Anorda (alsoordu,ordo, orordon) orhorde was a historical sociopolitical and military structure found on theEurasian Steppe, usually associated with theTurkic andMongol peoples. This form of entity can be seen as the regional equivalent of aclan or atribe of nomads.[1] Some successful ordas gave rise tokhanates. The original term did not carry the meaning of a large khanate such as theGolden Horde. These structures were contemporarily referred to asulus ("nation" or "tribe").
Etymologically, the wordordu ultimately comes from theTurkicordu which means "army" in Turkic and Mongolian languages, as well as "seat of power"[2] or "royal court".[3][4] In English, it was directly or indirectly borrowed from Latinorda,[1] or from Polishhorda.[5]
Within theLiao Empire of theKhitans, the word ordo was used to refer to a nobleman's personal entourage or court, which included servants, retainers, and bodyguards. Emperors, empresses, and high ranking princes all had ordos of their own, which they were free to manage in practically any way they chose.
In modern times the term is also used to denoteKazakh tribal groupings, known aszhuz.[6][7] The primary ones are theYounger Horde (junior zhuz) in westernKazakhstan, theMiddle Horde (middle zhuz) in central Kazakhstan and theOlder Horde (senior zhuz) in southeastern Kazakhstan.[7]
'Urdu', the name of a language spoken in the Indian subcontinent, is also a cognate of this Turkic word.[8]
In 16th-century Russian sources, the termGolden Horde is applied to the westernkhanate that succeeded theMongol Empire; the term is now used retrospectively in modern scholarship.[9][10] The termgolden may have been used to refer to the riches of the khanate, or simply the yellow tents used by Mongol commanders.[11]
Ordu or Ordo also means the Mongolian court.[12] InMongolian, theGovernment Palace is called "Zasgiin gazriinordon".
William of Rubruck described the Mongol mobile tent as follows:
The dwelling in which they sleep is based on a hoop of interlaced branches, and its supports are made of branches, converging at the top around a small hoop, from which projects a neck like a chimney. They cover it with white felt: quite often they also smear the felt with chalk or white clay and ground bones to make it gleam whiter, or sometimes they blacken it. And they decorate the felt around the neck at the top with various fine designs. Similarly they hang up in front of the entrance felt patchwork in various patterns: they sew onto one piece others of different colours to make vines, trees, birds and animals. These dwellings are constructed of such a size as to be on occasions thirty feet (9 metres) across: I myself once measured a breadth of twenty feet (6 metres) between the wheel tracks of a wagon, and when the dwelling was on the wagon it protruded beyond the wheels by at least five feet on either side. I have counted twenty-two oxen to one wagon, hauling along a dwelling, eleven in a row, corresponding to the width of the wagon, and another eleven in front of them. The wagon's axle was as large as a ship's mast, and one man stood at the entrance to the dwelling on top of the wagon, driving the oxen.
— William of Rubruck, c. 1220 – c. 1293[13]
Ibn Battuta writes:
...we saw a vast city on the move with its inhabitants, with mosques and bazaars in it, the smoke of the kitchens rising in the air (for they cook while on the march), and horse drawn wagons transporting the people. On reaching the camping place they took down the tents from the wagons and set them on the ground, for they are light to carry, and so likewise they did with the mosque and shops.
— Ibn Battuta, 1331–1332[14]
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1911) definedorda as "a tribe or troop of Asiatic nomads dwelling in tents or wagons, and migrating from place to place to procure pasturage for their cattle, or for war or plunder."[15]
Merriam–Webster definedhorde in this context as "a political subdivision of central Asian people" or "a people or tribe of nomadic life".[16]
Ordas would form when families settled inauls would find it impossible to survive in that area and were forced to move. Often, periods of drought would coincide with the rise in the number of ordas. Ordas werepatriarchal, with its male members constituting a military. While some ordas were able to sustain themselves from their herds; others turned to pillaging their neighbors. In subsequent fighting, some ordas were destroyed, others assimilated. The most successful ones would, for a time, assimilate most or all other ordas of theEurasian Steppe and turn to raiding neighboring political entities; those ordas often left their mark on history, the most famous of which is theGolden Horde of the laterMongol Empire.[17]
Famous ordas (hordes) include:
In the modern Mongolian language, the form of the word, Ordon is more commonly used throughout Mongolia and Inner Mongolia.
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