Ethnic origin of Mongol

Introduction

The Mongols and their related tribes are the main ethnic group in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia province in China.

Dong-Hu (東胡) was their earliest common ancestor recorded by the Chinese before splitting into various sub-tribes. They were called by various names in the past by the Chinese such as Xianbei (鮮卑), Shiwei (室韋), Rouran (柔然), Khitan (契丹), Wuhuan (烏桓).

This article will narrate the origin of the Central Mongols.

Homeland

The Mongol's homeland is in Onon River basin in north-eastern part of Mongolia as shown in the map below. The Onon River flows from Khentii Mountains into the larger Amur River.

The Mongols were traditionally nomads travelling from one place to another place in search of food and water (for their people and livestock) and warmer climate. They first migrated south into present-day eastern part of Mongolia and then slowly expanded westwards into present-day Mongolia.

Genghis Khan belonged to the Mengwu Shiwei tribe which is one of the descendant tribes of the ancient Xianbei. He united all the different Shiwei tribes and named them Mongol in 1206 AD which he ruled until 1227 AD.

Mongol empire

The Mongol empire was one of the largest in the world which stretches from Caspian Sea in the west to Sea of Japan in the east. By 1294 AD, the Mongolian empire was split into four kingdoms held by different Genghis Khan's descendants. The kingdoms were Great Khan, Golden Horde, Chagatai, Ilkhanate. Except for Mongolia, most of the people in the empire were not ethnic Mongols.

Inner and Outer Mongolia

By the early 17th century, the Mongols had split into three main branches namely Outer Mongols, Inner Mongols, Western Mongols which controlled different regions. Refer to map below for the approximate regions.

The Inner and Outer Mongols both submitted to the Manchu by 1636 AD and 1696 AD respectively.

Although the Western Mongol lived mostly in the northern region called Dzungaria, they also controlled the Tarim Basin to the south; both these regions together was under Dzungar Khanate which was established by the Western Mongol.

During 1755-1757 AD, the Manchu managed to conquer Dzungar Khanate; most of the Western Mongol either died from the plague or killed by the Manchu while the remaining few escaped to other regions.

The ethnic Manchu managed to conquer China in 1644 AD and called it the Qing dynasty. Outer Mongolia regained its independence from China with the help of Russia after the collapse of Qing dynasty in 1911 AD.

However, Inner Mongolia still remains as a province of China. Inner Mongolia has a majority Han Chinese population today due to migration mostly from Shanxi province in northern China via the Western Pass (Xikou) of the Great Wall of China during the later part of 19th century.

Mongolian army statue in Inner Mongolia

The region previously controlled by Western Mongol became known as Xinjiang province of China in 1884 AD. The Western Mongol used to be the ethnic majority in northern Xinjiang but the Han Chinese became the ethnic majority nowadays.

Writing script

The Outer Mongols use the Cyrillic script adopted from the Russians in the 1937 whereas the Inner Mongols use the Mongol classical script created in 1204 AD during Genghiz Khan's time. From 2025, the Outer Mongols will also start using the Mongol classical script.

Central Mongolic subgroups

Genghiz Khan's original Mongol tribe and its closely-related tribes belong to the Central Mongolic branch and its subgroups are Khalkha, Tumed, Chahar, Khorchin, Oirat, Ordos, Buryat, Kalymk, Khamnigan.

The Tumed, Chahar, Khorchin are grouped as Inner Mongol whereas the Oirat and Kaylmk are grouped together as Western Mongol.

The Khamnigan language preserved much more features of Middle Mongol language spoken by Genghiz Khan possibly due to its location in his original homeland.

Central Mongolic tribes live mostly in Mongolia and northern China whereas the Buryat and Kalmyk live mainly in Russia. The Kalmyk also live in Kyrgyzstan. Refer to the map below.

Closest ethnic relatives

There are other Mongolic branches such as Eastern and Southern Mongolic branch.

Eastern Mongols has also only one tribe Dagur but they are the most distant ethnic relative from Central Mongols, having descended from the Khitans.

The closest ethnic relatives of Central Mongols are the Southern Mongols which will be explored in more details in another article.

Southern Mongols - Tu tribe

Proto-Mongol homeland

The ancestors of the Mongols ie. proto-Mongols original homeland is in the mountains around the south of Lake Baikal near the north border of present-day Mongolia.

The Mongol people belongs to the Altaic family which also includes Manchu, Turkic, possibly Koreans and Japanese and their respective origins can be found in other articles in this blog.

Conclusion

The Central Mongols are nomadic people who originated from north-eastern Mongolia. They are the natives of eastern part of present-day Outer Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and southeastern Lake Baikal in Russia. Their ancestors created one of the greatest empire in history which stretches from Caspian sea to the Sea of Japan.

Sources

Migrant and ethnic integration in the process of socio-economic change in Inner Mongolia, China: a village study. Author Rong Ma. Pastoralism in Mongolia (1993), pp. 173-191
https://languagesgulper.com/eng/Mongolic.html
https://www.mongolianz.com/post/2018/04/07/traditional-mongolian-script-the-only-vertical-script-in-the-world/
https://kknews.cc/history/6on5rm3.html
https://kknews.cc/history/e9ymgx4.html
https://kknews.cc/history/ryv6qmr.html
https://kknews.cc/history/4m8v8jq.html
https://kknews.cc/history/qyxlpmr.html

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