a celebrated nation of Asia, whose conquests in former times were the most rapid and extensive of any people recorded in history. They themselves deduce their origin from Japhet, or, as they call him, Japhiz, the son of Noah. His son Turk was, according to them, the first king, or khan, of those nations who are now known by the separate denominations of Turks, Tartars, and Moguls; and the Tartars especially assert, that their proper designation is Turks.

To this prince is attributed many of those inventions which barbarous nations commonly ascribe to their first sovereigns. He was succeeded by Taumak, in whose reign the whole posterity of Turk were divided into four large tribes, denominated the ordas of Erlat, Gialair, Kaugin, and Berlas or Perlas; from the last of which the famous Timour Beg, or Tamerlane, was descended. From this time till that of Almaza Khan we meet with nothing remarkable. In the reign of Alanza, the Turks, being immersed in all kinds of luxury, universally apostatized into idolatry. Having two sons, Tartar and Mogul, he divided his dominions between them, and thus gave rise to the two empires of the Tartars and Moguls.

These two nations had not long existed before they began to make war upon each other; and after long contention, the event at last was, that II Khan, emperor of the Moguls, was totally overthrown by Siuntz Khan, emperor of the Tartars; and so complete was the defeat that the Mogul nation seems to have been almost exterminated. Only two of II Khan's family survived this disaster. These were Kajan his youngest son, and Nagos his nephew, who were both of the same age, and had both been married the same year. These two princes, with their wives, had been taken prisoners by Siuntz Khan, but found means to effect their escape to their own country, where they seized upon all the cattle which had not been carried off by the Tartars, an act that was easily done, as there were none to dispute the property with them; then stripping some of the slain, they took their clothes and retired into the mountains. They passed several mountains without much difficulty, and at last advanced to the foot of one exceedingly high, which had no way over it but a very small path made by certain animals, called, in the Tartar language, archara. This path they found themselves obliged to make use of; although it was so narrow and steep that only one could pass at a time, and he was in the most imminent danger of breaking his neck at the least false step. Having ascended the mountain on one side by this path, they descended by the same on the other; and were very agreeably surprised to find themselves in a most delightful tract, interspersed with rivulets and charming meadows, abounding with a vast variety of delicious fruits, and enclosed on all sides by inaccessible mountains, in such a manner as to shelter them from the future pursuits of the Tartars. Here they lived some time, and gave this beautiful country the name of Irgana-kon, in allusion to its situation; irgana signifying, in the old language of the Moguls, a valley, and kon, a steep height.

In process of time these two families increased greatly. Kajan, whose posterity was the most numerous, called his descendants Kajat; but the people springing from Nagos were divided into two tribes, one of which received the appellation of Nagoster, and the other that of Durlagen.

The two Mogul princes and their descendants lived in this place for more than four hundred years; but the latter having found it too narrow for them, meditated a return to the country from which their forefathers had been driven. For some time, however, this proved impracticable, as the path which conducted their ancestors had been long previously destroyed. At last they discovered that one part of the high mountain above mentioned was not very thick in a certain place; and also, that it consisted entirely of iron ore. To this, having before set fire to a layer of wood, and another of charcoal, placed along the foot of the mountain, they applied seventy large bellows, and at last melted the mountain in such a manner that an opening was made, large enough for a loaded camel to pass; and through this passage they all marched out with great joy.

The Moguls having thus issued as it were from a new Moguls world, overthrew the Tartars in their turn, and continued to form a considerable nation till the time of their great hero Temujin, afterwards called Genghiz Khan, whom they extol in the most extravagant manner. It is difficult, however, to say, at the time when Temujin made his appearance, how far the dominions of the Moguls extended, or in what estimation they were held by their neighbours.

It seems to be pretty certain that great part of the vast region now known by the name of Tartary was then in a state of considerable civilization, and likewise extremely populous, as we find mention made of many cities which the Moguls destroyed; and the incredible multitudes whom they slaughtered abundantly prove the populousness of the country. On the east, the country of the Moguls and Tartars had the great desert which divides Tartary from China; on the west it had the empire of Karazum, founded by Mahmoud Gazni; and on the south were the countries now known by the name of Hindostan, Siam, Pegu, Tonquin, and Cochin-China. Thus it comprehended the eastern part of Modern Tartary, and all Siberia. This whole region was divided amongst a great number of Ay-macks or tribes, who had each one or more khans, according as it happened to be more or less numerous, or divided into branches. Amongst these, that of the Kara-its was the most powerful. Their prince assumed the title of Great Khan, and amongst the rest, the Moguls were tributary to him; but, according to the Chinese historians, both the one and the other were tributary to the emperor of Kitay or Katay.

China was divided into two parts; the nine southern provinces being in the hands of the Chinese emperors of the Song dynasty, who kept their court at Hang-chew, the capital of the province of Chekyang; and the five northern provinces, excepting part of Shensi, being possessed by the Kin, a people of Eastern Tartary, from whom are descended the Manchoo Tartars, who are at present masters of China. This vast dominion was named Kitay or Katay, and was divided into two parts; that which belonged to China was properly called Kitay; and the part which belonged to Tartary was called Karakitay, in which some even include the territories of the Moguls, Kara-its, and other tribes which form the subject of the present history. The western part of the empire of Kitay was possessed by a Turkish prince, who had lately founded there a new kingdom called Hya, and whose capital city was Hya-chew, now Ninghwa in Shensi, from which the kingdom took its name. To the west of Hya lay Tanguet, a country of great extent, and formerly very powerful, but at that time reduced to a low state, and divided amongst many princes, some of whom were subject to the emperor of Hya, and others to the emperor of China. All Tartary to the westward as far as the Caspian Sea, with the greater part of Little Buchkaria, which then passed under the general name of Turkestan, was subject to Ghurkhan, Khurkhan, or Kaver Khan; to whom even the Gazni monarchs are said to have been tributary. This Ghurkhan had been prince of the Western Kitai or Lyau, who, when driven out of Kitay by the king, settled in Little Buchkaria, and the country to the north, where they founded a powerful state about the year 1124.

Thus the Moguls, properly so-called, had but a very small extent of empire which could be called their own, if indeed they had any, when Temujin made his appearance. This hero is believed by the Tartars to have been of divine origin, since his family could be traced no farther back than ten generations. The names and transactions of his predecessors are equally uncertain and unimportant. He himself, however, was born in the year 1163, and is said to have come into the world with congealed blood in his hands; whence it was prognosticated that he would be a great warrior, and obtain the victory over all his enemies.

This prediction, if any such there was, Temujin most literally fulfilled. At the time of his father's decease, his subjects amounted to between thirty and forty thousand families; but of these about two thirds quickly deserted, and Temujin was left almost without subjects. When only thirteen years of age, he fought a bloody battle against these revolters; but he was either defeated, or gained an indecisive victory, so that he remained in obscurity for twenty-seven years longer. His good fortune at last he owed to the friendship of Vang Khan, who ruled over a great number of Tartar tribes to the north of Kitay, and has been heard of under the name of Prester John amongst the Europeans. This prince took Temujin under his protection; and a rebellion having afterwards been raised against himself, Temujin was made his general, and the khan was kept in possession of his throne. Soon after this, Temujin subdued the tribes which had revolted from himself, and treated them with the utmost barbarity.

This happened in the year 1201; but Vang Khan, instead of continuing the friend of Temujin, now became jealous, and resolved to destroy him by treachery. With this view he proposed a marriage between Temujin's son Juji and his own daughter, and another between Temujin's daughter and his own son. Temujin was invited to the camp of Vang Khan, in order to celebrate this double marriage; but having received intelligence of some evil intention against him, he excused himself to Vang Khan's messengers, and desired that the ceremony might be put off to some other time.

A few days after the departure of these messengers, Badu and Kishlik, two brothers, who kept the horses of one of Vang Khan's chief domestics, came and informed Temujin, that the Grand Khan, finding he had missed his aim, was resolved to set out instantly, and to surprise him next morning, before he could suspect any danger. Temujin, alarmed at this intelligence, quitted his camp in the night time, and retired with all his people to some distance. He was scarcely gone when Vang Khan's troops arrived, and discharged an incredible number of arrows amongst the empty tents; but finding nobody there, they pursued Temujin in such haste that they fell into great disorder. In this condition they were suddenly attacked and routed by Temujin, after which ensued an open war with Vang Khan.

By this quarrel almost all the princes of Tartary were put in motion, some taking part with Temujin, and others with Vang Khan. But at last fortune declared in favour of the former. Vang Khan was overthrown in a battle, where he lost forty thousand men, and was obliged to fly for refuge to a prince named Tayyan Khan, who was Temujin's father-in-law, and his own enemy, and by whom he was ungenerously put to death. Temujin immediately began to seize on his dominions, great part of which voluntarily submitted; but a confederacy was formed against him by a number of Vang Khan's tributaries, at the head of whom was Jamuka, a prince who had already distinguished himself by his enmity to Temujin; and even Tayyan Khan himself was drawn into the plot, through jealousy of his son-in-law's good fortune. But Temujin was well prepared; and in the year 1204 he attacked Tayyan Khan, entirely routed his army, killed himself, and took Jamuka prisoner, whose head he caused instantly to be struck off; after which he marched against the other tribes who had conspired against him. These he quickly reduced; took a city called Kashin, where he put all to the sword who had borne arms against him; and subjugated all the Mogul tribes in 1205.

Temujin having now none to oppose him, called a general diet, which he appointed to be held on the first day of the spring in the year 1206; that is, on the day in which the sun entered Aries. To this diet were summoned all the great lords, both Moguls and Tartars; and in the mean time, to establish good order in the army, he divided his soldiers into bodies of ten thousand, a thousand, a hundred, and ten men, with their respective officers, all subordinate to the generals, or those who commanded the bodies of ten thousand; and these were to act under his own sons. On the day of holding the diet, the princes of the blood and great lords appeared dressed in white. Temujin, habited in the same manner, with his crown on his head, sat down on his throne, and was complimented by the whole assembly, who wished him the continuance of his health and prosperity. After this they confirmed the Mogul empire to him and his successors, adding all those kingdoms which he had subdued, the descendants of whose vanquished khans were deprived of all right or title to them; and after this he was proclaimed emperor with much ceremony. During this inauguration, a pretended prophet declared that he came from God to tell the assembly, that thenceforth Temujin should assume and bear the name of "Genghiz Khan," or "the Most Great Khan of khans;" prophesying also, that his posterity should be khans from generation to generation. This prophecy, which was no doubt prompted by Temujin himself, had a surprising effect on his subjects, who from that time concluded that all the world belonged of right to them, and even thought it a crime against heaven for any body to pretend to resist them.

Genghiz Khan having now reduced under his subjection all the wandering tribes of Moguls and Tartars, began to think of subjugating those countries to the south and southwest of his own, where the inhabitants were much more civilized than his own subjects; and the countries being full of fortified cities, he must of course expect to meet with more resistance. He began with the emperor of Hya, whose dominions he invaded in 1209, and who at last submitted to become his tributary. But in the mean time Genghiz Khan himself was supposed to be tributary to the emperor of Kitay, who, in 1210, sent him an officer demanding the customary tribute. This was refused with the utmost indignation, and a war commenced, which ended only with the dissolution of the empire of Kitay.

In the year 1216, Genghiz Khan resolved to carry his arms westward, and therefore left his general Muchuli to pursue his conquests in Kitay. In his journey westward he overthrew an army of three hundred thousand Tartars who had revolted against him; and in 1218 he sent ambassadors desiring an alliance with Mohammed Karazm Shah, emperor of Gazna. His ambassador was haughtily treated; the alliance was, however, concluded, but soon afterwards broken, through the treachery, as it is said, of the Karazm monarch's subjects. This brought on a war, attended with the most dreadful devastations, and which ended with the entire destruction of the empire of Karazm or Gazna.

After the reduction of Karazm, part of the Moguls broke into Iran or Persia, where they also made large conquests, whilst others of their armies invaded Georgia and the countries to the west; in both cases committing such enormities that the Chinese historians say both men and spirits burst with indignation. In 1225, Genghiz Khan returned to Hya, where he made war upon the emperor for having sheltered some of his enemies. The event was, that the emperor fell in battle, and his kingdom was conquered, or rather destroyed; but this was the last exploit of the cruel conqueror, who died in 1227, as he marched to complete the destruction of the Chinese.

The Mogul empire, at the death of Genghiz Khan, extended over a prodigious tract of country, being more than eighteen hundred leagues in length from east to west, and upwards of a thousand in breadth from north to south. Its princes, however, were still insatiable, and pushed their conquests upon all sides. Oktay was acknowledged emperor after Genghiz Khan, and had under his immediate government Mogulestan, or the country of the Moguls properly so called, with Kitay, and the countries eastward to the Tartarian Sea. Jagaty, his brother, governed under him a great part of the western conquests. The country of the Kipjacks, and others to the east and north-east, north and north-west, were governed by Batu or Patu, the son of Jujji, who had been killed in the wars; whilst Tuli or Toley, another son of Genghiz Khan, had Khorassan, Persia, and that part of India which had been conquered. On the east side the Mogul arms were still attended with success; not only the empire of Kitay, but the southern part of China, was conquered. On the west side matters continued much in the same way till the year 1254, when Magu, or Menkha, the fourth khan of the Moguls, raised a great army, which he gave to his brother Hulaku or Halagou, in order to extend his dominions westward. In 1255 he entered Iran, where he suppressed the Ismaelians or Assassins, of whom an account is given under the article Assassins; and two years afterwards he advanced to Bagdad, which he took, and cruelly put to death the caliph, treating the city with no more lenity than the Moguls usually treated those places which fell into their hands. Every thing was put to fire and sword; and in the city and its neighbourhood the number of slain, it is said, amounted to one million six hundred thousand. The next year he invaded Syria. The city of Damascus was delivered up, and, as it made no resistance, the inhabitants were spared; but Aleppo being taken by storm, a greater slaughter ensued there than had taken place at Bagdad, not even the children in their cradles being spared. Some cities of this country revolted the next year, or the year after; but having again fallen into the hands of the Moguls, they were plundered, and the inhabitants butchered without mercy, or carried into slavery.

Hulaku died in 1265, and at his death we may fix the greatest extent of the Mogul empire. It now comprehended the whole of the continent of Asia, excepting part of Hindustan, Siam, Pegu, Cochin-China, and a few of the countries of Lesser Asia, which had not been attacked by them; and during all these vast conquests no Mogul army had ever been conquered, except one by Jalaloddin. From this period, however, the empire began to decline. The ambition of the khans having prompted them to invade the kingdoms of Japan and Cochin-China, they were miserably disappointed in their attempts, and lost a great number of men. The same ill success attended them in Hindustan, and in a short time this mighty empire broke into several smaller ones. The governors of Persia, being of the family of Genghiz Khan, owed no allegiance to any superior; and those of Tartary were similarly circumstanced. The Chinese threw off the yoke, and thus the continent of Asia wore much the same face that it had done before Genghiz Khan began his conquests.

The successors of Hulaku reigned in Persia till the year 1335; but that year Abussaid Khan, the eighth from Hulaku, having died, the affairs of that country fell into confusion for want of a prince of the race of Genghiz Khan to succeed to the throne. The empire, therefore, was divided amongst a great number of petty princes, who fought against each other almost without intermission, till, in the year 1369, Timour Beg or Tamerlane, one of these princes, having conquered a number of others, was crowned at Balkh, with the pompous title of "Sahib Kharam," that is, "the emperor of the age, and the conqueror of the world." As he had just before taken that city, and destroyed one of his most formidable rivals who had shut himself up in it, the new emperor began his reign with beheading some of the inhabitants, imprisoning others, burning their houses, and selling the women and children as slaves. In the year 1370 he crossed the Sihun, made war on the Getes, and attacked Next year he granted a peace to his enemies; but two years after, he again invaded the country of the Getes; by the year 1379 he had fully conquered that country, as well as Khorassan; and from that time he continued to extend his conquests in much the same manner as Genghiz Khan had done, though with less cruelty. In 1387 he had reduced Armenia, Georgia, and all Persia; the conquest of which last was completed by the reduction of Isfahan, seventy thousand of the inhabitants of which were slaughtered on account of a sedition raised by some rash or evil-disposed persons.

After the reduction of Persia, Timour turned his arms northward and westward, subduing all the countries to the Euphrates. He took the city of Bagdad; subdued Syria; and having ravaged great part of Russia, returned to Persia in 1396, where he splendidly feasted his whole army. In 1398 he crossed the Indus on the 17th of September, invaded Hindustan, reduced several fortresses, and made a vast number of captives. However, as he was afraid that, in case of any emergency, these prisoners might take part with the enemy, he gave orders to his soldiers to put all their Indian slaves to death; and, in consequence of this inhuman order, more than one hundred thousand of these poor wretches were slaughtered in less than an hour.

In the beginning of the year 1399, Timour was met by the Indian army, whom, after a desperate battle, he defeated with great slaughter, and soon afterwards took the city of Delhi, the capital of the country. Here he seated himself on the throne of the Indian emperors; and here the scherifs, kadis, and the principal inhabitants of the city, came to make their submission, and begged for mercy. The tame elephants and rhinoceroses were likewise brought to kneel before him as they had been accustomed to do to the Indian emperors, and made a great cry as if they implored his clemency. These war elephants, one hundred and twenty in number, were, at his return, sent to Samarcan, and to the province where his sons resided. After this, at the request of the lords of the court, Timour made a great feast, at which he distributed presents to the princes and principal officers.

Delhi at this time consisted of three cities called Seyri, Old Delhi, and Jehan Penah. Seyri was surrounded with a wall in the form of a circle. Old Delhi was also walled, but much larger, lying south-west of the other. These two parts were joined on each side by a wall; and the third, situated between them, was called Jehan Penah, which was larger than Old Delhi. Penah had ten gates: Seyri had seven, three of which looked towards Jehan Penah; and this last had thirteen gates, six to the north-west, and seven to the south-east. Everything seemed to be in a quiet posture, when, on the 12th of January 1399, the soldiers of Timour, being assembled at one of the gates of Delhi, insulted the inhabitants of the suburbs. The great emirs were ordered to put a stop to these disorders; but their endeavours proved ineffectual. The sultanans having a curiosity to see the rarities of Delhi, and particularly a famous palace adorned with one thousand pillars, built by an ancient king of India, went with all the court into the city; and the gate being, on that occasion left open for every body, above fifteen thousand soldiers got in unperceived. But there was a far greater number of troops in a large place between Delhi, Seyri, and Jehan Penah, who committed great disorders in the two last cities. This made the inhabitants in despair fall on them; and many, setting fire to their houses, burnt their wives and children. The soldiers, seeing this confusion, did nothing but pillage the houses, whilst the disorder was increased by the admission of more troops, who seized the inhabitants of the neighbouring places that had fled thither for shelter. The emirs, to put a stop to this mischief, caused the gates to be shut; but they were quickly opened by the soldiers within, who rose in arms against their officers, so that by morning of the 18th the whole army had entered, and this great city was totally destroyed. Some soldiers carried out as many as an hundred and fifty slaves, men, women, and children; nay, some of their boys had twenty slaves a piece to their share. The other spoils, in jewels, plate, and manufactures, were immense; for the Indian women and girls were adorned with precious stones, and had bracelets and rings on their hands, feet, and even toes, so that the soldiers were loaded with them. On the 15th, in Old Delhi, the Indians retired into the great mosque to defend themselves; but being attacked there by the Tartars, they were all slaughtered, and towers erected with their heads. A dreadful carnage now ensued throughout the whole city, and several days were employed before the inhabitants could be made to quit it entirely; and as they went forth, the emirs took a number of them into their service. The artisans were also distributed amongst the princes and commanders; all but the masons, who were reserved for the emperor, in order to build him a spacious stone mosque at Samarcan.

After this terrible devastation, Timour marched into the different provinces of Hindustan, everywhere defeating the Indians who opposed him, and slaughtering the Ghebres or worshippers of fire. On the 25th of March he set out on his return, and on the 9th of May he arrived at Samarcan. In a few months after his arrival he was obliged to undertake an expedition into Persia, where affairs were in the utmost disorder on account of the misconduct of his son, whom he had appointed sovereign of that empire. Here Timour soon settled matters, after which he again set out on an expedition to the westward, reduced many places in Georgia which had not submitted before, and invaded and conquered Syria. At the same time he quarrelled with Bajazet the Turkish sultan, then engaged in an enterprise against Constantinople, in which he would probably have succeeded had not Timour interposed. At first the cause of this quarrel was, that Bajazet had demanded tribute from a prince who was under Timour's protection, and is said to have returned an insulting answer to the Tartar ambassadors who were sent to him on that account. Timour, however, who was an enthusiast in the cause of Mahommedanism, and considered Bajazet as engaged in the cause of heaven when besieging a Christian city, was very unwilling to disturb him in so pious an enterprise, and therefore undertook several expeditions against the princes of Syria and Georgia, in order to give the Turkish monarch time to cool and return to reason. Amongst other places he again invested the city of Bagdad, which had cast off its allegiance to him; and having taken it by assault, he made such a dreadful massacre of the inhabitants, that one hundred and twenty towers were erected with the heads of the slain. In the mean time Bajazet continued to give fresh provocation, and even protected one Kara Yussuf, a robber, who had openly insulted the caravan of Mekka, so that Timour at length resolved to make war upon him. The sultan, however, foreseeing the danger of bringing such a formidable enemy against himself, thought proper to ask pardon, by a letter, for what was past, and to promise obedience to Timour's will for the future. This embassy was graciously received; and Timour returned for answer, that he would forbear hostilities, provided Bajazet would either put Kara Yussuf to death, or send him to the Tartar camp, or expel him from his dominions. Along with the Turkish ambassadors he sent one of his own, telling Bajazet that he would march into the confines of Anatolia, and there wait his final answer.

Though Bajazet had seemed at first willing to come to an agreement with Timour, and evidently dreaded his superior power, yet he now behaved in such an unsatisfactory manner that the Tartar monarch desired him to prepare for war; upon which he raised the siege of Constantinople, and having met Timour with an army greatly inferior to the Tartars, was utterly defeated and taken prisoner. According to some accounts he was treated with great humanity and honour; whilst others inform us that he was shut up in an iron cage, against which he dashed out his brains the following year. At any rate, it is certain that he was not restored to liberty, but died in confinement.

This victory was followed by the submission of many places of Asia Minor to Timour; and the Greek emperor owned himself tributary, as did likewise the sultan of Egypt. After this Timour once more returned to Georgia, which he cruelly ravaged; and then he marched to Samarcan, where he arrived in the year 1405. Here, being now an old man, this mighty conqueror began to look forward, to that state which at one time or other becomes the dread of all living creatures; and Timour, in order to quiet the remorse of his conscience, came to a curious resolution, which he communicated only to his intimate friends. This was, that "as the vast conquests he had made were not obtained without some violence, which had occasioned the destruction of a great number of God's creatures, he was resolved, by way of atonement for his past crimes, to perform some good action, namely, to make war on the infidels, and exterminate the idolaters of China." This atonement, however, he did not live to accomplish, for he died the same year, of a burning fever, in the seventy-first year of his age and thirty-sixth of his reign.

Upon the death of Timour, his empire fell immediately into great disorder, and the civil wars continued for five or six years; but at last peace was restored, by the settlement of Shah Rukh, Timour's son, on the throne. The latter, however, did not enjoy the empire in its full extent, or indeed much above one half of it; having only Karazam, Khorassan, Kandahar, Persia, and part of Hindustan. Neither was he, though a brave and warlike prince, able to extend his dominions; yet he transmitted them to his son Ulug-Beg, who proved a wise and learned monarch, and is famous for the astronomical tables which he caused to be composed, and which are well known at this day. Ulug-Beg was killed in 1448, by his son Abdallatif, who six months after was put to death by his own soldiers.

Upon the death of Abdallatif, Abdallah, a grandson of Shah Rukh, seized the throne; but, after reigning one year, he was expelled by Abusaid Mirza, the grandson of Miran Shah, the son of Timour. His reign was one continued scene of wars and tumults, until at last he was defeated and taken prisoner by one Hassan Beg, who put him to death in 1468. From this time we may look upon the empire of Timour as entirely dissolved.

On the death of the above-mentioned monarch, his son Baber succeeded him, but was soon driven out by the Uzbek Tartars; after which he resided some time in Gazara, whence he made incursions into Hindustan, and at length became master of the whole empire, excepting the kingdoms of Dekkan, Guzerat, and Bengal. See Hindustan.