Mongolia
Mongolia
The name used to designate an immense uneven plateau, part of the Chinese Empire, extending, roughly speaking, from the Tarbagatal to the great K’ingan chains.
GEOGRAPHY
Mongolia is bounded on the north by the Siberian provinces of Tomac, Irkutsk, Yeniseisk, and Transbaikalia, as defined by the Russo-Chinese treaties of 1689 and 1727; on the east, by Manchuria, the frontier crossing the Nonni River; on the south, the frontier, after following the Shara Muran, which separates it from the Chinese provinces of Chi-li, Shan-si, Shen-si, and crossing the bend of the Hwang-ho (Ordor Country), Kan-su, includes Alashan, following part of the Great Wall; on the southwest and west it bounded by the New Dominion (Sin Kiang) and the Siberian province of Semipalatinsk to Mount Kaldar (Altaï). The population of Mongolia is estimated variously at 2,600,000 (Statesman’s Year Book, 1910), 2,580,000 or nearly 2 to the square mile, and 5,000,000. Its area of 1,357,953 square miles may be divided into three regions: the central region, known as the Mongolian Sha-mo, in contradistinction to the great Sha-mo. or desert of Gobi; the north-west region, a plateau connected with the Great Altaï, including Kobdo and Urga, and bounded on the S. E. by the Ektagh Altaï, (or Mongolian, or southern Altaï); the southwestern region of the great K’ingan, a long chain of mountains stretching from the Shara Muren to the Argún River, separating the plateau of Gobi from the Manchurian plains.
The climate is extremely dry, and varies abruptly with the season of the year and even the hour of the day. An idea of the severity of a Mongolian winter may be gathered from the following description of conditions in the month of October: “The cold by this time was almost Arctic. All our provisions were frozen through and through; potatoes were like lumps of iron; meat had to be broken rather than cut; and some eggs which we had brought with us were frozen so hard that, in spite of a preliminary thawing, the yolks were still solid lumps of ice when the whites were perfectly fried. Tea left in the bottom of a cup in the tent was frozen solid in a very few minutes. The ink froze on one’s pen as one wrote, and one had to blow on it after writing every two or three words, and each page had to be thawed over the lamp before it could be blotted. In the morning we woke up with our moustaches fringed with lumps of ice and a coating of ice along the fringe of the bed-clothes where the breath had fallen” (Kidston, “China”, no. 3, 1904, 21).
The Kerulon, or Kerélon, River, “though an inconsiderable river, is the longest of the vast arid east Mongol upland, and the permanence of the pastures along its banks has always attracted a large share of the nomad population; many of the Tsentsen princes keep their headquarters on or close to the Kerulon” (Campbell, 24). This river rises on the southern slopes of the Kental Mountains, near Mount Burkhan Kalduna and enters the Dalai Nor, five or six miles south-west of the Altan Emûl (Golden Saddle) a pair of brown hills, famous in Mongol legend, between which the river flows. The Dalaï, or Kulun Nor, is a lake in the Manchurian region, sixteen miles from north-east to south-west. and about ten miles from east to west, near the Transbakalian frontier of Russia; it was visited in 1689 by Father Gerbillion. This lake receives on the north the waters of the Dalaï Gal, which, united to the Khailar River, form the Argún River, and this in turn joins the Shilka. The Argúb and Shilka being united, take the name of Amúr, or He-lung-kiang, the great river which runs into the Okhotsk Sea. The Ursan Gol carries the overflow of the Buyr, or Bur, Nor, to the Kulun Nor; the Khalka Gol, which rises in Lake Galba, on the western slope of the great K’ingan range, flows into the Buyr Nor; near its south bank, stands the Ikhe Boshan Sume (Monastery of the Large Buddha). The Selenga River which rose into Lake Baikal, rises in the Ulan Taïga and Khan Taïga Mountains; its main tributaries are, on the left, the Eke Gol flowing from the Kosso Gol in the middle of which is the Buddhist sacred island of Dahlai Kui; on the right to Orkhun, which springs from the Khangai chain, receiving on the left the waters of the Tamir and on the right those of the Tola.
THE PEOPLE
Organization
With regard to the word Mongol, Mr. E. H. Parker (Asiatic Quart. Rev., July, 1910) writes: “It is usually believed that the Jenghiz Khan gave the name Mung-Ku (the present Chinese name for ‘Mongol’) to his people, and the word is said to mean “silver”, just as the Liao (Kitan) dynasty is said to mean ‘iron’ and the Kin (Niuchen) dynasty means ‘gold’ . . . . In the same way, I suspect the various forms, Mungu or Mungut, which have an unbroken descent from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1200 (before Jenghiz rose to power), must refer to some ancient stream or typographical peculiarity in the Onon region, near where Jenghiz arose.” In the History of the Ming Dynasty (Ming Shi) the Mongols are styled tata (Tatars) and also Men-gu. The Mongol tribes are divided unto Nui Mung-ku (Inner Mongols) and Wai Mung-ku (Outer Mongols). The Nui Mung-ku, including forty-nine banners (ho shun) arose out of the organization formed by the descendants of Jenghiz Khan, which has continued to the present time. Under the Yuan dynasty they were organized in six divisions (Djirgughan Tuman, or “Six Ten Thousands”), forming two wings, the right occupying the western portion of the Mongolian territory, the left the eastern portion. The Inner Mongols are now divided into six meng (Chinese) or chogolgán (Mongol), including twenty-four pu (Chinese) or aimak (Mongol) as follows: I. Cherim Meng, or League, comprising the following pu, or tribes: (1) Khorch’in, 6 banners; (2) Djalaid, 1 banner; (3) Turbet, 1 banner; (4) Ghorlos, 2 banners. II. Chosoy’u League: (5) Kharach’in, 3 banners; (6) T’umed, 2 banners. III. Chao Uda League: (7) Ao-Khan, 1 banner; (8) Naiman, 1 banner; (9) Barin, 2 banners; (10) Djarud, 2 banners; (11) Aru’Khorch’in, 2 banners; (12) Ongniod, 1 banner; (13) Keshkhteng, 1 banner; (14) Khalka of the Left, 1 banner. IV. Silinghol League: (15) Uchumuch’in, 2 banners; (16) Kaochid, 2 banners; (17) Sunid, 2 banners; (18) Abaga, 2 banners; (19) Abaganur, 2 banners. V. Ukan Ch’ap League: (20) Sze Tze Pu Lo, or Durban Keuked, 1 banner; (21) Mou Mingan, 1 banner; (22) Urad, 3 banners; (23) Khalka of the Right, 1 banner. VI. Ikh Chao League: (24) Ordos, 7 banners. W. F. Mayers who gives these particulars (Chinese Government) adds that with the tribes of the Ordos there are amalgamated certain fragments of the T’umed tribe, occupying the region adjacent to Kwei Hwa Ch’êng, to the north-east of the Great Bend of the Yellow River.
Inner Mongolia is broadly speaking “what is to the south of the Great Desert”: it extends over the plateau beyond the K’ingan Mountains into the Upper Valley of the Manchurian rivers, the Liao and the Sungari; it includes part of Outer Chi-li. With the exception of the Ch’ahar and the T’umed, placed under the government of Manchu generals, each Mongolian banner is ruled by an hereditary chieftain or noble (Dzassak or Jassak). These nobles are classed in six ranks from ts’in wang, “prince of the first order, to taichi, or daidji, “noble”. They are controlled by the Li fan Yuan. Campbell writes (op. cit. supra) “The descent and honours of every noble are registered in the Li Fan Yuan, in Peking, and the bearers of hereditary titles indicate their successors, who must be confirmed in their succession by decree of the Chinese Emperor. On succeeding to a title, a Jassak is summoned to Peking for audience. All the nobility of the Inner Mongol tribes pay their visits to the Chinese court at New Year by roster, a cycle of three years completing the roster, and those who do not go to court are required to attend at the local Jassak’s residence on New Year’s Day in full court dress and perform the proper obeisances in the direction of Peking. A jassak presents a sheep and a bottle of milk spirit to the emperor on these occasions and a taichi gives a ‘scalded sheep’. Such as visit Peking are banqueted and receive presents of silk, and they attend in the suite of the Chinese Emperor when he goes to offer the seasonable sacrifices.”
The Wai Mung-ku, or Outer Mongols, comprise the Khalkhas and the Kalmuks, or Western Mongols. The country stretches “along the Siberian frontier from near Lake Kulun to the Altai, and includes the four Aimak, or Khanates, of the Khalkas, and the west Mongol territories under the jurisdiction of the Chinese military government at Ulaisut’ai, Kobdo, Tarnagatai, and Uriankhai. In the term Outer Mongolia may also be included the Mongols of Kokonor and Tsaidam, who are under the control of an imperial agent stationed at Si-ning Fu”, (Cambell, op, cit.). The Khalkas constitute four great pu: (1) the T’ushsét’u Khanate, 20 banners; (2) Tsetsen Khanate, 23 banners; (3) Dzassakt’u Khanate, 18 banners; (4) Sain-noin Tribe, 22 banners. Urga (Ta-kuren) is the administrative center of the east Khalka Khanates, within the territory of the T’ushét’u Khan. Its name represents the Russian pronunciation of the Mongol word örgo (residence). According to C. W. Campbell, the full native name is Bogdo Lamain Kuhre (The God-Lama’s Encampment); shorter names are Da Kuhre, or Ikhe Kure (Great Encampment) and simply Kure; the Chinese call the place K’u-lun, or K’ulien, or Ta K’u-lien. Urga includes three towns lying to the north of the Tola River: Urga proper, the Mongol quarters; the Russian consulate and settlement, a mile and a half to the east; and farther east, Mai-mai chên, the Chinese Urga, the commercial town. There is a population of 25,000, half of whom are lamas. There is a Chinese commissioner, styled K’u-lun pan shi ta ch’en (incumbent in 1910, Yen Chi) and an assistant commissioner, styled Pang pan ta ch’en (incumbent in 1910, Pêng-ch’u-k’o-ch’ê-lin). Urga is also the residence of the cheptsundampa hut’ukat’u, or patriarch of the Khalka tribes, ranking, in the Lamaist Church, next to the Dalaï and the Panshen erdeni lamas; this title was conferred in the middle of seventeenth century by the Dalaï Lama on a son of the T’ushet’u’khan, known in Mongol history as Undur Gegen. When the British troops entered Lhasa, the Dalaï lama fled to Urga, where he arrived on the 27 Nov., 1904. Uliasut’ai, in the territory of San Noin Khalkas, is the seat of a tsiang kiun, or military governor (in 1910, K’un siu), and the two ts’an tsan ta ch’en, or military assistant governors (in 1910, Ch’ê-têng so no mu and K’uei Huan). Kobdo, on the Bayantu, has, subject to Uliasut’ai, a military assistant governor (in 1910, P’u Jun), and a commissioner, or pan shi ta ch’ên (in 1910 Si Hêng). At Si-ning there is a pan shi ch’en (in 1910, Ch’ing Shu).
The Kalmuks, or Western Mongols, next in importance to the Khalkas, include six tribes: (1) Oelöt (Eleuths) Kalmuks; (2) Turbet; (3) Turgut; (4) Khoshoit; (5) Khoit; (6) Ch’oros. To these should be added the T’sing Hsi Mung-ku, Mongols of Kokonor, including 29 banners, all Kalmuk, 21 banners being Khoshoit; the Alashan Mung-ku, Mongols of Alashan, of Kalmuk descent, with Ning hia as their chief centre; the Yeo Muh, nomadic tribes, including the Ch’ahar, near the Great Wall, the Bargu tribe, controlled by Je-hol and Kalgan, the Uriangshi, Min-gad, and Djakch’in under the Governor of Uliasut’ai. The Buriat are subject to Russia, and the Dam Mongols live in Tsaidam between Kokonor and Tibet.
As a result of the recent Russo-Japanese agreement, the Chinese Imperial Grand council studied the means of preserving the integrity of Mongol territory; it was resolved that two divisions of modern troops should be sent to this country, that education should be established according to Chinese methods, and that a railway should be built across Mongolia with its terminus at Peking.
Religion
The religion of the Mongols is Buddhism under the Lamaist form, introduced from Tibet at the end of the Ming dynasty. The lamas like the cheptsundampa hut’uknt’u at Urga, have their heads clean shaven. Large monasteries exist at Je-hol and Dolan-nor (Lama-miao) and at Wu T’al shan, in the Shan-si province. The Lamaist organization in and near Peking is named Chu-King Lama; the metropolitan Chang-chia Hut’uknt’u lives at Dolan-nor — or rather at Yung Ho Kung — and controls the Mongols of Ch’ahar. Lamaism has certainly altered the warlike character of the followers of Jenghiz, who are now a peaceful population of herdsmen. “The Lamas”, writes Kidsman (op. cit., 19) exercise enormous influence; every tent has its altar, every high ridge on the plain has its sacred cairn; the repetition of prayers and the telling of beads is repetitious and incessant, and almost every collection of ‘yerts’ has its prayer flags fluttering conveniently easy petitions with every breeze that blows. Belief in the transmigration of souls and in the utter unimportance of the mere body is so strong that the bodies of laymen are not buried at all, but simply thrown out on the plain, where the dogs make short work of them.The taking of life is regarded with horror, though sheer necessity makes an exception and provides quibbling excuses for the slaughter of sheep. On the whole journey we only saw one fire-arm, and that was evidently intended for show rather than use. It was carried by one of the escorts provided for us by Prince Ha-la-han, and from inquiries, I believe that it represented the entire armament of the Principality.”
Customs, Languages, etc.
The typical Mongol is short and stumpy; the head is shaven, with the exception of a tuft of hair, a souvenir of the Manchu conquest. Family ties are very loose; marriage being a civil contract the binding force of which is the mere will of the parties. Stock-breeding is the occupation of practically all Mongols. They are remarkable horsemen, and their ponies which are excellent, are branded. They have herds of camel, and yaks are to be seen in the mountainous parts of northern Mongolia. Mr. George J. Kidston (China, no.3, 1940) observes, “both in features and in character they are less foreign to the European than the Chinese. They often have almost ruddy complexions; they laugh more heartily, have none of the endless formalities and (to us) crooked ways of thought that distinguish the Chinese, and they have even certain customs that strike one as being distinctly Western. The women, for instance, when they meet, embrace one another and kiss both cheeks, while the men shake both hands. . . . perhaps the first thing that strikes a stranger about the Mongols, after their exceeding filthiness, is their love of talking. . . . Hospitality is a universal virtue, and one may enter any ‘yurt’ on the plain and be sure of a welcome. . . .They are excitable, but courage is not their strong point, and disputes die out in lengthy warfare of words.” They are also lazy and voracious. They live on mutton, milk, and brick tea; they have neither flour, vegetables, or eggs. “They have one very excellent preparation which the Chinese call ‘milk skin’; it is made by boiling milk until the cream settles in a thick skin on the top, and it much resembles Devonshire cream. The only native strong drink is made from fermented mare’s milk. We are told that it is intoxicating if partaken of in large quantities. The Mongols, however, have a decided weakness for Chinese wine and spirits, and the Chinese always speak of them as a drunken race” (op. cit., 19). The Mongol tent (gher, or yurt) is made of a trellis of wooden staves neatly fastened together with strings of hide, the whole being covered with felt, the best of which comes from Russian Turkistan.
The Mongol language belongs to the Ural-Altaic family, the Kalmuk dialect, though containing a number of Turkish words, being the purer. The Uighúr is the basis of the modern Mongol and Manchu characters; it is of Syriac origin, introduced in eastern Turkistan by the early Nestorian missionaries. There is a dialect poem in Uighúr, the “Kudatku bibk”, dating from A.D. 1069, which was published in 1870 by Armenius Vambery, and in 1891 by W. Radloff.
HISTORY
When Jenghis Khan died on 18 Aug., 1227, his dominions were divided among his four sons. Juji, the eldest son, died before his father, and was replaced by his own son Batu, who had for his share the plains of Kipchak, the lower course of the Syr-Daria, the Aral and Caspian seas, the valleys of the Don and the Vulga, and northward beyond the Ural River; Chagatai had the kingdom of Mávará-un-Nahr, or Transoxiana, and also what is not chinese Turkestan, Ferghána, Badakshan, etc., and his capital was Amalik; Okkodai, the third son, had the Mongol country with the capital Karákorum; lastly, Tu-li had the territory between the Karákorum mountains and the sources of the Onon River. Karákorum (kara, black; kuren, a camp) was called by the Chinese Ho-lin, and was chosen for his capital by Jenghiz Khan in 1206. iys ful name, Ha-la Ho-lin, was taken from a river to the west. In the spring 1235, Okodai had a wall built around Ho-lin. After the death of Kúblái, Ho-lin was latered to Ho-Ning, and in 1320 the name of the province was changed to Lingpe (“mountainous north”, i.e., the Ying-shan chain, separating china poper from mongolia. Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni Tso, or Erdeni Choa, monastery, founded in 1586, occupies the site of Karákorum, near the bank of the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old) Orkhon. In 1256, Mangku Khan decided to transfer the seat of government to Kaiping fu, or Shang-tu, near the present Dolon nor, north of Peking. In 1260, Kúblái transferred his capital to Ta-tu (Peking), and it was called Khan-baligh. The second Supreme Kahn was Okkodai (1229-41), replaced by his son Kuyuk (third Great Khan) (1246-48), Turakina being regent (1241-46); Ogugalmish was regent (1248-51). The title was then transferred to the Tu-li branch of Jenghiz family, and the fourth great Khan was Mangku, who was killed at the siege of Ho-chou in Sze-ch’uan (1251-57).
Kúblái, brother of Mangku, who succeeded him in 1260, was the fifth great Khan and the first real Emperor China of the Yuan Dynasty (1280). His ancestors have the following dynastic titles or miao hao: T’ai Tsu (Jenghiz), T’ai Tsung (Okkodai), Ting Tsung (Kuyuk), Hien Tsung (Mangku). Kúblái himself has the miao hao of She Tsu and the two reign-titles (nien hao) of Chung T’ung (1260) and Che Yuan (1264). The list of his successors according to their miao hao, with nien hao in parentheses, is as follows: Ch’êng Tsung, 1295 (Yuan Chêng, 1295; Ta Teh, 1297); Wu Tsung, 1308 (Che Ta, 1308); Jên Tsung, 1312 (Hwang K’ing, 1312; Yen Yew, 1314); Ying Tsung, 1321 (Che Che, 1321); Tai Ting Ti, 1324; (Tai Ting, 1324; Che Ho, 1328); Ming Tsung, 1329 (T’ien Li, 1329); Wen Ti, 1330 (T’ien Li, 1330, Che Shup, 1330); Shun Ti, 1333 (Yuan Tung, 1333; Che Yuan, 1335; Che Chêng, 1341). The misconduct of the emperors led a Chinese priest, Chu Yuan-chang, to raise the standard of rebellion and expel the Mongols, in 1368. The priest ascended to the throne under the title of Hung Wu, and established his dynasty, the Ming, at Nan-king. Of the Court of Kúblái Khan the Venetian traveller Marco Polo has left us a glorious account. China was then divided into twelve sheng, or provinces: Cheng Tung, Liao Yang, Chung Shu, Shen-si, Ling Pe (Karákorum), Kan Su, Sze-ch’wan, Ho-nan, Kiang-Pe, Kiang-che, Hiang-se, Hu-Kwang, and Yun-Nan.
The younger brother of Kúblái, Hulaku, captured Bagdad, on 5 Feb., 1258; and the Khalif Mostásim Billah, the last of the Abbasid sovereigns, surrendered to the Mongol chief on 10 February. Hulaku was thus the founder of the dynasty of the Ilkhans of Iran, which included the following princes: Hulaku, until 1265; Abaka (1265-81); Nikudar Ahmed (1281-84); Arghún (1284-91); Gaikhatu (1291ï); Baïdu (1295); Ghazan Mahmud (1295-1304); Ghivas eddin Oljaitu Khudabendeh Mohammed (1304-16); Abusaïd Bahadur (1316-35); Moïzz ed-dunia we’d-din Arpa (1335-36); Musa (1336); Mohammed (1336-38); Toogha Timur (1338-39); Izz ed-din Djehan-Timur (1339); Satibeg (1339); Suleimen (1339-44); Adil Anushirwan (1344-53). After the death of Abusaïd all these princes were but nominal sovereigns, overruled by five small dynasties: (1) Ilkhanian-Jelaïrid, at Bagdad (1336-1432); (2) Beni Kurt, in Khorasan and Herat (1248-1383); (3) Modhafferian, in Irak, Fars, and Kerman (1335-92); (4) Serbedarian, in Khorasan (1335-81); (5) Jubanian, in Azerbaidjan (1337-1355). They were all destroyed by Timur or his successors. Among the first Ilkhans, Arghún and Oljaitu had relations with the king of France; two letters are preserved in the French Archive, one from Arghún Khan (1289), brought by Buscarel, and the other from his son Oljaitu (May, 1305) to Philip the Fair. These letters are both in the Mongol language, and, according to Abel Rémusat and other authorities, in the Uighúr character, the parent of the present Mongol writing; facsimiles of them are given in Prince Roland Bonaparte’s “Recueil des documents de l’epoque mongole”. Under this dynasty, in 1318, Pope John XXII had created an archbishopric at Sulthanyeb. of which Franco of Perugia, William Adam (1 June, 1323), John of Cora (1329), and others were the incumbents, down to Thomas de Abaraner (19 Dec., 1425).
Chagasti died in 1241, and was replaced by his grandson Kara Hulaku. About 1321, under Kabak, the realm of the Chagatai was divided into two parts; Mávará-un-Nahr, or Transoxiana, and Moghulistan, or Jatah. About fifteen khans ruled Transoxiana, while confusion and discord were prevalent, until the great Timur conquered the land and restored order in 1370 (A. H. 771). The first ruler of Moghulistan (1321) was Isán Bugha Khán; after the death of Sultan Ahmed Khan (1504) a state of anarchy prevailed in the country until Sultan Mansur, the eldest son of Ahmed, established his authority at Aksu, Turfan, etc., and created the Khanate of Uighuristán, while the Kirghiz in the steppes, having elected khans, formed the Confederation of Kazák-Uzbegs, and Sultan Said Khan, third son of Ahmed, established a Khanate in Kashgar and the western provinces (see TURKESTAN).
From Juji, the eldest son of Jenghiz Khan, descended the following dynasties of khans: (1) Kipchak, 1224-1502; (2) Astrakhan, 1466-1554; (3) Great Bulgaria, 1224-1438; (4) Kazan, 1438-1552; (5) Kasimof, 1450-1681; (6) Crimea, 1420-1783; (7) Nogaïs, 1224-1301; (8) Kazák-Uzbegs, 1427-1830; (9) Turan and Tiumenm, 1225-1659; (10) Tiumen and Sibir, 1301-1588; (11) Kjarezen, 1515-1805; (12) Mávará-un-Nahr, 1500-1796.
CATHOLIC MISSIONS
In 1838, the Vicariate Apostolic of Liao-tung was detached from the Diocese of Peking. It included both Manchuria and Mongolia. Emmanuel-Jean-François-Verrolles, of the Paris Missions Etrangeres, was the first vicar Apostolic. Five years later (28 August, 1840), the new vicariate was divided into three vicariates Apostolic: (1) Liao-tung and Manchuria; (2) Mongolia; (3) Kan su. Mongolia had been a dependence of the Diocese of Peking from 1690 to 1838, and after 1783 had been administered by the Lazarists; the Paris Missions Etrangeres kept it only two years, and when it was made a separate vicariate Apostolic (28 August, 1840) at the head of it was placed Joseph Martial Mouly, titular Bishop of Fussola, who, on his transfer to Peking (1857), was replaced by Florent Daguin, titular Bishop of Troas, who died 9 May, 1859. François Tagliabue was then appointed pro-vicar and superior of the mission. On 7 Sept., 1864, the Lazarists surrendered Mongolia to the Belgian missionaries and Theophilus Verbiest (b. at Antwerp in 1823) was the first superior and pro-Vicar Apostolic; he died 23 Feb., 1868, and was succeeded as pro-vicar by Edward Smorembourg. Jacques Bax (b. 1824) was appointed vicar Apostolic 22 October, 1874, was consecrated titular bishop of Adran, 6 Jan., 1875, and died 4 Jan., 1895, at Si-wan-tze. On 21 Dec., 1883, Leo XIII divided Mongolia into three vicariates Apostolic, Eastern, Central, and Western and Southern Mongolia, all in the hands of the Belgian missionaries (Congr. Imm. Cordis B. M. V. de Scheutveld). (1) The first vicar Apostolic of Eastern Mongolia was Conrad Abels, b. at Weest, Limburg, Holland, 31 Jan., 1856, consecrated titular Bishop of Laganis, 31 Oct., 1897; residence at Sung shu tsuei tze (Notre Dame des Pins). He was by succeeded by Theodore Herman Rutjes, titular Bishop of Eleuteropolis, who died 4 August, 1896. There are in Eastern Mongolia 30 European and 12 native priests; 19,864 Christians; 18 churches. (2) Central Mongolia, after the partition in 1883, remained under Mgr. Bax, who was succeeded as vicar Apostolic by Jerome Van Aertselaer (b. 1 Nov., 1845), consecrated titular bishop of Zarai, 24 July, 1898, with residence at Siwan tze. There are 46 European and 23 native priests; 25,775 Christians; 37 churches. (3) Western-Southern Mongolia.–To the vicariate created in 1883 were added by decree of 12 Oct., 1886, the Prefecture of Ning hia from the Kan-su vicariate and the Sub-prefecture K’u-luan. The residence is at Eul she sze k’ing ti. Vicar Apostolic Alphonsus Bermyn (b. 2 Aug., 1853) was consecrated 15 April, 1901, titular bishop of Stratonicea. He replaced Alphonse de Vos, titular bishop of Abdera, d. 21 July, 1888, and Ferdinand Hamer, who was transferred from Kan-su, 30 Aug., 1888, and martyred August, 1900. There are 45 European and 1 native priests; 13,896 Christians; 30 churches. This vicariate is the Ordos country.
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BERNH. JÜLG has translated Mongolian legends and tales into German, especially Die Märchen des Siddhi Kúr (1866-1868) and I. J. SCHMIDT has translated the great work of SANANG SETZEN under the title, Geschichte der Ost Mogolen und ihres Fúrstenhauses (St. Petersburg, 1829). The latter author has also published Grammatik der Mongolischen Sprache (St. Petersburg, 1831) and Mongolisch-deutsch-russisches Wörterbuch (St. Petersburg, 1835). J. E. KOVALEVSKI, Dictionnaire mongol-russe-français (3 vols., quarto, Kasan, 1844-49). Other Mongolian scholars worthy of mention are: VON DER GABELENTZ, BOBROVNIKOV, GOLDSTUNSKY, POZDNIEV. See also CAMPBELL, Journey in Mongolia in China (1904), no. 1; KIDSTON, Journey in Mongolia in China (1904), no. 3 — both parliamentary papers; CORDIER, Bibliotheca Sinica, chapter Mongolia.
HENRI CORDIER Transcribed by M. Donahue
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XCopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Mongolia
an Asiatic country, now a part of China, situated between lat. 35 and 52 N. and long. 82 and 123 E., is bounded by the Russian government of Irkutsk in Siberia, N.E. by Mantchuria, S. by the Chinese provinces of Chili and Shan-si and the Yellow River, S.W. by Kansu, and W. by Cobdo and Ili, and has an area of 1,400,000 square miles, with a population of 2,000,000. SEE CHINA.
Geographical Features. It is chiefly a high plain, 3000 feet above the sea, almost destitute of wood and water. In the central part is the great sandy desert of Gobi, which stretches from N.E. to S.W., with an area estimated at 600,000 square miles. The chief mountain ranges of Mongolia are the Altai and its various subordinate chains, which extend eastward, under the names of Tangnu, Khangai, and Kenteh, as far as the Amur; and the Alashan and Inshan ranges, which commence in lat. 42 N. and long. 107 E., and run N.E. and N. to the Amur, in lat. 53 N. The rivers of Mongolia are chiefly in the north. The Selenga, Orkhon, and Tula unite their streams and flow into Lake Baikal. The Kerlon and Onon rise near each other, on opposite sides of the Kenteh range, and flow in a N.E. direction to the Amur. In the south, the Siramuren and its branches unite in the Lian River. Lakes are numerous, and some of them are large. South of the desert of Gobi are the Oling and Dzaring, and the Koko-nor or Blue Sea, which, according to the Chinese accounts, is 190 miles in length and 60 in breadth. In the N.W. part of the country lakes abound, the largest of which are. the Upsa-nor, Altai-nor, Alak-nor, and the Iki-ural. Mongolia is divided into four principal regions: 1, Inner Mongolia, lying between the great wall and the desert of Gobi; 2, Outer Mongolia, between the desert and the Altai mountains, and reaching from the Inner Hingan to the Tien- shan; 3, the country about Koko-nor; 4, Uliassutai and its dependencies. Inner: Mongolia is divided into 6 corps and 24 tribes, which are again divided into 49 standards, each comprising about 2000 families and commanded by hereditary princes. The Kortchin and the Ortus are the principal tribes. Another large tribe, the Tsakhars, occupy the region immediately north of the great wall. Outer Mongolia is divided into 4 circles, each of which is governed by a khan, or prince, who claims descent from Genghis Khan. The Khalkas is the principal tribe, and their 4 khanates are divided into 86 standards, each of which is restricted to a particular territory, from which it is not allowed to wander. The country about Lake Koko-nor is occupied by Turguths, Hoshoits, Khalkas, and other tribes, arranged under 29 standards. Uliassutai is a town of 2000 houses, in the western part of Mongolia, and lies in a well-cultivated valley upon the River Iro. Its dependent territories comprise 11 tribes of Khalkas, divided into 31 standards (Amer. Cyclop.).
But little is accurately known of the natural history of Mongolia, except that its immense plains and gloomy forests are inhabited by multitudes of wild animals. The camel, double-humped or Bactrian, exists in both the wild and domesticated state. In the latter condition it is the cow and horse of that region. It gives milk excellent in quality, and from it butter and cheese are prepared, .and at the same time it is the camel which serves the Mongolian frequently as a beast of burden, etc. Very little of Mongolian soil is fit for cultivation, rain or snow rarely falling in sufficient quantities, except on the acclivities of the mountain ranges. It is noticed, however, that wherever agriculture has been attempted the climate has been more or less influenced, and changes have been wrought; as e.g. in Southern Mongolia, where the Chinese, far advanced beyond the Mongols proper in culture, introduced agriculture, with the cultivation of cereals, which formerly did not grow. As a rule, the winter lasts nine months, and is suddenly succeeded by three months of intense heat.
Inhabitants. The natives of Mongolia are a part of the Mongolian race, a division of mankind numerous and widely spread according to Prof. Dieterici’s estimate, in 1859, counting as many as 528,000,000 souls, or about half the human race; the second in the classification of Blumenbach, and corresponding in almost every respect with the branch designated as Turanian by more recent ethnologists. SEE ORIGIN OF MAN.
Under the designation of Mongolians are included not only the Mongols proper, but the Chinese and Indo-Chinese, Thibetans, Tartars of all kinds, Burmese, Siamese, Japanese, Esquimaux, Samoieds, Finns, Lapps, Turks, and even Magyars. Collectively, they are the great nomadic ,people of the earth, as distinguished from the Aryans, Shemites, and Hamites. The physical characteristics of the Mongolians in their primitive state are thus described by Dr. Latham in his Descriptive Ethnology: The face of the Mongolian is broad and flat. This is because the nasal bones are depressed and the cheekbones stand out laterally; they are not merely projecting, for this they might be without giving much breadth to the face, inasmuch as they might stand forward… The distance between the eyes is great, the eyes themselves being oblique, and their caruncule being concealed. The eyebrows form a low and imperfect arch, black and scanty. The iris is dark; the cornea yellow. The complexion is tawny, the stature low. The ears are large, standing out from the head; the lips thick and fleshy rather than thin, the teeth somewhat oblique in their insertion, the forehead low and flat, and the hair lank and thin. Of course, such a description as this cannot be understood as applying to the more civilized nations of Mongol origin, such as the Turks and Magyars, especially the latter, who in physical appearance differ but little, if at all, from other European nations.
The Mongols are, with a few exceptions, nomadic in their mode of life, living in tents and subsisting on animal food, the product of their flocks and herds. The Mongol tent, for about three feet from the ground, is cylindrical in form ; it then becomes conical, like a pointed hat. Its wood-work is composed below of a trellis-work of crossed bars, which fold up and expand at pleasure. Above these a circle of poles, fixed in the trellis-work, meets at the top, like the sticks of an umbrelia. Over the wood-work is stretched a thick covering of coarse felt. The door is low and narrow, and is crossed at the bottom by a beam which serves as a threshold. At the top of the tent is an opening to let out the smoke, which can at any time be closed by a piece of felt hanging above it, to which is attached a long string for the purpose.
The interior is divided into two compartments that on the left being for the men, while that on the right is occupied by the women, and is also used as a kitchen, the utensils of which consist chiefly of large earthen vessels for holding water, wooden pails for milk, and a large bell-shaped iron kettle. A small sofa or couch, a small square press or chest of drawers (the top of which serves as all altar for an idol), and a number of goats’ horns fixed in the woodwork of the tent, on which hang various utensils, arms, and other articles, complete the furniture of this primitive habitation. The odor pervading the interior of the Mongol tent is, to those not accustomed to it, disgusting and almost insupportable. This smell, says M. Huc, so potent sometimes that it seems to make one’s heart rise to one’s throat, is occasioned by the mutton-grease and butter with which everything on and about a Tartar is impregnated. It is on account of this habitual filth that they are called Tsao-Ta-Dze (stinking Tartars’) by the Chinese, themselves not altogether inodorous, or by any means particular about cleanliness. Household and family cares among the Mongols are assigned entirely to the women, who milk the cows, make the butter and cheese, draw water, gather fuel, tan skins, and make cloth and clothes. The occupation of the men consists chiefly in conducting the flocks and herds to pasture, which, as they are accustomed from infancy to horseback, is an amusement rather than a labor. They sometimes hunt wild animals for food or for their skins, but never for pleasure.
When not on horseback, the men pass their time in absolute idleness, sleeping all night and squatting all day in their tents, drinking tea or smoking. Their education is very limited. The only persons who learn to read are the lamas or priests, who are also. the painters, sculptors, architects, and physicians of the nation. The training of the men who are not intended for priests is confined to the use of the bow and the matchlock, and a thorough mastery of horsemanship. M. Huc says: When a mere infant, the Mongol is weaned, and as soon as he is strong enough he is stuck upon a horse’s back behind a man, the animal is put to a gallop, and the juvenile rider, in order not to fall off, has to cling with both hands to his teacher’s jacket. The Tartars thus become accustomed from a very early age to the movement of the horse, and by degrees and the force of habit they identify themselves, as it were, with the animal. There is perhaps no spectacle more exciting than that of Mongol riders in chase of a wild horse. They are armed with a long, heavy pole, at the end of which is a running-knot. They gallop they fly after the horse they are pursuing, down rugged ravines and up precipitous hills, in and out, twisting and turning in their rapid course, until they come up with their game. They then take the bridle of their own horse in their teeth, seize with both hands their heavy pole, and, bending forward, throw by a powerful effort the running-knot around the wild horse’s neck. In this exercise the greatest vigor must be combined with the greatest dexterity, in order to enable them to stop short the powerful untamed animals with which they have to deal. It sometimes happens that the cord and pole are broken; but as to a horseman being thrown, it is an occurrence we never saw or heard of. The Mongol is so accustomed to ride on horseback that he is like a fish out of water when he sets foot on the ground. His step is heavy and awkward; and his bowed legs, his chest bent forward, and his constant looking about him, all indicate a person who spends the greater portion of his time on the back of a horse or a camel. The Mongols marry very young, and their marriages are regulated entirely by their parents, who make the contract without consulting the young people at all. No dowry is given with the bride, but, on the contrary, the bridegroom’s family pay a considerable price for the maiden.
A plurality of wives is permitted, but the first wife is always the mistress of the household. Divorce is very frequent, and is effected without the intervention of either the civil or the ecclesiastical authorities. The husband who wishes to repudiate his wife sends her back to her parents without any formality, except a message that he does not require her any longer. This proceeding does not give offence, as the family of the lady retain the cattle, horses, and other property given to them at the time of the marriage, and have an opportunity of selling her over again to a fresh purchaser. The women, however, are not oppressed, and are not kept in seclusion; they come and go at pleasure, ride on horseback, and visit from tent to tent. In their manners and appearance they are like the men haughty, independent, and vigorous. The chiefs of the Mongol tribes and all their blood-relations form an aristocracy, who hold the common people in a mild species of patriarchal servitude. There is no distinction of manners nor of mode of living between these classes; and though the common people are not allowed to own lands, they frequently accumulate considerable property in herds and flocks. Those who become lamas are entirely free.
History. The Mongolians, as a race, are supposed to be the same who, in remote antiquity, founded what is called the Median empire in Lower Chaldaea-an empire, according to Rawlinson, that flourished and fell between 2458 and 2234 B.C., that is, before Nineveh became known as a great city. Thus early did some of these nomadic tribes, forsaking their original pastoral habits, assume the character of a nation. Another great offshoot from this stock founded an empire in China, the earliest date of which it is impossible to trace, but which certainly had reached a state of high civilization at least 2000 years B.C. In early Greek history they figure as Scythians, and in late Roman as Huns, carrying terror and desolation over the civilized world. In the Middle Ages they appear as Mongols, Tartars, and Turks. In the beginning of the 13th century Genghis Khan, originally the chief of a small Mongol horde, conquered almost the whole of Central and Eastern Asia. His sons and grandsons were equally successful, and in 1240-41 the Mongol empire extended from the sea- board of China to the frontiers of Germany and Poland, including Russia and Hungary, and the whole of Asia, with the exception of Asia Minor, Arabia, India and the Indo-Chinese states, and Northern Siberia. This vast empire soon broke up into a number of independent kingdoms, from one of which, Turkestan, arose another tide of Mongol invasion, under the guidance of Timur or Tamerlane, who in the latter part of the 14th century reduced Turkestan, Persia, Hindustan, Asia Minor, and Georgia under his sway, and broke for a time the Turkish power. On the death of his son, shah Rokh, the Mongol empire was subdivided, and finally absorbed by the Persians and Usbeks; but an offshoot of Timur’s family founded in the 16th century the great Mogul empire of Delhi. After the decline of Timlr’s empire, the Turkish branch maintained the glory of the race, and spread terror to the very heart of Western Europe. In the 9th century the Magyars, a tribe of Ugrians, also of Mongol extraction, under their leader Arpad, established themselves in Hungary, where in process of time they became converted to Christianity, and founded a kingdom famous in European history. SEE GEORGIA; SEE HUNGARY; SEE TURKEY.
Religion.
(a) heathenism. The primitive religion of the Mongolians was no doubt largely influenced by the inspired faith, if it did not to some extent prevail among them for some time. The earliest traces reveal them as mostly adherents to Shamanism (q.v.). There are, however, among them, according to the different countries in which they reside, and to the several names of which the reader has been referred, various other religions, as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taouism, fire-worship, paganism of different kinds, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. In Mongolia proper, that species of Buddhism known as Lamaism (q.v.) was introduced in the 13th century of the Christian era, and, like the Buddhists of Thibet, they recognise as their spiritual head the grand lama at Lassa. The people are very devout, and generous to a fault in their support of religious institutions, and hence the country abounds in well-endowed lamasaries, constructed of brick and stone with elegance and solidity, and ornamented with paintings, sculptures, and carvings. The most famous of these monasteries is that of the great Kuren, on the banks of the river Tula, in the country of the Kalkas. Thirty thousand lamas dwell in the lamasary, and the plain adjoining it is always covered with the tents of the pilgrims who resort thither from all parts of Tartary. In these lamasaries a strict monastic discipline is maintained, but each lama is at liberty to acquire property by practicing as physician, by casting horoscopes, or by working as sculptor or painter, or in any occupation not inconsistent with his priestly character. Almost all younger sons of the free Mongols are devoted from infancy to the priesthood, and this tendency to monasticism is encouraged by the Chinese government, in order to keep down the growth of population among the Mongols. Almost every lamasary of the first class possesses a living Buddha, who, like the grand lama of Thibet, is worshipped as an incarnation of the deity. The influence of these personages is very great; and the Chinese emperors, who are constantly in dread of the Mongols, watch the living Buddhas with constant care, and spare no pains to conciliate them and win over to their interest those who manage these deities.
(b) Christianity. The Nestorians (q.v.), who dwelt in large numbers among the Mongolians, seem to have exerted but little if any influence on this heathen people. What was by the early Christians regarded as an indication of their leaning towards the religion and culture of the Christian dispensation, proves to have been only a temporary accommodation. The Western or Roman Church has made repeated attempts to convert the Mongols. In the 13th century, when their invasion threatened to overthrow European society and civilization, the Western pontiff, Innocent IV (1245), sent two embassies, one to charge these sanguinary warriors to desist from their desolating inroads, the other to win them over to Christianity.
The first of these, consisting of Dominicans, headed by one named Ascelin (Neander, Kirchengeschichte, 7:66), approached the commander-in-chief of the Mongol forces in Persia, but was unsuccessful. The other, consisting of Franciscans, headed by an Italian, Johannes de Plano Carpini, a disciple and devoted friend of Francis d’Assisi, pushed quite to the Tartaric court, and approached the khan in person (1246); but though they secured a hearing before the Mongolian throne, they yet failed to accomplish more than that the Mongol chief, like Vladimir of Russia, gave a patient hearing to Romanist, Nestorian, Buddhist, and Mohammedan, who each in their turn sought his conversion and influence. In 1253 Louis IX, hearing of the Mongolian’s tendency towards Christianity, despatched another Franciscan, William de *Aubruiquis (Neander, 7:69); but he reported that the Mongolian chief listened patiently to Christian emissaries, filled with the idea that the Mongol conquests would come to an end unless the gods of foreign countries were propitiated. Only one Christian Church had been founded. Rubruiquis, however, succeeded in baptizing about sixty persons; yet, after all, Rubruiquis’s success was not flattering, and he finally returned to Europe disheartened. The removal, five years later, of the capital of the Mongol empire to China (q.v.), further obstructed the progress of Christianity in Mongolia.
There developed, however, among its simple pastoral tribes an article of belief which promised much for the final establishment of Christianity, viz. the belief in the existence of one almighty Being. In their heathen views, of course, they could not content themselves with acknowledging an earthly ruler unless a supernatural origin could be assigned to him, and they made the khan the son of this one almighty Power. an earthly ruler whom all men were bound to obey. While thus there was room for the most comprehensive toleration, there was room also for every kind of superstition; and the desire to bring the one Supreme, living apart in awful isolation, into nearer communion with his feeble worshipper to bridge over the awful chasm between them predisposed the people to a composite religion of Buddhism and Lamaism (see Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, volume 2, Append. 2; 3:89; Middle Ages, page 235). Still, the son of Heaven entertained a respect for all religions, and not least for Christianity. Marco Polo, who had been sent there by Gregory X in 1274, reports Kublai Khan as saying: There are four great prophets who are reverenced by the different classes of mankind. The Christians regard Jesus Christ as their God; the Saracens, Mohammed; the Jews, Moses; the idolators, Sakyamuni Buddha, the most eminent among their idols. I honor and respect all the four (Travels, page 167, ed. Bohn, 1854). One of the most successful of the early Christian laborers from the West was John de Monte Corvino, who went to Pekin in 1292, and for eleven years kept alive the flickering spark of Christianity in the Tartar realm. He translated the Scriptures for its people, educated their youth, and trained a native ministry. Yet even his labors bore fruit only while he was on earth; for soon after the close of his life, in 1330, every vestige of his work was obliterated (Gieseler, Ecclesiastes Hist. 4:259, 260; Hardwick, Ch. Hist. M.A. pages 235, 237).
This was caused no doubt in a large measure by the termination of the Mongolian rule in China, and the accession of the Ming dynasty in 1370, which, fearing everything foreign, banished Christianity as dangerous to their interests. It remained for the Jesuits to plant Christianity anew. The missionary work performed in Persia, and in the border lands of the Caspian Sea and in Middle Asia, was so insignificant that it is not even Worth mentioning. See Maclean, Hist. of Christian Missions in the M. A. (Lond. 1863, 12mo), pages 370- 77; Assemani, Bibl. Orient. 3:2 sq.; Hue, Journey through the Chinese Empire; Recollections of a Journey through Tartary and Thibet; Schmidt, Forschungen im Gebiete der alteren religiisen, politischen, u. literarischen Bildungsgeschichte der Mongolen u. Tibeter (St. Petersb. 1824); Tumerelli, Kazan, the ancient Capital of the Tartar Khans (Lond. 1854, 2 volumes, 12mo); Neumann, Die Voilker des sidlichen Russlands (Leipsic, 1847); Aboul Ghaze Bhadour Khan, Histoire des Mogols et des Tartares (St. Petersb. 1874), volume 2; Daniels, Handb. d. Geogr. 1:346 sq.; Am. Cyclop. s.v. SEE TARTARY.