14th–17th centuries
Driven from China, the Chinggisids continued the Northern Yuan on the steppe. Through Oirat–Khalkha rivalry, Esen Taishi's rise, Dayan Khan's reunification and the spread of Tibetan Buddhism under Altan Khan, the era closed when Ligdan Khan died and his son Ejei surrendered the Yuan seal to the Manchus in 1635.
1399 is the killing of Elbeg Khan and the opening of the Mongol–Oirat wars; 1634 is the death of Khara Khula and the succession of Baatur Khungtaiji, after which the Dzungars, the Khoshud (to Kökenuur in 1636) and the Torghud (to the Volga c. 1630) went their separate ways.
Dayan Khan's dates are contested: Britannica has him proclaimed in 1470 (d. 1543) while Atwood dates the enthronement to c. 1480.
This period has a page and its sources; the scroll-through chapter is not written yet.
1368–1388
Ming columns reached the Tuul and the Orkhon in 1372 but never held the steppe; after Buir Lake (1388) central Chinggisid authority fragmented. Karakorum was finally ruined in the Northern Yuan–Oirat wars after 1400; the often-repeated Ming sack of 1380 has no academic anchor.
1449
The Oirat leader Esen Taishi captured the Ming emperor Yingzong at Tumu. In 1453 he claimed the khan title despite being non-Chinggisid, and was killed soon after (1454/55).
c. 1480 (1470 in some accounts) · the sources disagree about this
Enthroned as a boy under Mandukhai's regency, Batumöngke Dayan Khan reunified the eastern Mongols into the six tümens.
Enthronement year: Atwood c. 1480, Britannica 1470.
1550–1578
Altan Khan of the Tümed raided to the walls of Beijing (1550), made the trade peace of 1571 with the Ming, and in 1578 conferred the title 'Dalai Lama' on Sonam Gyatso. Tibetan Buddhism became the plateau's dominant faith (Erdene Zuu founded in 1585, its first temple finished in 1586).
1634–1635
Ligdan, the last great khan, died in Gansu (1634); his son Ejei surrendered the Yuan imperial seal to Hong Taiji in 1635: the end of the Northern Yuan. In 1636 the Inner Mongolian princes recognized Hong Taiji and the Qing was proclaimed.