The Khitans were an ethnic group whose language was related to the Mongolic languages. Its ruler Ambagyan founded the Khitan Liao dynasty in 907. The Liao dynasty covered a significant portion of what is now Mongolia including the basins of the three rivers Kherlen, Tuul and Orkhon. The Khitans occupied the areas vacated by the Turkic Uyghurs bringing them under their control.
The Liao dynasty soon grew strong and occupied parts of Northern China, including the modern-day Beijing. By 925 the Khitan ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and much of China north of the Yellow River. By the middle of the 10th century, Khitan chieftains had established themselves as emperors of northern China; their rule was known as the Liao dynasty. The Khitan built cities and exerted dominion over their agricultural subjects as a means of consolidating their empire.
The territory of the empire consisted of two parts: one populated by pastoral herders in the north and the other populated by croppers in the south. The two parts of the empire actively traded with each other. Lubugu, a grandson of Ambagyan, and a scholar named Tulyubu developed a Grand Alphabet based on the Chinese hieroglyphics in 920. Later, Tela, a son of Ambagyan, developed a Minor Alphabet based on the Uyghur script. A printing technology developed in the Liao territory. The Khitan language was widely studied abroad.
A Tungusic people, the Jurchen, ancestors of the Manchu, formed an alliance with the Song dynasty and reduced the Liao dynasty to vassal status in a seven-year war (1115–1122). The Jurchen leader proclaimed himself the founder of a new era, the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). Scarcely pausing in their conquests, the Jurchen subdued neighboring Goryeo (Korea) in 1226[citation needed] and invaded the territory of their former allies, the Song, to precipitate a series of wars with China that continued through the remainder of the century. The Liao dynasty fell in 1125 and some Khitans fled west after their defeat by the Jurchens and founded the Qara Khitai (1125–1218) in present-day Xinjiang and eastern Kazakhstan with capital in Balasagun, near modern Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the Western Liao also controlled some highly autonomous vassalized states, such as Khwarezm, the Eastern and the Western Kara-Khanids, etc. In 1218, Genghis Khan destroyed the Qara Khitai, after which the Khitan passed into obscurity. The modern-day minority of Mongolic-speaking Daurs in China are their direct descendants based on DNA evidence[24][25]and other Khitans assimilated into the Mongols (Southern Mongols), Turkic peoples and Han Chinese.
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