ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the medieval Mongolian ideas of people, state, and empire. In particular, by analyzing the medieval Mongolian terms of ulus, irgen, and yeke ulus in relation to sovereignty and rulership, the distribution of princely shares, the establishment of princely appanages or khanate-principalities, as well as the creation of “the princes who rule ulus” and subsequent developments. It aims to provide insights into the process of Mongol state formation and imperial transformation. Since the empire was “the joint property of the imperial family” held in “common,” the imperial family governed the empire. The creation of separate uluses for Jochi and Chaghadai might have prompted Chinggis Khan to allocate “the region of the Emil and the Qobaq,” an area next to Chaghadai’s ulus, to Ogodei.
