Mongol, member of a Central Asian ethnographic group of closely related tribal peoples who live mainly on the Mongolian Plateau and share a common language and nomadic tradition. Their homeland is now divided into the independent country of Mongolia (Outer Mongolia) and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Owing to wars and migrations, Mongols are found throughout Central Asia.
Mongol
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KEY PEOPLE
Maḥmūd Ghāzān
Ulanhu
Hülegü
Aruqtai
Giovanni Da Pian Del Carpini
RELATED TOPICS
Xiongnu
Kalmyk
Khalkha
Buryat
Ḥazāra
Oirat
Daur
Chahar
Dzungar
Nökhör
Population distribution
Mongols form the bulk of the population of independent Mongolia, and they constitute about one-sixth of the population in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Elsewhere in China there are enclaves of Mongols in Qinghai province and the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Tibet and in the Northeast (Manchuria; Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces), and there are groups in Russia’s Siberia. All these populations speak dialects of the Mongol language.

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Present-day Mongol peoples include the Khalkha, who constitute almost four-fifths of the population of independent Mongolia; the descendants of the Oirat, or western Mongols, who include the Dorbet (or Derbet), Olöt, Torgut, and Buzawa (see Kalmyk; Oirat) and live in southwestern Russia, western China, and independent Mongolia; the Chahar, Urat, Karchin, and Ordos Mongols of the Inner Mongolian region of China; the Bargut and Daur Mongols of Manchuria; the Monguors of the Chinese province of Gansu; and the Buryat of Russia, who are concentrated in Buryatiya and in an autonomous district in the vicinity of Lake Baikal.
Lifestyle and livelihood
With a few exceptions, the Mongol social structure, economy, culture, and language showed very little change over many centuries. They were basically nomadic pastoralists who were superb horsemen and traveled with their flocks of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses over the immense grasslands of the steppes of Central Asia.
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Traditional Mongol society was based on the family, the clan, and the tribe, with clan names derived from those of common male ancestors. As clans merged, the tribal name was taken from that of the strongest clan. In the tribe, weaker clans retained their own headmen and livestock but were subordinate to the strongest clan. In periods of tribal unity, khans (Mongol monarchs) assigned commanders to territories from which troops and revenues were gathered. Mongol history alternated between periods of tribal conflict and tribal consolidation.
Rise of the Mongol empire
Among the tribes that held power in Mongolia were the Xiongnu, a confederated empire that warred with the young Chinese state for centuries before dissolving in 48 CE. The Khitan ruled in Manchuria and North China, where they established the Liao dynasty (907–1125) and formed an alliance with a little-known tribal confederacy known as All the Mongols. After the fall of the Liao, the Tatars—a Mongol people but not members of the league—appeared as allies of the Juchen, the Khitan’s successors.
During this time Genghis Khan (1162–1227) came to power within the All the Mongols league and was proclaimed khan in 1206. He skillfully gained control over the Mongols outside the league. Between 1207 and 1227 he undertook military campaigns that extended Mongol domains as far west as European Russia and
