ABSTRACT
Chinggis Khan began and ended his campaigns against sedentary states with attacks on the Tangut state of Xia (later known as Xi Xia or Western Xia), first subjugating it in 1209 and ultimately destroying it completely in 1227. The Xia was always an economically, ecologically, and culturally diverse state with both nomadic and agricultural populations. Religiously the Xia royal family and court extensively patronized a syncretic brand of Tangut Buddhism that blended elements from Tibetan Tantrayana and Chinese Mahayana traditions. The Mongols did not completely ignore the Xia between 1209 and 1225. They viewed the Xia mainly as a source of hardy mounted warriors to be called up for service at their pleasure, and they made heavy annual demands for Xia troops. The eighteenth-century chronicler Bi Yuan (1730–1797) listed Chinggis Khan’s conquest of Xia as the final and crowning achievement of the great khan’s life.
