Mongols
Topic: Nomadic Empires: The Mongols · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "An Empire Across Three Continents"
Meaning
The Mongols were peoples of the Central Asian steppes, the grasslands of today's Mongolia. Some were pastoralists who herded animals like horses and sheep. Others were hunter-gatherers in the Siberian forests. Their languages were related to those of the Tatars, Khitan and Manchus to the east and the Turkic tribes to the west. They did not take to farming and had no cities. They lived in tents called gers and moved between winter and summer pastures. In the 13th and 14th centuries, under Genghis Khan and his successors, they built a huge empire across Europe and Asia.
Example
In 1206 an assembly of chieftains (quriltai) proclaimed Temujin as Genghis Khan, Great Khan of the Mongols. By 1279 his successors had conquered all of China.
Don't confuse with
- Mughals: the Mughals ruled India from 1526. Their founder Babur was descended from Timur and Genghis Khan, but they were a later, settled Indian dynasty, not steppe Mongols.