The Khitan people (

Khitan small script The Khitan small script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan large script). It was used during the 10th–12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in present- ...

; ) were a historical

para-Mongolic Para-Mongolic is a proposed group of languages that is considered to be an extinct sister branch of the Mongolic languages. Para-Mongolic contains certain historically attested extinct languages, among them Khitan and Tuyuhun. Languages The ...

nomadic people A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of t ...

and the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

. As a people they descended from the proto-Mongols through the Xianbei.

The period of the Ancient Eight Tribes

* Hechen (何辰) a Khitan chieftain (baghatur) (契丹莫弗贺) (ca.470) * Mer-gan (

Hanzi Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

: 勿于

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Wuyu) another baghatur (ca. 479) * Duomi Khagan (多彌可汗) (ca. 585)

The Dahe Tribal Confederation (618-730) (大賀氏)

Governor-general of Songmo (松漠都督)

Prefecture of Xuanzhou (玄州)

Khitans tribes who did not belong to the Dahe confederation but living at the same period

Other Khitan chieftains (酋長)

* Tanmozhe (貪沒折) (ca. 630)

The Yaonian Tribal Confederation (730-906) (遥辇氏)

The supreme chieftain of the Khitan (khagans)

Liao dynasty (916-1125)

There were nine emperors of the Liao dynasty, which at its height ruled over an area composing modern day Mongolia and northern China for over two hundred years. The emperors of the

Liao dynasty The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...

were Khitans from

Yelü clan The Yelü clan ( Khitan: , spelled ''ey.är.uu.eld'', pronounced ''Yäruuld''; ), alternatively rendered as Yila () or Yarud, was a prominent family of ethnic Khitan origin in the history of China. The clan assumed leadership of the Khitan tribal ...

Qara Khitai/Western Liao (1124-1218)

Qutlugh-Khanid dynasty

Remarks

The family name Li is a "rewarded" name being similar to the Emperor's name Li of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khitan rulers Khitan Lists of Chinese monarchs Khitan history