On the Issue of Political and Ethnic Identity in Mongolian Society of the 15th–16th Centuries

he article explores to the analysis of manifestations of identity in Mongolian society during the 15th–16th centuries. It is shown that the social significance of ethnic identity lay not only in expressing cultural differences but also played a special role in the socio-political organization of relations between various groups. In the process of increasing social segmentation, markers of ethnicity extended into the political sphere, where they became a form of large supra-tribal structures.