Before The Mongols Were Nomads


Man has existed in Mongolia for at least 50,000 years. Stone tools found in Bayankhongor on the northern edge of the gobi Desert Gobi Desert and Khangai Mountains prove that stone age peoples inhabited the central steppe regions from those early times. Right until 2000 BC the way of life was mainly agricultural (not nomadic), combined with hunting and gathering.

For many centuries before the infamous Chinggis Khaan, a succession of powerful empires existed in this part of Central Asia. Their history was recorded in songs and monuments. Rock engravings, stone figures, graves and ruins found in Mongolia are evidence of the highly civilized and cultured peoples living in the area.

How Riding Horses Changed The World


With the introduction of metal working and the domestication of animals during the Bronze Age (1300BC - 600 BC) many people in Central Asia shifted towards a nomadic lifestyle, with herders existing alongside sedentary agricultural populations.

There was a cultural divide between the people, some tribes being of rather more Turkish origin and others of predominantly Mongol extraction. One could tell by the type of burial performed to which culture a people belonged. In the western Altai mountains Kharkhiraa Trek warriors were buried lying on their side with knees drawn up. The graves were flat or mounded and marked by stones in various arrangements. Many examples can be seen along the Kharkhiraa river of our Uvs hiking trek. In the Khangai and Khentii mountains of Central and Eastern Mongolia the people were more Mongol and their graves were of the cist type, pits lined with stones and the body laid on its back. Examples can be found in Arkhangai province, site of several of our tours. Stones engraved with stylized deer marked the graves and the best examples of deer stones in Central Asia are to be found near to Moron town, south of Lake Khovsgol in northern Mongolia.


The Xiongnu (forefathers of the Huns)


By the Iron Age (first millennium BC) nomadic pastoralism became the dominant way of life. Riding saddled horses enabled people to move over increasingly large distances with a requirement for more grazing land for their herds. There were violent conflicts between tribes for control over pasture for grazing and in the second century BC the Xiongnu came to dominate the greater part of Mongolia and created a powerful empire which occupied the same territories later controlled by Chinggis Khaan and his ancestors ("the Mongol Empire"). The capital was established in the Orkhon valley near Kharkhorin Naadam Festival Tour Horse Riding . In order to keep the Xiongnu out of China, the Chinese built the first section of the Great Wall on the edge of the Gobi Desert.


More Mongol Empires in Asia


Following the dissolution of the Xiongnu Empire in 155AD, the area was dominated by the Xianbei and then the Ruan-Ruan, who formed another vast empire stretching from Russian Turkestan to Korea. In turn, they were destroyed by the Tujue Turks from the Altai whose empire was again a great threat to China and caused the second period of construction of the Great Wall.

From the times of the Turkish Khaanates until Chinggis Khaan, the Orkhon valley (site of present day Kharkhorin) was the political center of the nomadic tribes. The Turks left many monuments, the most common being "man stones", human figures located at the burial sites of important warriors, depicted holding a cup and dagger to symbolize participation in their own funeral banquet. Zoomorphic statues such as turtles and lions are also from this period, and several monuments have been taken to Kharkhorin and displayed in the grounds of Erdene Zuu monastery.

The Uighur period (754 - 840 AD) came after the Tujue Turks, and was important because they quickly developed a highly civilized culture, including a written script based on Aramaic (the forerunner of the Mongol writing system). Later, Uighur scholars were employed as administrators by Chinggis Khaan. Their empire included the area between the Altai and Lake Baikal, and their capital, Khar Balgas, was founded by the Orkhon river at Khotont on the road which now leads from Kharkhorin to Tsetserleg (capital of Arkhangai province).

The Uighurs were finally weakened by a series of political crises and an exceptionally hard winter during which millions of cattle perished. The Khirghiz took advantage of the Uighur's weakness and seized power after 20 years of failed attempts to dominate the region. The Kirghiz came from Siberia and were not greatly interested in the area of Mongolia, and they were soon beaten back northwards by the Qidan from Manchuria (north west China). No nomadic confederations were able to prevent the growth of the Qidan empire, which included a large part of Central Asia. They built cities of economic and military importance, and controlled the salt and iron trades as well as the "Silk Road" caravan route. Farmers grew mulberry trees for the silk worms and craftsmen produced silk cloth, ceramics and jewelry. The state religion was Buddhism, but like the Mongols who followed, the Qidan did not restrict other religious practice, and Buddhism existed alongside Taoism, Confucianism, Nestorian Christianity and Manchaeism.


The Greatest Empire of All


From the beginning of the 12th century Mongolia returned to a state of disorganized warring tribes until the emergence of the leader Chinggis Khaan who unified the nomadic clans, including the Turks and Tartars, creating a single nation which took the name of the dominant tribe: Mongolia. His success was based upon the creation of a highly developed military organization, rather than on tribal loyalties.

When Chinggis Khaan died he was succeeded by his third son, Ogodei (there was some doubt about the legitimacy of the eldest son, who was born nine months after Chinggis Khaan's wife had been released from capture by an opposing tribe). During Ogodei's reign the area controlled by the Mongols extended as far as Hungary in Europe, and would in all likelihood have continued unabated but for the death of the Khaan. All senior personnel turned round and returned to the capital in Kharkhorin, Mongolia, to elect the next ruler.

Munkhe, nephew of Ogodei, was elected Khaan and the empire continued to be ruled from Kharkhorin until Kublai Khan, one of Chinggis Khaan's grandsons, moved the capital to Beijing and created the Yuan dynasty in China. The Mongol Empire stretched from Vietnam to Hungary and from Siberia to Persia. This was a golden age of commercial and intellectual exchange between East and West, but the magnificent wealth and life of luxury of the rulers finally led to their own downfall. The Yuan dynasty was superseded by the Ming dynasty in China, and thus ended the last of the great nomad empires.



300 Years of Tribal Warfare & 300 Years Under Manchu Rule


Mongolia returned to its previous existence of warring nomadic tribes for the next 300 years until it came under Manchu control. The Manchurian administrators encouraged Buddhism as a means of pacifying the warlike people of Mongolia. The monasteries became increasingly wealthy, and by the end of the nineteenth century nearly half the male population were religious monks. Despite administration by Manchuria, Mongolia was ruled internally by a series of reincarnate Lamas known as Undur Gegeen or Bogd Khan. This Buddhist ruler was Mongolia's equivalent to Tibet's Dalai Lama, and ranks third in importance after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama in China.


Mongolia Ruled by Reincarnate Lamas


The first Undur Gegeen was Zanabazar, a great politician, writer and artist. His works of art, including many exquisite bronze religious icons, can be seen in several museums around Mongolia. Zanabazar was such a talented and popular leader that the Manchus eventually decided to get rid of him. He was invited to Beijing, murdered there, and his body returned to Mongolia where it has been enshrined at the monastery of Amarbayasgalant in Selenge Bulgan Bike Trail & Amarbayasgalnt Monastery . In fact, Zanabazar was so successful that after his death the Manchu rulers ensured that his reincarnation be found outside Mongolia in China or Tibet.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the eighth Bogd Khaan held power. His palace is now a museum located on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar on the road leading to the airport. Despite his excesses, such as his own personal zoo of rare animals from all over the world and a ger made from the skins of snow leopards, he is remembered positively by Mongolians for his efforts to establish independence from the Manchus.


From Feudalism to Socialism (missing out capitalism)


In October 1911 the eighth Under Gegeen came to the throne of an independent Mongolia, a feudal nation controlled by the wealthy monasteries and princes. The mood of the common people was ripe for revolution, and when two Mongolian heroes, Sukhbaatar and Choiblasan together with a group of Russian revolutionaries formed the first revolutionary groups, they had a lot of support. Following a brief and bizarre bloody period when a crazy White Russian known as the "Mad Baron" declared that he would restore the empire of Chinggis Khaan, Lenin and his Red Army were called upon by Sukhbaatar to defeat the Baron's army. Thus the Mongol People's Revolutionary Party was established in 1921 by Sukhbaatar and his revolutionaries, the capital Urga was renamed Ulaanbaatar, and the nation renamed the People's Republic of Mongolia. The central square in Ulaanbaatar is named after Sukhbaatar, and his statue in the center serves to remind the people of the great hero of the revolution.

Although the Russian Red Army had only been invited to Mongolia to help rid it of the Chinese and the Mad Baron, before long Mongolia became a satellite state of Russia, and under the leadership of Choibalsan was actually a complete dictatorship. Although Choibalsan can be held responsible for the destruction of nearly all Mongolia's Buddhist monasteries, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of religious, intellectuals, and moderates, he is nevertheless also remembered as the master who prevented Mongolia from being incorporated into the USSR. His statue stands outside the main entrance to the State University of Ulaanbaatar. For eighty years Mongolia remained an independent state.


Democratic Mongolia (the free market economy)


In 1990 the Ministry of the Interior was dismantled and most of the Russian advisors sent home. Mongolia is now an independent, democratic state with a freely elected government. Over the past 15 years there have been many changes, including frequent changes of government, an increasing gap between rich and poor, and successful development of the free market economy.

Despite this history of domination by Mongolia's giant neighbours, China and Russia, the culture and lifestyle of Mongolia's nomads has changed little for centuries. This can be largely attributed to the harsh climate and sparse population, allowing no better alternative, but also to the character of the people, who remain fiercely independent on a personal and national level.