Book
Mongolian nomadic society: a reconstruction of the 'medieval' history of Mongolia
Curzon • (83) • Published In 2001 • Pages: xvii, 204
By: Bold, B. (Bat-Ochiryn).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of Mongolian nomadic society, which the author argues constitutes a unique social system. Bold examines the constitutive economic, social, political, and religious elements of nomadic society and its evolution from the time of Genghis Khaan in the12th century to the Manchurian conquest in the 18th century. Bold discusses how a herding, nomadic way of life was the only way for people to survive on the steppe and how tribal organization best suited a lifestyle based on spatial mobility. Bold points to long-term droughts as the impetus for migration and invasion of neighboring sedentary societies. Worship of the 'eternally blue sky' also suited long-distance migrations. Accoridng to Bold, the mobile herding lifestyle with its demands for flexibility, independence, and initiative accounts for the Mongolian success at war. Bold questions theories about Mongolian feudalism in a society in which there was no ownership of land and herding was organized by multiple households working together cooperatively.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Annual cycle
- Pastoral activities
- Classes
- Household
- Community structure
- Territorial hierarchy
- Districts
- Provinces
- Taxation and public income
- External relations
- Prophets and ascetics
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Mongolia
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2006
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2005
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1100-1800
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Mongolia
- NotesAdditional notes
- Bat-Ochir Bold
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-198) and index
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Mongolia