Christopher Pratt Atwood is an American scholar of Mongolian and Chinese history. Currently the Chair of the University of Pennsylvania's East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department, he has authored six books and published more than 100 articles on a wide variety of topics. Historian Timothy May described him as a leading scholar of Mongolian studies in Western Hemisphere.
Atwood is a recipient of the Order of the Polar Star, awarded by the President of Mongolia and Onon Prize, awarded by the University of Cambridge Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, and holds honorary doctorates from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and the National University of Mongolia.
Christopher Atwood received a Bachelor's degree at Harvard University, where he studied Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese. He holds a Master's from Indiana University Bloomington, where he also obtained Ph.D. in Mongolian Studies, History and East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Early in his career, Atwood worked for U.S. State Department and was a visiting scholar at Inner Mongolia University. He later taught at Indiana University from 1996 to 2016, serving as department chair and interim director of the Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region. In 2016, he joined the University of Pennsylvania, where he is Chair of the East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department. [1] He has been actively interviewed by and consulted with the US government, American, Asian and European universities, international academic and professional associations and media on modern affairs and history and cultural aspects of Mongolia and China. [2] His colleague, the historian Timothy May, described him as a leading scholar of Mongolian studies in Western Hemisphere. [3]
Atwood was awarded Honorary doctorate of National University of Mongolia in 2019 and Honorary Doctorate, conferred by the Institute of History, Academy of Sciences of Mongolia, in 2011 for his significant contributions to Mongolian studies. [4] [5] The President of Mongolia awarded him the Order of the Polar Star on July 11, 2011. His work and contributions were recognized by several institutions, including Onon Prize by the University of Cambridge, Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (1998–99 and 2003–04); Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award (2000–01 and 2001–02); John G. Hangin Memorial Prize for Mongolian Studies; Denis Sinor Prize for best graduate paper in the Central Eurasian Studies Department. [6] [4]
He has authored six books and published more than 100 articles and chapters in areas of history, ethnography, linguistics and politics. [7] His book Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire was widely praised by scholars and readers interested in Asian history. [8]
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a small section of China's border with Russia. Its capital is Hohhot; other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, Tongliao, and Ordos.
Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of "Central Asia", mostly the historical ones, but certain regions that are often included in Inner Asia, such as Manchuria, are not a part of Central Asia by any of its definitions. Inner Asia may be regarded as the western and northern "frontier" of China proper and as being bounded by East Asia proper, which consists of China proper, Japan and Korea.
The Merkit was one of the five major tribal confederations (khanlig) of probably Mongol or Turkic origin in the 12th century Mongolian Plateau.
The Secret History of the Mongols is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. Written for the Mongol royal family some time after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, it recounts his life and conquests, and partially the reign of his successor Ögedei Khan.
Fu Ying is a Chinese politician and diplomat, best known for her terms as the ambassador to the Philippines, Australia, and the United Kingdom, as well as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ja Lama was an adventurer and warlord of unknown birth and background who fought successive campaigns against the rule of the Qing dynasty in western Mongolia between 1890 and 1922. He claimed to be a Buddhist lama, though it is not clear whether he actually was one, as well as a grandson and later the reincarnation of Amursana, the Khoid-Oirat prince who led the last great Mongol uprising against the Qing in 1757. He was one of the commanders of Mongolian forces that liberated Khovd city from Qing control in 1912.
Pan-Mongolism is an irredentist idea that advocates cultural and political solidarity of Mongols. The proposed territory, called "Greater Mongolia" or "Whole Mongolia" usually includes the independent state of Mongolia, the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, and the Russian region of Buryatia. Sometimes the autonomous republic Tuva, the Altai Republic and parts of Xinjiang, Zabaykalsky Krai, and Irkutsk Oblast are included as well. As of 2006, all areas in Greater Mongolia except Mongolia have non-Mongol majorities.
Genghis Khan, also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns, conquering large parts of China and Central Asia.
John Gombojab Hangin was a Chahar Mongol scholar of Mongolian studies. He authored several Mongolian dictionaries and textbooks and is credited by The New York Times with helping to establish recognition for the Mongolian People's Republic from the United Nations and the United States.
This is the timeline of the Mongol Empire from the birth of Temüjin, later Genghis Khan, to the ascension of Kublai Khan as emperor of the Yuan dynasty in 1271, though the title of Khagan continued to be used by the Yuan rulers into the Northern Yuan dynasty, a far less powerful successor entity, until 1634.
Caroline Humphrey, Baroness Rees of Ludlow, is a British anthropologist and academic.
Serengdongrub, courtesy name Chü Ch'uan and also known under the Chinese name of Pai Yün-t'i, was an Inner Mongolian politician in the Republic of China. An ethnic Mongol, he was a native of Harqin Middle Banner.
Lajos Ligeti was a Hungarian orientalist and philologist, who specialized in Mongolian and Turkic languages.
The Khoton or Qotung people are a Mongolic ethnic group in (Outer) Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Most Mongolian Khotons live in Uvs Province in western Mongolia. In China, the Khotons live in Inner Mongolia, concentrated in Alxa League and are classified as ethnic Mongols. They speak the Dörbet or Alasha dialect of the Oirat language. According to the Great Russian Encyclopedia, modern Khoton people are part of the "Mongols — a group of peoples who speak Mongolian languages".
The Dzungar genocide was the mass extermination of the Mongol Dzungar people by the Qing dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide after the rebellion in 1755 by Dzungar leader Amursana against Qing rule, after the dynasty first conquered the Dzungar Khanate with Amursana's support. The genocide was perpetrated by Manchu generals of the Qing army, supported by Turkic oasis dwellers who rebelled against Dzungar rule.
Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky ; born 12 July 1974 in Budapest, Hungary is a Hungarian Sinologist and Mongolist, mostly known for his historical linguistic research on Middle Mongol sources written in Chinese script, currently the Chair of the Department of Chinese Studies at the Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures. Between 2020 and 2022 he worked as the leader of the KRE Sinology Research Group in Budapest, Hungary. He is a regular member of Academia Europaea and the secretary of the Committee on Oriental Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Mongolian studies or Mongolistics is an interdisciplinary field of scholarly inquiry concerning Mongolian language, Mongolian history, and Mongolian culture. Scholars who work in the field of Mongolian studies are often referred to as Mongolists.
This is a timeline of events involving the Golden Horde (1242–1502), from 1459 also known as the Great Horde.
Urgunge Onon was a Daur Mongol historian and Mongolist. He was a founding member of the Mongolian studies program at the University of Leeds and co-founder of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU) at the University of Cambridge.
Shagdarjavyn Natsagdorj was a Mongolian academic and historian, most notable for being director of the Institute of History at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences under the Mongolian People's Republic. In this position he was pivotal in improving the field of history in Mongolia, by compiling archives, initiating scientific journals, and supervising the protection and research of important cultural sites. His 1943 biography of Damdin Sükhbaatar established his reputation at home and abroad, but thereafter he primarily wrote on early modern topics, especially Qing-era Mongolia and the struggle for Mongolian independence. Natsagdorj also contributed to popular culture, writing plays, stories, and screenplays for a general audience. After the Mongolian Revolution of 1990, he published biographies of Genghis Khan (1991) and Kublai Khan (1998).