Two states, one landscape
Between the fall of the Turkic khaganates in the middle of the eighth century and the rise of the Mongols in the early thirteenth, the Mongolian steppe was dominated first by the Uyghurs and later by the influence of the Khitan. These two groups differed in language, religion and politics, but both are important for one reason in particular: they built walled towns and administrative centers on a steppe known mostly for tents, herds and mounted warriors. Many of their ruins can still be traced, and their cultural influence passed into later steppe history.
The periods did not follow each other neatly. In between lay a time of fragmentation, with the Kyrgyz and other groups holding parts of the region. The word “overlapping” is a good description of how power moved from one center to another.
The Uyghur khaganate
Around 744, the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking people, took control of the steppe after the collapse of the Second Turkic Khaganate. They are not the same as the modern Uyghurs of Xinjiang in a simple way, although the names are connected and there is a historical link. The Uyghur khaganate allied with the Tang dynasty in China and helped it in a major rebellion of the 750s, receiving silk and other goods in return. Historical sources describe a trade in which the Uyghurs exchanged horses for silk, and the details of the rates are debated.
The capital, usually called Ordu-Baliq, was built on the Orkhon River, in the area now known as the Orkhon Valley. Its ruins are sometimes called Khar Balgas, a Mongolian name meaning something like “black city.” Visitors who see the site find a large area of earthen walls and mounds, with a tall tower base still standing. Written and archaeological evidence suggests that the Uyghurs had a mix of nomadic and settled life, with farming, workshops and traders around a ruler’s court.
Religion and writing
In the 760s, the Uyghur ruler adopted Manichaeism, a religion that originated in Persia, which is unusual for a steppe power. Uyghurs also used several scripts, including Old Turkic runes and a script derived from Sogdian, a language of Central Asian traders. That Sogdian-derived script later became the model for the writing the Mongols adopted in the early thirteenth century, which is the origin of the traditional script still used in Mongolia in certain contexts. This is one of the clearest threads connecting the Uyghurs to the Mongol world.
The end of the khaganate
In 840, the Uyghur state collapsed after internal troubles, natural hardship, and an attack by Kyrgyz forces from the north. Many Uyghurs moved south and west. Some settled in the oases of what is now Xinjiang, where they built new states and carried their culture forward. The Kyrgyz took over for a period but are less visible in the record than the Uyghurs.
The Khitan and the Liao
The Khitan were a people from the lands east of the steppe, speaking a language that was probably related to Mongolic languages, though that relationship is a matter of scholarly debate. In the early tenth century, a leader named Yelü Abaoji unified Khitan tribes and in 916 established a state that later took the Chinese dynastic name Liao. It ruled a large territory including parts of northern China and, at times, influence over areas of Mongolia.
The Liao was a dual-system state: it governed nomadic peoples through one set of institutions and settled Chinese subjects through another. It built towns, used its own scripts, and had a Buddhist court culture. Its connection with the steppe is seen in military campaigns toward the Orkhon and in the establishment of garrison or administrative towns in the region.
City ruins in Mongolia
Archaeologists have identified a number of walled sites in northern and central Mongolia that are often attributed to the Khitan period. One often-mentioned example is Chin Tolgoi Balgas, in the north. The sites are typically rectangular enclosures with earthen walls, often with evidence of buildings inside. Because these places are remote, little visited and not always firmly dated, the attributions are sometimes uncertain, and signs or guides may give differing information.
The fall of the Liao
In 1125, the Liao dynasty was destroyed by the Jurchen, who founded the Jin dynasty. Part of the Khitan elite fled west under a leader known as Yelü Dashi and created a new state in Central Asia, often called the Western Liao or Qara Khitai. The name Khitan survived in the outside world in a different form: in many languages, including Russian, the word for China derives from it, as in “Cathay” in older English.
What these eras left behind
The legacy of the Uyghur and Khitan periods is mixed but real:
- Ruined towns. They show that large settlements existed on the steppe long before the Mongol capital at Karakorum; indeed, the Mongols later built close to the Uyghur capital, and the location of Karakorum capital is often connected to older sites in the same valley.
- Writing. The Mongol script descends from an Uyghur one, and Mongol rulers used Uyghur scribes and administrators.
- Religious variety. The Uyghurs’ Manichaeism and Buddhism, and the Khitan’s Buddhism, helped introduce ideas that later moved through the Mongol Empire.
- Political models. The idea of ruling both nomads and townspeople with different systems was later used by the Mongols and their successors.
How to approach the sites
Visitors should be aware that these ruins are often modest to the eye, with low walls and grassy mounds. Their importance becomes clearer with a guide or a good museum visit. Access may depend on weather and road conditions, and some sites are not formally developed. The Orkhon Valley area also contains the older Turkic monuments described in the separate article on Turkic khaganates and the Orkhon inscriptions, so the region offers a layered view of the pre-Mongol past.