Khamag Mongol (Mongolian: Хамаг монгол, romanized: Khamag mongol, lit. 'the whole Mongol'; Chinese: 蒙兀國) was a loose Mongolic tribal confederation (khanlig) on the Mongolian Plateau in the 12th century. It is sometimes considered to be a predecessor state to the Mongol Empire.^[2][3]

Khamag Mongol Хамаг Монголын ханлиг
1130–1206
1205 KHWARAZMIAN EMPIRE CUMAN KHANATES KIEVAN RUS' MONGOL CONFEDERATION QARA KHITAI KIPCHACKS QOCHO GEORGIA GHURID EMPIRE ZENGIDS ABBASID CALIPHATE MALAYU YADAVAS JIN DYNASTY XI XIA SONG DYNASTY PAGAN DALI KHMER AYYUBID SULTANATE SULTANATE OF RUM GO- RYEO ◁ ▷ The Mongol Confederation ( ) and contemporary polities in continental Asia circa 1200.
Constitutive tribes of the Mongol Confederation
Status	Khanate
Capital	Centered camp near Kherlen River
Common languages	Middle Mongol
Ethnic groups	Mongols
Religion	Tengrism Mongolian Shamanism
Government	Elective monarchy
Khan
• 1130–1148	Khabul Khan (1st recorded Khan)
• 1148–1156	Ambaghai Khan (2nd)
• 1156–1160	Hotula Khan (3rd)
• 1160–1171	Yesugei (de facto)
• 1189–1206	Genghis Khan (last)
(Minister/Advisor)
• 1130 – ?	Khaduli Barlas
• 12th–Century	Erumduli Barlas
• 1150s–1190s	Suqu Sechen Barlas
• 1189–1206	Qarachar Barlas
• 1190s–1206	Shigi Qutuqu (last)
Legislature	Kurultai
Historical era	High Middle Ages
• Liao dynasty records the existence of the Khamag Mongol	10th–Century 1130
• Khabul Khan crowned	1130
• Death of Yesugei	1171
• Temujin becomes Khagan of the Khamag and given honorary name of Genghis Khan	1189
• Jamukha elected as a rival khan to Genghis	1201
• Jamukha defeated by Genghis Khan, who unifies the tribes and establishes the Mongol Empire	1206
Population
• 1200[1]	4,250,000
Preceded by Succeeded by Liao dynasty Proto-Mongols Mongol Empire
Today part of	China Mongolia Russia

The existence of a somewhat mysterious tribal power known in Mongol tradition as Khamag Mongol Uls is recorded in sources of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty.^[4] After the fall of the Liao dynasty in 1125, the Khamag Mongols began to play an important role on the Mongolian plains.^[5] They occupied one of the most fertile lands of the country, the basins of the river Onon, Kherlen and Tuul Rivers in the Khentii Mountains. The Taichiud (Cyrillic: Тайчууд) was one of the three core tribes in the Khamag Mongol Khanate of Mongolia during the 12th century and whose people lived in the southern part of Siberia's modern-day Zabaykalsky Krai. The present-day Zabaykalsky Krai and the Khentii Province of Mongolia were the core regions of the Khamag Mongol Khanate.^[6] The Khamags consisted of the three core clans Khiyad, Taichuud, and Jalairs.

The first khan of Khamag Mongol recorded in history is Khabul Khan from the Borjigin clan. Khabul Khan successfully repelled the invasions of the Jurchen-led Jin armies. Khabul Khan was succeeded by Ambaghai Khagann of the Taichiud. Ambagai was captured by the Tatar confederation while delivering his daughter for marriage to their leadership. He was handed over to the Jin, who cruelly executed him. Ambaghai was succeeded by Hotula Khan, a son of Khabul Khan. Hotula Khan engaged the Tatars in 13 battles in an effort to obtain vengeance for the death of Ambagai Khan.

Khamag Mongol was unable to elect a khan after Hotula died. However, Khabul's grandson Yesugei, who was a chief of the Khiyad tribe, was an effective and preeminent leader of Khamag Mongol. Temujin, the future Genghis Khan, was born into Yesugei's family as the first son in Delüün Boldog on the upper reaches of the Onon river in 1162.

When young Tughril Khan asked for help from Yesugei, the ruler of the Khamag Mongol,^{[note 1]} to dethrone his brothers among the Keraites, the Mongols helped him defeat the Keraite leaders and put him on the throne in the early 12th century.

Yesugei was poisoned by the Tatars and died shortly after in 1171, after which the Khamag Mongol began to disintegrate. Political anarchy and a power vacuum lasted until 1189 when Temujin became the Khan of the Khamag Mongol. War broke soon out between other Mongol tribes. Temujin's friend Jamukha was recognized by the rival tribes as Gurkhan (the universal ruler) in 1201 but he was defeated by the alliance of Khamag Mongol and Keraites.

When Tughril Khan refused to cement the alliance with the Khamag, Temujin's wars with the clans nearly destroyed him. Temujin united all clans on the Mongolian Plateau at last in 1206, when he was given the title Genghis Khan.