The Nomadic Civilizations That Shaped Eurasia
ANCESTORS OF HUMANITY
Lodongiin Tudev once said that the history of the Mongols should not begin only with the Xiongnu. It began many thousands of years earlier.
Archaeological evidence shows that as far back as 15,000 years ago, nomadic culture had already taken shape. Stone Age campsites, along with rock paintings depicting hunting culture, have been discovered in Bayankhongor, Govi-Altai, Khovd, and Arkhangai. These findings demonstrate that ways of life such as hunting, animal domestication, and seasonal migration existed in the Mongolian lands from very early times.
Therefore, the Xiongnu were a continuation of nomadic culture that had developed over thousands of years. We Mongols must not think of our history as something short or recent.
The peoples listed here were regarded by the ancestors of the Chinese as constant enemies—dangerous and formidable. They were often slandered and labeled as “barbaric” in historical records. Yet, those very enemies whom they feared were, in fact, the ancestors of our Xiongnu.
Although excavations of the Botai culture (around 3700 BCE) uncovered the remains of about 7,000 horses—proving the existence of mounted nomads—the history of that time remains too obscure. Therefore, I will begin slightly later, presenting a list from the period of the Jiuli tribal confederation up to the era of the Xiongnu.
Chronological List
1. Jiuli (Confederation of Nine Tribes)
2600 BCE – 2300 BCE
According to Chinese legends, they were described as nomadic hostile enemies.
2. 2300 BCE – 1300 BCE (Dark Age)
This period is historically unclear. Some historians mention a people called “Melkhi,” but this remains insufficiently studied.
3. Guifang State
1300 BCE – 900 BCE
A nomadic confederation. After their decline, groups such as the Scythians, Massagetae, and the one-eyed Arimaspi migrated westward toward Europe.
4. Xianyun
1000 BCE – 700 BCE
A state that united remnants of the Guifang along with the Run and Di tribes.
5. Di
900 BCE – 800 BCE
A confederation consisting of Northern Di, Red Di, White Di, and Long Di tribes.
6. Jung Run (Zhongrong)
800 BCE – 700 BCE
A confederation including Lu Zhong, Mountain Rong, Dog Rong, and Western Rong tribes.
7. Beidi (Northern Di)
700 BCE – 300 BCE
A union of seven tribes, including the Mon and Di.
8. Northern Xiongnu
340 BCE – 209 BCE
A confederation of 24 tribes that united parts of the Beidi and most of the Jung Run.
9. Xiongnu Empire
209 BCE – 93 CE
A great empire that unified 36 states, including the powerful Donghu (Eastern Hu) and the western Yuezhi.
1. Jiuli — Confederation of Nine Tribes
2600 BCE – 2300 BCE
In the dim twilight of the earliest ages, before the lines of history were firmly drawn, there arose the Jiuli—a confederation of nine tribes bound together by blood, oath, and the harsh will of survival.
They are remembered in ancient accounts as the people of Chi You, a warlike chieftain whose name echoes through legend as both feared and revered. Across the fertile yet contested lands of the Yellow River, they stood as relentless adversaries to Huangdi, clashing in battles that later generations would elevate into myth.
These lands—where river meets steppe, and where the winds of the north descend upon the plains—would in later ages become the southern sphere of the Xiongnu Empire, the very frontier where the steppe world pressed against the settled realms.
Though the records that speak of them are veiled in legend rather than grounded in firm archaeological proof, many scholars see within the Jiuli the shadow of early steppe-born peoples—proto-nomads whose lives were shaped by movement, conflict, and the open land.
👉 Key point: One of the earliest known large tribal confederations, possibly representing the proto-nomadic origins of steppe civilizations, in a region that later became part of the Xiongnu sphere.2. The Dark Age (Melkhi?)
2300 BCE – 1300 BCE
A long silence falls upon the written memory of this age—not because human life had diminished, but because no voices were preserved in script. This so-called “Dark Age” reflects not an absence of culture, but an absence of recorded history.
Archaeology, however, speaks where texts remain silent. Across the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Inner Asia, cultures such as the Afanasievo culture, Okunevo culture, and Andronovo culture reveal a dynamic and evolving world.
During this period, key developments took place:
The rise of early Bronze Age metallurgy
The expansion of pastoral nomadis
The establishment of seasonal migration pattern
Increasing social organization among steppe communities
In other words, by this time, the fundamental structures of nomadic life—herding, mobility, and adaptation to the степpe—were already firmly in place.
Some later interpretations refer to a people called the Melkhi, yet this name remains hypothetical and insufficiently supported by archaeological or textual evidence, existing only at the margins of scholarship.
Thus, this age was not a void, but a hidden continuum—an unbroken development of steppe culture that would later give rise to powerful tribal confederations, including those that preceded the Xiongnu.
Key point: Not a true “dark age,” but a gap in written records—while nomadic civilization continued to develop steadily through archaeological cultures. 3. Guifang — Lords of the Northern Frontier
1300 BCE – 900 BCE
From the silence of the preceding age, the Guifang emerge—not from myth alone, but from the earliest written records of neighboring civilizations. In the oracle bones and inscriptions of the Shang dynasty, their name appears as that of a persistent and formidable northern enemy.
They were not a single tribe, but a confederation of mobile steppe peoples, dwelling beyond the settled agricultural world. Their strength lay in movement: mounted warfare, seasonal migration, and the ability to strike swiftly across vast distances. To the Shang, they were both a threat and a constant presence along the northern frontier.
Archaeological and historical interpretations suggest that the Guifang belonged to the broader continuum of early steppe cultures that had been developing since the Bronze Age. Their way of life—pastoral, mobile, and war-oriented—reflects a mature form of nomadic society rather than an emerging one.
Following the decline of the Guifang, the steppe world did not fragment into silence. Instead, its peoples dispersed and transformed. Some scholars propose that elements of these northern groups contributed to the westward movements that would later be associated with the Scythians and the Massagetae, while others remained in Inner Asia, continuing the line of development that would lead toward later confederations.Thus, the Guifang stand not as an isolated people, but as a visible moment in a longer continuum—the steppe world beginning to enter the written record.
Key point: One of the earliest historically attested nomadic confederations, marking the transition from prehistoric steppe cultures to recorded history.---
1300 BCE – 900 BCE
From the silence of the preceding age, the Guifang emerge—not from myth alone, but from the earliest written records of neighboring civilizations. In the oracle bones and inscriptions of the Shang dynasty, their name appears as that of a persistent and formidable northern enemy.
They were not a single tribe, but a confederation of mobile steppe peoples, dwelling beyond the settled agricultural world. Their strength lay in movement: mounted warfare, seasonal migration, and the ability to strike swiftly across vast distances. To the Shang, they were both a threat and a constant presence along the northern frontier.
Archaeological and historical interpretations suggest that the Guifang belonged to the broader continuum of early steppe cultures that had been developing since the Bronze Age. Their way of life—pastoral, mobile, and war-oriented—reflects a mature form of nomadic society rather than an emerging one.
Following the decline of the Guifang, the steppe world did not fragment into silence. Instead, its peoples dispersed and transformed. Some scholars propose that elements of these northern groups contributed to the westward movements that would later be associated with the Scythians and the Massagetae, while others remained in Inner Asia, continuing the line of development that would lead toward later confederations.Thus, the Guifang stand not as an isolated people, but as a visible moment in a longer continuum—the steppe world beginning to enter the written record.
Key point: One of the earliest historically attested nomadic confederations, marking the transition from prehistoric steppe cultures to recorded history.---
4. Xianyun — Heirs of the Steppe Continuum
1000 BCE – 700 BCE
As the memory of the Guifang fades from the record, another name rises in its place—the Xianyun. In the chronicles of the Zhou dynasty, they appear not as strangers, but as the continuing presence of the northern world: shifting, resilient, and ever beyond the reach of fixed borders.
The Xianyun were not a sudden people, but the inheritors of earlier steppe traditions. They are often understood as the successors to the Guifang, gathering together remnants of older groups—among them the Run and the Di—and forging new alliances upon the open grasslands.
Their way of life reflects a fully developed nomadic system. Mobility, pastoral wealth, and mounted warfare defined their strength. They did not build cities, yet they shaped the course of kingdoms. Their raids and pressures upon the Zhou frontier were not isolated events, but part of a long-standing dynamic between the settled south and the mobile north.
In this age, the pattern becomes clearer: tribal fragmentation followed by reunification, decline followed by resurgence. The steppe does not vanish—it reorganizes.
For this reason, many scholars view the Xianyun as part of the direct cultural and political lineage that would, in later centuries, give rise to the Xiongnu. Though the connection is not absolute, the continuity of structure, lifeway, and geopolitical role is unmistakable.
Thus, the Xianyun stand as a bridge between the early recorded nomads and the great confederations yet to come—a living link in the unbroken chain of steppe civilization.
Key point: A successor confederation continuing the steppe tradition, often regarded as a precursor within the broader lineage leading toward the Xiongnu.
5. Di — The Many Tribes of the Northern Lands
900 BCE – 800 BCE
In the shifting tapestry of the steppe and its borderlands, the name Di does not belong to a single people, but to many. In the records of the Zhou dynasty, the Di appear as a broad designation—an assembly of tribes whose identities were as varied as the lands they roamed.
They were known in divisions: the Northern Di, the Red Di, the White Di, and the Long Di. Each bore its own character, yet all were bound by a shared lifeway shaped by movement, herding, and the demands of the frontier.
Unlike the fully nomadic confederations of later centuries, the Di often lived between worlds. Some practiced seasonal migration across the steppe, while others settled temporarily along river valleys and border regions. They traded, they raided, and at times, they entered into alliances with the states of the Zhou realm. Thus, they were neither wholly outside nor fully within the sphere of the agrarian civilizations to the south.
In this period, the boundary between steppe and settled land was not a fixed line, but a wide and shifting zone of interaction. The Di inhabited this frontier space, where cultures met, clashed, and intertwined.
Though divided into many branches, the Di represent a crucial stage in the evolution of steppe societies. From such diversity would later emerge stronger unions—confederations capable of uniting scattered tribes into a single political force.
Key point: A diverse and multi-branch group of frontier tribes, representing a transitional stage between fragmented peoples and later unified nomadic confederations.6. Jung Run (Zhongrong) — Lords of the Frontier
800 BCE – 700 BCE
Along the shifting edges of the known world, where the ordered lands of the south gave way to the vast and uncertain steppe, there arose the peoples known as the Jung Run—called Rong in the chronicles of the Zhou dynasty.
This name did not belong to a single tribe, but to many: the Lu Zhong, the Mountain Rong, the Dog Rong, and the Western Rong. To the scribes of the Zhou, they were grouped together as outsiders—yet in truth, they were diverse communities bound by a shared frontier existence.
The Jung Run lived in a world of movement and adaptation. Some roamed the highlands and valleys, others the open степpe, but all were shaped by a life that required strength, mobility, and resilience. Their society was not unified under a single ruler, but formed through loose alliances—temporary, shifting, yet capable of great force when brought together.
In this age, their presence was not merely peripheral. The pressure they exerted upon the Zhou realm grew steadily, and in time, their incursions would contribute to the weakening of the western order itself. The frontier was no longer a distant boundary—it had become a line of constant tension.
Yet, as with those before them, the Jung Run were not an isolated phenomenon. They were part of the same enduring pattern of the steppe: fragmentation and union, dispersal and return. From such peoples would emerge the conditions necessary for greater political consolidation.
Thus, the Jung Run stand as the keepers of the frontier—neither fully inside nor entirely beyond, but essential to the transformation of the steppe world
Key point: A broad frontier confederation of Rong tribes whose pressure on early states helped shape the political landscape and continued the evolution toward larger nomadic unions7. Beidi — The Northern Confederation
700 BCE – 300 BCE
From the many branches of the Di and the scattered peoples of the frontier, a greater formation began to take shape—the Beidi, known as the Northern Di. No longer merely divided tribes, they emerged as a broader confederation, gathering strength across the northern степpe and its borderlands.
In the turbulent era remembered as the Warring States period, the Beidi stood as a constant presence along the northern horizons of the competing states. Their movements were swift, their strikes sudden, and their knowledge of the land unmatched. To the settled kingdoms, they were not a distant threat, but an immediate and enduring challenge.
It was in response to such northern powers that the first great defensive measures began to rise—walls of earth and stone, built not as monuments, but as barriers against the степpe. These early fortifications, raised by various states, marked the beginning of a long struggle between mobility and permanence, between the open land and the enclosed realm.
Yet the Beidi were more than adversaries. They were the inheritors of a long lineage—drawing together elements of earlier Di and Rong groups, shaping them into a more cohesive force. The process of unification had advanced further: alliances grew stronger, leadership more defined, and the idea of a larger political entity began to take hold.
Thus, the Beidi stand at a turning point in steppe history. From their ranks, and from the patterns they embodied, would soon arise even greater unions—those capable of transforming confederation into empire.
Key point: A major northern confederation representing an advanced stage of tribal unification, directly preceding the emergence of the Xiongnu.
7. Beidi — The Northern Confederation
700 BCE – 300 BCE
From the many branches of the Di and the scattered peoples of the frontier, a greater formation began to take shape—the Beidi, known as the Northern Di. No longer merely divided tribes, they emerged as a broader confederation, gathering strength across the northern степpe and its borderlands.
In the turbulent era remembered as the Warring States period, the Beidi stood as a constant presence along the northern horizons of the competing states. Their movements were swift, their strikes sudden, and their knowledge of the land unmatched. To the settled kingdoms, they were not a distant threat, but an immediate and enduring challenge.
It was in response to such northern powers that the first great defensive measures began to rise—walls of earth and stone, built not as monuments, but as barriers against the степpe. These early fortifications, raised by various states, marked the beginning of a long struggle between mobility and permanence, between the open land and the enclosed realm.
Yet the Beidi were more than adversaries. They were the inheritors of a long lineage—drawing together elements of earlier Di and Rong groups, shaping them into a more cohesive force. The process of unification had advanced further: alliances grew stronger, leadership more defined, and the idea of a larger political entity began to take hold.
Thus, the Beidi stand at a turning point in steppe history. From their ranks, and from the patterns they embodied, would soon arise even greater unions—those capable of transforming confederation into empire.
Key point: A major northern confederation representing an advanced stage of tribal unification, directly preceding the emergence of the Xiongnu.
8. Northern Xiongnu — The Gathering of the Tribes
340 BCE – 209 BCE
From the long evolution of the steppe—through the Di, the Rong, and the Beidi—there emerged a new and more formidable unity: the early formation of the Xiongnu.
This was not yet the empire that would later shake the world, but its foundation—the Northern Xiongnu, a confederation of twenty-four tribes drawn together from the scattered peoples of the степpe. From the Beidi they inherited strength, from the Jung Run resilience, and from the deeper past the enduring patterns of nomadic life.
In this age, something fundamental began to change.
No longer were alliances merely temporary or fluid. Leadership grew more centralized, authority more defined, and the bonds between tribes strengthened under the pressure of both internal competition and external threat. The steppe, long a land of shifting unions, was beginning to move toward a more enduring political order.
Mounted warfare reached new levels of coordination. Communication across distances improved. The idea of unity—once fleeting—began to take root as necessity.
Though the name “Xiongnu” would later be known in its full power, here we witness its earliest formation: a gathering of tribes into a single will, a storm not yet unleashed, but already building across the horizon.
Thus, the Northern Xiongnu stand as the threshold between confederation and empire—the final transformation before the rise of a force that would reshape the balance between steppe and settled world.
Key point: The transitional phase in which fragmented steppe tribes united into a centralized confederation, laying the foundation for the Xiongnu Empire.
9. The Xiongnu Empire — Lords of the Eternal Steppe
209 BCE – 93 CE
At last, from the long gathering of tribes and the unbroken current of the степpe, there arose a power unlike any before it—the Xiongnu Empire.
Its true beginning is marked by the rise of Modu Chanyu, a ruler of iron will who transformed a fragile confederation into a unified empire. Through discipline, strategy, and relentless resolve, he brought the степpe under a single command, binding together tribes that had long stood apart.
Under his rule, and those who followed, the Xiongnu expanded into a vast dominion—uniting no fewer than thirty-six tribes and allied states. Their power stretched across the great grasslands, from the forests of the north to the edges of the desert, and from the rising lands of the east to the distant reaches of the west.
They were not merely raiders, as their enemies would later claim, but masters of a sophisticated system:
A structured political hierarchy under the Chanyu
A highly organized military based on mobility and speed
A diplomatic network balancing war, alliance, and tribute
Their greatest rival was the Han dynasty, with whom they waged both war and negotiation across generations. Around them stood other powerful peoples—the Donghu in the east and the Yuezhi in the west—yet the Xiongnu rose above them, forging dominance across Inner Asia.
Here, the long evolution of the steppe reached its first great culmination. What had once been scattered tribes became an empire; what had once been survival became strategy; what had once been movement became power.
And though the empire would, in time, divide and fade, its legacy would endure—echoing through the later peoples of the степpe, and shaping the very idea of nomadic empire for centuries to come.
Key point: The first great nomadic empire, representing the full political, military, and cultural maturation of the steppe tradition.A 4600-Year Continuum of Steppe Civilization
Rise of the Steppes
Khans and Commanders
From the legendary rulers of the Jiuli to Tumen Chanyu, Chinggis Khan, and modern Mongolia, steppe leadership evolved through unity, strategy, and conquest.
Neighbours and Rivals
From early tribal conflicts to encounters with China, Persia, and Rome, the steppe shaped Eurasia through war and exchange.
From Jiuli to Modern Mongolia
Tracing the political evolution of the steppe from early tribal confederations to the modern Mongolian state.
Early Conferderations
2600–700 BCE Jiuli, Guifang, Xianyun, Di Early tribal unions that shaped the foundation of steppe civilization.
Proto-Steppe Horizon
- Jiuli Confederation (九黎)
2600 – 1300 BCE (legendary–protohistoric) - Guifang / Early Northern Groups
1300 – 1000 BCE - Xianyun Confederation
1000 – 700 BCE - Rong–Di Complex (incl. Beidi)
900 – 300 BCE Early Steppe State Formation
- Proto-Xiongnu Confederations
400 – 209 BCE - Xiongnu Empire
209 BCE – 93 CE
- Proto-Xiongnu Confederations
Steppe Empires
209 BCE – 1368 CE Xiongnu, Turkic Khaganates, Mongol Empire The rise of centralized power and the greatest nomadic empires.
Xiongnu Successor Complex (Critical Transitional Layer)
- Xianbei Confederation
93 – 234 CE - Tuoba / Tabgach Xianbei (proto-state phase)
~200 – 386 - Tuoba Wei (Northern Wei Dynasty)
386 – 534 - Steppe Imperial Continuity
- Rouran Khaganate
330 – 552 - Göktürk Khaganate
552 – 744 - Uyghur Khaganate
744 – 840
Para-Mongolic Transitional Empires
- Khitan (Liao Dynasty)
907 – 1125 - Kara Khitan (Western Liao)
1124 – 1218 - Khamag Mongol Confederation
1000 – 1206
Mongol Imperial System
- Mongol Empire
1206 – 1368 - Монголын Юань гүрэн
1271 – 1368
Modern
1368 CE – Present Post-imperial transition to modern Mongolia Continuation of steppe identity into the modern state.
Mongol Ulus System (Successor Khanates)
- Golden Horde (Алтан орд)
1240s – 1502 - Blue Horde (Хөх орд)
1240s – 1370s - White Horde (Цагаан орд)
1240s – 1428 - Chagatai Khanate (Цагаадайн улс)
1225 – 1680s - Ilkhanate (Ил хаант улс)
1256 – 1335
Turco-Mongol Continuity Layer
- Timurid Empire
1370 – 1507 - Moghulistan / Moghul Khanate
1347 – 1700s - Mughal Empire
1526 – 1857
Mongol Homeland Continuity
- Northern Yuan (Umard Yuan)
1368 – 1635 - Oirat Confederation (Dörvön Oirat)
1400s – 1758 - Eastern Mongol Khanates (Khalkha, Chahar)
1400s – 1635
Qing Period
- Qing Dynasty (Монгол дотор)
1636 – 1911
Modern Mongolia
- Bogd Khanate of Mongolia
1911 – 1924 - Mongolian People’s Republic
1924 – 1992- Mongolia (modern state)
1992 – Present
- Mongolia (modern state)