272 



MONGOLS 



MOMTKIi: 



century over a confederation of Mongol trilics 

 powerful enough to be a serious menace to the 

 Kin empire of North China: and at tin- same time 

 hr was able |,i c.-n-ry on n liiltrr contc-t against the 

 Tartars. That the' confederation was loost prob- 

 ably the only tie was the MmpeQing will of the 

 ene'rgetie chieftain is indicated by Teninjin's 

 (i.e. Genghis Khan's) early struggles. It was 

 only by dint of hard lighting and tenacious persist- 

 ency that he was able to maintain andiminilhed 

 the |mwer possessed by his father, and his father's 

 father liefore him. But the conqueror's genius was 

 in him, and he died supreme monarch of all central 

 Asia (see GENGHIS KUAN). By his will his con- 

 quests and territories were divided amongst his 

 -mis; the third, Ogotai, succeeded him as khakan 

 or chief khan of all the Mongol people. Batu and 

 Orda, the sons of the eldest son (Jnchi), were 

 invc-ted with Khwarezm, the region watered by the 

 rivers Ural, Oxus, and Jaxartes ; Jagatai, the 

 second son, received the territories l>et ween Bokhara, 

 the Irtish, and the Gobi; the region between the 

 Irtish and Lake Baikal was assigned to Ogotai; 

 and to the youngest son, Tuli, was given the home 

 country south of the Baikal. The first care of 

 OgOtU was to complete, in conjunction with his 

 brother Tuli, the conquest of North China. The 

 capital of the Kins was taken in 1234, and, the last 

 emperor of the dynasty having hanged himself, the 

 Mongol ruler l>ecame emperor in his stead. North 

 Chin* having l>een thus subdued, Ogotai proceeded 

 to conquer China south of the Yellow River, then 

 governed by the Sung dynasty, and to reduce 

 Corea. Meanwhile another army, commanded by 

 Batu, attacked and sulnlued the principalities of 

 what is now Itussia Bulgaria on the Volga, 

 Kiay.au, Moscow, Vladimir, Kieff. The force then 

 divided : one division under Batu entered Hungary, 

 crushed the Hungarians at Mohi near Tokay, and 

 captured Pesth ami Gran (1241); the other division 

 overwhelmed the Poles near Liegnitz, and pushed 

 on into Moravia. During the same period yet 

 another Mongol army was assailing Khwarezm, 

 which the son of the former ruler had recovered. 

 This army drove Jelal nd-Din out of his kingdom, 

 overran Azerbijan, and in 1230 Armenia and 

 Georgia, in all of which campaigns their path was 

 marked by terrible cruelties and atrocities. Ogotai 

 died in 1241. Kuyak, his son and successor, 

 reigned seven years, and he was followed by his 

 couin Maiigu, a son of Tuli. Both princes favoured 

 Christianity. During Mangu's reign his brother 

 Hnlagu won great fame as the punisher of the 

 Assassins (Ismaclites) in Persia, and as the 

 destroyer of the califate of Bagdad. Moreover, he 

 subjugated Syria, and captured Aleppo and 

 Damascus, and threatened Jerusalem. Invested 

 with these countries, he founded the kingdom of 

 the Ilkhans in Persia (q.v.). Mangu's successor 

 was his illustrious brother Kublai (q.v.) Khan, 

 whose descendants ruled over China (q.v.) from 

 1294 to 13IW. This eastern division of the Mongols 

 was expel I, .! from China, and its power finally 

 crushed by the. Chinese, in the end of the Utli 

 century. The same people gradually absorbed in 

 the following centuries the various small Imdies of 



Mongols scattered o\er th litre of Asia, from the 



Great Wall to the Altai Mountains on the west 

 ami Tiliet on the smith-west. In the west of .\-\-.'. 

 and the east of Kurope were formed the Kipohak 

 (i|.v.) states in Knsia, the Golden Horde, which 

 subsequently broke up into the Tartar (q.v.) 

 khanates at Kazan, Astrakhan, and the Crimea ; 

 in Turkestan, the I'zlieg (q.v.) principality, out of 

 which grew the khanates -of Bokhara and Sainar- 

 rand. Towards the end of the 14th century 

 T'iktami-li made himself chief of the eastern 

 Kipchaks, and united thereto the chieftain-hip 



of the Golden Horde : but hi- power was crushed 

 by the greater Tamerlane (q.v.). In I.") I it I'aber 

 (q.v.), a descendant of ( Jenghi-'-on .lag-it ai, founded 

 the Mogul empire in India. The Kalmucks (q.v.) 

 also belong to the western branch of the Mongols. 



The total number of Mongol- now under Chinese 

 rule is estimated at two millions. They live for 

 the most part in the immense plateau of central 

 Asia called Mongolia (area. 1.-.N8.000 sq. in.), 

 which is girdled on all sides by lofty mountain- 

 chains (Altai, Thian-Slmn, Chingan, &e. ). Its 

 southern portion consists of the vast desert of Gobi. 

 These people are still nomads, as their historic 

 ancestors before them always were. Their wealth 

 consists in Hocks of sheep, herds of horses (small, 

 but very enduring), cattle, camels, and goats. 

 They are mostly Buddhists, though those in the 

 west are in part followers of Shamanism, as all 

 Mongols were l>efore the days of the great con- 

 cineror. As a rule they are hosnitable, though 

 indifferent to personal comfort, addicted to cattle- 

 stealing and to drink, but when sober good-hearted 

 and friendly: on the whole, life lieing easy and 

 their wants few and simple, they display a lack of 

 foresight, and are lazy and dirty. They dwell in 

 tents, which are their only protection against the 

 violent sandstorms of summer and the still more 

 terrible snow-hurricanes of winter. They are fond 

 of making religious pilgrimage- to I rga (q.v.), the 

 religious capital of the country, ami to various 

 other shrines in China and Mongolia. Kalgan and 

 Kiachta are the principal commercial centres. It 

 is difficult to estimate the numbers of the western 

 Mongols, as they have in many parts commingled 

 with their Turkic neighbours : Imt see such articles 

 as Kipchaks, Kirghiz. Kussia, Siberia, Tartars, 

 Turkestan, \-c. The Burials ( q.v.), almost entirely 

 subject to Russia, are a branch of the Mongol 

 race. 



The term Mongolic is used by ethnologists to 

 descrilie the group of cognate languages which con- 

 stitute one division of the Turanian (q.v.) family 

 of speech. What Mongol literature there is con- 

 sists for the most part of translations of religions 

 works from Tibetan and Chinese, historical works 

 (notably the chronicles of Ssanang Setsen in the 

 middle of the 17th century), of folk and fairytales, 

 and a few poetic productions. Perhaps the best 

 known of the folk-tales are the collection entitled 

 Siddhi-'KAr (ed. Jiilg, I8GS). Others have l>een 

 published by him (IHtiCi ti!h, by Bergnmnn (1804 B), 

 I. J. Schmidt (1839), and Russian savants. 



See TORKS and ASIA, p. 403 ; Howorth, Hittory nf the 

 Jtfbn(/ot(1870-88) ; Oilmour, Amnnj thr Mongol* (1 

 More about Mongolia, More nl,,,nt the Mowjolt (\> 

 mi 1 liis Diariei (ed. Lovett, l.s'.iL' : 



Mongoose. See ICHNEUMON. 

 Monica. See AUGUSTINE. 

 Monicr-Williams. See WILLIAMS. 



Monism, a philosMphical theory that all being 

 may ultimately be referred to one category. Tims 

 idealism, pantheism, materialism are monisms, as 

 opposed to the Dualism (q.v.) of matter and 

 spirit. See 1'lllI.OSOI'HY. 



llonilciir. Le, a French journal, started by 

 the publisher Panckoucke, fith May 1789, under 

 the tille of the <;<i;,/fi ,\ "iiliiiinili \ mi If Mnnili iir 

 Ihiring the Revolution its reports, 

 \c. were of very great imjiortance, and its value 

 was immensely' increased when, in 1800, it was 

 mode the ollicial organ of the government. It re- 

 tained the privilege ( without the first title, <!n:rtte 

 .\tiliiiiirilc, which was dropped in 1811) down to 

 isii'.i, when it was supplanted by the Jvurnal 

 nffinel. Afterwards it was issued as an Orleanist 

 or private Conservative paper. 



