The Qatagin and the Saljiut are Mongol-speaking clans of the old stock that the text we could read does not name among the camp circles that followed Temujin at the parting from Jamuqa.
English Wikipedia (Rise of Genghis Khan) says that Temujin and Jamukha, while still together, sent an embassy to the Khadagin (Qatagin) and Salji'ut to win them against the Taichiud, and that after the Tayichi'ut war the Khadagin, Salji'ut, Dorben, Tatars and Khongirad formed a coalition against Temujin and Toghrul (see the likely course); that fixes their place only loosely, as the east, near the Tatars. The drawing puts them on the Dauria steppe between the Onon and the Argun, north of the Tatar lakes: a guess. The Dorben are named both among the camp circles that followed Temujin about 1189 and among the coalition of the next stage, so the clan is split or changes sides; this record is for the part that is not his.
No chief or winter camp of any of them is recorded for 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- Clan elders; no chiefs named
- Confidence
- low
What it holds
- Pastures on the Dauria steppe and the Argun edge (guess)
- Herds; hunting
Allies and rivals
Near the Tatars and Onggirat. Courted by Temujin and Jamuqa as allies against the Tayichi'ut; later, in the likely course, in the coalition against Temujin.
How things stand that morning
Not sworn to Temujin; neutral and watching. Their later alignment is in the likely course.
Wealth
Horses and sheep; hunting; the Jin markets by way of the Tatars and Onggirat.
Military
Clan levies; no numbers.
Threats
- Temujin's growth
- A fall of the Tatars, their neighbours, that leaves them exposed
- Jin raids on the frontier
- Dzud
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200 to autumn 1201The Qatagin, Saljiut and Dorben form a coalition with the Tatars and Onggirat against Temujin and Toghrul (English Wikipedia places it right after the Tayichi'ut war), and swear to Jamuqa at the Ergune and fight at Koyiten in the Secret History's and Rashid's order.Depends on: Jamuqa's coalition forming after the Tayichi'ut war of 1200. Stopped by: Temujin winning over the clans before then, or Jamuqa's election failing.
Places of note
- Winter camp (guess): A sheltered valley of the Dauria steppe; no source gives a site.
Where the sources disagree
- The clan positions rest on the place of Jamuqa's election and on English Wikipedia's list of the coalition; we could not check the Secret History's list in this session. The Dauria steppe is an inference.
Evidence: Names attested; the 1200 range is inferred.
On the map: A guess. Two or three clans share one outline; their separate ranges are not known.
Primary sources for Unaligned Mongol clans
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
- The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. Read online
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online
- Compendium of Chronicles: the Turkic and Mongol tribes and the life of Chinggis Khan, Rashid al-Din Hamadani (about 1300 to 1311, in the Ilkhanate). The fullest description of who held what on the steppe around 1200, written a century later from Mongol court records (the Altan Debter) and from informants such as Bolad Chingsang. Read online
- History of the Yuan, Song Lian (宋濂) and the Ming history office (1369 to 1370). Juan 1, the annals of Taizu (Chinggis Khan), gives a dated outline of Temujin's early wars drawn from the same lost Altan Debter as the Shengwu qinzheng lu: the Tatar war with the Jin in 1196, the Merkit and Naiman campaigns, the Tayichi'ut war, Jamuqa's coalition of 1201 and the Tatar and Kereyit wars of 1202 and 1203. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- The Secret History of the Mongols, adapted by Paul Kahn from the Cleaves translation (names and place names of the early chapters)
- The Secret History of the Mongols, transl. and commentary Igor de Rachewiltz (Brill 2004; shorter edition ed. J. C. Street, Western Washington University 2015)
- Rashid al-Din, Jami' al-tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), transl. W. M. Thackston
- Christopher P. Atwood, Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire (2004)
- Rise of Genghis Khan (Wikipedia)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.