A Russian monk-sinologist's route diary from Beijing to Kiakhta in 1821, with a survey of Mongol life and an essay on who the 13th century 'Tatars' really were.
Full title Notes on Mongolia (2 vols, 1828), with map of Mongolia and costume plates
Записки о Монголии, сочиненные монахом Иакинфом, с приложением карты Монголии и разных костюмов
Nikita (Father Iakinf) Bichurin headed the Russian Orthodox mission in Beijing from 1808 to 1821 and read Chinese fluently. Volume 1 of his Notes on Mongolia (1828) is the diary of his journey home across Inner Mongolia, the Gobi and Urga to Kiakhta in 1821, followed by a general description of Mongolia drawn from his own observation and Qing sources: geography, government, yurts, food, customs, religion. It closes with an essay answering the question 'Who were the Tatars of the 13th century?'. This corpus copy is the 1828 St Petersburg first edition, volume 1.
How they knew
Part eyewitness
Who “Tartar” means here
Bichurin argues that the invaders Europeans called 'Tatars' were Mongols, and that the name was a Russian mistake passed on to the West. In his own day 'Tatars' means the Turkic Muslim peoples of Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimea, who, he notes, did not call themselves by that name.
Why read it
A clear, first-hand picture of how Mongols built and lived in yurts, what a Mongol monastery town looked like in 1821, and a pioneering explanation of how 'Tatar' and 'Great Tartary' became labels.
Watch out
Bichurin relied heavily on Chinese sources and could be uncritical of them; his theory of the name is his own reasoning (he calls it a conjecture). The 1828 OCR is fair but patchy.
Urga in 1821: a monastery town of wooden temples and giant yurts
Editorial contextThe ancestor of Ulaanbaatar, as Bichurin saw it: a great monastery (Khüree) built on Tibetan lines, about 12 li round, with many irregular streets. At the centre was the court of the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu. The temples were of wood, the main one with a gilded dome; the other buildings were huge yurts covered with canvas. The lamas lived in felt tents or mud-plaster huts. A Chinese trading town (Maimaicheng) stood nearby.
Khüree, a vast monastery built according to Tibetan rules. … Its circuit is about 12 li, and it consists of many irregular streets. In the centre stands a large courtyard in which the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu resides. Here the temples are built of wood, and the main one has a gilded dome. The other buildings consist of huge yurts covered with canvas.
Working translation
Original wording
Курень, обширный монастырь, построенный по Тибетскимъ правиламъ. … Въ окружности содержитъ около 12 ли, и состоитъ изъ многихъ неправильныхъ улицъ. Въ средоточіи стоитъ обширный дворъ, въ которомъ Чжебцзунь-дамба-хутухта имѣетъ пребываніе. Здѣсь храмы построены изъ дерева и главный съ позолоченымъ куполомъ. Прочія строенія состоятъ изъ огромныхъ юртъ, обтянутыхъ парусиною.
Chagan-balgas: a Mongol emperor's capital abandoned after a year
Editorial contextCrossing Chahar country, Bichurin passed the ruins of Chagan-balgas, 'White Wall', known in Chinese history as Shahen. He says it was begun as the Middle Capital for Chinggis Khan's descendants ruling China, but the work was stopped the next year as too heavy a burden on the people, and it had lain in ruins ever since: an earthen rampart seven li round with four gates. A real Mongol-built city, identified from Chinese records.
This small town is known in Chinese history under the name Shahen. They began to build it … and designated it to be the Middle Capital (in Chinese Zhongdu) for the descendants of Chinggis reigning in China; but in the following year this work, as excessively burdensome for the people, was stopped, and since then it has lain in ruins to this day. This town consists of an earthen rampart and is seven li in circuit
Working translation
Original wording
Сей городокъ извѣстенъ въ Китайской Исторіи подъ названіемъ Ша-хенъ. Его начали строить … и назначили быть Среднею столицею (по-Китайски Чжунъ-ду) для потомковъ Чингисовыхъ, царствовавшихъ въ Китаѣ; но въ слѣдующемъ году сія работа, какъ чрезмѣру отягчительная для народа, прекращена, и онъ съ того времени донынѣ лежитъ въ развалинахъ. Сей городъ состоитъ изъ землянаго вала и въ окружности содержитъ семь ли
Editorial contextBichurin describes the yurt, 'which we call a kibitka': folding lattice walls tied with rawhide instead of pegs, which can be widened or heightened, a domed roof of poles set like rays into two half-rings, covered with one layer of felt in summer and two or three in winter and bound with woollen bands. A smoke hole at the top, a felt or wooden door always facing south-east. He gives the sizes too: 12 to 20 feet across.
The Mongols live nomadically in round yurts, which among us are otherwise called kibitkas. … They consist of folding lattice walls fastened with rawhide instead of pegs; by narrowing them one can make them higher, by widening them lower. The half-round canopy that forms the roof consists of two half-rings to which poles are fixed like rays, resting on the lattice walls. This frame they cover with felts in one layer, and in winter in two and three
Working translation
Original wording
Монголы кочуютъ въ круглыхъ юртахъ, которыя у насъ иначе называютъ кибитками. … Состоятъ изъ рѣшетчатыхъ складныхъ стѣнокъ, скрѣпленныхъ вмѣсто спеньковъ сырымъ ремнемъ; съуживая можно повышать ихъ, разширяя понижать. Полукруглый наметъ, составляющій кровлю, состоитъ изъ двухъ полукружій, къ которымъ лучеобразно прикрѣплены палки, упираемыя въ рѣшетчатыя стѣнки. Сей остовъ оболокаютъ войлоками въ одинъ, а зимою въ два и три ряда
Editorial contextBichurin explains the obo cairns he saw on hilltops: small round mounds of stones heaped on every notable height by a main road. Once a year Mongols gather there to honour the guardian spirits of the district with wrestling, horse racing and archery. Every rider passing an obo dismounts, kneels on the south side, bows three times and leaves something: a khadag scarf, an arrow, a scrap of cloth, horsehair or a pebble.
These are sacred places, where the Mongols gather once a year to worship the guardian spirits of the country. Here their festivals take place, accompanied by wrestling, horse racing and archery. At other times every Mongol riding past an obo gets off his horse, kneels on one knee before it on the south side and, raising his folded palms to his forehead, bows three times.
Working translation
Original wording
Это суть священныя мѣста, при которыхъ Монголы собираются однажды въ годъ для поклоненія духамъ покровителямъ страны. Здѣсь-то происходятъ ихъ празднества, сопровождаемыя борьбою, конскимъ ристаніемъ и стрѣляніемъ изъ луковъ. Въ прочее время каждый Монголъ, проѣзжающій мимо Обо, сходитъ съ лошади, становится предъ онымъ съ южной стороны на одно колѣно, и, поднося сложенныя ладони ко лбу, дѣлаетъ троекратное поклоненіе.
The Russians named the Mongols 'Tatars', and Europe copied them
Editorial contextBichurin says the invaders of 1237 to 1240 were Mongols of the 'Tatan' confederation, among whom the Tatar tribe near the Argun was only one conquered clan. In his view the Russians made the first mistake by calling the whole army 'Tatars', Carpini copied it through poor interpreters, and geographers without further inquiry called the whole belt from the Caspian to the Pacific 'Great Tartary'.
And so, in my opinion, the Russians, calling the Tatans 'Tatars' at their first invasion, were the first to err and passed this error on to the western peoples. … and geographers, without further investigation, called the whole belt from the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Sea Great Tartary.
Working translation
Original wording
И такъ, по моему мнѣнію, Россіяне при первомъ нашествіи Татаньцевъ, назвавъ ихъ Татарами, первые погрѣшили и сообщили сію погрѣшность западнымъ народамъ. … а Географы, безъ дальняго изслѣдованія, всю полосу отъ Каспійскаго моря до Восточнаго назвали Великою Татаріею.
How Mongol conquerors became the Turkic 'Tatars' of Kazan and Crimea
Editorial contextBichurin explains how the name moved: the Mongol lords on the Volga were few among Turkic subjects, married into them, took their language, customs and Islam, and so disappeared, reappearing under the Russian name 'Tatars' as a seemingly new people ruling Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimea. A footnote adds that the Tatars do not call themselves by that name but Uzbeks, Nogais and so on.
The conquerors, taking from the Turkestanis through marriage their manners and customs, their language and religion, little by little were completely lost, so that at last the very name of the Tatans disappeared, and under the Russian name of Tatars they became as it were a new people, which afterwards ruled in the tsardoms of Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimea.
Working translation
Original wording
Побѣдители, перенявъ отъ Туркистанцевъ съ браками ихъ нравы и обыкновенія, ихъ языкъ и религію, мало по малу совершенно потерялись, такъ что наконецъ самое имя Татаньцевъ исчезло, и они подъ Россійскимъ названіемъ Татаръ содѣлались какъ бы новымъ народомъ, который въ послѣдствіи господствовалъ въ царствахъ: Казанскомъ, Астраханскомъ и Крымскомъ.
Bichurin himself calls this a conjecture with probability on its side.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
The fine print
How we know
mixed Part firsthand observation, part drawn from other sources.
mixed: firsthand journey Beijing to Kiakhta 1821 (vol. 1) and compilation from Chinese sources on Mongol history and administration (vol. 2)
Research notes
Vol. 2 draws on Qing statutes; Bichurin criticised for uncritical use of Chinese sources.
Why it matters
First Russian sinologist account of Mongolia combining eyewitness route with Chinese administrative sources; foundation for later Russian Mongol studies.