by the compliment implied by the transference of allegiance, settled them on lands in the province of Ili, in the neighbourhood of the Altai mountains, and to the west of the desert of Gobi. But the price they were made to pay for this liberality was absorption in the Chinese empire.
Among the Mongol chiefs who rose to fame during the rule of the Ming dynasty of China was Toghon, the Kalmuck khan, who, taking advantage of the state of confusion which reigned among the tribes of Mongolia, established for himself an empire in north-western Asia. Death carried him off in 1444, and his throne devolved upon The Kalmuck. his son Ye-seen, who was no degenerate offspring. Being without individual foes in Mongolia he turned his arms against China, which through all history has been the happy hunting-ground of the northern tribes, and had the unexampled good fortune to take prisoner the Chinese emperor Chēng-t’ung. But victory did not always decide in his favour, and after having suffered reverses at the hands of the Chinese, he deemed it wise to open negotiations for the restoration of his imperial prisoner. Thus, after a captivity of seven years Chēng-t’ung re-entered his capital in 1457, not altogether to the general satisfaction of his subjects. On the death of Yi-sien, shortly after this event, the Kalmucks lost much of their power in eastern Asia, but retained enough in other portions of their territory to annoy the Russians by raids within the Russian frontier, and by constant acts of pillage. In the 17th century their authority was partly restored by Galdan, a Lama, who succeeded by the usual combination of wile and violence to the throne of his brother Senghē. Having been partly educated at Lhasa, he was well versed in Asiatic politics, Galdan Khan. and, taking advantage of a quarrel between the Black and White Mountaineers of Kashgar he overran Little Bokhara, and left a viceroy to rule over the province with his capital at Yarkand. At the same time he opened relations with China, and exchanged presents with the emperor. Having thus secured his powerful southern neighbour, as he thought, he turned his arms against the Kalkas, whose chief ground of offence was their attachment to the cause of his brothers. But his restless ambition created alarm at Peking, and the emperor K’ang-hi determined to protect the Kalkas against their enemy. The emperor, in person commanding one of the two forces, marched into Mongolia. After enduring incredible hardships during the march through the desert of Gobi the imperial army encountered the Kalmucks at Chao-modo. The engagement was fiercely contested, but ended in the complete victory of the Chinese, who pursued the Kalmucks for ten miles, and completely dispersed their forces. Galdan, with his son, daughter and a few followers, fled westward and escaped; and thus collapsed a power which had threatened at one time to overshadow the whole of Central Asia. For a time Galdan still maintained resistance to his powerful enemy, but death overtook him while yet in the field against the Chinese.
But though Galdan was dead the Chinese did not enjoy that complete immunity from war at the hand of his successor that they had looked for. Tsi-wang Arabtan was, however, but the shadow of his brother and predecessor, and a dispute which arose with the Russians during his reign weakened his power in other directions. Little Bokhara was said to be rich in gold mines, and therefore became a coveted region in the eyes of the Russians. Under the vigorous administration of Peter the Great an expedition was despatched to force a passage into the desired province. To oppose this invasion the Kalmucks assembled in force, and after a protracted and undecided engagement the Russians were glad to agree to retire down the Irtish and to give up all further advance.
To Tsi-wang Arabtan succeeded Amursama owing to the support he received from the Chinese emperor K’ien-lung, who nominated him khan of the Kalmucks and chief of Dzungaria. But, though to the ear these titles were as high-sounding as those of his predecessors, in reality the power they represented was curtailed by the presence of Chinese commissioners, in whose hands rested the real authority. The galling weight of this state of dependence drove Amursama before long into revolt. He dispersed the Chinese garrisons stationed in Ili (Kulja), killed the generals, and advanced his own forces as far as Palikun on the river Ili. To punish this revolt, K’ien-lung sent a large force into the rebellious province. As on the previous occasion. the ​ Chinese were everywhere victorious, and Amursama fled into Siberia, where he died of small-pox after a short illness.
While China was thus absorbing the Mongols within her reach, Russia was gathering within her borders those with whom “she came into contact. Among these were the Buriats, who occupied a large territory on both sides of Lake Baikal. As usual in such cases, disputes arose out of disturbances on the frontier, and were ended by the Buriats and the neighbouring Mongol tribes becoming one and all tributary to Russia.
The dominions given by Jenghiz Khan to his son Jagatai were involved in the quarrels between Kaidu and Kublai for the khakanate, but at the beginning of the 14th century Dua, a great-great-grandson of Jagatai, made himself undisputed lord of the whole region. Shortly after Dua’s death the Mongols of Eastern Turkestan, descendants The House of Jagatai. of those who had favoured the pretensions of Kaidu to be khakan, separated from their western brethren and chose a son of Dua as their khan. Henceforth the Jagataids were divided into two dynasties, the western reigning at Samarkand, the eastern first at Kashgar and later at Yarkand and Aksu. Kazan (1343–1346) was the last independent khan of the western Jagataids; thereafter power fell into the hands of amirs, who, however, continued to place a titular khan on the throne. In 1360 Toghluk-Timur, a grandson of Dua and khan of the eastern Jagataids (the kingdom called by the Persian historians Mogolistan), invaded the territories of the western Jagataids. About this time Timur (q.v.), otherwise Timur-i-leng (Tamerlane), a young amir at the court of the western Jagataids, allied himself with the leaders who had dethroned Kazan, and after the death of Toghluk-Timur became by right of conquest khan of both sections of the Jagataids. After Timur’s death the; two sections again divided, while a third kingdom, Ferghana, was held by the Timurids (descendants of Timur). At the beginning of the 16th century all three dynasties were swept away by Mahommed Shaibani, head of the Uzbeg Mongols (see infra, Uzbegs).
The empire of the Ilkhans established by Hulagu lasted nominally until 1353, but after the death of the Ilkhan Abu Said in 1335 the real power was divided between five petty dynasties which had been formed out of the provinces conquered by Hulagu. Meantime Islam had made great progress among the Mongols, the third The Ilkhans of Persia. Ilkhan, Nikudar Ahmed (reigned 1281–1284) having embraced that faith. The western frontiers of their empire bordering on the Syrian possessions of Egypt there was frequent intercourse, sometimes friendly, sometimes warlike, between the Ilkhans and the sultans of Egypt (q.v.). Of the petty dynasties which supplanted that of Hulagu, one known as the Jelairids held Bagdad until about 1400. Another dynasty which reigned in Azerbaijan was overthrown in 1355 by the western Kipchaks (see infra, Golden Horde). Between 1369 and 1400 Timur had made himself master of the greater part of Persia and established there a second Mongol dynasty, which in turn gave place to that of the Ak Kuyunli (see Persia).
Of the Mongol tribes who became entirely subject to Russia the principal are those of the Crimea, of Kazan, and Astrakhan; of these the Tatars of Kazan are the truest representatives of the Golden Horde or western Kipchaks, who originally formed the subjects of Batu and Orda. Batu, whose victorious campaign The Golden Horde. in Russia has already been sketched, was finally awarded as his fief the vast steppes which stretch from the Carpathian Mountains to Lake Balkash. He fixed his headquarters on the Volga, and there set up his Golden Tent from which the horde acquired the name of the Golden Horde. In 1255 Batu died and was succeeded by his brother Bereke Khan. During the reign of this sovereign the exactions which were demanded from the Russian Christians by the Mongols aroused the Christian world against the barbarian conquerors, and at the command of Pope Alexander IV. a general crusade was preached against them. But. though the rage of the Christians was great, they lacked that united energy which might have availed them against their enemies; and, while they were yet breathing out denunciations, a Tatar host, led by Nogai and Tulabagha, appeared in Poland. After a rapid and triumphant march the invaders took and destroyed Cracow, and from thence advanced as far as Bythom (Beuthen) in Oppeln, from which point they eventually retired, carrying with them a crowd of Christian slaves. From this time the Mongols became for a season an important factor in European politics. They corresponded and treated with the European sovereigns, and intermarried with royal families. Hulagu married a daughter of Michael Palaeologus; Toktu Khan took as his wife Maria, the daughter of Andronicus II.; and to Nogai Michael betrothed his daughter Irene. Toktu, the second khan in succession to Bereke, is the first Mongol ruler whom we hear of as having struck coins. Those issued during his reign bear the mint marks of Sarai, New Sarai, Bulgar, Ukek, Khwarizm, Krim, Jullad and Madjarui, and vary in date from 1291 to 1312.
The adoption of Islam by the rulers of the Golden Horde had as one result the drawing closer of the relations of the Mongols with Constantinople and Egypt. Embassies passed between the three courts, and so important was the alliance with the Mongols deemed by the sultan Nasir, ruler of Egypt, that he sent to demand in marriage a princess of the house of Jenghiz Khan. At first his request was refused by the proud Mongols, but the present of a million gold dinars, besides a number of horses and suits of armour, changed the refusal into an acquiescence, and in October 1319 the princess landed at Alexandria. in regal state. Her reception at Cairo was accompanied with feasting and rejoicing, and the members of her escort were sent back laden with presents. With that religious toleration common to his race, Uzbeg Khan, having married one princess to Nasir, gave another in marriage to George the prince of Moscow, whose cause he espoused in a quarrel existing between that prince and his uncle, the grand-prince Michael. Assuming the attitude of a judge in the dispute, Uzbeg Khan summoned Michael to appear before him, and, having given his decision against him, ordered his execution. The sentence was carried out with aggravated cruelty in sight of his nephew and accuser. From this time Uzbeg’s sympathies turned towards Christianity. He protected the Russian churches within his frontiers, and put his seal to his new religious views by marrying a daughter of the Greek emperor, Andronicus III. He died in 1340, after a reign of twenty-eight years. His coins were struck at Sarai, Khwarizm, Mokshi, Bulgar, Azak and Krim, and are dated from 1313 to 1340. His son and successor, Tinibeg Khan, after a reign of only a few months, was murdered by his brother Janibeg Khan, who usurped his throne, and, according to the historian Ibn Haidar, proved himself to be “just, God-fearing, and the patron of the meritorious.” These excellent qualities did not, however, prevent his making a raid into Poland, which was conducted in the usual Mongol manner, nor did they save his countrymen from being decimated by the black plague. The throne Janibeg had seized by violence was, in 1357, snatched from him by violence. As he lay ill on his return from a successful expedition against Persia he was murdered by his son Berdibeg, who in his turn was, after a short reign, murdered by his son Kulpa. With the death of Berdibeg the fortunes of the Golden Horde began rapidly to decline. As the Uzbeg proverb says, “The hump of the camel was cut off in the person of Berdibeg.”
But while the power of the Golden Horde was dwindling away, the White Horde or Eastern Kipchak, which was the inheritance of the elder branch of the family of Juji, remained prosperous and full of vitality. The descendants of Orda, Batu’s elder brother, being far removed from the dangerous influences of European courts, The White Horde, or Eastern Kipchak. maintained much of the simplicity and vigour of their nomad ancestors, and the throne descended from father to son with undiminished authority until the reign of Urus Khan (1360), when complications arose which changed the fortunes of the tribe. Like many other opponents of the Mongol rulers, Khan Tuli Khoja paid with his life for his temerity in opposing the political schemes of his connexion Urus Khan. Toktamish, the son of the murdered man, fled at the news of his ​ father’s death and sought refuge at the court of Timur, who received him with honour and at once agreed to espouse his cause. With this intention he despatched a force against Urus Khan, and gained some advantage over him, but, while fitting out another army to make a fresh attack, news reached him of the death of Urus. Only at Sighnak are coins known to have been struck during the reign of Urus, and these bear date from 1372 to 1375.
He was followed on the throne by his two sons, Tuktakia and Timur Malik, each in turn; the first reigned but for a few weeks, and the second was killed in a battle against Toktamish, the son of his father’s enemy. Toktamish now (1378) seized the throne, not only of Eastern Kipchak but also of the Golden Horde, over which his arms had The Reign of Toktamish. at the same time proved victorious. He reigned as Nāṣir ed-din Jetal ed Mahmud Ghujas Toktamish. His demands for tribute from the Russian princes met with evasions from men who had grown accustomed to the diminished power of the later rulers of the Golden Horde, and Toktamish therefore at once marched an army into Russia. Having captured Serpukhov, he advanced on Moscow. On the 23rd of August 1382 his troops appeared before the doomed city. For some days the inhabitants bravely withstood the constant attacks on the walls, but failed in their resistance to the stratagems which were so common a phase in Mongolian warfare. With astonishing credulity they opened Moscow Sacked.the gates to the Mongols, who declared themselves the enemies of the grand-prince alone, and not of the people. The usual result followed. The Russian general, who was invited to Toktamish’s tent, was there slain and at the same time the signal was given for a general slaughter. Without discriminating age or sex, the Mongol troops butchered the wretched inhabitants without mercy, and, having made the streets desolate and the houses tenantless, they first plundered the city and then gave it over to the flames. The same pitiless fate overtook Vladimir, Zvenigorod, Yuriev, Mozhaisk and Dimitrov. With better fortune, the inhabitants of Pereslavl and Kolomna escaped with their lives from the troops of Toktamish, but at the expense of their cities, which were burned to the ground. Satisfied with his conquests, the khan returned homewards, traversing and plundering the principality of Ryazan on his way. Flushed with success, Toktamish demanded from his patron Timur the restoration of Khwarizm, which had fallen into the hands of the latter at a period when disorder reigned in the Golden Horde. Such a request was not likely to be well received by Timur, and, in answer to his positive refusal to yield the city, Toktamish marched an army of 90,000 men against Tabriz. After a siege of eight days the city was taken by assault and ruthlessly ravaged. In the meantime Timur was collecting forces to punish his rebellious protégé. When his plans were fully matured, he advanced upon Old Urgenj and captured it. More merciful than Toktamish, he transported the inhabitants to Samarkand, but in order to mark his anger against the rebellious Wars with Timur.city he levelled it with the ground and sowed barley on the site where it had stood. On the banks of the Oxus he encountered his enemy, and after a bloody battle completely routed the Kipchaks, who fled in confusion. A lull followed this victory, but in 1390 Timur again took the field. To each man was given “a bow, with thirty arrows, a quiver, and a buckler. The army was mounted, and a spare horse was supplied to every two men, while a tent was furnished for every ten, and with this were two spades, a pickaxe, a sickle, a saw, an axe, an awl, a hundred needles, 81/2 ℔ of cord, an ox’s hide, and a strong pan.” Thus equipped the army set forth on its march. After a considerable delay owing to an illness which overtook Timur his troops arrived at Kara Saman. Here envoys arrived from Toktamish bearing presents and a message asking pardon for his past conduct; but Timur was inexorable, and, though he treated the messengers with consideration, he paid no attention to their prayer. In face of innumerable difficulties, as well as of cold, hunger, and weariness, Timur marched forward month after month through the Kipchak country in pursuit of Toktamish. At last, on the 18th of June, he overtook him at Kandurcha, in the country of the Bulgars, and at once forced him to an engagement. For three days the battle lasted, and, after inclining now to this side and now to that, victory finally decided in favour of Timur. The Kipchaks were completely routed and fled in all directions, while it is said as many as 100,000 corpses testified to the severity of the fighting.
Toktamish, though defeated, was not subdued, and in 1395 Timur found it necessary again to undertake a campaign against him. This time the armies met upon the Terek, and after a fiercely-contested battle the Kipchaks again fled in confusion. Timur, threatened by the advancing autumn, gave up further pursuit, and retired with a vast booty of gold ingots, silver bars, pieces of Antioch linen and of the embroidered cloth of Russia, &c. On his homeward march southwards he arrived before Azak, which was then the entrepot where the merchants of the east and west exchanged their wares. In vain the natives, with the Egyptian, Venetian, Genoese, Catalan and Basque inhabitants, besought him to spare the city. His answer was a command to the Moslems to separate themselves from the rest of the people, whom he put to the sword, and then gave the city over to the flames. Circassia and Georgia next felt his iron heel, and the fastnesses of the central Caucasus were one and all destroyed. After these successes Timur gave himself up for a time to feasting and rejoicing, accompanied by every manifestation of Oriental luxury. “His tent of audience was hung with silk, its poles were golden, or probably covered with golden plates, the nails being silver; his throne was of gold, enriched with precious stones; the floor was sprinkled with rose water.” But his vengeance was not satisfied, and, having refreshed his troops by this halt, he marched northwards against Astrakhan, which he utterly destroyed. The inhabitants were driven out into the country to perish with the cold, while the commander of the city was killed by being forced beneath the ice of the Volga. Sarai next shared the same fate, and, Timur, having thus crushed for the second time the empire of Toktamish, set out on his return home by way of Derbent and Azērbāijān.
The power in the hands of the successors of Toktamish never revived after the last campaign of Timur. They were constantly engaged in wars with the Russians and the Krim Tatars, with whom the Russians had allied themselves, and by degrees their empire decayed, until, on the seizure and death of Ahmed Khan at the beginning of the 16th century, the domination of the Golden Horde came to an end.
The fate which thus overtook the Golden Horde was destined to be shared by all the western branches of the great Mongol family. The khans of Kazan and Kasimov had already in 1552 succumbed to the growing power of Russia, and the Krim Tatars were next to fall under the same yoke. In the 15th century, when the KrimThe Krim Tatars. Tatars first appear as an independent power, they attempted to strengthen their position by allying themselves with the Russians, to whom they looked for help against the attacks of the Golden Horde. But while they were in this state of dependence another power arose in eastern Asia which modified the political events of that region. In 1453 Constantinople was taken by the Osmanli Turks, who, having quarrelled with the Genoese merchants who monopolized the trade on the Black Sea, sent an expedition into the Crimea to punish the presumptuous traders. The power which had captured Constantinople was not likely to be held in check by any forces at the disposal of the Genoese, and without any serious opposition Kaffa, Sudak, Balaklava and Inkerman fell before the troops of the sultan Mahommed. It was plain that, situated as the Crimea was between the two great powers of Russia and Turkey, it must of necessity fall under the direction of one of them. Which it should be was decided by the invasion of the Turks, who restored Mengli Girai, the deposed khan, to the throne, and virtually converted the khanate into a dependency of Constantinople. But though under the tutelage of Turkey, Mengli Girai, whose leading policy seems to have been ​ the desire to strengthen himself against the khans of the Golden Horde, formed a close alliance with the grand-prince Ivan of Russia. One result of this friendship was that the Mongols were enabled, and encouraged, to indulge their predatory habits at the expense of the enemies of Russia, and in this way both Lithuania and Poland suffered terribly from their incursions. It was destined, however, that in their turn the Russians should not escape from the marauding tendencies of their allies, for, on pretext of a quarrel with reference to the succession to the Kazan throne, Mahommed Girai Khan in 1521 marched an army northwards until, after having devastated the country, massacred the people, and desecrated the churches on his route, he arrived at the heights of Vorobiev overlooking Moscow. The terror of the unfortunate inhabitants at the sight once again of the dreaded Mongols was extreme; but the horrors which had accompanied similar past visitations were happily averted by a treaty, by which the grand-prince Basil undertook to pay a perpetual tribute to the Krim khans. This, however, proved but a truce. It was impossible that an aggressive state like Russia should live in friendship with a marauding power like that of the Krim Tatars. The primary cause of contention was the khanate of Kazan, which was recovered by the Mongols, and lost again to Russia with that of Astrakhan in 1555. The sultan, however, declined to accept this condition of things as final, and instigated Devlet Girai, the Krim khan, to attempt their recovery. With this object the latter marched an army northwards, where, finding the road to Moscow unprotected, he pushed on in the direction of that ill-starred city. On arriving before its walls he found a large Russian force occupying the suburbs. With these, however, he was saved from an encounter, for just as his foremost men approached the town a fire broke out, which, in consequence of the high wind blowing at the time, spread with frightful rapidity, and in the space of six hours destroyed all the churches, palaces and houses, with the exception of the Kremlin, within a compass of 30 miles. Thousands of the inhabitants perished in the flames. “The river and ditches about Moscow,” says Horsey, “were stopped and filled with the multitudes of people, laden with gold, silver, jewels, chains, ear-rings and treasures. So many thousands were there burned and drowned that the river could not be cleaned for twelve months afterwards.” Satisfied with the destruction he had indirectly caused, and unwilling to attack the Kremlin, the khan withdrew to the Crimea, ravaging the country as he went. Another invasion of Russia, a few years later (1572), was not so fortunate for the Mongols, who suffered a severe defeat near Molodi, 50 versts from Moscow. A campaign against Persia made a diversion in the wars which were constantly waged between the Krim khan and the Russians, Cossacks and Poles. So hardly were these last pressed by their pertinacious enemies in 1649 that they bound themselves by treaty to pay an annual subsidy to the khan. But the fortunes of war were not always on the side of the Tatars, and with the advent of Peter the Great to the Russian throne the power of the Krim Mongols began to decline. In 1696 the tsar, supported by a large Cossack force under Mazeppa, took the field against Selim Girai Khan, and gained such successes that the latter was compelled to cede Azov to him. By a turn of the wheel of fortune the khan had the satisfaction in 1711 of having it restored to him by treaty; but this was the last real success that attended the Tatar arms. In 1735 the Russians in their turn invaded the Crimea, captured the celebrated lines of Perekop, and ravaged Bakhchi-sarai, the capital. The inevitable fate which was hanging over the Krim Tatars was now being rapidly accomplished. In 1783 the Krim, together with the eastern portion of the land of the Nogais, became absorbed into the Russian province of Taurida.
It will now only be necessary to refer briefly to the Uzbegs, who, on the destruction of the Golden Horde, assumed an important position on the east of the Caspian Sea. The founder of their greatness was the khan Abulkhair, who reigned in the 15th century, and who, like another Jenghiz Khan, consolidated a power out of a number The Uzbegs. of small clans, and added lustre to it by his successful wars. Shaibani Khan, his grandson, proved himself a worthy successor, and by him Baber (q.v.), the Timurid khan of Ferghana, who afterwards founded the Mogul Empire in India, was driven from his ancestral dominions. In 1500 he inflicted a severe defeat on Baber’s forces, and captured Samarkand, Herat and Kandahar. By these and other conquests he became possessed of all the country between the Oxus and the Jaxartes, of Ferghana, Khwarizm and Hissar, as well as of the territory of Tashkent from Kashgar to the frontiers of China. In the following year, by a dashing exploit, Baber recovered Samarkand, but only to lose it again a few months later. During several succeeding years Shaibani’s arms proved victorious in many fields of battle, and but for an indiscreet outrage on the territories of the shah of Persia he might have left behind him a powerful empire. The anger, however, of Shah Ismail roused against him a force before which he was destined to fall. The two armies met in the neighbourhood of Merv, where, after a desperate encounter, the Uzbegs were completely defeated. Shaibani, with a few followers, sought refuge in a cattle-pound. But finding no exit on the farther side, the refugees tried to leap their horses over the wall. In this attempt Shaibani was killed (1510). When his body was recognized by his exultant enemies they cut off the head and presented it to the shah, who caused the skull to be mounted in gold and to be converted into a. drinking-cup. After this defeat the Uzbegs withdrew across the Oxus and abandoned Khorasan. Farther east the news aroused Baber to renewed activity, and before long he reoccupied Samarkand and the province “Beyond the River,” which had been dominated by the Uzbegs for nine years. But though the Uzbegs were defeated they were by no means crushed, and ere long we find their khans reigning, now at Samarkand, and now at Bokhara. As time advanced and European powers began to encroach more and more into Asia, the history of the khanates ceases to be confined to the internecine struggles of rival khans. Even Bokhara was not beyond the reach of Russian ambition and English diplomacy. Several European envoys found their way thither during the first half of the 19th century, and the murder of Stoddart and Conolly in 1842 forms a melancholy episode in British relations with that fanatical capital. With the absorption of the khanate of Bokhara and the capture of Khiva by the Russians the individual history of the Mongol tribes in Central Asia comes to an end, and their name has left its imprint only on the dreary stretch of Chinese-owned country from Manchuria to the Altai Mountains, and to the equally unattractive country in the neighbourhood of the Koko-nōr.
Bibliography.—Sir H. Howorth, History of the Mongols (1876, 1878); D’Ohsson, Histoire des Mongols (1834); Cahun, Introduction à l’histoire d’Asie; Köhler, Die Entwicklung des Kriegswesens; Strakosch-Grossmann, Der Einfall der Mongolen in Mittel-Europa; (for the general reader) Jeremiah Curtin, The Mongols, a history (1908). (R. K. D.)
Language.—The Mongol tongue is one of the members of the great stock which recent scholars designate as Ural-Altaic, which also includes the Finno-Ugric, Turkish, Manchu and Samoyede. The members of this group are not so closely related to one another as those of the Indo-European stock; but they are all bound together by the common principle of agglutinative formation especially the so-called harmony of vowels, by their grammatical structure, and also by certain common elements in the stock of roots which run through them all, or through particular more closely-connected families within the group. The fatherland proper of the Mongols is Mongolia (q.v.). The sum total of the Mongol population under Chinese government is calculated at between two and three millions.
Generally the whole Mongol tribe may be divided into three branches: East Mongols, West Mongols and Buriats.
1. The East Mongols are divided into the Kalkas in the borders just mentioned, the Shara Mongols south of the Gobi along the Great Wall north-eastward to Manchuria, and lastly the Shiraigol or Sharaigol in Tangut and in northern Tibet.
​ 2. On the signification and employment of the different names of the West Mongols (Kalmucks, Oelōd, Oirad or Dōrbōn Oirad＝the four Oirad, Mongol Oirad), and also as regards the subdivision of the tribes, there is much uncertainty. The name Kalmuck, so generally employed among us, is in fact only used by the Volga Kalmucks (Khalimak), but even with them the name is not common, and almost a byname. It is of foreign origin, and most likely a Tataric word which has yet to be explained. Oirad means the “near ones,” the “related.” The usual explanation given is that the single tribes consider themselves as being related to each other—hence Mongol Oirad, “the Mongol related tribe.” This is the favourite name among Kalmucks. Dōrbōn Oirad, or the four related tribes, comprise (1) Dzungars, (2) Torgod, (3) Koshod, (4) Derbet. The signification of the name Oelōd, in the East Mongolian Oegeled, now the most widely-spread among the tribes living in China, is likewise very doubtful. Some assert that “Oelod” is nothing but the Chinese transcription of Oirad, as the ordinary Chinese language does not possess the sound r. We have, however, to bear in mind that we have a Mongolian root ōgelekū, with the sense “ to be inimical,” “to bear hatred, ill-will,” &c. The main population of the Kalmucks live, or rather drag out, their existence after the usual fashion of nomad tribes in Dzungaria, in the eastern part of the Tian-shan, on the south border of the Gobi, on Koko-nor, and in the province of Kan-suh. All these are under the Chinese government. In consequence, however, of the extension of the Russian empire in Tian-shan and Alatau, many hordes have come under the Russian sway. According to an approximate account we may reckon in the territory Semiryetshensk (Kulja) and Semipalatinsk 34,000 Kalmucks, while in the southern part of the government Tomsk, on the Altai, the Kalmuck population amounted formerly to 19,000. Besides these we find a section of Kalmuck population far in the west, on the banks of the Volga (near Astrakhan). From their original seats in Dzungaria they turned in their migrations to the north, crossed the steppe of the Kirghiz, and thus gradually reached the Emba and the Or. Between these two rivers and the Ural the Torgod settled in 1616; thence they crossed the Volga in 1650, and took possession of the now so-called steppe of the Kalmucks, being followed in 1673 by the Derbet and in 1675 by the Koshod, In 1771 a considerable number returned to the Chinese empire. There is still a not unimportant population in the so-called steppe of the Kalmucks, which extends between the Caspian and the Volga in the east and the Don in the west, and from the town of Sarepta in the north to the Kuma and the Manych in the south. According to modern statistical accounts, this population amounts to 76,000. To these we have to add 25,000 more on the borders of the Cossacks of the Don, and lastly 8000 in the bordering provinces of Orenburg and Saratov.
3. In the southern part of the Russian province of Irkutsk, in a wide circle round Lake Baikal, lies the heirdom proper of the Buriats, which they also call the “Holy Sea”; the country east of the lake is commonly called Transbiakalia. Their country practically extends from the Chinese frontier on the south within almost parallel lines to the north, to the town Kirensk on the Lena, and from the Onon in the east to the Oka, a tributary of the Angara, in the west, and still farther west towards Nizhni-Udinsk. They are most numerous beyond the Baikal Lake, in the valleys along the Uda, the Onon and the Selenga, and in Nertchinsk. These Transbaikalian Buriats came to these parts only towards the end of the 17th century from the Kalkas. While Mongols and Kalmucks generally continue to live after the usual fashion of nomads, we find here agricultural pursuits, most likely, however, due mainly to Russian influence. Christianity is also making its way. The sum total of the Buriats amounts to about 250,000.
Another tribe separated from the rest of the Mongols is the so-called Hazāra (the thousand), and the four Aimak (i.e. tribes), who wander about as herdsmen in Afghanistan, between Herat and Kabul. In external characteristics they are Mongols, and in all probability they are the remains of a tribe from the time of the Mongol dynasty. Their language, which shows, of course, Persian influence, is strictly Mongolian, more particularly West Mongolian or Kalmuck, as has been proved by H. C. von der Gabelentz.
Agreeably with this threefold division of the Mongols we have also a threefold division of their respective languages: (1) East Mongolian or Mongolian proper, (2) West Mongolian or Kalmuck, (3) Buriatic.
The dialects just mentioned are found to be in close relation to each other when we examine their roots, inflections and grammatical structure. The difference between them is indeed so slight that whoever understands one of them understands all. Phonetically a characteristic of them all is the “harmony of vowels,” which are divided into two chief classes: the hard a, o, u and the soft e, ō, ū, between which i is in the middle. All vowels of the same word must necessarily belong to the same class, so that the nature of the first or root-vowel determines the nature of the other or inflection vowels; now and then a sort of retrogressive harmony takes place, so that a later vowel determines the nature of the former. The consonants preceding the vowels are equally under their influence. The Mongolian characters, which in a slightly altered form are also in use among the Manchus, are written perpendicularly from above downward, and the lines follow from left to right, the alphabet having signs for seven vowels—a, e, i, o, u, ō, ū, and diphthongs derived from them—ao, ai, ei, ii, oi, ui, ōi ūi, and for seventeen consonants—n, b, kh, gh, k, g, m, l, r (never initial), t, d, y, s, (ds), ts, ss, sh, w. All these are modified in shape according to their position, in the beginning, middle, or end of a word, and also by certain Orthographic rules. In Mongolian and Manchu writing the syllable (i.e. the consonant together with the vowel) is considered as a unit, in other words a syllabarium rather than an alphabet. The existing characters are lineal descendants of the original Uighurian forms, which were themselves derived from the Syriac, having been brought to the Uighurs by Nestorian missionaries. An Indian and Tibetan influence may also be noticed, while the arrangement of the characters in perpendicular lines is common to the Chinese. The writing was brought into its present shape by the learned Lamas Saskya Pandita, Phags-pa Lama, and Tshoitshi Odser in the 13th century, but is exceedingly imperfect. To express the frequently-occurring letters borrowed from Sanskrit and Tibetan, which are wanting in the Mongol alphabet, a special alphabet, called Galik, is employed. Every one who has tried to read Mongolian knows how many difficulties have to be overcome, arising from the ambiguity of certain letters, or from the fact that the same sign is to be pronounced differently, according to its position in the word. Thus, there are no means for distinguishing the o and u, ō and ū, the consonants g and k, t and d, y and s (ds). A and e, o (u) and ō (ū), a (e) and n, g and kh, t (d) and on, are liable to be mistaken for each other. Other changes will be noticed and avoided by advanced students. It is a great defect that such common words as ada (a fury) and ende (here), ende (here) and nada (me), aldan (fathom) and altan (gold), ordu (court-residence) and urtu (long), onokhu (to seize) and unukhu (to ride), tere (this) and dere (pillow), gebe (said) and kebe (made), gem (evil) and kem (measure), ger (house) and ker (how), naran (sun) and nere (name), yagon (what) and dsagon (hundred), should be written exactly alike. This list might be largely increased. These defects apply equally to the Mongolian and Buriatic alphabets.
In 1648 the Saya Pandita composed a new alphabet (the Kalmuck), in which these ambiguities are avoided, though the graphic differences between the two alphabets are only slight. The Kalmuck alphabet avoids the angular and clumsy shapes of the Mongolian, and has, on the contrary, a rounded and pleasing shape. The Kalmuck alphabet has also this great advantage—that every sound has its distinct graphic character; a mistake between two characters can scarcely occur. The Kalmuck words once mastered, they can be easily recognized in their Mongolian shape. The dialectical differences are also very slight.
The Kalmuck, therefore, is the key of the Mongolian, and should form the groundwork of Mongolian studies. The Kalmuck and East Mongolian dialects do not differ much, at least in the spoken language; but the Kalmucks write according to their pronunciation, while the Mongols do not. For example, sōn (dsōn), “hundred,” is pronounced alike by the Kalmucks and the East Mongolians; but according to Mongolian orthography the word appears in the form dsagon. The dialectic difference between the two dialects very frequently lies only in a different pronunciation of some letters. Thus East Mongolian ds is in Kalmuck soft s, &c. The chief difference between the two dialects lies in the fact that in Kalmuck the soft guttural g between two vowels is omitted, while, through the joining of the two vowels, a long vowel is produced. In the pronunciation of common East Mongolian the g is likewise omitted, but it is written, while in Kalmuck, as just now mentioned, the guttural can only be traced through the lengthening of the syllable. Thus we find: Mongol khagan, “prince,” Kalmuck khān: M. dagon, “voice, sound,” K. dōn, dūn, M. dologan, “seven,” K. dolōn; M. agola, “mountain,” K. ōla, ūla; M. nagor, “lake,” K. nōr, nūr; M. ulagan, “red,” K. ulān; M. yagon, “what,” K. yōn (yūn); M. dabagan, “mountain ridge,” K. dabān; M. ssanagan, “thought,” K. ssanān; M. baragon, “on the right,” K. barōn, barūn; M. shibagon, “bird,” K. showōn; M. chilagon, “stone,” K. chilōn (chulūn); M. jirgogan, “six,” K. surgān; M. degere, “high, above,” K. dēre; M. ugukhu, “to drink,” K. ūkhu; M. togodshi, “history,” K. tōdshi, tūdshi; M. egūden, “door,” K. ōden; M. dsegūn, “left,” K. sōn; M. ōgede, “in the height,” K. ōdo; M. ōgeled, “the Kalmucks,” K. ōlōd;. M. ūileged, “if one has done,” K. ūilēd; M. kōbegūn, “son,” K. kōwōn; M. gegūn, “mare,” K. gūn; M. kegūr, “corpse.” K. kūr; M. kharigad, “returned,” K. kharēd, &c.
The Buriatic, in these peculiarities, is almost always found with East Mongolian, with which it is in every respect closely allied. In the pronunciation of some letters the transition of East Mongolian tsa, tse into Buriatic ss is noticeable; for instance: Mong. tsetsek, “flower,” Buriatic ssessek; M. tsak, “time,” B. ssak; M. tsagan, “white,” B. ssagan; M. tsetsen, “prudent,” B. ssessen. Ss is sometimes pronounced like (the German) ch: East M. ssain, “good,” B. ​chain; M. ssedkil, “heart,” B. chedkil. K in the beginning or middle of a word is always aspirated.
The noun is declined by the help of appended particles, some of which are independent post-positions, viz. Gen. yin, u, un; Dat. dur, a; Acc. yi, i; Ablat. etse; Instrum. ber, yer; Associative, luga, lūge. The dative and accusative have also special forms which have at the same time a possessive sense, viz. Dat. dagan, degen; Accus. ben, yen. The plural is expressed by affixes (nar, ner, od, ss, d), or frequently by words of plurality, “all,” “many,” e.g. kūmūn nogōd (man, many=men). The oblique cases have the same endings in singular and plural. Gender is not indicated. The adjective is uninflected both as attribute and as predicate; there is no comparative form, this idea being expressed by the construction or by the use of certain particles. The personal pronouns are bi, I; tchi, thou; bida, we; ta, ye; their genitives serve as possessives. The demonstratives are ene, tere (this, that), plural ede, tede; interrogative ken, who? The relative is lacking, and its place is supplied by circumlocutions. The numerals are: 1, nigen; 2, khoyar; 3, gurban; 4, dōrben; 5, tabun; 6, jirgugan; 7, dologan; 8, naiman; 9, yisun; 10, arban; 100, dsagon; 1000, minggan, The ordinals are formed by appending tugar, tūger. The theme of the verb is seen in the imperative, as bari, grasp. The conjugation is rich in forms for tense and mood, but the person and number are with few exceptions unexpressed. The present is formed from the theme by adding mui (barimui), the preterite by bai or luga (baribai, bariluga), the future by ssugai or ssu (barissugai, barissu). The preterite has also in the third person the terminations dsugui and run; the future has in the third person yu, and in the first ya. The conditional ends in bassu (baribassu), the precative in tugai, tūgei, the potential in sa (barimuisa), the imperative plural in ktun, the gerund in the present in n, dsu (barin, baridsu) or tala, “while, till” (baritala, “inter capiendum”), in the preterite it is formed in gad (barigad); the present part. has ktchi (bariktchi), the past part. kssan (barikssan); the supine ends in ra, the infinitive in khu (barikzhu, or when used substantively barikhui). There is but one perfectly regular conjugation, and derivative forms, derived from the theme by infixes, are conjugated on the same scheme. Thus the passive has infixed ta or kda (barikdakhu, to be grasped), the causative gul (barigulkhu, to cause to grasp), the co-operative or sociative ltsa or lda (bariltsakhu, to grasp together).
There are no prepositions, only post-positions. Adverbs are either simple particles (affirmative, negative, interrogative, modal, &c.) or are formed by suffixes from other parts of speech. There are very few conjunctions; the relations of clauses and sentences are mainly indicated by the verbal forms (part., sup., conditional, but mainly by the gerund).
The order of words and sentences in construction is pretty much the opposite of that which we follow. In a simple sentence the indication of time and place, whether given by an adverb or a substantive with a post-position, always comes first; then comes the subject, always preceded by its adjective or genitive, then the object and other cases depending on the verb, last of all the verb itself preceded by any adverbs that belong to it. So in the structure of a period all causal, hypothetical, concessive clauses, which can be conceived as preceding the main predication in point of time, or even as contemporary with it, or as in any way modifying it, must come first; the finite verb appears only at the end of the main predication or apodosis. The periods are longer than in other languages; a single one may fill several pages.
Authorities.—Grammars and dictionaries may be divided according to the three dialects. For East Mongolian, I. J. Schmidt gave the first grammar (St Petersburg, 1831), and a Mongolian-German-Russian dictionary (St Petersburg, 1835). Next Jos. Kovalevski published in Russian a Mongolian grammar (Kasan, 1835), a chrestomathy (2 vols., Kasan, 1836, 1837), and his great Dictionnaire mongol-russe-français (3 vols., Kasan, 1844, 1846, 1849). We may mention R. Yuille, Short Mongolian Grammar (in Mongolian), xylographed at the mission press near Selenginsk beyond Lake Baikal (1838). A. Bobrovnikov’s Russian Grammar of the Mongolian-Kalmuck Language (Kasan, 1849) is also very good. An abridgment of Schmidt’s work is C. Puini, Elementi della grammatica mongolica (Florence, 1878). A. Popov’s Mongolian Chrestomathy appeared in 2 vols. at Kasan (1836). For the Kalmuck we have grammars by Popov (Kasan, 1847), Bobrovnikov, as above, and H. A. Zwick (s. l. et a.), autographed at Donaueschingen (1851). Zwick’s autographed Kalmuck and German dictionary with a printed German index appeared (s. l. et a.) in 1852; B. Jülg’s edition of the tales of Siddhi-kūr (Leipzig, 1866) gives a complete glossary to these stories. There are small Russian and Kalmuck vocabularies by P. Smirnov (Kasan, 1857) and C. Golstunskyi (St Petersburg, 1860). For the Buriatic we have Castrén, Versuch einer burjätischen Sprachlehre, ed. by Schiefner (1857), and A. Orlov’s Russian grammar of the Mongol-Buriatic colloquial language (Kasan, 1878).
Literature.—A clear distinction must be drawn between the higher and nobler written or book-language and the common or conversational language of every-day life. The difference between the two is very considerable, and may be fairly compared to that between the modern High German book-language and the different dialects. All grammars and dictionaries as yet published treat only of the book-language; and so also, with a few exceptions, the published literary documents are written in this higher style. The exceptions are the Gesser-Khan, and the Siddhi-kūr and Djangariad (the last two published by Golstunskyi). The popular or conversational language has been fixed in writing by A. Pozdneev in his Russian work, Specimens of the Popular Literature of the Mongolian Tribes, pt. i., “Popular Songs” (St Petersburg, 1880), which contains rich material for the study of the popular literature.
The literature consists mostly of translations from the Tibetan, the holy language of Buddhism, which is still the language of the learned. The Tibetan Buddhist literature is itself translated from the Sanskrit; hence, now and then, through Mongols and Kalmucks we get acquainted with Indian works the originals of which are not known in Sanskrit. Such is the case, for instance, with the tales of Siddhi-kur. Many books have also been translated from the Chinese. Most of the writings are of a religious, historical, philosophical, medical, astronomical or astrological character. Favourite subjects are folk-lore and fairy tales. Among the religious books, perhaps the most important is that containing the legends entitled ūliger ūn dalai, “ocean of comparisons” (ed. by I. Jacob Schmidt under the title, Der Weise und der Thor, in Tibetan and German (St Petersburg, 1843). To this may be added the boddhi mōr, or “the holy path,” the altan gerel, “gleaming of gold,” the mani gambo and yertüntchü yin toli, “mirror of the world.” What was known of poetical literature before Pozdneev is scarcely worth mentioning. In some parts of the historical and narrative literature we find, wherever the narrative takes a higher flight, an admixture of poetical diction. The poetry appears in a certain parallelism of the phrases, with a return either of the same endings (rhyme) or of the same words (refrain). Frequently we find, besides the rhyme or refrain, alliteration. The essay of H. C. von der Gabelentz in Z. f. d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, i. 20–37, “Einiges über mongolische Poesie, ” has been superseded by the work of Pozdneev.
Among historical works a high place is due to that composed by the tribal prince, Sanang Setzen, in the middle of the 17th century (Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fürstenhauses, Mongolian and German, by I. J. Schmidt, St Petersburg, 1829), and to the Altan tobtchi, i.e. “golden knob” or “precious contents” (text and Russian trans. by the Lama Galsang Gomboyev, St Petersburg, 1858). Of folk-lore and fairy tales, We have the legend of the hero Gesser-Khan (text ed. by I. J. Schmidt, St Petersburg, 1836, and German version, 1839; cf. Schott, Ueber die Sage v. Geser-Khan, Berlin, 1851, and B. Jülg in the Transactions of the Würzburger Philol. Versam. of 1868, pp. 58 sqq., Leipzig, 1869); and the tales about Ardlshi Bordshi (Russian version by Galsang Gomboyev, St Petersburg, 1858; text and German trans. by B. Jülg , Innsbruck, 1867, 1868). A favourite book is the tales of Siddhi-kilr, based on the Sanskrit Vetâla panchavinçati (Russian trans. by Galsang Gomboyev, St Petersburg, 1865, nine of the tales in Mongolian and German, by B. Jülg; Innsbruck, 1868). The fuller collection of these tales in Kalmuck first became known by the German trans. of B. Bergmann in vol. i. of his Nomadische Streifereien unter d. Kalmüken (4 vols., Riga, 1804, 1805); an autographed edition in the vulgar dialect was published b C. Golstunskyi (St Petersburg, 1864); text and German trans. with glossary by B. Jülg (Leipzig, 1866). A poetic heroic story is the Djangariad, extracts from which were given by Bergmann (op. cit., iv. 181 sqq.); a complete Russian version by A. Bobrovnikov (St Petersburg, 1854); a German version by F. v. Erdmann in Z.D.M.G., 1857 (Kalmuck text by Golstunskyi, St Petersburg, 1864). A similar poem is the history of Ubasha Khuntaidshi and his war with the Oirad, Kalmuck text and Russian trans. by G. Gomboyev in his Altan tobtchi as above, and text alone autographed by Golstunskyi (St Petersburg, 1864). Some books of religion for the Christian Buriats (transcribed in Russian characters) represent the Buriatic dialect. The Russian and English Bible Societies have given us a translation of the whole Bible. I. J. Schmidt translated the Gospels and the Acts into Mongolian and Kalmuck for the Russian Bible Society (8 vols., St Petersburg, 1819–1821)—a masterly work. The English missionaries, E. Stallybrass and W. Swan, and afterwards R. Yuille, translated the whole Old Testament into Mongolian (1836–1840). This work was printed at a mission press erected at great cost for the purpose near Selenginsk, beyond Lake Baikal in Siberia. In 1846 the New Testament by the same hands appeared at London.
Authorities.—The richest collections of Mongolian and Kalmuck printed books and MSS. are in the Asiatic museum of the St Petersburg Academy, and in the libraries of Kazan and Irkutsk; there is also a good collection in the royal library at Dresden. Consult in general, besides the already-cited works of Bergmann and Pozdneev, P. S. Pallas, Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten ü. d. mongolischen Volkerschaften (2 vols., St Petersburg, 1776–1801); I. J. Schmidt, Forschungen im Gebiete der älteren . . . Bildungsgeschichte der Völker Mittelasiens, vorz. d. Mongolen und Tibeter (St Petersburg and Leipzig, 1824); B. Jülg, “On the Present State of Mongolian Researches,” Journ. R. As. Soc., xiv. (1882), pp. 42–65. (B. J.)
* ↑ Compare W. Schott, Versuch über die tatarischen Sprachen (Berlin, 1836); Ueber das alta’sche oder finnisch-tatarische Sprachengeschlecht (Berlin, 1849); Altajische Studien, parts i.–v. (Berlin, 1860–1870); and A. Castrén, Ethnologische Vorlesungen über die Altai’schen Völker, ed. by A. Schiefner (St Petersburg, 1857).
* ↑ See his essay, “Ueber die Sprache der Hazāras und Aimaks,” in the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, xx. 326–335.
* ↑ Cf. H. C. von der Gabelentz, in the Zeitschrift f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes’ (Göttingen, 1838), ii. 1–21, “Versuch über eine alte mongolische Inschrift.”