URTUULY

916 – 1125 AD

Khitan Liao · Кидан (Ляо улс)

The Khitans, classed as para-Mongolic speakers, founded their empire under Abaoji in 916, naming it Liao from 947. Their dual administration for nomads and settled subjects was inherited by the Mongols. The word 'Cathay' comes from their name.

Dated from 916, when Abaoji was proclaimed emperor. 907, his election as khagan, is also used: Atwood dates the Liao 907–1125.

The mapped Liao border shows the empire's core; its hold on the Mongolian plateau was indirect and tributary (steppe tribes appear in Liao records as tributaries).

This period has a page and its sources; the scroll-through chapter is not written yet.

Events

Abaoji proclaims the empire

916

Abaoji founded the Khitan empire and began the dual administration of nomadic and settled subjects, formalised under his successor, the model the Mongols later inherited.

The dynastic name Liao

947

The dynasty took the name Liao in 947. The Sixteen Prefectures of north China had been ceded to the Khitans by the Later Jin in 938. ~2.6M km² at 947 per Taagepera.

Dominance over the plateau

10th–11th centuries

Liao dominated the Mongolian plateau. The Mongolic-speaking ancestors of the Mongols proper, recorded in Tang sources as the Mengwu Shiwei, appear in Liao records as tributaries.

Fall to the Jurchen; Qara Khitai founded

1125

The Jurchen Jin destroyed the Liao. Yelü Dashi fled west in 1124 and founded the Qara Khitai (Western Liao), taking the title gürkhan in 1132; the state was usurped by the Naiman Küchlüg in 1211 and conquered by the Mongols in 1218.

People

  • Abaoji (Emperor Taizu) 872–926 — Founder
  • Yelü Dashi c. 1087–1143 — Founder of the Qara Khitai

Sources