A Brief History of Mongolia
Mongolia’s history goes back to thousands of years. Recent archeological discoveries have found that Mongolia was inhabited 500,000 years ago. A large number of ethnic groups has been living and ruled by various nomadic empires throughout the history of Mongolia.
Early history of Mongolia
The 1st Mongolian state – Hunnu was founded by Mooduni Shanyu in BC209. From during that time, the Great Wall was built partly as defense for the central plain of Mainland China against the invasions from various northern nomadic tribes of the Hunnu.
The Hunnu were a powerful empire until the 4th century AD. and split into 2 parts. The west part of the Hunnu migrated to the Europe. The Attila was the most powerful king of the Hunnu who settled in Europe.
Mongol Empire
In 1206, Great Chinggis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which was the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world. Late 12th century Temujin, who is Chinggis Khan able to unite scattered Mongolian tribes and forging them into a fighting force which went on to create the largest contiguous empire in world history. He was a remarkable leader and Temujin made himself leader of all the Mongols. Later he took the name of Chinggis Khan, which means supreme leader or great king. The Mongol Empire’s territory extended from present day China, Russia and advanced into Europe, Korea and Arabian peninsula including Persia.
In 1271, Kublai Khaan more extended the territory and established the Yuan dynasty. By 1279, the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non-Han emperor to conquer all of China. After centuries of domination, the Mongol Empire began to fall apart in 1398 AD, perhaps inevitable with the strategic error of moving the capital of the Mongol Empire from Kharkhorum to Beijing in neighboring China.
Mongolia in 20th century
Manchu controlled Mongolia from the year 1692 to 1911, as a result of the Mongolian national movement for independence, the Mongol Monarchy was re-established in 1911.
In 1915 the Treaty of Khyata between Mongolia, China and Russia allowed the country limited autonomy. However, in 1919 the Chinese occupied Mongolia again. They were driven out in 1921 and Mongolia became completely independent. It then became a Communist country. The Peoples Republic of Mongolia was created in 1924.
Mongolia then came under Russian domination. In 1939 the Russians and Mongolians fought the Japanese in eastern Mongolia. Meanwhile the Communists introduced a totalitarian regime in Mongolia and they cruelly persecuted religion. However, Communism collapsed in 1990 when demonstrations were held demanding democracy in Mongolia. The Communists caved in and elections were held. Mongolia gained a new constitution in 1992. Furthermore Mongolia changed to a market economy.
Nowadays its only 3 million people are living in 1.6million kilometer square. It’s a one of the 7/9 country which brings democracy in a peaceful way.
