Editing Mongols (section)

===Northern Yuan===
[[File:Northern Yuan and Golden Horde.svg|thumb|280px|The [[Northern Yuan dynasty]] and [[Turco-Mongol tradition|Turco-Mongol]] residual states and domains by the 15th century]]

After the fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, the Mongols continued to rule the [[Northern Yuan]] in northern China and the Mongolian steppe. However, the [[Oirad]]s began to challenge the Eastern Mongols under the [[Borjigin]] monarchs in the late 14th century and Mongolia was divided into two parts: [[Western Mongolia]] ([[Oirats]]) and Eastern Mongolia ([[Khalkha]], [[Inner Mongols]], [[Barga Mongols|Barga]], [[Buryats]]). The earliest written references to the plough in [[Middle Mongol language]] sources appear towards the end of the 14th c.<ref>MOLNÁR, ÁDÁM. "THE PLOUGH AND PLOUGHING AMONG THE ALTAIC PEOPLES." Central Asiatic Journal 26, no. 3/4 (1982): 215–24.</ref>

In 1434, Eastern Mongol [[Taisun Khan]]'s (1433–1452) Oirat prime minister Togoon Taish reunited the Mongols after killing [[Adai Khan]] in [[Khorchin]]. Togoon died in 1439 and his son [[Esen Taish]] became ruler of Northern Yuan dynasty. Esen later unified the Mongol tribes. The Ming dynasty attempted to invade the Northern Yuan in the 14–16th centuries, however, the Ming dynasty was defeated by the Oirat, Southern Mongol, Eastern Mongol and united Mongol armies. Esen's 30,000 cavalries defeated 500,000 Chinese soldiers in the 1449 [[Tumu Crisis]]. Within eighteen months of his defeat of the titular Khan Taisun, in 1453, Esen himself took the title of [[Great Khan]] (1454–1455) of the [[Great Yuan]].<ref>Sechin Jagchid, Van Jay Symons – Peace, war, and trade along the Great Wall: Nomadic-Chinese interaction through two millennia, p.49</ref>

The Khalkha emerged during the reign of [[Dayan Khan]] (1479–1543) as one of the six [[Tumen (unit)|tumen]]s of the Eastern Mongolic peoples. They quickly became the dominant Mongolic clan in Mongolia proper.<ref>[[Juha Janhunen|Janhunen, Juha]] ''The Mongolic languages'', p.177</ref><ref>Elizabeth E. Bacon ''Obok: A Study of Social Structure in Eurasia'', p.82</ref> He reunited the Mongols again. In 1550, [[Altan Khan]] led a Khalkha Mongol raid on Beijing. The Mongols voluntarily reunified during Eastern Mongolian [[Tümen Zasagt Khan]] rule (1558–1592) for the last time (the Mongol Empire united all Mongols before this).

Eastern Mongolia was divided into three parts in the 17th century: [[Outer Mongolia]] (Khalkha), [[Inner Mongolia]] (Inner Mongols) and the Buryat region in southern [[Siberia]].

The last Mongol khagan was [[Ligdan Khan|Ligdan]] in the early 17th century. He got into conflicts with the [[Manchu people|Manchus]] over the looting of Chinese cities, and managed to alienate most Mongol tribes. In 1618, Ligdan signed a treaty with the Ming dynasty to protect their northern border from the Manchus attack in exchange for thousands of taels of silver. By the 1620s, only the [[Chahars]] remained under his rule.