Was Genghis Khan's Golden Family in Inner Mongolia or Outer Mongolia? This question involves the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire and the division of the Mongol people. Ever since Genghis Khan founded a glorious Mongol dynasty, his descendants have been revered as the "Golden Family". However, over time, the family also went through a process of falling apart. Some believe that the roots of the Golden Family are in Inner Mongolia, but others insist that their descendants are mainly distributed in Outer Mongolia. There is a magnificent history behind this question, let's explore the ins and outs of this history together, and uncover the mystery of the Golden Family in Inner and Outer Mongolia.
The rise and glory of the Golden Family
At the end of the twelfth century, a boy named Temujin was born into a poor Mongolian nomadic family. He was destined to be extraordinary, and after a difficult process of growth, he finally relied on extraordinary wisdom and fearless courage to unify the Mongolian Plateau and establish a huge empire across the Eurasian continent - the Great Mongolia.
Temujin's father, Yefujith, was an ordinary herdsman of the Sons and Sons tribe. When Temujin was young, his family was attacked by other tribes and destroyed. After a childhood of displacement, starvation and cold, Temujin gradually strengthened his strength with unyielding perseverance. In 1206 A.D., Temujin held a grand council of Kuril in the Horin region, which eventually won the support of many tribes and was revered as "Genghis Khan", meaning "Lord of the World".
Genghis Khan led his elite cavalry and conquered the surrounding tribes with lightning speed. After more than 20 years of conquest, the territory of the Great Mongolian State finally expanded from the Korean Peninsula in the east, to the Caspian Sea in the west, to the Indus Valley in the south, and to Siberia in the north. As the founding fathers, Genghis Khan and his descendants were revered as the "Golden Family", and they held the core power of the Great Mongolian State.
However, even at the height of his glory, Genghis Khan never forgot his former poor origins. Legend has it that on one occasion, he witnessed the extravagance of his ministers, and immediately burned his own royal treasures, and ordered that a "Huril Council" be held every year in the family from now on, to reminisce about the poor past, so as not to sink into luxury. This simple and simple style makes the Golden Family highly loved among the Mongolian people.
The Golden Family is not a closed blood family. Genghis Khan has repeatedly honored soldiers who have contributed to the country, including them and their relatives and friends in the family and sharing the glory. His younger brothers, Hassar and Harakhan, as well as his cronies Mukri and Borja, became important members of the Golden Family and were awarded extremely high titles.
What is even more remarkable is that Genghis Khan advocated an unprecedented concept of religious tolerance. He not only respected religious beliefs such as Islam, Nestorianism, and Buddhism, but also absorbed the advanced cultural achievements of these religions, and integrated them into innovation. In the Mongol army, Nestorian monks were responsible for divination, and Islamic clergy were responsible for setting the rules of military life. Buddhism became the dominant religion in Greater Mongolia and was greatly developed during the Yuan Dynasty.
Such an enlightened approach to statecraft, combined with the enormous wealth acquired by the Mongols after conquering vast territories, earned Genghis Khan and the Golden Family great prestige. The Mongolian people gradually moved out of their nomadic life and entered a period of unprecedented prosperity.
The division and turmoil of the Golden Family
Under the rule of Genghis Khan and his heirs, the Great Mongolian Kingdom had a vast territory, a strong state, and the power of the Golden Family. However, just like other dynasties in history, the fate of twilight is always inevitable for a moment of prosperity. At the beginning of the 14th century, there was continued turmoil and division in the Great Mongol Kingdom, and the Golden Family fell apart.
In 1368 AD, the Northern Expedition led by Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, conquered the capital city founded by Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty. After that, although the Yuan Dynasty did not completely fall, it had completely lost its rule over the Central Plains. This remnant of the Mongol regime on the Mobei steppe was called the "Northern Yuan" by later generations.
During the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the Mongolian Plateau fell into a long period of princely infighting. After the death of Kublai Khan's Yuan Shun Emperor Tore, the throne changed hands frequently, and dozens of "khans" were changed in just a few decades. In order to seize the throne, the members of the royal family killed each other, and the soldiers continued to fight. The Golden Family then split into multiple factions, opposing each other and becoming strangers.
During this turbulent period, the western Warat Mongols took advantage of the situation and emerged as a new political force, which had a major impact on the Golden Family. Warat refers to the "people of the forest" in the northern part of the Mongolian plateau, which is clearly different from the origin of the Golden Family. With the help of the repeated counterattacks of the nomads in the northwest against the Yuan dynasty, the Warat Mongols gradually expanded their power and took control of most of the Mongolian plateau in the mid-14th century.
Faced with the threat from the Warat Mongols, the remnants of the Northern Yuan were torn apart. Some retreated to Monan, some migrated westward, and one was led by the fourteenth son of Yuan Shizu, Toreitai Gushuo, to conquer the Shenyang area and establish the "Dongjia" regime. Soon, however, the Dongjia regime was also annihilated by the Ming Dynasty army.
During this turbulent period, a key figure emerged in the Golden Family, the Thorough Seabed. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan's fifth son, Torre, and one of the last remaining members of the royal family in the Mongolian steppe. Running around the sea, around 1370, he managed to unite some of the Golden Families and establish an independent khanate in the area around Xilin Gol in present-day Inner Mongolia.
Although the territory of the Tarap Submarine Khanate was limited, it preserved the continuation of the core power of the Golden Family. The khanate lasted for more than a hundred years until the middle of the Ming Dynasty when it was finally destroyed by the combined Mongol and Manchu armies. But even so, the efforts of the bottom of the sea have laid the foundation for the descendants of the Golden Family to gain a foothold in the Inner Mongolia region.
At the same time, the heirs of another golden family embarked on the road of westward migration. In 1370 AD, Genghis Khan's great-grandson Batu Munk led his family and tribes to the region of present-day Kyrgyzstan, where he re-established the ruling authority of the Golden Family and laid the foundation of the Mongols in Outer Mongolia. In later generations, Batu Munk was posthumously honored as "Dayan Khan" for revitalizing the Golden Family.
Overall, the Golden Family experienced a long split after the fall of the Mongol Empire, forming two major branches in the Inner and Outer Mongolian regions. In their respective regions, they followed the traditions of the Genghis Khan family and had a profound influence on later generations of Mongols.
Reshaping and patterning during the Dayan Khan period
Although the Golden Family split into two branches during the turbulent times, it did not stop there. With the gradual stabilization of the situation, the two sides have embarked on the road of reunification and rejuvenation in Inner and Outer Mongolia respectively. Among them, the Dayan Khanate established by Batu Munk had a key impact on the pattern of the Golden Family in Inner and Outer Mongolia in the future.
Batumunk was born into a famous family and was the great-grandson of Genghis Khan's fifth son, Torre. After the collapse of the Mongol Empire, he was forced to flee east as a remnant of the imperial family, and for a time wandered away from the Ilikhio River valley in present-day Kyrgyzstan. There, he set about reuniting the remnants of the Golden Family, and with his military command and political skills, he finally established his dominance in 1399 and established a solid khanate.
In order to consolidate his power, Batumunk carried out a series of reforms. The first is a comprehensive military reconstruction. He divided the country into dozens of provinces, each of which was led by the head of the thousand, hundred, and ten households in Mongolia. At the same time, he also carefully selected from among the subjects of the Khanate and formed a brave and warlike personal guard army, which was directly under the command of the Khanate. This army not only contributed to the unification of the Dayan Khanate, but also became an important force in maintaining its rule.
In terms of political system, Batu Munk adheres to the principle of democratic centralism of the traditional Mongolian nationality and implements a system that combines decentralization and restraint with centralization and unification. He established a hierarchy that included kings, princes, and nobles, and incorporated these feudal lords into a central decision-making body, with regular meetings to centralize decision-making. At the same time, provinces at all levels have also established their own local deliberative bodies, which have a certain degree of autonomy. The whole system is undoubtedly a continuation of the traditional nomadic way of life.
Crucially, in order to secure his foundations and avoid division, Batumunk carried out a comprehensive territorial division and family division. He divided the entire territory of the Khanate into two major regions: Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. Inner Mongolia included a vast area north of the present-day Altai Mountains to Lake Baikal and Transbaikal, and was ruled by the Khans and princes and stationed officials; Outer Mongolia refers to the region south of the Altai Mountains, which is divided by various lineages and has a large degree of autonomy.
In this division, Inner Mongolia constituted the central heart of the Dayan Khanate and the core strength of the Golden Family; The Outer Mongols, on the other hand, acted as a buffer and barrier against invasion by foreign enemies and reunited the Dayan Khanate through its disintegration. The whole pattern is undoubtedly the inheritance of the traditional nomadic concept of "center and periphery", but it also further strengthens the integration of the royal power of the golden family.
In addition to this, Batumunk made the last large-scale partition of the Golden Family. He divided the vast lands inside and outside the Khan to his princes and collateral relatives without omission, so that the entire Golden Family members gained the status and power they deserved. This is not only conducive to the unification of children and grandchildren, but also lays a solid foundation for maintaining family cohesion.
Overall, the Dayan Khan period was a critical period for the reunification and revitalization of the Golden Family. The pattern of Inner and Outer Mongolia was basically laid at that time, and the foundation of the Golden Family was consolidated, laying the foundation for further development in the future.
The golden family of the Buryat Mongol Khanate period
After laying the basic pattern of Inner and Outer Mongolia during the Dayan Khan period, the Golden Family divided and merged temporarily in the following few hundred years, but generally divided the power in Inner and Outer Mongolia and gradually moved towards different development paths. Among them, the development of the Golden Family in Outer Mongolia is represented by the period of the Buryat Mongol Khanate.
The Buryat Khanate was founded in the 1630s by the founding monarch of the Khanate, Batur, the sixth son of Alatan Khan. With his outstanding military command skills and extensive popular prestige, he finally unified the tribes of Outer Mongolia and put an end to the long-standing chaos situation. At the same time, he also got rid of the suzerainty influence of Korea and the Later Jin, and gave Outer Mongolia a truly independent status.
Batur Khan took a number of major steps to consolidate his rule in Outer Mongolia. The first is to integrate the various tribes of Outer Mongolia into a unified military establishment, thus creating a strong and unified armed force. At the same time, he also popularized the Mongolian script throughout the country and promoted Mongolian as an official language to strengthen the sense of identity and cohesion among the tribes.
In terms of political system, Batur Khan inherited the traditional Mongolian system and adhered to the "Zasak" system of Inner and Outer Mongolia since ancient times. The so-called "Zasak" is a highly democratic and centralized political system, in which all Mongolians in the country participate in decision-making. Once a year, a "Kurildai" assembly was held, in which the kings, nobles, and commoners of all Mongol realms participated, and discussed state affairs. As for day-to-day government affairs, it is handled by the Maharaja Council under the leadership of Zasakdin (Prime Minister).
In addition to the political system, Batur Khan promulgated a new legal system: the Zasak Canon, which established the territory of Outer Mongolia at that time and regulated the conduct of the Mongol peoples. At the same time, he also stipulated the religious status of Mongolian religion and established the dominant religious status of Buddhism in Outer Mongolia. Overall, the major reforms of this period led to an unprecedented degree of unification in Outer Mongolia and laid the foundation for its development for hundreds of years to come.
After entering the 18th century, the Buryat Khanate entered its heyday. The Great Khan Polyala was born into a famous family and was the fifteenth grandson of Genghis Khan. He ascended the throne in 1688 and began a peaceful and prosperous era in Outer Mongolia for more than 40 years. On the one hand, Polyala continued its policy of foreign expansion, expanding the Mongol territory to the maximum extent and establishing the Mongol dominance in Central Asia. On the other hand, he also comprehensively revitalized Mongolia's religious and cultural undertakings, built many Buddhist temples and city buildings in Uriya Sutai and other places, and also made great contributions to cultural and educational undertakings.
After the Polyala, the Buryat Khanate entered a period of relative stability, with its overall territory and ethnic group expanding compared to previous centuries. As the main representative of the Golden Family in Outer Mongolia, the Buryat Khanate was the most powerful power in the entire Northwest Frontier at that time. During this period, it ruled all of present-day Mongolia, the Buryatia Autonomous Republic of Russia, and the Altai region of northern Xinjiang, China.
In general, during the period of the Buryat Khanate in Outer Mongolia, the Golden Family achieved unprecedented growth and growth in terms of politics, military, economy, religion and culture. As an ethnic minority, the Mongols successfully achieved self-unification and independence during this period, laying an important foundation for the Golden Family's roots in Outer Mongolia.
The Mongol Khanate of the Jueluo clan in the Inner Mongolia region
Corresponding to the development of the Buryat Khanate in Outer Mongolia, the Golden Family also established its own power in Inner Mongolia. This is the Yujue Luo Mongol Khanate.
The Kyaw Luo Mongol Khanate was founded in the early 17th century by Chagan, the ninth grandson of Genghis Khan's seventh son, Taiwuchuan. Before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the descendants of this golden family had been living in the grasslands of today's Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. Although their territory is limited, they have always maintained the honor and pride of the royal family.
It was not until 1635 that Chagan finally defeated other tribal forces in Inner Mongolia at that time with military strength, established the rule of the Khanate, and established its capital in the Zhongwei area of Ningxia. In order to strengthen his control over the rest of Inner Mongolia, he also changed the name "Jueluo" to distinguish him from other Mongolian tribes in the outer domain.
As the only political power of the Golden Family in Inner Mongolia, the Jueluo clan played a role in the supremacy of power and unified rectification. During Chagan's reign, he led the iron cavalry to conquer inside and outside many times, and incorporated the nomadic tribes in present-day Shaanxi, Gansu and other regions into the territory. He also imposed a strict tax system at home, which enriched the financial power of the khanate.
In order to better manage the vast territory, Chagan divided the Kyaw Luo Khanate into a number of large banners, each of which was set up with a number of small flags. The whole system was reformed on the basis of the traditional Mongol Zasak system, with the aim of achieving a more centralized and unified rule. At the same time, the nomadic way of life has been adhered to and preserved to adapt to the living environment of the steppe area.
In the 18th century, the Kyoro Khanate reached its heyday during the reign of Timurid Khan. Inheriting the ruling tradition of his ancestors, Timur led many expeditions to Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places, expanding the territory of the Khanate to the greatest extent. At the same time, he also vigorously developed agricultural and animal husbandry production, built cities and Buddhist temples, and promoted writing and education. Overall, the Jueluo Empire during this period already had the rudiments of a mature regime, reflecting the ruling power of the Golden Family in the Inner Mongolia region.
However, during the heyday of the Timurid Khanate, a new political force began to rise in the northeast. This was the post-Jin regime of the Manchus. In 1636, Nurhachi, the founder of the Later Jin Dynasty, built a powerful "Eight Banners" army, conquered the northeast, and captured Beijing in 1644, establishing the Qing regime.
In the face of the rise of the Manchurians, there were already two major differences within the Jueluo people, pro-Qing and anti-Qing. In a civil war, the pro-Qing faction eventually won, and in 1635 they were canonized as "Dzungar" princes by the emerging Qing dynasty. From then on, the Golden Family of the Jueluo clan became a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, and the territory of the Khanate was also incorporated into the territory of the Qing Empire.
Under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, although the Mongols of the Kyaw Luo clan lost their original independent power, the lineage of the Golden Family continued. They still retained a degree of local autonomy and were canonized as princes and princes by the Qing Dynasty. As vassals of the Central Dynasty, the Dzungar Mongols not only served the Qing army in the war, but also made significant contributions to the economic development of the Qing Empire. It can be said that the Golden Family also participated in the rule of the Qing Dynasty in this way.
Overall, the period of the Mongol Khanate of the Kyaw Luo clan was the peak of the Golden Family's rule in the Inner Mongolia region. Although it later became a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, it still demonstrated the Golden Family's ability to continue the imperial tradition and exercise centralized rule over the nomads in the region. Whether in Outer Mongolia or Inner Mongolia, in this special historical period from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the Golden Family has achieved comprehensive revival and development.