History of Mongolia

The Latest archaeological findings show that the earliest man came into being on the territory of Mongolia some 500,000 years ago, in the Early Paleolithic period.

Early Paleolithic period (500,000 years ago) - The people of the early Paleolithic time were predecessors of Neanderthal man-Arhantrop.the climate of Mongolia in that time was milder: the mountains were covered with coniferous and deciduous forest, and water-meadows prevailed in the low ground, inhabited by heat-loving antelopes and ostriches alongside mammoths and tartar foxes, which were accustomed to a cooler climate.

The transition from Early to Middle Paleolithic (40-50,000 years ago) - coincided with glaciations, which led to a sharp change in the climate. With the falling temperature, considerable changes occurred, not only in the fauna and flora but also in the physique of man. He made better implements of production, such as sharp, pointed instruments used as knives, spearheads, and scrapers for processing skins and wood. Traces of man pertaining to the Middle Paleolithic period are found in many places in the central and western part of Mongolia.

Late Paleolithic Period (40,000-12,000 years ago) - At that time, modern man (Homo sapiens) was evolving. The high level of intellectual development of the primitive people in Mongolia of that period is witnessed by a wonderful monument of primitive culture-the cave paintings of Hoit Tsenkher in Hovd province, 1,200 km west of Ulaanbaatar. The fauna of this period is represented by mammoths, hairy rhinoceroses, stags, bisons, wild asses and antelopes.

The Mesolithic Period (12,000-7,000 years ago) - The distinctive features of this period were the appearance of the bow and arrow as weapons and the domestication of animals. Arrow heads, tools and plates shaped on both sides have been founded in the east of Mongolia on the river Kherlen in the basin of the Yoroo, a tributary of the Selenge, and on the territory of South Gobi province.This stone implements are similar to a number of monuments of Mesolithic settlements in Yakut and Kamchatka, and in America.

The Neolithic Period (6,000 -4,000 years ago) - Archaeological finds have confirmed that almost the entire territory of Mongolia was inhabited by Neolithic settlers. Of particular interest are the settlements with graves and semi-subterranean dwellings near the town of Choibalsan in eastern Mongolia, and traces in the area around Bayanzag in southern Mongolia discovered in the 1920s by an American expedition led by R. C. Andrews. Frequent finds at sites and settlements are numerous discs of a purely Neolithic type, flints, knife-shaped plates and arrow-heads. It is obvious that the inhabitants of Mongolia in the Neolithic period had mastered the art of processing stones by grinding and polishing. Numerous small stone pestles and primitive mortars testify to the increasing significance of harvesting wild, edible cereals and possibly to the birth of agriculture. Along with stone implements, ancient half-egg-shaped earthenware vessels have been discovered in the Gobi.
The stone wares thus found in various parts of Mongolia indicate that this area of Central Asia was extensively populated in the Neolithic period. activity of man, which marked the transition to a more productive form of economy - agriculture and animal farming.


The Bronze and Early Iron Ages

From the end of the Neolithic period the forefathers of the Mongols gradually progressed to the production of bronze implements. Deposits of copper and tin in various regions of the country favored the development of ancient bronze metalwork, which reached its highest development at the end of the second and the beginning of the first centuries BC. There is, in particular, a whole series of bronze knives and long fighting daggers, with hafts ornamented with drawings of mountain goats and sheep. Of great interest for their exceptional workmanship are the battle-axes from South-Gobi and the double- and triple-bladed bronze pendants which the women of that time probably wore in their hair.
Rock pictures painted in red found on the territory of Mongolia date back to the Bronze Age and are typical only of this region. The main subjects depicted are rectangular and circular "yards" with a number of dots inside denoting the number of animals. They so show stylized animals and human figures standing hand-in-hand, with an eagle with its wings spread over the whole composition. Similar drawings have been found in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar and other regions.

A whole series of drawings of war chariots on rocks in the Mongolian Altai, Khangai, and central and south-western Mongolia and dating back to the end of the Bronze Age provides important evidence of the advent of wheeled transport and the development of horse-breeding in this remote era.

Research in recent years shows that the iron found in archaeological investigations in Mongolia dates back to the first half of the first millennium BC. It seems that from the fifth century BC forged metal began to be widely used for making implements and weapons. The progressive forms - by the standard of that time - of the economy of stock-breeding, and the nomadic way of life and culture became structurally matured, displaying all the important technical achievements of the strikingly unique arts of the nomads.

Along with stone-cist graves, "deer stones" are also widely found in Mongolia. These are upright stone slabs decorated with stylized pictures of running deer and finely engraved drawings of knives, daggers, bows and arrows. In fact "deer stones" are the most ancient anthropomorphic monumental sculpture. In addition to these there are a great number of pictures employing the same style engraved on rocks. In some places there are entire open-air "picture galleries", portraying scenes of individual and collective hunting with dogs for deer and wild boar, figures of horses with long swan-like necks and spindly legs, and tiger-like mythical animals.

Obviously, Mongolia's natural conditions favored animal husbandry. In the steppes, herds and flocks were provided with excellent pastures and watering-places. The foothills of the Altai Mountains in the west, the Great Hyangan in the east and the Hangai mountains in central Mongolia were suitable for moving from one place to another in search of pastures. Moreover, the forests of these mountain areas abounded with wild beasts and game birds, which were hunted for their meat and valuable furs.

In brief

209B.C – In the second millennium B.C the nomadic tribe, known as the Hunnu, founded the first powerful Empire in northeastern Asia and Shanyu (meaning King) governed it.
213 B.C – Great wall in China was built.
2nd - 4th century AD – Xiang – bi state
555 - Turkish state wins Joujan.
745 - Uigur State established.
10th century AD – Kidan state.
10th - 12th century AD – various trades of Mongolian origin lived in a vast area of land stretching from the great Gobi desert in the south to Lake Baikal in the north.
1162 - Birth of Chinggis Khaan
1206 - At Ikh Khuraldai Chinggis Khaan, the leader of “All the people who live in a felt Ger” and who finally ended up the disintegration of 12th century Mongolia, founded the Great Mongolian State”
1207 - 1226 – Chinggis Khaan conquered half the known world establishing the great Mongolian Empire”.
1227 - Death of Chinggis Khaan.
1229 - 1235 - Ogodei Khaan ascended to the throne.
1236 - 1242 - Bat Khaan’s led conquests to Europe.
ong>1240 - “The Secret History of the Mongols”
1252 - 1258 – Monkh Khaan’s conquests
1260 - 1294 - Kubilai Khaan’s conquests.
1466 - 1504 - Batmonkh Dayan Khaan re-united Mongolia after Chinggis Khaan’s death.
1409 - Mongolian again begins to split up.
13 - 15th century AD – In Mongolian history there have been 16 great Khaans and small 21 minor kings between 13th -15th centuries.
18th century AD – Mongolia was submitted to Manchu rule.
1755 - 1758 - Battle of independence by Amarsanaa, Chingunjav.
1911 - Mongolian Independence from Manchu was declared with theocratic government under the leadership of the 8th Bogd Javzandemb Hutagt who came to the throne of the Bogd Khaan (King)
1915 - Mongolian limited autonomy was fully signed by Mongolia, China, and Russian in the Treaty of khiagt.
1921 - The People’s Republic of Mongolia was proclaimed after the victory of the Mongolian People’s Revolution. Since 1924 Mongolia had been the world’s second communist country.
1937 - 1939 – This period is recorded in the pages of history as political repression or purge period.
1962 - Mongolia became a member state of the United Nations.
1981 - Spaceflights, first and only Mongolian flew into space.
1989 - 1990 - the Democratic Revolution was won peacefully and the country has changed from centrally planned system to free market economy.
1992 - first parliamentary election and new constitution