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Early History - Chronological Summary

Archaeological evidence places early Stone Age human habitation in the southern Gobi between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. By the first millennium BC, bronze-working peoples lived in Mongolia. With the appearance of iron weapons by the third century BC, the inhabitants of Mongolia had begun to form tribal alliances and to threaten China. The origins of more modern inhabitants are found among the forest hunters and nomadic tribes of Inner Asia. They inhabited a great arc of land extending generally from the Korean Peninsula in the east, across the northern tier of China to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and to the Pamir Mountains and Lake Balkash in the west.

The earliest steppe group that concerns the Mongolians is the Hunnu (variously known as the Hsiung-nu, or the Huns). The Hunnu, like the Mongols, were a nomadic group and appeared to have shared many general cultural characteristics. They united the various steppe groups under their leader, or Shan-yu, Mao-tun in 209 BC. The empire he built was to last longer than any other steppe empire in history, including that of the Mongols.

The Hunnu were dominant players in steppe and northern Chinese politics until their fall in 155 AD, although they split into northern and southern groups following a civil war in 48 AD. While it is by no means certain, it seems plausible that the Huns of Hungary were Hunnu driven westward by the civil wars.

Originally there were many warlike nomadic tribes living in Mongolia, and apparently most of these belonged to one or the other of two racially distinct and linguistically very different groupings. One of these groupings, the Yuezhi, was related linguistically to the ancient nomadic Scythian peoples -- who inhabited the steppes north and northeast of the Black Sea and the region east of the Aral Sea -- and was therefore Indo-European. The other grouping was the Xiongnu, a nomadic people of uncertain origins.

The Xiongnu eventually expelled the Yuezhi, who were driven to the southwest to become the Kushans of Iranian, Afghan, and Indian history. In turn, the Xiongnu themselves later were driven west. Their descendants, or possibly another group, continued this westward migration, establishing the Hun Empire, in Central and Eastern Europe, that reached its zenith under Attila.

Various other tribal confederacies or empires were to inhabit the Mongolian steppe in the centuries between the decline of the Hunnu and the rise of Chinggis Khaan. Notable among these were the two Turkish Empires (552-630 and 683-734 AD); the Uigurs (745-840); the Khitans (907-1125) and the Jurchen (1115-1234).

It is believed that the Tuoba Xianbei (also known as the Toba Wei and the Tabgatch) developed an independent cultural identity separating them from the larger cultural milieu of Eastern Hu peoples of northern China sometime in the first century BC. By the end of the fourth century AD, the region between the Chang Jiang and the Gobi, including much of modern Xinjiang, was dominated by the Toba. Emerging as the partially sinicized state of Dai between AD 338 and 376 in the Shanxi area, the Toba established control over the region as the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386-533).

During the fourth century, the Huns left the steppes north of the Aral Sea to invade Europe. By the middle of the fifth century, Northern Wei had penetrated into the Tarim Basin in Inner Asia, as had the Chinese in the second century. As the empire grew, however, Toba tribal customs were supplanted by those of the Chinese, an evolution not accepted by all Toba.

Northern Wei armies drove back the Ruruan (referred to as Ruanruan or Juan-Juan by Chinese chroniclers), a newly arising nomadic Mongol people in the steppes north of the Altai Mountains, and reconstructed the Great Wall. The Ruruan, only temporarily repelled by Northern Wei, drove the Xiongnu toward the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea and made raids into China. In the late fifth century, the Ruruan established a powerful nomadic empire spreading generally north of Northern Wei. It was probably the Ruruan who first used the title khan.

The Northern Wei disintegrated rapidly because of revolts by semi-tribal Toba military forces that were opposed to being sinicized, when disaster struck the flourishing Ruruan Empire. The Türk, a vassal people, known as Tujue to Chinese chroniclers, revolted against their Ruruan rulers. The Türk were the first people to use this later wide-spread name. 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 the advantage of controlling what had been one of the major bases of Ruruan power.

Between 546 and 553, the Turks (Tujue in Chinese sources) overthrew the Ruruan and established themselves as the most powerful force in North Asia and Inner Asia (552-630). The Turks were the earliest Inner Asian people whose language is known, because they left behind many inscriptions in a runic-like script [which was deciphered in 1896].

Two Turkish empires were established, the Oigos Uughurs, who were the main alliances, overthrew the Turkish in 742. The Uigurs lasted from 744 to 840, and were disintegrated by Kyrgyz tribes. 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.

It was not long before the tribes in the region north of the Gobi -- the Eastern Türk -- were following invasion routes into China used in previous centuries by Xiongnu, Xianbei, Toba, and Ruruan. Like their predecessors who had inhabited the mountains and the steppes, the attention of the Türk quickly was attracted by the wealth of China. At first these new raiders encountered little resistance, but toward the end of the sixth century, as China slowly began to recover from centuries of disunity, border defenses stiffened. The original Türk state split into eastern and western parts, with some of the Eastern Türk acknowledging Chinese overlordship.

For a brief period at the beginning of the seventh century, a new consolidation of the Türk, under the Western Türk ruler Tardu, again threatened China. In 601 Tardu's army besieged Chang'an (modern Xi'an), then the capital of China. Tardu was turned back, however, and, upon his death two years later, the Türk state again fragmented. The Eastern Türk nonetheless continued their depredations, occasionally threatening Chang'an.

The period of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was one of consolidation, preceding the most momentous era in Mongol history, the era of Chinggis 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 similarites among the Mongols, Türk, Tangut, and Tatars who inhabited this region causes considerable ethnic and historical confusion.

Generally, the Mongols and the closely related Tatars inhabited the northern and the eastern areas; the Türk (who already had begun to spread over western Asia and southeastern Europe) were in the west and the southwest; the Tangut, who were more closely related to the Tibetans than were the other nomads and who were not a Turkic people, were in eastern Xinjiang, Gansu, and western Inner Mongolia.

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 some infusion of Buddhism, which had spread from Xinjiang, but it did not yet have a strong influence. Nestorian Christianity also had penetrated Inner Asia.

During the 11th and 12th Centuries, people resembling each other in racial, cultural, and linguistic characteristics inhabited the territory of contemporary Mongolia and the Asian Highlands; ethnologically they were essentially Mongol. Generally, the Mongols, Turegs, Tatars and Tanguts were more closely related in history and origins. The Mongols inhabited the northern part of these areas, Turegs inhabited Western Asia close to the Tibetans and the Tanguts were resident in eastern Xinjiang, Gansu, and western Inner Mongolia. The Liao State was homogeneous, and sources suggest that they began to lose their nomadic characteristics.

The first mention of a group that is usually interpreted as being the Mongols occurs during the latter part of the T'ang dynasty in China (618-907 AD). Sources from that time speak of the Menggu (or Mengwu), a nomadic group living along the Onon and Kherlen Rivers in the eastern Mongolian steppe. One source notes of them: "they have no agriculture, hunting is their primary occupation; they have no fixed abode but migrate, following the seasonal supplies of water and pasture; their food consists of meat and mares' milk...".

Habul Khaan, Chinggis's great-grandfather, had risen to a position of power on the steppe, creating what was known as the Hamag Mongol Uls (Greater Mongolian State) unifying groups of Mongol and other tribes. Fearing the power of the Mongols, the Jin turned against them, launching a campaign in 1137. The Mongols were successful, and the Jurchens then allied themselves with the Tatars, another steppe group, and defeated the Mongols in the early 1160s.

With the defeat of Habul Khaan, the Borjigid (the lineage of Chinggis Khaan) were to fall from power. Chinggis's own father, Yes¨hei (Yesugei), achieved enough prominence to earn the title ‘baatar’ (hero). Yes¨hei did achieve a certain degree of importance when he aided the Hereid (Kereit - a group dwelling in the western steppe) ruled by Tooril (Togrul), and their resulting relationship would prove of importance to Chinggis later on.