HST270: Human Diversity

Mongolian

The people, broader ethnic group, and language of Chinggis Khan.

Turkic

A broad ethnolinguistic term for the people most widespread across the Steppe.

Manchu-Tungus

A once far larger ethnolinguistic group concentrated in the Eastern Steppe known for the Jin and Qing dynasties. Present in and around Mongolia in the 12th century.

Persian

An ethnolinguistic classification referring to speakers of the the language of the same name in modern Iran, formerly named after them. This region formed the bulk of the Ilkhanate.

Chinese

An exonym referring to the state by the same name and self identified Han people. Found directly south of Mongolia. Most important part of the Mongol Empire and the bureaucracy.

Xixia

Also known as Tangut, refers to the dynasty present to the northwest of the Chinese heartland in Kansu from the early 11th century until conquest by the Mongols.

Tibetan

An ethnolinguistic term referring to the people and language of the majority of those in the region of the same name found north of the Himalayas and south of the Kunlun.

Western European

Referring to the region and its peoples broadly. Primarily Germanics, Romance/Latins.

Abbassid

Referring to the dynasty and Islamic caliphate centered around Baghdad ruling from the 8th-16th centuries but in decline since the 10th.

Semitic

Referring broadly to peoples in the Middle East who speak a language belonging to that family. Arabic, Syriac.

Korean

Ethnolinguistic term for the people on the peninsula of the same name, jutting south out of Manchuria and to the west of Japan.

Japanese

Ethnolinguistic term for the overwhelming majority of people of the island chain of the same name east of Korea and Manchuria.

Uighurs

Ethnolinguistic term for the Turkic peoples of the Tarim and Junghar basins and also the Turkic khanate of that region, Northern China and Mongolia from the 8th-9th centuries. Left a lasting impact on the Central and Eastern Steppes.

Kitans

A Mongolic people responsible for the Liao dynasty present in Mongolia, Northern China and Manchuria from the 10th-12th centuries before being replaced by the Jin.

Jin

A dynasty led by the Tungusic speaking Jurchen people conquered by the Mongols present in Northern China and Manchuria from the early 12th century.

Song

A dynasty led by Han Chinese in the Chinese heartland from the late 10th century. Not fully conquered by the Mongols until the late 13th century.

Qara-Khitai

Remnant of the Liao dynasty present in Northwestern China and part of Central Asia from the early 12th century. Conquered by the Mongols.

Khorezm-shah

Known alternatively as Khwarazm. The culturally Persian but Turkic controlled dynasty of Persia and most of Central Asia from the late 11th century. Conquered by the Mongols.

Kipchaks

Referring to the Turkic nomads and lose confederation present primarily in the Western Steppe in the 11th and 12th centuries. Conquered by the Mongols.

Rus’

Referring to the Slavic people of the Western Steppe centered around Kyiv and Novgorod. Also gives its name to the lose confederation of principalities forming the Kyivan ___.

Ayyubid

The Islamic and Arab dynasty of Egypt from the late 12th to middle 14th centuries. Fought with but was never conquered by the Mongols.

Saljuq/Seljuk

The Turkic dynasty and empire present in modern Iran from the early 11th to very late 12th centuries. Supplanted by the Khorezm-shah.

Byzantium

Known alternatively as the Eastern Roman Empire. Greek and Orthodox Empire centered around modern Istanbul until the middle 15th century. In steep decline during the Mongol period.