Review article
https://doi.org/10.11567/met.31.1.3
Early Mongols – the Ethno-Political History to the 13th Century
Nenad Vidaković
orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-3230
; Kriz, Croatia
Abstract
The paper examines the etnogenesis of the Mongol tribes from the period of the Rouran and Shiwei tribal alliances to the unification in the early 13th century under Genghis Khan’s leadership. The initial period of the ethnogenesis of medieval Mongols’ ancestors is associated with Rouran and Shiwei tribal alliances while news about them are written in Chinese dynastic chronicles. Within the Shiwei association there was the Mengwu tribe that inhabited forest expanses of north-western Manchuria, and the Argun river basin is considered to be the original homeland of the Mongols. The directions and time of migration processes which played an important role in the transformation of part of Mongol tribes from forest hunters to steppe nomads have been further investigated. The ethnic history of the Mongol tribes is closely associated with the Turkic and Tungus-Manchurian tribes. The Turkic tribes, that inhabited the steppes of Mongolia today, had a crucial importance in the development of Mongol nomadic tribes, while the Tungus-Manchu and northern Mongol tribes shared forest expanses of Manchuria and Trans-Baikal. The following text describes the events in the Turkic khaganates and kingdoms in the north of China, which influenced the historical development of the Mongol tribes. The period of the Qidan Liao dynasty (10th ‒ 12th century) is of great importance because the core of the Mongol nomadic tribes was formed at that time in the northeastern Mongolia, that were gradually spreading over the steps to the west. During the Jurchen Jin dynasty (12th ‒ 13th century) the importance of the Mongol tribes in the steppe increased. The attempts of political unification of the Mongols appeared during that period – for the first time in the mid-12th century, during the reign of Khabul Khan. The final part of the paper describes the struggle of Temujin (Temüjin), the future Genghis Khan, for the unification of the Mongol-Turkic tribes. After victory over major rivals – the Tatars, Naiman, Kereyit and Merkit – Genghis Khan established authority over the Mongol tribes in 1206. This event marked the end of the first period in the ethnogenesis of medieval Mongols and the beginning of the creation of the largest state in history ‒ the Mongol Empire.
Keywords
Mongol tribes; Ergune-Kun; migration; Chinese dynasties; Genghis Khan; steppe; Turkic tribes
Hrčak ID:
140140
URI
Publication date:
30.4.2015.
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