A report on Xiongnu, Mongolian Plateau, Inner Mongolia and Mongolia

After their previous rivals, the Yuezhi, migrated west into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of East Asia, centred on the Mongolian Plateau.

Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia.

The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang.

Politically, the plateau spans all of Mongolia, along with parts of China and Russia.

The territory of modern-day Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the First Turkic Khaganate, and others.

Inner Mongolia and parts of the Dzungarian basin in Xinjiang encompass the Chinese portion of the plateau.

The plateau was inhabited and conquered by various groups, including (chronologically) the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Göktürks, Tang dynasty, Liao dynasty, Mongol Empire, Yuan dynasty, Northern Yuan dynasty, and Qing dynasty.

A Scythian culture, it was identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans, such as the Siberian Ice Princess, found in the Siberian permafrost, in the Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan and nearby Mongolia.

Much of what is known about the history of Greater Mongolia, including Inner Mongolia, is known through Chinese chronicles and historians.

Before the rise of the Mongols in the 13th century, what is now central and western Inner Mongolia, especially the Hetao region, alternated in control between Chinese agriculturalists in the south, and Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen, Tujue, and nomadic Mongol of the north.

After the fall of the Liao in 1125, the Khamag Mongols became a leading tribe on the Mongolian Plateau.

By 1636 most Inner Mongolian tribes had submitted to the Manchus, who founded the Qing dynasty.