page_title: Inner Mongolia
section_title: Mongol and Ming periods
hierarchical_section_title: Inner Mongolia / History / Mongol and Ming periods
caption_attribution_description: English: Siege of Beijing. Jami' al-tawarikh, Rashid al-Din. Français&#160;: Siège de Beijing (1213/1214). Jami al-tawarikh, Rashid al-Din. Русский: Осада Пекина. Джами ат-таварих Рашид ад-Дина.
context_page_description: Inner Mongolia or Nei Mongol, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is a Mongolic autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. The rest of the Sino–Mongolian border coincides with part of the international border of the Xinjiang autonomous region and the entirety of the international border of Gansu province. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a small section of China's border with Russia. Its capital is Hohhot; other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, Tongliao and Ordos.
  The Autonomous Region was established in 1947, incorporating the areas of the former Republic of China provinces of Suiyuan, Chahar, Rehe, Liaobei and Xing'an, along with the northern parts of Gansu and Ningxia.
  Its area makes it the third largest Chinese administrative subdivision, constituting approximately 1,200,000 km² and 12% of China's total land area. Due to its long span from east to west, Inner Mongolia is geographically divided into eastern and western divisions. The eastern division is often included in Northeastern China with major cities include Tongliao, Chifeng, Hailaer, Ulanhot.
context_section_description: After Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol Empire, the Tangut Western Xia empire was ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty fell in 1234. In 1271, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan dynasty. Kublai Khan's summer capital Shangdu (aka Xanadu) was located near present-day Dolonnor. During that time Ongud and Khunggirad peoples dominated the area of what is now Inner Mongolia. After the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the Han-led Ming dynasty in 1368, the Ming captured parts of Inner Mongolia including Shangdu and Yingchang. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall of China at its present location, which roughly follows the southern border of the modern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (though it deviates significantly at the Hebei-Inner Mongolia border). The Ming established the Three Guards composed of the Mongols there. Soon after the Tumu incident in 1449, when the Oirat ruler Esen taishi captured the Chinese emperor, Mongols flooded south from Outer Mongolia to Inner Mongolia. Thus from then on until 1635, Inner Mongolia was the political and cultural center of the Mongols during the Northern Yuan dynasty.
caption: Persian miniature depicting Genghis Khan entering Beijing
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