The qualifier Mongol tribes was established as an umbrella term in the early 13th century, when Temüjin (later Genghis Khan) united the different tribes under his control and established the Mongol Empire. There were 19 Nirun tribes (marked (N) in the list) that descended from Bodonchar and 18 Darligin tribes (marked (D) in the list),[1] which were also core Mongolic tribes but not descending from Bodonchar. The unification created a new common ethnic identity as Mongols. Descendants of those clans form the Mongolian nation and other Inner Asian people.[citation needed]
The Merkits were a Mongol tribe or potentially a MongolisedTurkic people[8][9] who opposed the rise of Temüjin, and kidnapped his new wife Börte. They were defeated and absorbed into the Mongol nation early in the 13th century.
In The Secret History of the Mongols, the Naiman subtribe the『Güchügüd』are mentioned. According to Russian Turkologist Nikolai Aristov's view, the Naiman Khanate's western border reached the Irtysh River and its eastern border reached the Mongolian Tamir River. The Altai Mountains and southern Altai Republic were part of the Naiman Khanate.[10] They had diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitans, and were subservient to them until 1175.[11] In the Russian and Soviet historiography of Central Asia they were traditionally ranked among the Mongol-speaking tribes.[12] For instance, such Russian orientalists as Vasily Bartold, Grigory Potanin, Boris Vladimirtsov, Ilya Petrushevsky, Nicholas Poppe, Lev Gumilyov, Vadim Trepavlov classified them as one of Mongol,[13] Other scholars classified them as a Turkic people from Sekiz Oghuz (means "Eight Oghuz" in Turkic).[14][15][16] However, the term "Naiman" has Mongolian origin meaning "eight", but their titles are Turkic, and they are thought by some to be possibly Mongolized Turks. They have been described as Turkic-speaking, as well as Mongolian-speaking.[16] Like the Khitans and the Uyghurs, many of them were Nestorian Christians or Buddhists.[17]
The Ongud (also spelled Ongut or Öngüt; Mongolian: Онгуд, Онход; Chinese: 汪古, Wanggu; from Old Turkic öng "desolate, uninhabited; desert" plus güt "class marker"[18]) were a Turkic tribe that later became Mongolized active in what is now Inner Mongolia in northern China around the time of Genghis Khan (1162–1227).
Many Ongud were members of the Church of the East, They lived in an area lining the Great Wall in the northern part of the Ordos Plateau and territories to the northeast of it.[19]
