The proto-Mongols emerged from an area that had been inhabited by humans as far back as 45,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic . The people there went through the Bronze and Iron Ages , forming tribal alliances, peopling, and coming into conflict with early polities in the Central Plain .
105-750: The proto-Mongols formed various tribal kingdoms who fought against one other for supremacy, such as the Rouran Khaganate (330–555) until it was defeated by the Göktürks , who founded the First Turkic Khaganate (552–744), which in turn was subdued by the growing strength of the Tang dynasty . The destruction of the Uyghur Khaganate (744–848) by the Yenisei Kyrgyz resulted in the end of Turkic dominance on
210-647: A nökür was someone who had left his clan or tribe to pledge loyalty to and serve a charismatic warlord; if this derivation were correct, Róurán 柔然 was originally not an ethnonym, but a social term referring to the dynastic founder's origins or the core circle of companions who helped him build his state. However, Golden identifies philological problems: the ethnonym should have been * nöŋör to be cognate to nökür , & possible assimilation of -/k/- to -/n/- in Chinese transcription needs further linguistic proofs. Even if 柔然 somehow transmitted nökür , it more likely denoted
315-450: A Rouran princess reported being dissatisfied with being second to Emperor Wendi 's principal wife. The first khagan Shelun is said to have concluded a "treaty of peace based on kinship" ( huoqin ) with the rulers of Jin . The royal house of Rouran is also said to have intermarried with the royal house of the Haital ( Hephthalites ) in the 6th century. Since the time of Shelun Khan,
420-675: A brief period at the beginning of the 7th century, a new consolidation of the Göktürks, under the Western Göktürk ruler Tardu, again threatened China proper. In 601 Tardu's army besieged Chang'an (modern Xi'an), then the capital of the Sui dynasty. Tardu was turned back, however, and, upon his death two years later, the Göktürk state again fragmented. The Eastern Göktürk nonetheless continued their depredations, occasionally threatening Chang'an. From 629 to 648,
525-592: A connection between the Pannonian Avars and the earlier Rouran. However, Savelyev & Jeong 2020 notes that there is still little genetic data on the Rouran themselves, and that their genetic relationship with the Pannonian Avars therefore still remains inconclusive. The received view is that the relationships of the language remain a puzzle and that it may be an isolate. Alexander Vovin (2004, 2010) considered
630-570: A descendant of the ruling clan, died in Hebei , leaving an epitaph reporting his royal descent from the Yujiulü clan . According to Xu (2005), some Rouran remnants fled to the northwest of the Greater Khingan mountain range, and renamed themselves 大檀 Dàtán ( MC : * da -dan ) or 檀檀 Tántán (MC: * dan-dan ) after Tantan , personal name of a historical Rouran Khagan. Tantan were gradually incorporated into
735-585: A dynastic name in the Chinese fashion; their rule was known as the Liao dynasty (916–1125). The period of the 11th and 12th centuries was one of consolidation, preceding the most momentous era in Mongol history, the era of Genghis Khan . During those centuries, the vast region of deserts, mountains, and grazing land was inhabited by people resembling each other in racial, cultural, and linguistic characteristics; ethnologically they were essentially Mongol. The similarities among
840-464: A few days they will be either taken or destroyed. In 434, the Rouran entered a marriage alliance with Northern Wei . In 443, Northern Wei attacked the Rouran. In 449, the Rouran were defeated in battle by Northern Wei. In 456, Northern Wei attacked the Rouran. In 458, Northern Wei attacked the Rouran. In 460, the Rouran subjugated the Ashina tribe residing around modern Turpan and resettled them in
945-578: A four-volume work on the Mongolian language, the collection Epic Poems of Our People , and the Ethnographical and Linguistic Atlas of Mongolia (1976). In poetry, he wrote the anti-clerical "For the Yellow Parasites" ( Shira khubalza nartu ), and "The Mongol Language", which describes it as "an ornament to the ears". A poem ostensibly about the ʼPhags-pa script criticized the government's abandonment of
1050-535: A gift from the Chinese, while Khagan Shelun is said to have once declared that the soldiers who fought outstandingly would receive captives. However, "there is nothing in the sources about the enslavement of prisoners of war". There is, however, evidence that the Rouran resettled people in the steppe. Initially the Rouran chiefs, having no letters to make records, "counted approximately the number of warriors by using sheep's droppings ". Later, they learned to make records using notches on wood. A later source claims that
1155-454: A herd of colts and heifers do against tigers or a pack of wolves? As for the Rouran, they graze in the north during the summer; in autumn, they come south and in winter raid our frontiers. We have only to attack them in summer in their pasture lands. At that time their horses are useless: the stallions are busy with the fillies, and the mares with their foals. If we but come upon them there and cut them off from their grazing and their water, within
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#17328488106291260-608: 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 parts 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
1365-469: A mostly pillaged but still consistent treasure, Byzantine coins and about a thousand vessels and clay figurines. Among the latter was the figurine of a shaman , standing in a dancing posture and holding a saw-like instrument. This figurine is thought to reflect the young princess' Rouran/nomadic roots. On one occasion, in 540, the Rourans allegedly attacked Western Wei reportedly with a million warriors because
1470-746: 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
1575-399: A post and a title to Fushengmou, her then former husband. The Rouran titles included mofu , mohetu (cf. Mongolian batur, baghatur ), mohe rufei (cf. Mongolian baga köbegün ), hexi , sili and sili-mohe , totoufa , totouteng , sijin (cf. Turkic irkin), xielifa (cf. Turkic eltäbär). It is known that in 521 Khagan Anagui was given two bondmaids as
1680-686: A reunited China proper under the Tang dynasty (618-907) destroyed the power of the Eastern Göktürk north of the Gobi; established suzerainty over the Khitans, a semi-nomadic proto-Mongol people who lived in areas that became the modern Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin ; and formed an alliance with the Uyghurs , who inhabited the region between the Altai Mountains and Lake Balkash. Between 641 and 648,
1785-534: A slave of the Xianbei . Rouran women were commonly taken as wives or concubines by the Xianbei. After the Xianbei migrated south and settled in Chinese lands during the late 3rd century AD, the Rouran made a name for themselves as fierce warriors. However they remained politically fragmented until 402 AD when Shelun gained support of all the Rouran chieftains and united the Rouran under one banner. Immediately after uniting,
1890-707: A sudden internal revolution led by the Göktürks, hence the still vivid memories of empire in the Avar Khagan, a fact paralleled later by the Kara-Khitans who migrated a long distance west after being suddenly dislodged from northern China but still kept their pretensions to empire and defeated the Great Seljuk Empire in the Battle of Qatwan as the Western Liao. The Hephthalite Empire in southern Central Asia would not fall to
1995-568: A theater critic was criticized for neglecting "questions of ideology". Rinchen was removed as the director of the Institute of Language and Literature, though in 1961 he was a founding member of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences . In 1963, the Supreme Court found him innocent of the charges for which he was imprisoned in 1937–1942. The third volume of his Grammar of Written Mongolian (1967)
2100-418: A vassal state ( fanli ). Following the growth of Rouran and the turning of Wei into a classical Chinese state, they were considered partners of equal rights by Wei ( lindi gangli ). In 424, the Rouran invaded Northern Wei but were repulsed. In 429, Northern Wei launched a major offensive against the Rouran and killed a large number of people. The Chinese are foot soldiers and we are horsemen. What can
2205-468: A very, very eastern profile," says Choongwon Jeong, a co-author and a geneticist at Seoul National University. That genetic data backs up two historical accounts of the Avar's origins. One sixth century Chinese source describes an enigmatic steppe people called the Rouran, one of many horse-riding nomadic groups that swept out of the Mongolian steppes to attack their northern borders. The Rouran's grassland empire
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#17328488106292310-406: A wide circle composing the nomadic aristocracy, including elders, chieftains, military commanders. The grandees could be high or low ranking. According to Kradin, the khagan could confer titles in reward of services rendered and outstanding deeds. He cites as an example of this an event occurred in 518, when Nagai entitled the sorceress Diwai khagatun , taking her as his wife, and gave a compensation,
2415-542: Is a Classical Chinese transcription of the endonym of the confederacy; meanwhile, 蠕蠕 Ruǎnruǎn ~ Rúrú ( Weishu ), which connoted something akin to "wriggling worm" , was used derogatorily in Tuoba-Xianbei sources. Other transcriptions are 蝚蠕 Róurú ~ Róuruǎn ( Jinshu ); 茹茹 Rúrú ( Beiqishu , Zhoushu , Suishu ); 芮芮 Ruìruì ( Nanqishu , Liangshu , Songshu ), 大檀 Dàtán and 檀檀 Tántán ( Songshu ). However, Baumer (2018), while acknowledging that Ruanruan (蠕蠕)
2520-448: The Book of Song there is the story of an educated Rouran "whose knowledge shamed a wise Chinese functionary". There is no record of monuments erected by the Rouran, though there is evidence of the latter requesting doctors, weavers and other artisans to be sent from China. Imitating the Chinese, Anagui Khan introduced the use of officials at court, "surrounded himself with advisers trained in
2625-575: The 1911 revolution , Rinchen's father, Radnajab (1874–1921), worked as a border official. Rinchen learned Mongolian and Manchu before attending a Russian school in Kyakhta from 1914 to 1920, and in 1921 was employed as a scribe in the Bogd Khan government 's Border Ministry. Between 1923 and 1927, Rinchen studied at Leningrad 's Institute of Oriental Languages with Russian Mongolist Boris Vladimirtsov , and after his return worked with Tsyben Zhamtsarano at
2730-459: The Altai Mountains . The Rouran also ousted the previous dynasty of Gaochang (the remnants of the Northern Liang ) and installed Kan Bozhou as its king. In 492, Emperor Tuoba Hong sent 70 thousand horsemen against Rouran. The outcome of the expedition does not appear in Chinese sources and is thus unknown. According to Nikolay Kradin , since Chinese sources are silent about the outcome of
2835-831: The Kirghiz and the Karluks to attack the Uyghurs, driving them south into the Tarim Basin. As a result of the Kirghiz action, the Uyghur empire collapsed in 846. Some of the Uyghurs emigrated to the Turpan Depression , where they established the Kingdom of Qocho that freely submitted to Genghis Khan several centuries later. Ironically, this weakening of the Uyghurs undoubtedly hastened the decline and fall of
2940-585: The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and an editor of the party paper Ünen with Tsendiin Damdinsüren , with whom he often disagreed. From 1944, Rinchen worked at the Mongolian State University and State Publishing House. In 1947, he translated Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 's The Communist Manifesto into Mongolian. In 1948, he criticized the work of a Soviet adviser at
3045-707: The Mongolian Plateau . The para-Mongol Khitan people founded also referred to by Chineses sources as Liao dynasty (916–1125) and ruled Mongolia and portions of the eastern coast of Siberia now known as the Russian Far East , northern Korea , and North China . Over the next few hundred years, the Jurchens in China subtly encouraged warfare among the Mongols as a way of keeping them distracted from invading China proper . In
3150-651: The Northern Yan as well as the Northern Wei dynasty and its successors Eastern and Western Wei , which were fighting each other, and each seeking the support of Rouran to defeat the other. Both parties, in turn, took the initiative of proposing such marriages to forge important alliances or solidify relations. In the 1970s, the Tomb of Princess Linhe was unearthed in Ci County, Hebei. It contained artistically invaluable murals,
3255-676: The Ordos culture . According to a number of sources, one of the ancestors of the Mongols were the Xiongnu , although it is not yet known whether they were proto-Mongols. The Xiongnu were a group of nomads who dominated the Asian steppe from the late 3rd century BC for more than 500 years. The Xiongnu invasions prompted the kingdoms of North China to begin erecting what later became the Great Wall . The identity of
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3360-632: The Pannonian Avars (known by such names as Varchonites or Pseudo Avars ), who settled in Pannonia (centred on modern Hungary) during the 6th century. These Avars were pursued into the Byzantine Empire by the Göktürks, who referred to the Avars as a slave or vassal people, and requested that the Byzantines expel them. While this Rouran-Avars link remains a controversial theory, a recent DNA study has confirmed
3465-615: The Rouran language was in fact a Mongolic language, close but not identical to Middle Mongolian. The Rourans were the first people who used the titles Khagan and Khan for their emperors, replacing the Chanyu of the Xiongnu . The etymology of the title Chanyu is controversial: there are Mongolic, Turkic, and Yeniseian versions. Byambyn Rinchen Byambyn Rinchen ( Mongolian : Бямбын Ринчен ; 21 November 1905 – 4 March 1977), also known as Rinchen Bimbayev ( Russian : Ринчен Бимбаев ),
3570-621: The Shiwei tribal complex and later emerged as Great- Da Shiwei (大室韋) in Suishu . Klyashtorny, apud Golden (2013), reconstructed 大檀 / 檀檀 as * tatar / dadar , "the people who, [Klyashtorny] concludes, assisted Datan in the 420s in his internal struggles and who later are noted as the Otuz Tatar ("Thirty Tatars") who were among the mourners at the funeral of Bumın Qağan (see the inscriptions of Kül Tegin, E4 and Bilge Qağan, E5)". Some scholars claim that
3675-578: The Southern Song dynasty . Kublai then founded the Yuan dynasty of China in 1271. Archaeological evidence suggests that Upper Paleolithic hominins inhabited Mongolia as early as 45,000 years ago. By the first millennium BC, bronze-working peoples lived on the Mongolia Plateau . With the appearance of iron weapons by the 3rd century BC, the inhabitants of Mongolia had begun to form clan alliances and lived
3780-441: The Xianbei state , the Rouran Khaganate , and the Liao dynasty . Jincheng (388-395) Xicheng (395-400) Dujianshan (409-410) Tanjiao (412) Fuhan (412-429) Dinglian (429-430) Nan'an (430-431) Rouran Khaganate The Rouran Khaganate ( 柔然 ; Róurán ), also known as Ruanruan or Juan-juan ( 蠕蠕 ; Ruǎnruǎn ) (or variously Jou-jan , Ruruan , Ju-juan , Ruru , Ruirui , Rouru , Rouruan or Tantan ),
3885-553: 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
3990-615: The 12th century, Genghis Khan was able to unite or conquer the warring tribes, forging them into a unified fighting force that went on to create the largest contiguous empire in world history, the Mongol Empire , which was finally able to conquer the whole of China proper—beginning with his invasion of the Khitan-led Western Liao dynasty and the Tangut -led Western Xia dynasty , and ending with his grandson Kublai Khan 's conquest of
4095-702: The 3rd century to 6th century AD. The wooden frame saddle and the iron stirrups in found at these burials in Mongolia are one of the earliest examples found in Central and East Asia. The capital of the Rouran likely changed over time. The headquarters of the Rouran Khan ( ting ) was said to be initially northwest of Gansu . Later the capital of the Rouran became the legendary town of Mumocheng , said to have been "encircled with two walls constructed by Liang Shu". The existence of this city would be proof of early urbanization among
4200-405: The 4th century BC. The language of the Donghu, unlike that of the Xiongnu, is believed by modern scholars to be proto-Mongolic . The Donghu were among the first peoples conquered by the Xiongnu. By the 1st century AD, the Donghu had split, along geographical lines in two: the proto-Mongolic Xianbei in the north and the Wuhuan in the south. After the Xiongnu were driven back into their homeland by
4305-443: The 6th century, the Wuhuan were driven out of Inner Asia into the Russian steppe. 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
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4410-412: The Chinese (48 AD), the Xianbei (in particular) began moving (from apparently the north or northwest) into the region vacated by the Xiongnu. By the 2nd century AD, the Xianbei had begun attacking Chinese farms south of the Great Wall, established an empire, which, although short-lived, gave rise to numerous tribal states along the Chinese frontier. Among these states was that of the Tuoba , a subgroup of
4515-412: The Chinese, an evolution not accepted by all Tuoba. The Rouran, only temporarily repelled by Northern Wei, had driven the Xiongnu toward the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea and were making raids into China. 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 . Northern Wei
4620-450: The First International Congress of Mongolists , the first Mongolian forum to invite scholars from outside the Eastern Bloc . In 1959–1960, the Politburo again accused Rinchen of "bourgeois nationalism", citing Tsogt taij 's excessive admiration of feudal characters, Rinchen's poetically-expressed distaste for Russian urban life, and praise for pre-revolutionary cultural achievements as displayed in his 1959 Hungarian travelogue . His work as
4725-408: The Göktürks until 560. The Hephthalites themselves had previously been vassals to the Rouran and adopted the title Khagan from them. They were also already known as the Hephthalites to the Byzantines. In view of these facts a strong Rouran component in the Avar Khaganate has been seen as likely, although the Khaganate later included many other peoples such as Slavs and Goths. Li et al. 2018 examined
4830-418: The Institute of Scriptures and Manuscripts and was director of an Ulaanbaatar middle school. Rinchen joined the leftist "Writers' Circle" in 1929. In 1931, he married Ochiryn Ratna (Maria Ivanovna Oshirov), a Buryat and former wife of arrested Buryat scholar Dashi Sampilon . The couple had three daughters and one son, Rinchen Barsbold , one of Mongolia's leading paleontologists. On 10 September 1937, Rinchen
4935-399: The Jurchen, ancestors of the Manchu, formed an alliance with the Song and reduced the Liao dynasty to vassal status in a seven-year war (1115–1122). The Jurchen leader proclaimed himself the founder of a new Chinese dynasty, the Jin dynasty . Scarcely pausing in their conquests, the Tungusic Jurchen subdued neighboring Goryeo (Korea) in 1226 and invaded the territory of their former allies,
5040-459: The Khalkha legal code. Rinchen also published shamanist (1959–1975) and folklore (1960–1972) texts, which he had been collecting since 1928; they were criticized for their content and publication in West Germany . Rinchen was known for his wit and practical jokes, as well as his flowing white hair and beard and the colorful deel (Mongolian gown) which he wore at the university and at conferences. Despite his conflicts with government officials, to
5145-454: The Mongols who, in 1139 and in 1147, warded them off. 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 some 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 Hulun Buir , Ergune , Nonni (Noon) , Middle Amur , and
5250-403: The Mongols, Göktürk, and Tatars who inhabited this region cause considerable ethnic and historical confusion. Generally, the Mongols and the closely related Tatars inhabited the northern and the eastern areas; the Göktürk (who already had begun to spread over western Asia and Eastern Europe ) were in the west and the southwest; the Tangut, who were more closely related to the Tibetans than were
5355-444: The Mongols. Klyastorny reconstructed the ethnonym behind the Chinese transcription 柔然 Róurán ( LHC : * ńu-ńan ; EMC : * ɲuw-ɲian > LMC: * riw-rian ) as * nönör and compares it to Mongolic нөкүр nökür "friend, comrade, companion" ( Khalkha нөхөр nöhör ). According to Klyashtorny, * nönör denotes "stepnaja vol'nica" "a free, roving band in the steppe, the ' companions ' of the early Rouran leaders". In early Mongol society,
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#17328488106295460-471: The Oxus Valley. At the same time, their allies, the Uyghurs, conquered much of western and northern Mongolia until, by the middle of the 8th century, the Uyghur seminomadic empire extended from Lake Balkash to Lake Baykal. Despite these crippling losses, the Tang recovered and, with considerable Uyghur assistance, held their frontiers. Tang dependence upon their northern allies was apparently a source of embarrassment for its rulers, who surreptitiously encouraged
5565-450: The Rouran Khaganate until the beginning of the 5th century, with the royal house of Rourans intermarrying with the royal houses of the Hephthalites. The Rouran Khaganate ended when they were defeated by a Göktürk rebellion at the peak of their power, which subsequently led to the rise of the Turks in world history. Their Khaganate overthrown, some Rouran remnants possibly became Tatars while others possibly migrated west and became
5670-434: The Rouran and Yujiulü Dengshuzi led 3000 soldiers in retreat to Western Wei . He was later delivered to Turks by Emperor Gong with his soldiers under pressure from Muqan Qaghan . In the same year, Muqan annihilated the Rouran. All the Rouran handed over to the Turks, reportedly with the exception of children less than sixteen, were brutally killed. On 29 November 586 Yujiulü Furen (郁久闾伏仁), an official of Sui and
5775-403: The Rouran and displaced the Yuezhi in Bactria , forcing them to migrate further south. Despite the conflict between the Hephthalites and Rouran, the Hephthalites borrowed much from their eastern overlords, in particular the title of " Khan " which was first used by the Rouran as a title for their rulers. The Rouran were considered vassals ( chen ) by Tuoba Wei . By 506 they were considered
5880-407: The Rouran defeated the Tiele. In 551, Bumin of the Ashina Göktürks quelled a Tiele revolt for the Rouran and asked for a Rouran princess for his service. The Rouran refused and in response Bumin declared independence. Bumin entered a marriage alliance with Western Wei , a successor state of Northern Wei, and attacked the Rouran in 552. The Rouran, now at the peak of their might, were defeated by
5985-417: The Rouran entered a perpetual conflict with Northern Wei , beginning with a Wei offensive that drove the Rouran from the Ordos region . The Rouran expanded westward and defeated the neighboring Tiele people and expanded their territory over the Silk Roads , even vassalizing the Hephthalites which remained so until the beginning of the 5th century. The Hepthalites migrated southeast due to pressure from
6090-456: The Rouran language to be an extinct non- Altaic language that is not related to any modern-day language (i.e., a language isolate ) and is hence unrelated to Mongolic . Vovin (2004) notes that Old Turkic had borrowed some words from an unknown non-Altaic language that may have been Rouran. In 2018 Vovin changed his opinion after new evidence was found through the analysis of the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi inscriptions and suggests that
6195-464: The Rouran later adopted the Chinese written language for diplomatic relations, and under Anagui, started to write internal records. According to the same source, there were also many literate people among the Rouran by that time. Kradin notes that the level of literacy "based on the knowledge of written Chinese" was rather high, and that it didn't affect only the elite and the immigrants, but also some cattle-breeders were able to use Chinese ideograms. In
6300-399: The Rouran then fled west across the steppes and became the Avars, though many other scholars contest this claim. New genetic data seem to answer that question, says Walter Pohl, a historian at the University of Vienna. "We have a very clear indication that they must have come from the core of the Rouran Empire. They were the neighbors of the Chinese." "Genetically speaking, the elite Avars have
6405-401: The Rouran were descended specifically from Donghu's Xianbei lineage, i.e. from Xianbei who remained in the eastern Eurasian Steppe after most Xianbei had migrated south and settled in Northern China . Genetic testings on Rourans' remains suggested Donghu-Xianbei paternal genetic contribution to Rourans. The founder of the Rouran Khaganate, Yujiulu Shelun , was descended from Mugulü ,
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#17328488106296510-553: The Rouran were of Xiongnu origin" and Rourans' descendants, namely Da Shiwei (aka Tatars), contained Turkic elements, besides Mongolic Xianbei . Even so, the Xiongnu's language is still unknown and Chinese historians routinely ascribed Xiongnu origins to various nomadic groups, yet such ascriptions do not necessarily indicate the subjects' exact origins: for examples, Xiongnu ancestry was ascribed to Turkic-speaking Göktürks and Tiele as well as Para-Mongolic-speaking Kumo Xi and Khitans . Kwok Kin Poon additionally proposes that
6615-484: The Rouran's status as the subjects of the Tuoba . Before being used as an ethnonym, Rouran had originally been the byname of chief Cheluhui (車鹿會), possibly denoting his status "as a Wei servitor". Primary Chinese-language sources Songshu and Liangshu connected Rouran to the earlier Xiongnu (of unknown ethnolinguistic affiliation) while Weishu traced the Rouran's origins back to the Donghu, generally agreed to be Proto-Mongols . Xu proposed that "the main body of
6720-428: The Rouran. However, no trace of it has been found so far; its location is unknown, and debated among historians. In 461, Lü Pi , Duke of Hedong, a Northern Wei general and Grand chancellor of royal Rouran descent, died in Northern Wei. The Rouran and the Hephthalites had a falling out and problems within their confederation were encouraged by Chinese agents. In 508, the Tiele defeated the Rouran in battle. In 516,
6825-433: The Shiwei and collected tribute. Other Shiwei may have stayed and become the Ewenkis. 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). A few scholars believe they, other Shiwei tribes, and many other peoples from the area moved west from the forest to the Mongolian proper steppe. The proto-Mongols founded many states such as
6930-433: The Song, to precipitate a series of wars with China that continued through the remainder of the century. Meanwhile, the defeated Liao ruler had fled with the small remnant of his army to the Tarim Basin, where he allied himself with the Uyghurs and established the Qara Khitai state (known also as the Western Liao dynasty, 1124–1234), which soon controlled both sides of the Pamir Mountains. The Jurchen turned their attention to
7035-421: The Tang Dynasty over the next fifty years. Free of Uyghur restraint, the Para-Mongolic Khitan expanded in all directions in the latter half of the 9th century and the early years of the 10th century. By 925 the Khitan ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and the Sixteen Prefectures of northern China. By the middle of the 10th century, Khitan chieftains had declared themselves as Chinese emperors and chose
7140-403: The Tang conquered the Western Göktürk, reestablishing Chinese control over Xinjiang and exacting tribute from west of the Pamir Mountains. The Göktürk empire finally ended in 744. For half a century, the Tang retained control of Central Asia and modern-day Mongolia and parts of Inner Asia. Both sides of the Great Wall came under Tang rule. During this period, the Tang expanded Chinese control into
7245-444: The Tangut—who had taken advantage of the Tang decline—had formed a state, Western Xia (1038–1227), nominally under Song suzerainty. Xinjiang was dominated by the Uyghurs, who were loosely allied with the Song dynasty. The people of Mongolia at this time were predominantly spirit worshipers, with shamans providing spiritual and religious guidance to the people and tribal leaders. There had been infusion of Buddhism. A Tungusic people,
7350-457: The Turks. After a defeat at Huaihuang (in present-day Zhangjiakou , Hebei ) the last great khan Anagui, realizing he had been defeated, took his own life. Bumin declared himself Illig Khagan of the Turkic Khaganate after conquering Otuken ; Bumin died soon after and his son Issik Qaghan succeeded him. Issik continued attacking the Rouran, their khaganate now fallen into decay, but died a year later in 553. In 555, Turks invaded and occupied
7455-406: The Xianbei, in modern China's Shanxi Province . 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
7560-465: The Xiongnu and Mongols such as yurt on cart , mounted use of the composite bow , board game , horn bow and long song . The Mongolian long song is believed to date back at least 2000 years. A mythical origin of the long song is mentioned in the Book of Wei , volume 113. The Donghu (or Tung Hu, the Eastern Hu), a proto-Mongol and/or Tungus group mentioned in Chinese histories as existing as early as
7665-785: The Yangtze River to reconquer the region. 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 Dynasty (AD 386–533). Northern Wei armies drove back the Rouran (referred to as Ruanruan or Juan-Juan by Chinese chroniclers),
7770-475: 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 Türk dynasties (550-740) installed tuduns, or governors over
7875-493: The advantage of controlling what had been one of the major bases of Rouran power. Between 546 and 553, the Göktürks overthrew the Rouran and established themselves as the most powerful force in North Asia and Inner Asia. This was the beginning of a pattern of conquest that was to have a significant effect upon Eurasian history for more than 1,000 years. The Göktürks were the first people to use this later widespread name. They are also
7980-657: The border from Troitskosavsk (now named Kyakhta ) in the Russian Empire . His great-grandfather Bimba, despite being an ethnic Khalkha of the Yüngshiyebü clan, fled zud in Outer Mongolia and enrolled in Russia's Buryat Cossacks, adopting the surname Bimbayev (which Rinchen also used early in his life). Rinchen's mother was a descendant of the famous Khalkha prince Choghtu Khong Tayiji , whose poetry Rinchen later studied. After
8085-545: The desperate resistances, military disasters, and massacres. The remainder of the Rouran fled into China, were absorbed into the border guards, and disappeared forever as an entity. The last khagan fled to the court of the Western Wei, but at the demand of the Göktürks, Western Wei executed him and the nobles who accompanied him. The Avars were pursued west by the Gokturks as most-wanted fugitives and accused of unlawfully usurping
8190-479: The earliest Inner Asian people whose language is known, because they left behind inscriptions in a runic-like Orkhon script , which was deciphered in 1896. It was not long before the tribes in the region north of the Gobi—the Eastern Göktürks—were following invasion routes into China proper used in previous centuries by Xiongnu, Xianbei, Tuoba, and Rouran. Like their predecessors who had inhabited
8295-665: The east, a fact which has been corroborated through DNA studies of Avar individuals buried in the Pannonian Basin which have shown that they were primarily East Asian. Their pretensions to empire despite their relatively small numbers indicate descendance from a previously hegemonic power in the Far East. The first embassy of the Avars to Justinian I in 557 corresponds directly to the fall of the Rouran Khaganate in 555. The Rouran Khaganate had fallen not through gradual decline but through
8400-521: The end of his life he believed in the 1921 revolution, and his scholarly work shows admiration of the great Russian tradition of Mongolists. According to his wishes, on his death his coffin was lined not with the Russian-style black or red cloth but with the auspicious Mongolian white, with the outside covered in green and the lid in blue symbolizing heaven over the Mongolian steppe . In May 2005, to mark
8505-495: The ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses and some scholars, including A. Luvsandendev, Bernát Munkácsy , Henry Hoyle Howorth , Bolor Erike , Alexey Okladnikov , Peter Simon Pallas , Isaac Jacob Schmidt , Hyacinth and Byambyn Rinchen , insisted on a proto-Mongolian origin. There are several other theories about the ethnolinguistic identity of the Xiongnu, such as Turkic, Yeniseian, Iranian, Uralic, multiethnic. There are many cultural similarities between
8610-489: The expedition, it is probable that it was unsuccessful. Kradin notes that, possibly strained after the battle with Wei, the Rourans were not able to prevent the Uighur chief Abuzhiluo from heading "a 100 thousand tents" west, in a series of events that led to the overthrowing and killing of Doulun Khan . Two armies were sent in pursuit of the rebels, one led by Doulun, the other by Nagai, his uncle. The Rouran emerged victorious. In
8715-555: The genetic origins of the Avar elite as originating from the Mongolian plains. Other theories instead link the origins of the Pannonian Avars to peoples such as the Uar . An imperial confederation, the Rouran Khaganate was based on the "distant exploitation of agrarian societies", although according to Nikolay Kradin the Rouran had a feudal system, or "nomadic feudalism". The Rouran controlled trade routes, and raided and subjugated oases and outposts such as Gaochang . They are said to have shown
8820-517: The imperial title of Khagan and also the prestigious name of the Avars. Contemporary sources indicate the Avars were not native to the Western Steppe but came to the region after a long wandering. Nor were they native to Central Asia to the south of which lay the Hephthalite Empire which has on and off been identified with the Avars by certain scholars. Instead the Avars' origins were further to
8925-428: The khans were bestowed with additional titles at their enthronement. After 464, starting with Yucheng Khan they started to use epoch names, in imitation of the Chinese. The Rouran dignitaries of the ruling elite also adopted nicknames referring to their deeds, similar to the titles the Chinese bestowed posthumously. Kradin notes that this practice is analogous with that of later Mongolian chiefs. There appears to have been
9030-443: The mountains and the steppes, the attention of the Göktürks quickly was attracted by the wealth of China proper. At first these new raiders encountered little resistance, but toward the end of the 6th century, as China proper slowly began to recover from centuries of disunity, border defenses stiffened. The original Göktürk state split into eastern and western parts, with some of the Eastern Göktürk acknowledging Sui overlordship. For
9135-577: The other nomads and who were not a Turkic people , were in eastern Xinjiang, Gansu, and western Inner Mongolia. The Liao state was homogeneous, and the Khitan had begun to lose their nomadic characteristics. The Khitan built cities and exerted dominion over their agricultural subjects as a means of consolidating their empire. To the west and the northwest of Liao were many other Mongol tribes, linked together in various tenuous alliances and groupings, but with little national cohesiveness. In Gansu and eastern Xinjiang,
9240-460: The remains of a Rouran male buried at the Khermen Tal site in Mongolia. He was found to be a carrier of the paternal haplogroup C2b1a1b and the maternal haplogroup D4b1a2a1 . Haplogroup C2b1a1b has also been detected among the Xianbei . Several genetic studies have shown that early Pannonian Avar elites carried a large amount of East Asian ancestry, and some have suggested this as evidence for
9345-420: The signs of "both an early state and a chiefdom". The Rouran have been credited as "a band of steppe robbers", because they adopted a strategy of raids and extortion of Northern China. The Khaganate was an aggressive militarized society, a "military-hierarchical polity established to solve the exclusively foreign-policy problems of requisitioning surplus products from neighbouring nations and states." Róurán 柔然
9450-456: The southeast (into China), to the southwest (into Transoxiana —modern Uzbekistan , Iran , and India ), and to the west (across Scythia toward Europe ). By the eighth century BC, the inhabitants of western Mongolia evidently were nomadic Indo-European speakers, either Scythians or Yuezhi . In central and eastern parts of Mongolia were many other tribes, such as the Slab Grave culture and
9555-664: The state Choibalsan Prize. His most famous work is the trilogy Rays of Dawn ( Üüriin tuyaa ; 1951–1955, revised 1971), Mongolia's first published novel set during the 1921 revolution . It was criticized for its "archaic language" and "too detailed" descriptions of religious ceremonies, facets of pre-revolutionary life which Rinchen hoped to preserve as part of the country's cultural legacy. Lady Anu tells of Galdan Boshugtu Khan 's resistance to Qing invaders , while his children's novel Zaan Zaluudai (1966) tells of Stone Age clans. Rinchen's other writings include The Princess (1969), The Great Migration (1972), Amban Sanduo (1973),
9660-667: The title of khagatun for her outstanding service. Between 525 and 527, Rouran was employed by Northern Wei in the suppression of rebellions in their territory, with the Rourans then plundering the local population. The Rouran Khaganate arranged for one of their princesses, Khagan Yujiulü Anagui 's daughter Princess Ruru , to be married to the Han Chinese ruler Gao Huan of the Eastern Wei . The Rourans were involved many times in royal intermarriage (also known as Heqin in China), with
9765-507: The tradition of Chinese bibliophily", and adopted a staff of bodyguards , or chamberlains . Hyun Jin Kim notes a similar use of bodyguards performing the same function in the contemporary Hunnic Empire to the west. Kim also compared the "rudimentary bureaucratic organisation" of the Rourans to that of the Huns, as well as their "hierarchical, stratified structure of government". Anagui's chief advisor
9870-432: The traditional Mongolian script . As a scholar, Rinchen wrote on topics of Mongolian language and literature, and edited works of Mongolia's pre-modern literature. In the 1950s, he sought to publish a bibliography of the purged Zhamtsarano's publications, but was attacked by Mongol and Soviet scholars (one of which called him an "enemy of the people"). He later managed to publish abroad Zhamtsarano's Russian translation of
9975-521: The trilogy Rays of Dawn (1951–1955, revised 1971), its first novel set during the 1921 revolution . Rinchen was often criticized by the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party for his "nationalism", but was spared in the Stalinist purges of the 1930s . Byambyn Rinchen (full name Rinchendorj) was born on 21 November 1905 in Mongolian Kyakhta (now Altanbulag , Selenge Province ), just across
10080-759: The university, and was first attacked by the MPRP Politburo for his "nationalism" in 1949. He obtained a doctorate in philology in 1956 from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for his study of Mongolian grammar. In December 1956, Rinchen wrote a letter to Nikita Khrushchev stating that the Cyrillic script was unsuitable for Mongolian; in March 1958, he wrote another to Mao Zedong asking him to not allow introduction of Cyrillic in Inner Mongolia . In 1959, Rinchen organized
10185-457: The war against the Uighurs, Doulan fought well, but his uncle Nagai won all the battles against the Uighurs. Thus, the soldiers thought that Heaven didn't favor Doulan anymore, and that he should be deposed in favor of Nagai. The latter declined. Nonetheless, the subjects killed Doulan and murdered his next of kin, installing Nagai on the throne. In 518, Nagai married the sorceress Diwan, conferring her
10290-569: Was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin. The Rouran supreme rulers used the title of khagan , a popular title borrowed from the Xianbei . The Rouran Khaganate lasted from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century with territories that covered all of modern day Mongolia and Inner Mongolia , as well as parts of Manchuria in Northeast China , Eastern Siberia , Xinjiang , and Kazakhstan . The Hephthalites were vassals of
10395-478: Was a "derogatory pun" on Rouran (柔然), proposes that the ethnonym Rouran (柔然) is indeed derived from the name Ruru (茹茹) or Ruirui (芮芮) of a "tribal father". Mongolian Sinologist Sükhbaatar suggests Nirun Нирун as the modern Mongolian term for the Rouran , as Нирун resembles reconstructed Chinese forms beginning with * ń - or * ŋ -. Rashid-al-Din Hamadani recorded Niru'un and Dürlükin as two divisions of
10500-405: Was a Mongolian scholar and writer. He was a researcher of Mongolia's language, literature, and history, and a recorder and preserver of the country's cultural heritage, publishing many shamanist and folklore texts. Rinchen was also a prolific poet, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and translator, authoring the screenplay for Tsogt taij (1945), Mongolia's first historical feature film, and
10605-630: Was arrested during the Stalinist purges in Mongolia as a " pan-Mongolist Japanese spy" and a counter-revolutionary. He was named as a ringleader by Khorloogiin Choibalsan and sentenced to death in April 1939, but in December 1941 had his sentence reduced to 10 years' imprisonment. On 30 March 1942, he was released at Choibalsan's behest to live under supervision in Ulaanbaatar, where he became literary secretary of
10710-466: 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 Göktürks , known as Tujue to Chinese chroniclers, revolted against their Rouran rulers. The uprising began in the Altai Mountains, where many of the Türk were serfs working the iron mines. Thus, from the outset of their revolt, they had
10815-439: Was recalled and destroyed for expressing nationalism. Another criticism of Rinchen in March 1976 also attacked his parents and brother. These later criticisms were prepared by his academic rivals, such as Shanjmyatavyn Gaadamba . Rinchen died of cancer on 4 March 1977. Rinchen was a poet, essayist, short story writer, and novelist. His 1944 screenplay for Tsogt taij (1945), Mongolia's first historical feature film, earned him
10920-540: Was reportedly defeated by rival nomads in 552. In 567, diplomats from the Eastern Roman Empire reported the arrival of a new group from the east on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The newcomers called themselves the Avars, and claimed to be related to a far-off people known as the Rouran. However, it's unlikely that Rouran would have migrated to Europe in any sufficient strength to establish themselves there, due to
11025-621: Was the Chinese Shunyu Tan, whose role is comparable to that of Yelü Chucai with the Mongols and Zhonghang Yue with the Xiongnu (or Huns). Recent archeological finds in Mongolia (the Urd Ulaan Uneet Burial and Khukh Nuur Burial) suggest that the Mongolic Rouran tribes had sophisticated, wooden frame saddles and iron stirrups by at least the fourth and fifth centuries AD. Radiocarbon dating of related items date them to between
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