Greater Mongolia

Encyclopedia : G : GR : GRE : Greater Mongolia

The term Greater Mongolia is sometimes used to describe the contiguous territories primarily inhabited by ethnic Mongols. It approximately includes the country Mongolia (without the Bayan-Ölgiy Province), the autonomous region Inner Mongolia in China, and the Buryat Republic as well as a few smaller territories in Russia.

The people in this area share the traditional mongolian Culture to varying degrees, and they speak one of several Mongolic languages. In most parts they are rather ethnically homogeneous, except for the chinese territories which have faced systematic settlement of other ethnic groups, primarily Han Chinese.

History

The notion of the people living in those territories being "Mongols" was established at the beginning of the Mongolian Empire, when Genghis Khan united the Mongol-turkic tribes into a homogenous nation. After the collapse of the empire, most of Greater Mongolia came under Manchu rule early in the 17th century.

In the early 20th century, a specific combination of forces was aiming at reestablishing a mongolian nation within the boundaries of greater Mongolia. From the outside, those efforts were supported by Japan. Within Mongolia, the "mad baron" Roman Ungern von Sternberg followed the same idea. After taking Urga in 1921 he restored the Jebtsundamba to the throne, who was meant to maintain contact with the Japanese as a buddhist figure of authority.

After Ungern von Sternbergs defeat by the mongolian communists under Damdin Sühbaatar, the new socialist regime further considered the idea. But as both the Soviet Union and China became politically more stable, it was soon dropped, and the Mongolian People's Republic settled within the territory it had.

Following the democratic reform 1991, several private organisations tried to propagate pan-mongolian ideas again. In Mongolia those are the "Movement for for Unity of the Mongol Nation", in Buryatia the ""Movement for National Unity Negeden" and the "Buryat-Mongol Peopla's Party". However, none of those organisations has gained any significant influence.

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