E-Book, Englisch, 446 Seiten
Curtin The Mongols : A History
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-2-322-51518-9
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
From Genghis Khan to World Empire - The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Civilization
E-Book, Englisch, 446 Seiten
ISBN: 978-2-322-51518-9
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
Jeremiah Curtin (1835-1906) was an eminent American ethnographer, linguist and historian. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Curtin developed an early interest in the languages and cultures of the world. He studied at Harvard University, where he distinguished himself by his exceptional linguistic skills. Curtin traveled the world as an ethnographer for the Smithsonian Institution, studying diverse cultures and collecting oral histories. His work on the indigenous cultures of North America, Eastern Europe and Asia was widely recognized and respected. He was fluent in several languages, including Russian, Polish and several Amerindian languages, which enabled him to carry out in-depth first-hand research. Among his many contributions, "The Mongols: A History" stands out for its detailed and rigorous analysis of the Mongol Empire. Curtin combines his linguistic skills with a methodical approach to history, offering unique insights and compelling stories about the Mongols and their lasting impact on world history. In addition to his work on the Mongols, Curtin has translated numerous literary and historical works, contributing to the dissemination of cultural and historical knowledge. He has also published several books on the mythologies and traditions of the peoples he has studied. Theodore Roosevelt's preface to "The Mongols: A History" attests to the fame and importance of Curtin's work. Roosevelt, then President of the United States, recognized the importance of Curtin's historical studies for a deeper understanding of global cultural and political dynamics.
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CHAPTER I
CLASSIFICATION, MYTH AND REALITY
FROM an obscure and uncertain beginning the word Mongol has gone on increasing in significance and spreading geographically during more than ten centuries until it has filled the whole earth with its presence. From the time when men used it at first until our day this word has been known in three senses especially. In the first sense it refers to some small groups of hunters and herdsmen living north of the great Gobi desert; in the second it denotes certain peoples in Asia and Eastern Europe; in the third and most recent, a worldwide extension has been given it. In this third and the broad sense the word Mongol has been made to in-clude in one category all yellow skinned nations, or peoples, including those too with a reddish-brown, or dark tinge in the yellow, having also straight hair, always black, and dark eyes of various degrees of intensity. In this sense the word Mongol co-ordinates vast numbers of people, im-mense groups of men who are like one another in some traits, and widely dissimilar in others. It embraces the Chinese, the Coreans, the Japanese, the Manchus, the original Mongols with their near relatives the Tartar, or Turkish tribes which hold Central Asia, or most of it. Moving westward from China this term covers the Tibetans and with them all the non-Aryan nations and tribes until we reach India and Persia.
In India, whose most striking history in modern ages is Mongol, nearly all populations save Aryans and Semites are classified with Mon-gols. In Persia where the dynasty is Mongol that race is preponderant in places and important throughout the whole kingdom, though in a minority. In Asia Minor the Mongol is master, for the Turk is still sovereign, and will be till a great rearrangement is effected.
Five groups of Mongols have made themselves famous in Europe: the Huns with their mighty chief Attila, the Bulgars, the Magyars, the Turks or Osmanli, and the Mongol invaders of Russia. All these five will have their due places later on in this history.
In Africa there have been and are still Mongol people. The Mamelukes and their forces at Cairo were in their time remarkable, and Turkish dominion exists till the present, at least theoretically, in Egypt, and west of it.
Not restricted to the Eastern hemisphere the word Mongol is still further used to include aboriginal man in America.
Thus this great aggregation of people is found in each part of both hemispheres, and we cannot consider the Mongols historically in a wide sense unless we consider all mankind.
In the first, that is the original and narrowest sense of the word it applies to those Mongols alone who during twelve centuries or longer have inhabited the country just south of Lake Baikal, and north of the great Gobi desert. It is from these Mongols proper that the name has at last been extended to the whole yellow race in both hemispheres.
The word Mongol began, it is said, with the Chinese, but this is not certain. It is certain, however, that the Chinese made it known to the great world outside, and thus opened the way to that immense applica-tion now given it. The Tang dynasty lasted from 618 to 907 and left its own history. In that history the term Mongol appears as Mong-ku, and in the annals of the Kitan dynasty which followed the Tang Mong-ku-li is the form which is given us. The Kitans were succeeded by the Golden Khans, or Kin Emperors, and in the annals of their line the Mong-ku are mentioned very often.
The Mongols began their career somewhat south of Lake Baikal when six rivers rise in a very remarkable mountain land. The Onon, the Ingoda and the Kerulon are the main western sources of that immense stream the Amoor, which enters the Sea of Okhotsk and thus finds the Pacific. The second three rivers: the Tula, Orhon, and Selinga flow into Lake Baikal, and thence, through the Lower Angara and Yenissei, are merged in Arctic waters directly in front of Nova Zembla.
These two water systems begin in the Kentei Khan mountains which have as their chief elevation Mount Burhan. The six rivers while flowing toward the Amoor and Lake Baikal water the whole stretch of country where the Mongols began their activity as known to us. There they moved about with their large and small cattle, fought, robbed, and hunted, ate and drank and slew one another during ages without reckon-ing. In that region of forest and grassland, of mountains and valleys, of great and small rivers the air is wholesome though piercingly cold during winter, and exceedingly hot in the summer months. There was subsistence enough for a primitive life in that country, but men had to fight for it savagely. Flocks and herds when grown numerous need immense spaces to feed in, and those spaces of land caused unending struggle and bloodshed. The flocks and herds were also objects of struggle, not flocks and herds only, but women. The desirable woman was snatched away, kidnapped; the good herd of cattle was stolen, and afterward fought for; the grass covered mountain or valley, or the forest with grass or good branches, or shrubbery for browsing was seized and then kept by the men who were able to hold it.
This stealing of cattle, this grabbing of pasture and forest, this fighting, this killing, this capture of women continued for ages with no apparent results except those which were personal, local, and transient till Temudjin the great Mongol appeared in that harsh mountain country. This man summed up in himself, and intensified to the utmost the ideas, strength, temper and spirit of his race as presented in action and life up to his day. He placed the Mongols on the stage of the world with a skill and a power that were simply colossal and all-conquering. The results which he won were immediate and terrifying. No man born of woman has had thus far in history a success so peculiar, so thorough and perfect, so completely acknowledged by mankind as the success won by Temudjin. There is in his career an unconquerable sequence, a finish, a oneness of character that sets it apart among all the careers of those mighty ones in history who worked for this life and no other, and strove for no object save that which is tangible, material and present; success of such kind and success so enormous that a common intelligence might yearn for it, but have no more chance of winning than of reaching the stars, or of seeing the sun during night hours.
The career of this Mongol is unique in the world, unapproachable, since its object was unmixed and immediate and his success in attaining it was so great that it seems, we might say, superhuman.
The account which is given us of Temudjin’s origin is a myth tale, excepting a few generations directly preceding him. Genealogy in the form of a myth tale is no exception in the case of any people, — no wonder. It is the rule and inevitable, the one method used by each primi-tive folk to explain its own origin. All early men in their own accounts are descended from gods who are either divine mythic animals, or ele-ments, or forces, or phenomena which become later on the progenitors of nations, or their totems.
The first mythic parents or founders of Temudjin’s family were a blue wolf and a sjrav doe. These two swam across a lake, reached the river Onon near its sources and settled down permanently at the foot of Mount Burhan, where a son called Batachi was born to them. Ninth in descent from Batachi were Duva Sohor, and Doben. The former had only one eye which was fixed in the middle of his forehead, but with that eye he saw beyond three mountain ranges. Once these two brothers climbed up Mount Burhan, and were gazing at the world from the top of it when Duva Sohor beheld many people moving down the Tungeli. "There is the wife for my brother, unless she is married,” thought Duva. “Go and see her,” said he then to Doben. Doben went to the new peo-ple straightway and learned that the woman was single and that her name was Alan Goa. The moving people were dependents of one Hori-lartai.
In time before that Bargudai, who owned Bargudjm on Lake Baikal, had a daughter whom lie gave to Horilartai of Horntumadun. From this marriage came Alan Goa, born at Alih Usun. They had left their old place since the hunting of ermine and squirrels had been stopped there. Horilartai removed to Mount Burhan, where game was abundant. He joined Shinehi Boyan, the master of Mount Burhan, and began the clan Horilar. Thus Dobeo found Alan Goa, who bore him two sons, Bu-gundai and Bailgun Etai.
Duva the one-eyed had four sons. The two brothers and their six sons lived in one company till Duva’s death; after that Duva’s four sons deserted their uncle, and founded the clan known as Dorbian.
One day while Doben was hunting he found in the forest a man roasting venison and straightway asked meat of him. The man kept one flank and the lungs, and gave the remainder to Doben who tied what he got to his saddle, and started off homeward. He met on the road a poor man and a small boy. “Who art thou?” inquired Doben. “I am of the Malish Boyandai,” said the poor man, “I am in need, give me venison, I pray thee, I will give thee my son in return for it.” Doben gave the man a deer leg, took the boy home, and made him his attendant.
Some years passed, the boy grew, and Doben died. The boy, now a man, served the widow. While a widow Alan Goa bore three sons; the eldest was Buga Hatagi, the second Tusalchi, the third Boduanchar. The two sons born of Doben said once to each other: “Our mother has no husband, no brother of our father has ever been in this yurta, still she has three sons. There is only one man in the house, he has lived with us...
