Tanguts

(1) A Tibeto-Burman people (self-designation Mi or Minia; Chinese name Tanghsiang) who established the Hsi Hsia (Western Hsia) kingdom in the late tenth century in what is now Kansu Province and the western part of Shansi Province in China. The Tanguts fought often and successfully against the Chinese. They had their own writing system and founded a civilization that is known from excavations made at Khara-Khoto (Karakhoto). After the Tangut kingdom was destroyed by the Mongols in 1227, some Tanguts became part of the Tsinghai Tibetans; the rest were assimilated by the Mongols and Chinese.

(2) The Mongol name for the Tibetans. The term was used in Russian until the 1930’s to refer to the Tibetan stock raisers of Tsinghai Province.