Far East Kingdoms

Mongol Khans of the Northern Yuan Dynasty
AD 1368 - 1635

Mongol Tribes All Modern States Central Asia China Korea

The Mongols appear to have been born out of an amalgam of native Turkic and Tungusic groups in north-eastern Central Asia and East Asia. Early Turkic groups display an affinity with or links to Indo-Iranian tribes, as well as to proto-Mongol groups. Mongols briefly became powerful in what is today's Mongolia around 1130, but in 1160 they were destroyed, only to be rebuilt half a century later by 'Chingiz Khan', who became the first of the 'Great Khans' of the Mongol empire.

He created a vast steppe-based empire which integrated itself into several neighbouring states. His death in 1227 created the basis for the later sub-division of the empire, something which increasing internal feuding would ensure. In 1246, Batu Khan converted his territories into a khanate which became known as the Blue Horde. His brothers did the same to form the White Horde and the Shaibanids.

The powerful Kublai Khan retained China as his main base, implying (or perhaps establishing) it as the most important Mongol possession. It was only a matter of time before China became central to the great khans, and the Mongol dynasty there was christened the Yuan by Kublai Khan in 1279 (see feature link). His death in 1294 ended any pretence at unity. Now the various hordes were fully independent, along with the Il-Khanate, Mongols in the eponymous Mughulistan, and the Yuan Mongols themselves.

The Yuan were expelled from China in 1368 by Chu Yüan-chang and the Red Turban Army rebel movement. Toghan-Temur, the final Yuan emperor, fled to Mongolia to become the first ruler of the much-reduced Northern Yuan dynasty (as it was named in Chinese records), which effectively meant that he had returned to his homeland to govern the original core of the Mongolian empire.

He died at Karakorum just two years later, by which time the formal existence of the Mongol empire had been ended (although this had been the case in reality since the death of Kublai Khan in 1294). The descendents of Kublai Khan and the great khans largely continued to rule locally in Mongolia until the seventeenth century, but they never again rose to prominence (names shown below incorporate each khan's official name first, and their birth name second).

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan: His Triumph and his Legacy, Peter Brent (Book Club Associates, 1976), from The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction, Morris Rossabi (Oxford University Press, 2012), from the BBC documentary, The Secret History of Genghis Khan, broadcast 28 December 2011), from the New World Encyclopaedia, from Crimean Tatars, H B Paksoy, from The Origins of Northern China's Ethnicities, Zhu Xueyuan (Beijing 2004), from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from Genghis Khan, Paul Ratchnevsky (Thomas Nivison Haining, Trans & Ed, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991), and from External Links: Origins of the Volga Tatars, and Tatar.net (dead link), and The True Origin of the Mongols?, John Man (Oxford Alumni, 28 July 2020).)

1368 - 1370

Fled China. First Northern Yuan. Died 1370 at Karakorum.

1370

Yingchang is seized by the Ming Chinese shortly after the death of Toghan-Temur, the first of the Northern Yuan rulers after the fall of the greater 'Mongol Yuan Dynasty' empire. This is the start of constant conflict between the Mongols and the Ming. The Mongolians are forced to retreat into Mongolia itself.

With the loss of China, the Mongols gradually returned to the old ways over the course of several generations of feuding and jostling for control

1370 - 1378

Son.

1372 - 1373

Not content with kicking the Mongols out of China, the Ming emperor begins a military push into Mongolia itself. Mongol General Köke Temür, the half-Chinese grandson of a Mongolian prince who had been known as Wang Baobao during the Yuan dynasty days, leads the Mongol defence.

In 1373 he defeats fifteen thousand Ming soldiers at the River Orkhon. The Mongols recapture Funin and Suijin districts in Sinhe, Liaoning, and Hebei provinces, cutting off the Ming from Liadong with the help of the Jurchen (former rulers of the Jin dynasty which itself had been defeated by the Mongols).

Ayushiridara asks Gongmin of the Koryo Korean dynasty for assistance in the fight against the Ming. As a former Mongol vassal, he is acclaimed as a fellow descendant of Chingiz Khan, and will therefore be happy to work together with the Yuan in their current reduced state.

A Mongol warrior defends himself against a Red Turban Army warrior of Goryeo, with his characteristic red headband

However, Gongmin's reforms have already cut many ties with the Yuan in favour of the Ming, and he not only refuses to help, he actively pursues a policy of reconquering territory which had been annexed by the 'Great Khans' in the 1270s.

1378 - 1388

Brother or son, unclear which.

1380 - 1381

In response to further Mongol pressure on their northern border, the Ming invade Mongolia again, reaching Karakorum, which they loot. Other Mongol cities are also attacked and looted, but a further invasion the following year is repulsed. However, the Yuan loyalists who had been holding out in the southern Chinese territory of Yunnan are finally defeated in the same year.

1387 - 1388

A Mongolian official in the former north-eastern Chinese province of Liaoyang (now in Mongolian hands) invades Liaodong. Nahachu envisions a restoration of the Yuan dynasty in China, but he and his army of about two hundred thousand, suffering in the midst of a famine, are persuaded by Ming diplomacy to surrender.

The Hongwu emperor (also known by his posthumous temple name, Tàizǔ) came to power amid violence, and his Ming dynasty reign remained fragile in its early years

Shortly afterwards, also in 1388, Ukshal Khan is attacked during a Ming raid on Lake Buir. He escapes, heading for Karakorum, but is subject to a surprise attack along the River Tuul by Yesüder, a rival who is allied to the Oirats.

Both Ukshal Khan and his son are killed, marking the end of recent Yuan supremacy and the rise of the Oirats in Mongolia. The Mongols begin to disintegrate as a politically cohesive force.

1388 - 1392?

Descendant of Ariq-Boke (brother/rival of Kublai Khan).

1388 - 1389

With the break in rule of the descendants of Kublai Khan, and the dramatic reduction in Mongol power over the past two decades, the authority of the great khan has been gravely damaged.

One of the former generals of Togus-Temur breaks away and forms his own small khanate. Gunashiri is a descendant of Chagatai Khan of the Chaghatayids, and the small state he forms is called Qara Del, which is centred in Hami (modern Kumul in Xinjiang province).

The Altai Mountains link together the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and Xinjiang, providing the source for the rivers Irtysh and Ob and also, it would seem, the source region for the early Turkic tribes

1390s

The third grouping of Mongols, the Uriyangkhai, surrender to the Ming Chinese, along with some Borjigin princes. Led by Ukshal Khan's former minister, Necelai, the Mongols are divided by the Ming into three sub-groups, known as the 'Three Guards': Doyin, Fuyu, and Tai'nin.

They are settled as a buffer force in territory which becomes the modern Inner Mongolia (to be temporarily re-acquired by the Mongols in 1495). Necelai is killed by Shirmen, the late khan's chingsang (chancellor) who is now allied to Jorightu Khan.

? - 1392

Son, or perhaps even Jorightu Khan himself.

1392 - 1399

Younger brother of Jorightu Khan. Defeated and killed.

1399

Ugetchi Khashikha, ruler of the Oirats, opposes Elbeg's decision to appoint a new ruler in his place. Ugetchi persuades the chingsang, Batula, that the violent khan who has already killed his own kin, along with Batula's father, is unworthy of his position.

Elbeg is defeated by the four Oirat tribes and is killed by their leaders, Ugetchi Khashikha and Batula. There is a hiatus of several months before Elbeg's son, Gün Temür Khan, is able to succeed him.

The Mongols were still a formidable fighting force when they were opposed by the Ming, with regional feuds largely (but not exclusively) being put aside

1400 - 1402

Son. Defeated and killed.

1402

Gün Temür Khan is defeated and killed by Guilichi, who seizes the Mongol throne under the title Örüg Temür Khan. It is possible that this little-known individual is in fact Ugetchi Khashikha, ruler of the Oirats ('Khashikha' means 'prince' or 'duke'). He is certainly a non-Chingisid, and therefore not in direct line of descent from Chingiz Khan.

1402 - 1403

A non-Chingisid khan. Defeated by Buyanshri.

1403 - 1412

Brother of Gün Temür. Killed by the Oirats.

1409 - 1422

Ming Emperor Ch'eng Tsu invades Mongolian lands three times in this period, in 1409, 1414, and 1422. The first time he is repulsed by Öljei Temür Khan, while the Oirats successfully defend Mongolia on the other occasions, showing that the Mongols are still powerful enough to ably defend themselves against Chinese aggression.

Continually foiled on the battlefield, the Chinese emperor begins a policy of politically dividing the Mongols by means of conspiring in order to encourage internecine feuding.

Ming Emperor Zhu Di (1360-1424) took power in the early fifteenth century after a series of bloody rebellions involving close relatives, after which he took the throne name 'Yongle'

1412 - 1413

Following a humiliating defeat by the Ming in 1410, Öljei Temür Khan is now killed by the Oirat ruler, Mahamud. The following year, Mahamud installs his own puppet khan on the throne.

This point marks the temporary decline of the Borjigin khans and the start of a period in which various Mongol clans fight each other for supremacy, as hoped for by the Ming Chinese.

1413 - 1415

Puppet of Oirat ruler, Mahamud. Not generally recognised.

1415

The Mongols under Delbeg are defeated in a pyrrhic victory for the Ming in which nothing is really gained. Despite penetrating as far as the River Tuul, the Ming subsequently withdraw. One of Delbeg's main Mongol rivals, the future Adai Khan, has managed to unify the central and eastern clans against him, and he now kills Delbeg and many of his Oirat supporters.

1415 - 1425

Selected by the Oirats as their replacement for Delbeg.

1422 - 1423

With the help of the Ming, Oyiradai leads an Oirat resurgence against the central and eastern Mongols under the chingsang, Arughtai, and Adai Khan. The latter are defeated twice, but Oyiradai's subsequent death prompts infighting between the Oirats and western Mongols, allowing Adai Khan to seize power.

Various Mongol clans were vying for supremacy in the fifteenth century, destabilising what was left of unity and statehood

1425 - 1438

A Borjigin khan, possibly the son of Örüg Temür Khan.

1433 - 1438

Tayisung Khan is promoted by the Oirats as the great khan, in direct opposition to Adai Khan. For the next five years, the western Mongols acknowledge Tayisung while the central and eastern Mongols acknowledge Adai Khan.

An Oirat victory in 1434 which kills Arughtai and other key Adai Khan supporters ends any immediate chance of the Mongols being fully unified. In 1438, Adai Khan is overrun by the Oirats and is killed by Toghtoa Bukha. The Mongols are now unified by the Oirats (western Mongols).

1433 - 1453

Puppet of the Oirats.

1443/1449

With the Golden Horde becoming increasingly weakened, one recent claimant for the throne has been Dawlat Berdi. He had managed to establish himself in (Mongol) Crimea in 1427 but had constantly been troubled by Hajji Giray, another would-be ruler of the horde.

Ivan III of Moscow tears up the Mongol demand for tribute in front of his own court and the Mongol messengers, ending once and for all Mongol dominance over the Rus

The assassination of Dawlat Berdi in 1432 has left the route open to Hajji setting up the Crimean khanate as an independent entity under his command. The actual date of the takeover is somewhat disputed, with 1443 and 1449 being two of the favourites.

Also in 1449, Togoon Taishi, khan of the supposedly vassal Oirats, has been steadily winning influence at the Mongol court, and his successor, Esen Tayisi increases that influence.

Having led diplomatic attempts to negotiate with the Ming to improve trading conditions with China, Esen Tayisi finds that he is rebuffed. As a result he leads a startling military campaign which defeats a force of fifty thousand, captures the emperor, and besieges Beijing.

1453

Esen Tayisi defeats Tayisung Khan and, after dealing with Tayisung's brother, Agbarjin, declares himself khan of the Mongols in his place. Tayisung is quickly assassinated by his former father-in-law for returning the man's daughter to him as a divorcee and causing her to be humiliated.

The Mongol empire created by Chingiz Khan gradually broke up over the course of three hundred years until, by around AD 1500, it had fragmented into several stable khanates (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1453

Brother. Betrayed Tayisung Khan for throne. Killed by Oirats.

1453 - 1454

Oirat khan. Overthrown by Mongol rebel faction.

1454

Despite being the khan of the Oirats and great khan under whom the Mongols have been reunited, Esen faces a rebellion by the Oirats and his own general, Alag. He is defeated in battle and then murdered by the son of one of his own victims. His death fragments Mongol unity once again and also ends Oirat supremacy over Mongolia.

1454 - 1465

Child son of Tayisung Khan.

1454 - 1465

Of the seven Tümeds (a Mongol subgrouping). Regent.

1454 - 1465

Of the Kharchin Mongols. Co-regent.

1465

After years of rivalry between Dogholon of the Tümeds and Bulay of the Kharchins, as each struggles to attain dominance, the Mongols finally erupt into internecine war. The young Markörgis Khan is killed during the fighting and his elder half-brother, Molon, succeeds him.

1465 - 1466

Half-brother of Markörgis Khan. Killed in internecine feuding.

1466 - 1475

Further internecine fighting causes the death of Molon Khan, and such is the level of disruption, no election can be held to select a successor. It takes almost a decade of warfare until Manduul Khan can gain superiority enough to be selected khan over all the Mongols.

Molon Khan was one of many short-lived figureheads of the Mongol people during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as the unity of Chingiz Khan faded

1475 - 1478

Son of Tayisung Khan. Grand councillor of the Ongud Mongols.

1478 - 1517

Great-grandnephew and selected heir.

1478

Succeeding to what is now a fairly stable, reunited Mongol confederacy, Dayan Khan moves his capital from Khalkha to Chaharia so that he can more tightly control the Taishis of the right wing.

This makes him the chief of the Chahar Mongols, another of many Mongol subgroupings, which survives today, largely in the south-eastern section of Inner Mongolia. The 'Three Guards' (created in the 1390s) are re-acquired in 1495.

1502

Much of the Great Horde's people and horses are captured by the khan of Crimea and are forcibly relocated to Crimea itself, while Shaykh Ahmad flees with about four thousand horsemen. His days are numbered, and the Great Horde is unable to reform.

Tartars of the Crimean khanate fight Cossacks from the Ukrainian steppe, a scene which would be repeated many times over the course of the khanate's three hundred year-plus existence

1517

With the death of Dayan Khan, his selected successor is the youthful Bars Bolud Jinong Khan. Dayan Khan's third son, Bodi Alagh Khan, fears that the boy's youth and inexperience will undo the work of reuniting the Mongols, so he pushes the boy aside to claim the khanship himself. He is largely supported by the nobility who have the same fears.

Dayan Khan's death also sparks a proliferation of minor Mongol dynasties which further fragments Mongolian unity. He has divided his domains between his eleven sons, with the youngest, Gersenz Hongtaiji, gaining Northern Khalkha (which approximates modern Outer Mongolia in terms of its territory).

This is further subdivided between Gersenz' seven sons, while one of his great-grandchildren, Eriyehi Mergen Khan, founds the Tushiyeti khanship. Another great-grandson, Sholoi, founds the Secen khans.

A member of the next generation, Sumbadai, creates the Zasagtu khans in the western section of North Khalkha, but his cousin, Ubashi Hongtaiji, secedes to found the Altyn khans of Khotgoid. Such constant division only serves to weaken the Mongols.

One of the multiple khanate-founding great-grandsons of Dayan Khan was Abtai Sain Khan, founder of the Tüsheet khanate

1517 - 1519

Son. Pushed aside by Bodi Alagh Khan.

1519

It has taken two years for Bodi Alagh to secure enough support to force Bars Bolud Jinong to step down as khan and avoid a civil war. Now that he can assume power, he rules for an impressive twenty-eight years.

1519 - 1547

Nephew, and son of Turbolad.

1547

Bodi Alagh Khan is the last of the powerful khans. His successors carry the same titular authority but in reality they provide direct governance only for the Chahar Mongols, situated towards the south-east of the modern region of Inner Mongolia. The situation reflects the ever-diminishing authority of the great khans and their successors since the fourteenth century.

1547 - 1557

Son.

1547 - 1551

Daraisung Guden Khan is unable to quash the growing power and arrogance of Altan Khan of the Tümet Mongol subgroup. Altan Khan forces Daraisung to flee eastwards, and the two only come to a compromise in 1551. Meanwhile, unity in Mughulistan is also crumbling.

In a photo which was taken in 1874, two Chahar women pose in festive dress in Inner Mongolia, conquered territory which became part of China

Altan accepts Daraisung's suzerainty in return for being granted the title 'Geegen Khan' for himself. The more senior khan has to relocate his capital to a location near Manchuria, and his distance from the heartland of Mongol territory engenders a further decline in the authority of his position.

1557 - 1592

Son.

1592 - 1603

Son.

1603 - 1634

Grandson. Translated Buddhist scripts into Mongolian.

1603

Legdan Hutuhtu becomes khan at a time at which the authority of his position is greatly in decline, at least partially thanks to the constant subdivision of Mongol territory and the creation of lesser khanates. He becomes known as the 'Khan of Chaharia', a derogatory title which belittles his power, consigning him to the Chaharia region of Inner Mongolia alone in titular terms.

A late Oirat warrior - Oirats survive to this day in Russia, China, and Mongolia, still speaking Oirat dialects of the Mongolian language

At about the same time, the Khoshut tribe of Oirats migrates to Kukunor, while the Torguts leave Mongolia entirely, heading to the Volga basin to become the Kalmyks.

1634

Legdan Hutuhtu Khan is the last of the Borjigin khans, ruling from Chahar. He has been unpopular and has treated his fellow Mongols harshly, while pursuing an alliance with the Ming. Two of the Mongol subgroups under his direct rule, the Jaruds and Khorchins, have been intermarrying with the Qin, and the khan's court has lost most of its authority to them.

Legdan's death signals the end of a khanship which has descended directly from Chingiz Khan and a virtual surrendering of Inner Mongolia to the Qin. However, by this stage, Khara Khula of the Choros clan has managed to unify the Oirats so that his son, Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji, is able to establish the Zunghar khanate in this year.

The plains around Ulan Bator offer stereotypical views of traditional Mongol territory - wide, sweeping plains which were (and still are) ideally suited to horse-borne warriors

1634 - 1635

Son. Surrendered to the Qin.

1635

Ejei Khan completes the surrender of the Borjigin Mongols to the Qin. Within forty years, all Qin royal males have been systematically exterminated by the Qin, including those born to Qin princesses.

1639

Ulan Bator is founded as a nomadic Buddhist monastic centre. It is not settled permanently until 1778, and in the twentieth century it becomes the capital city of Outer Mongolia.

c.1645

Some time after this date, although just when is unclear, Kondeleng Ubashi, brother of Gushi Khan, Mongol king of Tibet, migrates to the Volga with a division of the Koshut tribe of Oirats. There they merge with the Kalmyks (although they return in 1771 to Zungaria where they are resettled by the now-dominant Qin and survive into modern times).