Mongolian Khaganates
Post-Northern Yuan Mongol political entities
Featured Cases
Case
He met the Third Dalai Lama, took his khan title from him and made Tibetan Buddhism the state religion of his realm. Authority anchored in a lasting institution can outlive the leader who chose it.
Read the caseCase · Lesson in What to Avoid
Namnansüren helped launch independence and went to St Petersburg for support, but at Kyakhta in 1915 Russia and China set Mongolia's status, with Mongolia the junior party at the table. When a patron negotiates for you, its interests set the terms.
Read the case12 Rulers
Independent Mongol khanates before Qing submission
Grandson of Gersenji; recognised as khan by the Third Dalai Lama, made Tibetan Buddhism the state religion of his realm and founded Erdene Zuu monastery near Karakorum.
Read the profileAbtai's successor as head of the future Tüsheet line, with the title Ochirai Mergen Khan; carried the khanate through the first generation after the Buddhist conversion.
Read the profileConsolidated power and maintained independence during Manchu expansion.
Read the profileSubmitted to Qing authority in 1691 at Dolonnuur Assembly for protection against Dzungars.
Read the profileFirst ruler to hold the title Setsen Khan, granted by the Fifth Dalai Lama in the early 1630s; founder of the eastern Khalkha house on the Manchu frontier.
Read the profileSholoi's fifth son; held the Setsen Khan title in the last generation of full Khalkha independence, as Qing power consolidated in China.
Read the profileFled to Xilingol in the Dzungar invasion of 1688 and pledged fealty to the Kangxi Emperor; Setsen Khan from 1691, he took part in the Dolonnuur Assembly that brought Khalkha under the Qing.
Read the profileSon of Laihur, founded the Zasagt Khan line and established control over western Khalkh territory.
Read the profileSon of Subadai, maintained the khanate during period of increasing external pressures.
Read the profileBrother of Vanchig, ruled during the period leading up to Dzungar invasions.
Read the profileSubmitted to Qing in 1691, ruled as Prince of First Rank, then as khan until deposed in 1732.
Read the profileGrandson of Gersenji Khongtaiji, received the title 'Sain Noyon' from the 4th Dalai Lama.
Read the profile7 Rulers
Mongol nobility under Chinese suzerainty
Ömkhei's eldest son; held the Setsen Khan title in the first generation of Qing rule, during the Qing wars with the Dzungars.
Read the profileSain Noyon prince and son-in-law of the Kangxi Emperor; led the Khalkha victory over the Dzungars near Erdene Zuu in the early 1730s.
Read the profileHeld the Sain Noyon princely title for nearly forty years, through the destruction of the Dzungar Khanate and the long Qianlong peace.
Read the profileSon of Geveenpil, restored Zasagt Khan line and ruled under Qing administrative system.
Read the profileSon of Baldar, one of the last traditional Zasagt Khans before administrative reforms.
Read the profileHeld the Sain Noyon princely title for thirty-six years as Qing power began to decline and Chinese trading firms grew in Mongolia.
Read the profileLast Setsen Khan of the Qing era; his death without a son in 1910 passed the title to Navaanneren on the eve of independence.
Read the profile4 Rulers
Leaders during Mongolia's independence and revolutionary period
Theocratic ruler of independent Mongolia, spiritual and temporal leader until socialist revolution.
Read the profileSain Noyon Khan from 1896; helped launch the 1911 independence movement, sought Russian support and served as the first prime minister of the Bogd Khaganate.
Read the profileLast Setsen Khan; Minister of Justice of the Bogd Khaganate, later Minister of the Interior, he died in the purges of 1937.
Read the profileLast Tüsheet Khan, the eighteenth in Abtai's line; held the title through the Bogd Khan era until the aimag was renamed in 1923.
Read the profileExplore More
