In 1125 AD, the Liao state established by the Khitan tribe was destroyed by the Jin dynasty, and a total of nine emperors were passed down, enjoying 218 years of the country.
In 1206 AD, Temujin established the Great Mongol State at the source of the Nannan River, called Genghis Khan, and in the following hundred years, the Mongol Iron Horse swept across Eurasia, including present-day Russia. In 1243, the Golden Horde was established, encompassing the russian region.
In 1283, the Muscovite Principality was formally established, the predecessor of the Russian Empire appeared, and at the same time the Russians named China "Kitan", which to this day translates to "Khitan People's Republic".
The Liao state died at the beginning of the 12th century, the Muscovite Principality was established at the end of the 13th century, the difference between the two more than 150 years, the Liao state did not have an impact on Russia, on the contrary, one of the four major Mongol Empires, the Golden Horde, once ruled the Russian region, why did Russia also name the Chinese Khitan instead of Mongolia? In fact, there is a little-known history of the Khitan here.
In 916, the leader of the Khitan tribal alliance, Yelü Abaoji (see above), was founded with the name of "Khitan", and the capital was set at LinhuangFu (present-day Balin Zuoqi South Polo City, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia), which subsequently began the 200 years of glory of the Khitan nation. In 947, Emperor Taizong of Liao led an army south to the Central Plains and captured Fenjing (汴京, in modern Kaifeng, Henan), and Yelü Deguang ascended the throne as emperor in Fenjing, changing the name of the country to "Great Liao", and the Liao State officially entered the historical stage.
The "History of Liao" records that during the most prosperous period of the Liao State, the territory was "tens of thousands of miles".
Sakhalin Island is present in the northeast, north to the Selenge River and Shilekha River in central Mongolia, and west to the Altai Mountains
In the south, the Haihe River in Tianjin, Baxian in Hebei Province, Zhuozhou, and Yanmenguan in Shanxi Province bordered the Northern Song Dynasty, and confronted the Song Dynasty, which ruled the Central Plains at that time, forming a confrontation between the North and the South.
Through the comparison of territories, it can be seen that the Liao state is far from reaching the Russian European region, and it does not have too much influence or deterrence on the Slavs, or that the liao state's connection with the Kievan Rus at that time is negligible. So why did Russia name China Khitan? It turned out that after the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao in 1125, the Liao State did not perish, and also created a miracle.
In 1114, the Jurchen clan fought against the Liao, and the following year, emperor Tianzuo of the Liao state ordered a personal conquest in order to solve the threat of jurchen, but the Liao army was defeated by the Jurchen army everywhere. The misfortune was that Yelü Zhangnu rebelled in Liaoshangjing, and there was a split within the Liao state, although this rebellion was quickly put down, but it not only weakened the strength of the Liao state, but also further intensified the internal contradictions of the Liao state.
In the following 10 years, liao domestic and external troubles, by 1124, the liao state was no longer able to return to heaven, at this time the Liao state of insight Yelü Dashi believed that only by moving west to avoid the Jurchen front, the Liao state could continue to exist. thereupon
In this year, Yelü Dashi became king, reached the city of Kedun (present-day Qingtorogai Ancient Uighur City, Burgan Province, Mongolia) to establish a base area, and in 1132 Yelü Dashi ascended the throne at Yemili City as emperor, with the title of "Ju'er Khan", and the Qunchen also honored Han as "Emperor Tianyou", Jianyuan Yanqing, and the Western Liao was officially established
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Although the Western Liao was a remnant of the Khitans, it could not defeat the Khitans, but it was mixed up in the West. After the establishment of the Western Liao, Yelü Dashi expanded to the western region, northern Desert, Central Asia and other regions, and moved its capital to HusiLuduo (present-day Brana, southeast of Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan). In particular, the Battle of Katwan allowed the Western Liao to dominate Central Asia for a time, and its prestige spread as far as Europe.
The Western Liao of yelü Dashi continued to expand, and there were constant conflicts with the western states led by the Seljuk Empire, so a great armageddon broke out. In 1141 AD, the Western Liao army clashed with the 100,000 Western Alliance led by the Seljuk Empire, and the two sides broke out in the Katwan steppe north of Samarkand, and finally the Western Liao won more with less, and the Islamic world succumbed to a non-religious regime for the first time. More importantly, after the Battle of Katwan, the power of the Seljuk Empire withdrew from the hezhong region, and the Western Liao became the hegemon of Central Asia, with a reputation for shaking Asia and Europe, and the Uighurs of Gaochang, the Western Qarakhanids, the Eastern Qarakhanids, and the Khwarazm successively submitted to the Western Liao during the period of great power.
However, although the Western Liao is strong, its life is not good. With the rise of the Mongol Empire, the Western Liao inevitably went to extinction. In 1218, the Mongol Iron Horse destroyed the Western Liao.
Because the Western Liao once threatened Eurasia and made the surrounding countries tremble, perhaps because of this "personal experience" of history, later Russia thought that the Khitan was China.
After the fall of the Western Liao, the Khitan nation did not disappear and wrote a legend.
In 1222, the Western Liao general Balahei Khatab led a part of the Khitans to flee to the Iranian Region of Kirman (present-day Kerman Province, Iran), and two years later established the Qi'erman Dynasty, also known as the "Later Western Liao", a completely Islamized "Kutuluhe Khan" regime.
After the establishment of the Western Liao, the remnants of the Hua lazi model state were eliminated, and although they also claimed to the Mongol Empire, they belonged to the regional hegemony and had a certain influence. Thus, it may also have affected the Slavs and the subsequent Muscovite principalities to think of the Khitan as China.
In 1306, the Ilkhanate, one of the four major khanates of the Mongol Empire, annexed the Later Western Liao State, and the Khitan officially collapsed.
Why the Russians named China Khitan may also be related to mongolia's call of northern China Khitan according to the above inferences from the history of the Khitans, which in turn affected Russia, and may also be related to the famous Marco Polo in history. The Italian traveler Marco Polo visited China, and after returning to Europe, he wrote a record of oriental observations, "The Travels of Marco Polo", which referred to the rich country of the East as "Khitan". Under the influence of multiple factors, perhaps the Russians named China Khitan, which was also the name of China in medieval Europe. The Cambridge History of the Liao, Song, Xia, and Jin also records that Khitan became a synonym for China throughout Eurasia.
As for the Mongol Empire that ruled Russia, and why Russia did not name China Mongolia, the reason is that in the eyes of russians, the real name of the Mongols is Tatar.
References: "History of Liao", "History of the Conquerors of the World", "How to Call China "Foreigner" in Ancient Times"