scholarly journals HYDROGRAPHIC OBJECTS OF THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS (MONGYOL-UN NIYUCA TOBCIYAN) IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF INNER ASIA

Author(s):  
M. M. Sodnompilova
Author(s):  
Marina M. Sodnompilova ◽  

Introduction. Investigation of the space once invaded and reclaimed by the Mongolic peoples is one of the pressing problems in the history of nomadic societies. Goals. The paper seeks to investigate names of positive topographic forms, analyze written sources reflecting the formation of the Mongol Empire for oronyms inherent to the medieval Mongolian language, and determine their localization. Materials and Methods. Historical geography stresses the significance of one stage in the Mongolian invasion of Inner Asia reflected in famous historical monuments, such as The Secret History of the Mongols, Compendium of Chronicles by Rashid al-Din, and Yuán Shǐ. The tasks of identifying individual objects and landforms presented in the text of The Secret History, as well as their localization in the geographical space of medieval Mongolia, were solved by the methods of phonetic reconstruction, comparative analysis of terms and historical events — through the use of 13th–14th century written sources, contemporary toponyms across the territories to have served as a historical arena for the events described. Results. The paper investigates etymologies of terms and names of orographic objects, attempts to identify the places mentioned in The Secret History within the real geographic space. Conclusions. The terminology denoting elevated landforms in The Secret History of the Mongols is distinguished by diversity and represents a very ancient stratum of vocabulary that had been formed through the abundant use of figurative words. Many terms are obsolete and do not function in modern Mongolian any more. At the same time, traces of obsolete terms are found in toponyms across territories inhabited by Mongolic peoples as such. So, the work outlines the circle of sacred orographic objects revered by the medieval Mongolian community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-27
Author(s):  
Bair Z. Nanzatov ◽  
◽  
Vladimir V. Tishin ◽  

Research objectives: This article attempts to correlate the names of the tribes of the Tatars mentioned in both the “Secret History of the Mongols” and Rashīd ad-Dīn al-Ṭabīb’s “Jāmī al-Tawārīkh”. Also, it contains separate remarks regarding the localization of certain tribal groups and later historical population groups among the Turkic and Mongol peoples, which could have a historical connection with the considered groups. At one time, P. Pelliot conducted similar work in his exhaustive study. Since then, the extension of the source base allows one to offer some adjustments of the reconstructions undertaken by him and other researchers. Research materials: The authors relied on two main sources: the Mongolian chronicle of the thirteenth century, the “Secret History of the Mongols”, and the composition of the early fourteenth century “Jāmī al-Tawārīkh”, recognized as a work of Rashīd ad-Dīn al-Ṭabīb. The “Altan Tobchi” was also used as auxiliary source, being a Mongol chronicle of the seventeenth century that essentially repeats the content of the “Secret History” in the studied fragments. In some cases, the authors turned to various Turkic texts and Chinese sources. Linguistic data offered from the known information about the languages used, as well as the ethnonymy and onomastics of the Mongolian and Turkic peoples, were used for phonetic reconstructions. Ethnographic materials were also used to a certain extent. Research results and novelty: Based on the data of Rashīd ad-Dīn al-Ṭabīb about the six tribes of the Tatars of Inner Asia, evidenced by a recently discovered document of the Yuan epoch, the authors compared the names given by the “Secret History of the Mongols” and “Jāmī al-Tawārīkh”, then involved the use of an additional source, and as a result reconstructed the names of Totoqli’ut, Alči, Čaγa’an, Küyin, Täräät / *Täräit, leaving the name *Barquy as debatable. For a number of ethnonyms, a broad justification of semantics is proposed. However, not all of them are subject to a single formation system, which is demonstrated in the text of the article.


Inner Asia ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Bol

AbstractKarl E.Ryavec’s ‘Manchu Empire or China Historical GIS? Re-mapping the China/Inner Asia Frontier in the Qing Period CHGIS’ (Inner Asia 6.2) makes an important criticism of the 1820 layer released in Version 1 of the China Historical Geographic Information System (Bol & Ge 2002). I recognise this and shall outline what is being done about it. It also questions the value of creating an historical GIS for the history of successive regimes in the general area of the People’s Republic of China. I respond to this by discussing the role of GIS in spatially-enabled historiography rather than as a contribution to historical geography. Finally, and most importantly, it points to the larger issue of how we might best conceptualise, and represent, frontiers and transitional zones between regimes and different forms of sociopolitical organisation. I shall suggest some possibilities for creating an historical GIS under these circumstances. I write as an historian of the middle-period (8th–15th century) in the first place, but inevitably my comments reflect what I have learned through my involvement with the CHGIS project, for which I am the principal investigator in terms of grants, and coeditor of the Versions 1–3 of CHGIS with Ge Jianxiong, Director of the Center for Historical Geography at Fudan University.


Author(s):  
Marina M. Sodnompilova ◽  

Goals. The paper aims to reveal open space-related toponyms traced in The Secret History of the Mongols, and localize the sites. Materials. Investigation of spaces once reclaimed by Mongolic peoples is quite a topical issue in the history of nomadic communities. And a key stage in the Inner Asian expansion of Mongols depicted in The Secret History of the Mongols is of special significance for historical geography. The vast open spaces nowadays associated with Mongols proper had not actually been their indigenous territories. Names of open spaces known in the era of Genghis Khan and his military activities have been lost, and it is difficult enough to identify the former on present-day maps. The two terms related to open spaces in The Secret History of the Mongols are keer (‘steppe’) and belchir (‘confluence point’). Conclusions. The work reveals Mongols preferred areas with mosaic landscapes that would include both elevations and steppe plains. The Orkhon River valley — crossroads of steppe arterial roads to have served as historical headquarters to earlier nomadic empires — was inhabited by Mongols only after polyethnic Inner Asian communities were united by Genghis Khan. The article presents a number of original hypotheses dealing with localization of several sites mentioned in the written monument.


2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha

In 1948 an official ‘Transfer Committee’ was appointed by the Israeli Cabinet to plan the Palestinian refugees' resettlement in the Arab states. Apart from doing everything possible to reduce the Arab population in Israel, the Transfer Committee sought to amplify and consolidate the demographic transformation of Palestine by: preventing the Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes; the destruction of Arab villages; settlement of Jews in Arab villages and towns; and launching a propaganda campaign to discourage Arab return. One of the Transfer Committee's initiatives was to invite Dr Joseph Schechtman, a right-wing Zionist Revisionist leader and expert on ‘population transfer’, to join its efforts. In 1952 Schechtman published a propagandists work entitled The Arab Refugee Problem. Since then Schechtman would become the single most influential propagator of the Zionist myth of ‘voluntary’ exodus in 1948. This article examines the leading role played by Schechtman in promoting Israeli propaganda and politics of denial. Relying on newly-discovered Israeli archival documents, the article deals with little known and new aspects of the secret history of the post-1948 period.


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