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■ Source: Itinerario 24:2 (2000), pp. 44–61. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MONGOL IDENTITY IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed the development of a Mongol identity. The Mongol conquests in the thirteenth century had laid the foundations but had not truly forged such an identity. These earlier events provided, in modern parlance, the cultural memory that eventu- ally served to unify them. However, the Mongol Empire actually revealed the fractiousness of the Mongols and their inability to promote the unity that might gradually have fostered a Mongol identity. As Joseph Fletcher argued, the creation of a supra-tribal identity for nomadic herders has proven to be extremely difficult.1 The so-called Mongol Empire attested to this predicament, as within two generations it evolved into four separate Khanates, which occasionally waged war against each other. For example, individual Khanates frequently sided with non-Mongols against fellow Mongols. In addition, the military, the quintessential Mongol institution, was not, as the Empire expanded, composed simply of Mongols. Turks, Persians, and even Chinese served in and sometimes led the Mongol armies, contributing to the blurring of Mongol identity. The glorious successes of the Mongol Empire offered later Mongols solace and the model of a great historical legacy. During the Ming era, different leaders, Esen in the fifteenth century and the Dayan Khan in the sixteenth century, sought to unify the Mongols, but both failed to elicit suf- ficient support.2 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, faced with threats to their lands and to their very existence, the Mongols repeatedly sought to identify with heroes of the past, an effort that was significant in inspiring bonds of identity. This cultural memory helped to overcome some of the barriers to unity. Survival as a group dictated a definite asser- tion of identity in defense of the nutagh (‘native land’ or ‘birth place’) and ulus (‘country’ or, in this case, ‘independent political structure’). Such affirmations entailed both an explicit identification of what constituted ‘Mongolness’ as well as what did not—that is, the distinctions between themselves and the Manchus and Chinese. Without these affirmations, the Tsarist Russian Empire and Qing China would simply overwhelm and subject them to intense pressure to assimilate. Lack of a specific identity as Mongols would make them vulnerable. 444 the development of mongol identity Since their first appearance in the twelfth century, the Mongols had managed to retain their independence from the surrounding settlement- based civilisations but had not carved out a unifying identity. However, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries initiated a dramatic change in the relationships between the sedentary civilisations and the Mongols. The agrarian civilisations now began to encroach on the lands of the pas- toral nomads. Manchu China and Tsarist Russia expanded into territo- ries earlier controlled by the pastoralists.3 The Manchus accomplished what no other previous dynasty of China had been able to achieve; they extended the sedentary influence into the nomadic regions. Traditional Chinese policy toward the lands to the north and north- west had fluctuated considerably throughout history. The more powerful dynasties, such as the Han and the Tang, had attempted to subjugate these lands. However, the maintenance of armies so far from the center of the Middle Kingdom strained China’s resources, and the costs of such pacifica- tion outweighed the benefits.4 The weaker dynasties adopted the basically defensive policy of building walls to prevent incursions from the pastoral nomads who sought products, either through trade or through raids, from the wealthier agrarian society. The Ming (1368–1644), for example, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries erected walls, but the Mongols and other so-called barbarians were not deterred by these barriers.5 Zunghars, Qing, and Russia The Qing, the dynasty founded by the Manchus, successfully reversed the traditional policy of the Chinese dynasties.6 It set about to annex the step- pelands, and in the process it also expanded into the regions northwest of China. The expansion was, in part, due to the effort required to pacify the Zunghar Mongols, who were based principally in Western Mongolia and in the regions in modern Xinjiang north of the Tian shan. The Zunghars underwent a transformation in the seventeenth century, which made them a vital force in Eurasian politics. Starting as pastoral nomadic peoples, the Zunghars made strides toward the creation of a more sedentary society. Their leaders had encouraged crafts and industries, promoted agriculture, embraced Buddhism, and developed a new and more precise written script for Mongol—all important steps in the fostering of a unique identity.7 The rise of the Zunghars is linked with the accession of their leader Kharakhula. He had initiated the internal consolidation of tribal con-.

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