The origin of the Tatar-Mongols, their invasion of Russia and further fate is one of the most mythologized and speculative historical topics.
Depending on the political situation and for the sake of the pursuit of sensations, various authors put forward the most bizarre versions: from statements that there was no Tatar-Mongol yoke, to the hypothesis that Genghis Khan and his warriors were Caucasian.
The question of who should be considered the descendants of the medieval Mongols serves as an ideal bone of contention: you can play off and drive to frenzy representatives of a dozen peoples, each of which will certainly present "irrefutable" evidence of direct kinship with Temujin's warriors.
Who invented the Tatar-Mongols?
First of all, it should be noted that "Tatar-Mongols" is a term that was introduced quite late by historians for the convenience of writing books and acquainting readers with the realities of past centuries.
Genghis Khan. Portrait on cloth, made at the end of the 13th century. National Palace Museum Taipei, Taiwan. Source: sergey-v-fomin.livejournal.com
You can often find statements that Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was the first to speak about the Tatar-Mongols. This is not entirely true. Karamzin really wrote a lot on this topic, but he used the terms "Mongol yoke" or "Batu yoke".
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The conventional concept of "Tatar-Mongols" was introduced into scientific circulation by another historian - Peter Nikolaevich Naumov. In 1823 he used this term to mean "Mongols called Tatars." In subsequent years, the term organically merged with the concept of "Tatar yoke", which appeared in Polish literature at the end of the 15th century, and turned into the well-known "Tatar-Mongol yoke".
In fact, there has never been a people that included the Tatars and the Mongols. According to the Chinese chronicles of the Tang Dynasty, the ancient Mongols came from the Shiwei tribe, which belonged to the ethnic group of Khitan nomads. Chinese chroniclers called the Mongol tribes Menyu or Menwa.
From the 7th to the 10th century, this nomadic community actively settled, moving from the region in the upper reaches of the Amur to the west. Naturally, the old tribes were split up and new ones arose. As a result, the Tatars emerged from the same Shiwei tribe. They were first mentioned as an independent group in 732, and from that time they quickly gained strength. In just a hundred years, the young tribe became so powerful that the neighboring Uighurs and the inhabitants of Central Asia began to call all the steppe dwellers from the Mongolian plains "Tatars".
Genghis Khan's army storms a Chinese fortress Source: warspot.ru
Vendetta in the steppe
Relations in the medieval steppe were simple and uncomplicated: the strong killed and robbed the weak, the weak huddled in flocks to repay the offenders with the same coin.
Wars between tribes were supplemented by squabbles between clans, and those took place against the background of constant murders of some relatives by others. Even members of individual families did not hesitate to raise weapons at each other.
To the best of its ability, oil was poured into the fire by the Chinese state, for which the continuous massacre between the nomads was the best guarantee that they would not fall on the agricultural regions of the Celestial Empire.
A scene from the BBC film "Genghis Khan - Timuchin in the Struggle for Power"
At the turn of the 60s-70s of the XII century, shortly after the birth of Temujin, the Tatars, with the support of the Jin Empire, managed to defeat and destroy most of the large Mongol tribes. The genocide turned out to be so large-scale that for some time the Mongols practically disappeared from the steppe as an independent force. However, military success is a changeable thing, and the grown-up Temujin fully demonstrated this to the enemies of his tribe. In 1196, the young leader helped the Jin empire defeat the Tatar army, and in 1202 he organized a campaign against them on his own.
Having won a difficult battle, the Mongols decided to destroy all Tatars. Temujin and ordered the execution of all the prisoners, except for children whose height was less than the height of the cart wheel.
The Tatars were cut out, but the name of the tribe was already so strongly associated with the nomads of the Mongolian plains that both Europe and Russia continued to call the tribes Tatars for centuries, which put an end to the history of this community.
The steppe was the home of the Mongols, and war was the meaning of their life. Source: Still from the movie "The Secret of Chinggis Khaan", 2009
Natural blonde
The question of Genghis Khan's appearance turned out to be extremely intriguing. The first in this field was noted by the Persian historian, doctor and statesman of the XIII century Rashid ad-Din. Composing his historical work “Collection of Chronicles”, he gave a very unexpected description of Temujin's ancestors: “The third son was Yesugei-bahadur, who is the father of Genghis Khan. The Kiyat-Burjigin tribe comes from his offspring. The meaning of "burjigin" is "blue-eyed", and, oddly enough, those descendants who have so far descended from Yesugei-bahadur, his children and his Urug, are mostly blue-eyed and red-haired … according to their [Mongols] words, he is a sign of the royal power of the children of Alan-Goa."
The famous writer-storyteller, who is mistakenly perceived by many as a historian, - Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev, could not pass by such a colorful passage. In his presentation, Temujin's "blue-eyed" father turned into "green-eyed". Gumilyov's followers developed the mention of the red hair of the great khan's relatives into the assumption that he was not a Mongoloid, but a natural Caucasian.
In 2016, a real holiday took place on the street of fans of the new chronology and "true" history: while researching the Tavan Tolgoi burial in Mongolia, a group of geneticists from several countries discovered in the DNA of Genghis Khan's possible relatives signs typical for Europeans and completely uncharacteristic for Asians. Reporting the discovery, many media outlets burst into hysterical headlines that, it turns out, the great conqueror "was a European."
Sleight of hand and almost no deception
In fact, everything is not as straightforward as the adherents of alternative history like to represent. The fact is that Rashid ad-Din was born 20 years after the death of Genghis Khan, and therefore it is extremely doubtful that he had a chance to communicate with anyone who was directly acquainted with the great conqueror.
Shot from the film "Genghis Khan - the Great Mongol"
Moreover, the doctor Rashid served the Mongol empire of the Hulaguids, which occupied the territories of modern Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and partly Afghanistan, and he never visited the historical homeland of his overlords.
These two facts suggest that the "blue-eyed" and "red-bearded" ancestors of Genghis Khan are most likely just a literary device designed to emphasize the exclusiveness of the ruling dynasty.
It is noteworthy that the Mongolian and Chinese sources during his lifetime note only Temujin's high growth and do not say anything about any special color of his eyes or hair.
As for the genetic analysis of the skeletons from the Tavan Tolgoi burial, the researchers really managed to find a Y-chromosomal mutation characteristic of Caucasoid people. However, it is far from the fact that these remains are related to the genus from which Genghis Khan originated. The fact is that the ornament and symbols with which the grave goods were adorned were used by many Mongol tribes, and not only by the Borjigins, the genus from which Genghis Khan originated.
On top of that, radiocarbon analysis gave a very wide range of dates when organic matter could be buried: from 1130 to 1250. Thus, both those who died long before the birth of Temujin and those who were born after his death could lie in the graves.
Most likely, like most of his fellow tribesmen, Temujin was a classic Mongoloid, who is even on a poster, even in an anthropology textbook. It is a pity that the grave of the great conqueror was never found.
Death of Genghis Khan as seen by a medieval European artist. Source: aftershock.news
The heirs are a political issue
In principle, residents of any country that was under the control of the Horde can declare themselves an heir nation. There would be a desire. It's another matter how serious these claims will look from the outside.
The Mongols actively used the conquered peoples in subsequent military campaigns. But the further from the borders of Mongolia the next war took place, the less ethnic Mongols took part in it. It was not so much the Mongolian tumens who reached the borders of the Volga Bulgaria, Russia and Hungary, as a multi-tribal rabble, welded together by iron discipline and led by relatively few tribesmen of Genghis Khan.
India, the Middle East and China gradually digested their conquerors, partially assimilating, partially exterminating the relaxed conquerors. Now we can name only two regions of the world, the continuity of the inhabitants of which is beyond doubt: Mongolia, where the Mongol tribes actually took shape, and … Kalmykia, where the Russian tsars in the 17th century invited the Mongols to solve an applied problem - cleaning the Volga-Don steppes from unfriendly steppe dwellers.
As for the descendants of Genghis Khan himself, by now there may be more than a million people. However, oddly enough, for some reason they were not famous for their piercing blue eyes or burning red beards.
Alexander BEVIN