ChinaandAND⤬THE JUNCTION
13 SHARED EVENTSMongolia

Entangled histories

13 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

ONE SPINE OF YEARS · TWO WALLS OF EVENTS · CHN LEFT · MNG RIGHT

1. c. 209 BCE

   The Xiongnu confederation reaches its height

   At the close of the third century BCE the Xiongnu unite the eastern steppe under a supreme chanyu, forming a nomadic empire that rivals the Qin and Han dynasties of China for centuries.

   Formation · from the Mongolia chronicle · Lords of the Steppe: The Xiongnu and Early Nomads · REFS 2 — Xiongnu, History of Mongolia

2. c. 48 CE

   Break-up of the Xiongnu empire

   After prolonged war with China and internal division, the Xiongnu confederation fractures; some tribes are absorbed into China while others scatter, ending the first great steppe empire centred on Mongolia.

   War & Rupture · from the Mongolia chronicle · Lords of the Steppe: The Xiongnu and Early Nomads · REFS 1 — Xiongnu

3. 1211

   Mongol invasion of the Jin dynasty

   Chinggis Khan attacks the Jurchen Jin dynasty of northern China and the plain of the Yellow River, after earlier attacks recorded from 1205 and 1209; the conquest is completed under his successor in 1234.

   War & Rupture · from the Mongolia chronicle · Chinggis Khan and the Birth of the Mongol Nation · REFS 2 — Genghis Khan, Ögedei Khan

4. 1227

   Death of Chinggis Khan

   Chinggis Khan dies in August 1227 during a campaign against the Tangut Xixia kingdom, leaving an empire reaching from northern China to the Caspian Sea and a realm divided among his four sons.

   Politics & Power · from the Mongolia chronicle · Chinggis Khan and the Birth of the Mongol Nation · REFS 1 — Genghis Khan

5. 1271 CE

   Kublai Khan founds the Mongol Yuan dynasty

   Kublai Khan declares the Yuan dynasty in 1271 and completes the conquest of the Song by 1279, ruling China from Dadu (Beijing) as the first foreign-led dynasty to govern all of China.

   War & Rupture · from the China chronicle · Empires of Conquest and Restoration: Yuan, Ming, Qing · REFS 2 — Yuan dynasty, Yuan Dynasty

6. 1271

   Kublai Khan founds the Yuan dynasty

   Chinggis Khan's grandson Kublai proclaims the Yuan dynasty in 1271 and completes the conquest of China by 1279, ruling all of China from Khanbaliq (Beijing) as its first non-Chinese sovereign.

   Formation · from the Mongolia chronicle · The Great Empire: Karakorum, Kublai, and the Yuan · REFS 2 — Kublai Khan, Mongol empire

7. 1273

   Xiangyang falls after Muslim engineers build counterweight trebuchets

   After a siege of almost five years from 1268, Xiangyang and Fancheng fall to the Mongols in early 1273. Kublai's nephew Abaqa, the Ilkhan of Persia, had sent two engineers, Isma'il of Hilla and Ala al-Din of Mosul, who built the first counterweight trebuchets in China.

   War & Rupture · from the Mongolia chronicle · The Great Empire: Karakorum, Kublai, and the Yuan · REFS 1 — The Mongol Siege of Xiangyang and Fan-ch'eng and the Song military

8. 1279

   The Song are defeated at Yaishan

   A naval battle at Yaishan near modern Macao on 19 March 1279 completes the Mongol conquest of China. Guinness World Records puts the area of the Mongol Empire at about 24 million km2 around this date, the largest contiguous land empire in history.

   War & Rupture · from the Mongolia chronicle · The Great Empire: Karakorum, Kublai, and the Yuan · REFS 2 — Kublai Khan, Largest contiguous empire

9. 1368

   Fall of the Yuan and retreat to the steppe

   The Chinese rebel Zhu Yuanzhang overthrows the Yuan and founds the Ming dynasty; the last Mongol emperor flees north into the steppes, ending Mongol rule over China.

   War & Rupture · from the Mongolia chronicle · The Great Empire: Karakorum, Kublai, and the Yuan · REFS 2 — Kublai Khan, Mongol empire

10. 1691-1911

    Inner and Outer Mongolia governed apart

    Under the Qing, Inner Mongolia is divided into six leagues of 49 banners, while Outer Mongolia, the Khalkha north of four aimags, is administered separately and, being further from Beijing, enjoys a higher degree of autonomy. By the 1780s Han Chinese farm tens of thousands of hectares in Inner Mongolia.

    Colonisation · from the Mongolia chronicle · Buddhism and the Manchu Overlordship · REFS 1 — Mongolia under Qing rule

11. 1691

    Khalkha Mongols submit to the Qing

    The Khalkha Mongols of the north accept Manchu overlordship, bringing Mongolia under the Qing dynasty; the Manchus govern through the Mongol nobility and impose religious controls to secure their rule.

    Colonisation · from the Mongolia chronicle · Buddhism and the Manchu Overlordship · REFS 2 — History of Mongolia: The ascendancy of the Manchu, History of Mongolia

12. 1911

    Independence declared under the Bogd Khan

    As the Qing collapses, Mongolia expels the Manchu official, proclaims independence on 1 December 1911 on the basis that its allegiance had been to the Manchus, not to China, and proclaims the Javzandamba as Bogd Khan, head of an independent theocratic monarchy, though only autonomy under Chinese suzerainty is recognized abroad.

    Independence · from the Mongolia chronicle · Independence, Revolution, and the People's Republic · REFS 3 — Mongolia: Independence and revolution, Bogd Gegeen Khan, Mongolia: A Country Study

13. October 1945

    Plebiscite affirms independence

    Mongolians affirm their independence in a plebiscite in October 1945. Inner Mongolia remains part of China.

    Independence · from the Mongolia chronicle · Independence, Revolution, and the People's Republic · REFS 2 — A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Mongolia, Outer Mongolia