View source for Ongud

{{Short description|Turkic tribe}}
[[File:Mongol Empire c.1207.png|thumb|[[Mongol Empire]] c.1207, Ongud and their neighbours]]
The '''Ongud''' (also spelled '''Ongut''' or '''Öngüt'''; [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]]: Онгуд, Онход; [[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 汪古, ''Wanggu''; from [[Old Turkic]] ''öng'' "desolate, uninhabited; desert" plus ''güt'' "class marker"<ref>Rybatzki, Volker. (2004) [https://www.academia.edu/1843864/Rybatzki_2004_Nestorian_personal_names_from_Central_Asia "Nestorian Personal Names from Central Asia"] in ''Verbum et Calamus. Semitic and related studies in honour of Professor Tapani Harviainen. Studia Orientalia'' '''99'''. p. 271</ref>) were a [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribe that later became [[Mongols|Mongolized]]<ref name="Aristov" /><ref name="Ochir" /> active in what is now [[Inner Mongolia]] in [[North China|northern China]] around the time of [[Genghis Khan]] (1162–1227).<ref name="Roux, p.40">Roux, p.40</ref> Many Ongud were members of the [[Church of the East]].<ref>Phillips, p. 123</ref> They lived in an area lining the [[Great Wall of China|Great Wall]] in the northern part of the [[Ordos Plateau]] and territories to the northeast of it.<ref name="Roux, p.40"/> They appear to have had two capitals, a northern one at the ruin known as [[Olon Süme]] and another a bit to the south at a place called Koshang or Dongsheng.<ref>{{cite book|last=Halbertsma|first=Tjalling H. F.|title=Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction and Appropriation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rnYAAAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-16708-7|pages=150–157}}</ref> They acted as wardens of the marches for the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)]] to the north of [[Shanxi]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Saunders|first=John Joseph|author-link=John Joseph Saunders|title=The History of the Mongol Conquests|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFx3OlrBMpQC|year=2001|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0-8122-1766-7|page=52}}</ref>

==History==
===Origin===
The ancestors of the Ongud were the [[Shatuo]] Turks,<ref>''[[Song Lian]] et al., [[History of Yuan]]'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%85%83%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7118#%E9%98%BF%E5%89%8C%E5%85%80%E6%80%9D%E5%89%94%E5%90%89%E5%BF%BD%E9%87%8C%E3%80%88%E3%80%94%E9%97%8A%E9%87%8C%E5%90%89%E6%80%9D%E3%80%95%E3%80%89 "Vol. 118"] "阿剌兀思剔吉忽里，汪古部人，係出沙陀雁門之後。" Alawusi Tijihuli, a man of the Ongud tribe, descendant(s) of the [[Yanmen Pass|Wild Goose Pass]]'s Shatuo</ref><ref>Paulillo, Mauricio. "White Tatars: The Problem of the Öngũt conversion to Jingjiao and the Uighur Connection" in ''From the Oxus River to the Chinese Shores: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia (orientalia - patristica - oecumenica)'' Ed. Tang, Winkler. (2013) pp. 237-252</ref> who, in turn, descended mainly from the two remnant tribes of [[Western Turkic Khaganate]]: namely, the Chuyue, the [[Türgesh]]-associated Suoge, and the Anqing of Sogdian origins. In the seventh century they moved to east of modern [[Dzungaria]], then under the rule of the [[Tang dynasty]]. By the ninth century, the Shatuo were scattered over north Shanxi and modern [[Inner Mongolia]]. In 808, 30,000 Shatuo under Zhuye Jinzhong defected from the Tibetans to Tang China and the Tibetans punished them by killing Zhuye Jinzhong as they were chasing them.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mm-cEAAAQBAJ&dq=843+shatuo&pg=PT248 | title=From the Khitans to the Jurchens & Mongols: A History of Barbarians in Triangle Wars & Quartet Conflicts | isbn=9781663242587 | last1=Yuan | first1=Hong | date=14 November 2022 | publisher=iUniverse }}</ref> The Uyghurs also fought against an alliance of Shatuo and Tibetans at Beshbalik.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&dq=843+shatuo&pg=RA1-PA310 | title=History of Central Asia, the: 4-volume set | isbn=9781838608682 | last1=Baumer | first1=Christoph | date=18 April 2018 | publisher=Bloomsbury }}</ref> The Shatuo Turks under Zhuye Chixin ([[Li Guochang]]) served the Tang dynasty in fighting against their fellow Turkic people in the [[Uyghur Khaganate]]. In 839, when the Uyghur khaganate (Huihu) general Jueluowu (掘羅勿) rose against the rule of then-reigning [[Zhangxin Khan]], he elicited the help from Zhuye Chixin by giving Zhuye 300 horses, and together, they defeated Zhangxin Khan, who then committed suicide, precipitating the subsequent collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate.  In the next few years, when Uyghur Khaganate remnants tried to raid Tang borders, the Shatuo participated extensively in counterattacking the Uyghur Khaganate with other tribes loyal to Tang.<ref>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷246|vol. 246]].</ref>  In 843, Zhuye Chixin, under the command of the Han Chinese officer [[Shi Xiong]] with Tuyuhun, Tangut and Han Chinese troops, participated in a raid against the Uyghur khaganate that led to the slaughter of Uyghur forces at Shahu mountain.<ref>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷247|vol. 247]].</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zzEUAgAAQBAJ&dq=843+shatuo&pg=PA32 | title=Governing China: 150-1850 | isbn=9781603844475 | last1=Dardess | first1=John W. | date=10 September 2010 | publisher=Hackett }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nSk7EAAAQBAJ&dq=843+shatuo&pg=PA173 | title=Warfare in Chinese History | isbn=9789004482944 | last1=Ven | first1=Hans van de | date=26 July 2021 | publisher=BRILL }}</ref> A Shatuo warlord, [[Li Keyong]], mobilized 10,000 Shatuo cavalrymen and served the Tang dynasty as an ally. In 923, his son [[Li Cunxu]] defeated the [[Later Liang (Five Dynasties)|Later Liang dynasty]] and became emperor of the [[Later Tang|Later Tang dynasty]].<ref>C. P. Atwood, ''Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire'', p.424</ref><ref>Theobald, Ulrich (2013). [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/shatuo.html "Shatuo Türks 沙陀突厥"]</ref><ref>Golden, Peter Benjamin (1992). "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis Ans State Formation in the Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East". ''Turcologica''. 9. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. {{ISBN|978-3-447-03274-2}}. p. 165</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Christopher P.|last= Atwood|title=The Notion of Tribe in Medieval China: Ouyang Xiu and the Shatup Dynastic Myth|journal= Miscellanea Asiatica|year= 2010|issue= 16|url= https://repository.upenn.edu/ealc/16/|pages= 593–621}}</ref>

After the overthrow of the Li family, Shatuo commanders established the [[Later Jin (Five Dynasties)|Later Jin]], the [[Later Han (Five Dynasties)|Later Han]] and the [[Northern Han]].

===Mongol Empire===

In the 13th century, a part of Shatuo probably included in the [[Mongol Empire]] as an Ongud tribe, another part as White Tatars.<ref>Wang Kuo-wei, ''"Wang Kuo-wei researches"'', Taipei, 1968: 4985</ref><ref>Ozkan Izgi, ''"The ancient cultures of Central Asia and the relations with the Chinese civilization"''//The Turks, Ankara, 2002, p. 99</ref> According to a number of authors, the Onguds were already a Mongolized tribe in the 13th century ([[Nikolai Aristov]],<ref name="Aristov">{{cite book| author = Аристов Н. А. | url = https://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksRu/Aristov-Trudy_po_istorii_i_etnicheskomu_sostavu_tiurkskih_plemen.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170101151925/http://bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksRu/Aristov-Trudy_po_istorii_i_etnicheskomu_sostavu_tiurkskih_plemen.pdf | url-status = usurped | archive-date = January 1, 2017 | title = Труды по истории и этническому составу тюркских племен | editor = В. М. Плоских |location= Бишкек |date = 2003 |publisher= Илим | pages = 103| isbn = 5-8355-1297-X}}</ref> Ochir<ref name="Ochir">{{cite book| author = Очир А. | url = http://kigiran.com/sites/default/files/ochir_mongolskie_etnonimy.pdf | title = Монгольские этнонимы: вопросы происхождения и этнического состава монгольских народов | editor1 = Э. П. Бакаева|editor2=К. В. Орлова |location= Элиста |date = 2016 |publisher= КИГИ РАН | pages = 133–135| isbn = 978-5-903833-93-1}}</ref>). Academicians Boris Vladimirtsov<ref>{{cite book| author = Владимирцов Б. Я. | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dIxxDwAAQBAJ&q=%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%82%D1%8B+%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8B%2C+%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B2%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B5+%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BB%D0%B5+%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%9A%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B | title = Чингис-хан |date = 2020 |publisher= Litres | pages = 58| isbn = 978-5-04-137262-0}}</ref> and [[Vasily Bartold]]<ref>{{cite book| author = Бартольд В. В. | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vfdoAAAAMAAJ&q=даже+южные+монголы%2C+онгуты%2C+у+китайской+Великой+стены | title = Сочинения. Том V. Работы по истории и филологии тюркских и монгольских народов |location= Москва |date = 1968 |publisher= Наука | pages = 210}}</ref> believed that ethnically the Onguds were already the southern Mongols. According to the Mongolian chronicler Sanan-Setsen, the Onguds at the time of [[Genghis Khan]] were part of the Su Mongols.<ref name=":1">{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4w8hAQAAMAAJ&q=%D0%A1%D1%83-%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8B+%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8+%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8B+(%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D1%8B%D1%82,+%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%82,+%D1%87%D1%83%D1%80%D1%87%D1%8B%D1%82) | title = Проблемы этногенеза и этнической культуры тюрко-монгольских народов: сборник научных трудов |date = 2007 |publisher= Калмыцкий гос. университет | pages = 52| isbn = 978-5-91458-011-4 }}</ref>

The Ongud chief [[Alaqush|Ala Kush Tegin]] revealed the [[Naimans]] plan to attack Genghis Khan in 1205 and allied with the Mongols. When  Genghis Khan invaded the Jin Dynasty in 1211, Ala Kush Tegin supported him. Genghis married his daughter [[Alakhai Bekhi]] to one of Ala Kush's sons. However, political opponents killed Ala Kush Tegin. Genghis put down the rebellion and  took the family under his protection, with his daughter the de facto ruler.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Secret History of the Mongol Queens | author= Weatherford, Jack.| year=2010 | publisher=Broadway Paperbacks, New York}}</ref> [[Alakhai Bekhi]] ruled the Ongud as regent for several underage princes until the reign of [[Güyük Khan]] (1246–48).

Many famous post-Genghis Mongols are of Ongud descent, including the well-known traveler, diplomat, and [[Christian monasticism|monk]] of the [[Church of the East]], [[Rabban Bar Sauma]] (1220–1294). The Ongud proved good allies to [[Kublai Khan|Kublai]].<ref>John Man ''Kublai khan'', p.319</ref> For example, the Ongud ruler [[George (Ongud king)|George]] married Kublai's two granddaughters and fought against [[Kaidu]], whose protégé [[Duwa]] captured and killed him later in 1298. A number of Öngüd, including George, were said to have been converted to Catholicism by [[John of Montecorvino]] (1246–1328).<ref>{{cite book |last=Tang |first=Li |chapter=The 'Nestorian' Ongut King George in Medieval Chinese, Latin and Syriac Sources |title=Syrische Studien: Beiträge zum 8. Deutschen Syrologie-Symposium in Salzburg 2014 |publisher=LIT Verlag |year=2016 |pages=227–243 |editor=Dietmar W. Winkler |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/49353468}}</ref>

After 1221 many Onguds were resettled in Khwarezm, where they served as governors for the [[Golden Horde]]. They formed part of the [[Argyn]]s and the [[Mughal tribe]]. The Onguds in Mongolia became an otog of the [[Tumed]] in the 15th century. The Onguds gradually vanished from historical records and likely assimilated into other Turkic and Mongol tribes beginning in the post-Yuan period. The Mongols of Inner Mongolia, Mongolia and western China eventually converted to [[Tibetan Buddhism]] from the 16th century onwards.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tang|first=Li|title=East Syriac Christianity in Mongol-Yuan China|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2011|isbn=978-3-447-06580-1|location=Wiesbaden|pages=148}}</ref>

==Art and architecture==
The [[University of Hong Kong]] possesses a collection of around a thousand 13th- and 14th-century bronze [[Nestorian cross]]es from the Ongud region collected during the 1920s by F. A. Nixon, a British postal official working in northern China.  Although their designs vary, [[Maltese cross]]es with a square central panel displaying a [[swastika]], the Buddhist good luck symbol, predominate.<ref>F. S. Drake, 'Nestorian Crosses and Nestorian Christians in China under the Mongols', ''Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society'', 1962</ref>

The Ongud Monument Ensemble was constructed by the Turkic tribes during the 6th-8th centuries for their noblemen.  This consists of over 30 man-like figures, a lion and a sheep, and about 550 standing stones in alignments reminiscent of Carnac or Avebury.  There is also a large tomb made of 4 sculptured slabs.  Each slab has the front face decorated with a trellis-pattern like the walls of a [[yurt]], and a simple frieze on top.

== See also ==
* [[List of medieval Mongol tribes and clans]]
* [[Christianity among the Mongols]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book|author=Phillips, J. R. S.|title=The Medieval Expansion of Europe|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1998|edition=second|isbn=0-19-820740-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/medievalexpansio0000phil}}
*[[Jean-Paul Roux|Roux, Jean-Paul]], ''Histoire de l'Empire Mongol'', [[Fayard]], {{ISBN|2-213-03164-9}}

{{Turco-Mongol}}
{{Turkic peoples}}
{{Mongol tribes of the 12th century |state=expanded}}

[[Category:Turco-Mongol]]
[[Category:Church of the East Christians]]
[[Category:Turkic peoples of Asia]]
[[Category:Extinct Turkic peoples]]