The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; Chinese: 契丹; pinyin: Qìdān) were a historical nomadic people from East Asia and parts of North Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China, and the Russian Far East.
As a people descended from the proto-Mongols through the Xianbei, Khitans spoke the now-extinct Khitan language, a Para-Mongolic language related to the Mongolic languages. The Khitan people founded and led the Liao dynasty (916–1125), which dominated a vast area of Siberia, Mongolia and Northern China. The Khitans of the Liao dynasty used two independent writing systems for their language: Khitan small script and Khitan large script.
After the fall of the Liao dynasty in 1125 following the Jurchen invasion, many Khitans followed Yelü Dashi's group westward to establish the Qara Khitai or Western Liao dynasty, in Central Asia, which lasted nearly a century before falling to the Mongol Empire in 1218. Other regimes founded by the Khitans included the Northern Liao, Eastern Liao, and Later Liao in China, as well as the Qutlugh-Khanid dynasty in Persia. The modern-day Daur people, a recognized minority ethnic group in Northeast China, are the genetic descendants of Khitans.
The historical European name for China, Cathay, originates from the word Khitan.
There is no consensus on the etymology of the name of Khitan. There are basically three speculations. Feng Jiasheng argues that it comes from the Yuwen chieftains' names. Zhao Zhenji thinks that the term originated from Xianbei and means "a place where Xianbei had resided". Japanese scholar Otagi Matsuo believes that Khitan's original name was "Xidan", which means "the people who are similar to the Xi people" or "the people who inhabit among the Xi people".
Deciphering the name "Khitan" that is based on a study the monuments of Khitan writing system, is associated with the concept of "cold", "chilly", "frosty" in Mongolian dialects: Khorchin, Jalayt, Durbet, Gorlos, Arukhorchin (阿鲁科尔沁), Baarin, Onnyut, Naiman — "khuten"; Kharchin, Tumut — "khiten"; Mongolian — "küyiten". In the lands of the Khitans there were a number of places whose names included the word "cold". For example, the Yinlianchuan River (陰涼川, lit.: dark and cold) is the Chinese translation of the Mongolian name of the Khuiten River (lit.: cold), which flows into the Shara Muren. Liu Xu reports that in the south of their domain lay the Lengxingshan Mountains (冷陘山), which means "cold". If we consider that the Khitan clans and tribes did not have surnames, but were known by the names of the places where they lived, it is not surprising that the name of the Khuiten River or the Lengxing Mountains could become a tribal designation.
Due to the dominance of the Khitans during the Liao dynasty in Manchuria and Mongolia and later the Qara Khitai in Central Asia where they were seen as Chinese, the term "Khitai" came to mean "China" to people near them in Central Asia, Russia and northwestern China. The name was then introduced to medieval Europe via Islamic and Russian sources, and became "Cathay". In the modern era, words related to Khitay are still used as a name for China by Mongolians, Turkic peoples, such as the Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region and the Kazakhs of Kazakhstan and areas adjoining it, and by some Slavic peoples, such as the Russians and Bulgarians. The Han Chinese consider the ethnonym derived from Khitay as applied to them by the Uyghurs to be pejorative and the Chinese government has tried to ban its use.
According to the History of Liao compiled in the 14th century, a "sacred man" (shen-ren) on a white horse had eight sons with a "heavenly woman" (tiannü) who rode in a cart pulled by a grey ox. The man came from the Tu River (Lao Ha river in modern-day Jilin, Manchuria) and the woman from the Huang River (modern-day Xar Moron river in Inner Mongolia). The pair met where the two rivers join, and the eight sons born of their union became eight tribes.
The earliest reference to a Khitan state is found in the Book of Wei, a history of the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534) that was completed in 554. Several books written after 554 mention the Khitans being active during the late third and early fourth centuries. The Book of Jin (648) mentions the Khitans in the section covering the reign of Murong Sheng (398–401). The Samguk Sagi (1145) mentions a Khitan raid taking place in 378.
It is generally believed that the Khitans emerged from the Yuwen branch of the Xianbei people. Following a defeat at the hands of another branch of the Xianbei in 345, the Yuwen split into three tribes, one of which was called the Kumo Xi. In 388 the Kumo Xi itself split, with one group remaining under the name Kumo Xi and the other group becoming the Khitans. This view is partially backed up by the Book of Wei, which describes the Khitans originating from the Xianbei. Beginning in the Song dynasty, some Chinese scholars suggested that the Khitans might have descended from the Xiongnu people. While modern historians have rejected the idea that the Khitan were solely Xiongnu in origin, there is some support for the claim that they are of mixed Xianbei and Xiongnu origin. Beginning with Rashid-al-Din Hamadani in the fourteenth century, several scholars have theorized that the Khitans were Mongolic in origin, and in the late 19th century, Western scholars made the claim that the Khitans were Tungusic in origin (modern linguistic analysis has discredited this claim. The Khitans shaved their heads, leaving hair on their temples which grew down to the chest, in a similar fashion to the related Kumo Xi, Shiwei, and Xianbei.
After splitting from the Yuwen, the Khitans and Kumo Xi fled to the region of Songmo (modern southern Hexigten Banner and western Ongniud Banner). According to the New Book of Tang, the territory of the Khitans rested on what is now the area south of Xar Moron River and east of the Laoha between Chaoyang, Liaoning. The Khitans then faced a joint invasion by the Rouran Khaganate and Goguryeo, which caused them to migrate south to the east of Bailang River (modern Daling River).
By the time the Book of Wei was written in 554, the Khitans had formed a state in what is now China's Jilin and Liaoning Provinces. The Khitans suffered a series of military defeats to other nomadic groups in the region, as well as to the Northern Qi (550–577) and Sui (589–618) dynasties. Khitan tribes at various times fell under the influence of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Uighurs and Sui and Tang dynasties. In the Book of Sui (Volume 84), the Khitan are described as "bellicose in plundering and raiding borders" and "the most uncourteous and arrogant among all barbarians". According to the History of Liao, the Khitans were nomads who migrated according to the season. They depended on horses for their livelihood and let them graze openly while their men were demobilized. Their men drank kumiss and practiced archery to hunt for their daily needs. Due to their way of life, they often had the upper hand in military affairs.
There were eight Khitan tribes: the Xiwandan, Hedahe (Adahe), Fufuyu (Jufufu), Yuling (Yuyuling), Rilian, Piqie (Pilier), Li (black), and Tuliuhan (Tuliuyu). The eight tribes shared power by rotating leadership triennially. The Khitan federation presented tribute to the Northern Yan (409–436), which in return invested the Khitan khan as Prince Guishan. The Khitans also regularly presented tribute to the Northern Wei (386–534) court in the form of horses and animal skins. Trade occurred on the border in Helong (modern Chaoyang) and Miyun. In 553, the Khitans suffered a defeat to the armies of Northern Qi (550–577) and lost a large portion of their population as well as cattle. For a time they resided in Goguryeo. In 584, they submitted to the Sui dynasty (581–618). In 605, they raided the Sui dynasty, but Emperor Yang of Sui convinced the Türks to attack the Khitans, who lost 40,000 men and women. The eight tribes of old dispersed. Only two Khitan leaders are known from this period: Hechen and Wuyu. The title of Khitan chieftains was Mofuhe or Mohefu.