Mongol, Turk and Jurchen races had been living in the Mongolian
territory from ancient times. They alternatively ruled over each other.
However the first politically organized community was the Hunnu State.
It was the prototype of the states of Mongolia. According to the
chronicles, there was a nomadic tribe Khu in the 5th century BCE. The
people was engaged in animal husbandry and each tribe had its chief
cleric. They formed a confederation of tribes. Those were the Hunnu
people who became particularly prosperous in the 4th century BCE. The
confederation annexed 24 Hunnu aimags. Tumen was named the Khaan of
the Hunnu. Tumen belonged to the aristocratic family of the Khian tribe.
It was since that period that Khaan ceased to be elected at the
conference, but became a dynastic rule. Hunnu people fell victims of the
aggressive policy pursued by the Ching dynasty, and aimed at expanding
the territory to the north. The Hunnus were driven far from the Ordos
territory. The Chinese fortified their new Great Wall. Tumen Khaan made
unsuccesful attempts to unite various Hun aimags and organize the state.
Tumen Khaan, induced by his young wife, made his youngest son the heir
to the throne. But his elder son Modun, assassinated both his father and
his younger sibling and seized the throne in 209 BCE. The Hunnu State
was not a merely Mongol State. It was the first organized State among
the nomadic people of the Central Asia. Modun Khaan annexed the
territories in the north and west. In 200 BCE he defeated the Chinese.
In 198 BCE Modun Khaan concluded a treaty with the Hun State of China.
The Hun dynasty of China, thus, recognized the Hunnu State. Modun Khaan
conquered western Turkestan and controlled the trade road, which
connected the West and East. The Hunnu State developed into a great
power. The territory of the Hunnu State extended from the Ordos to the
lake Baikal, and from the Khyangan mountain range to the Altai mountain
range. However, the Hun dynasty of China had been consistently pursuing
on the "divide and rule" policy, which in the end brought to the break
up of the Hunnu State in 48 BCE, and further collapse.
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