Tangut

The Tangut people (Tangut: 𗼎𗾧, mjɨ nja̱ or 𗼇𘓐, mji dzjwo; Chinese: 党項; pinyin: Dǎngxiàng; Tibetan: མི་ཉག་, Wylie: mi nyak; Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰭𐰆𐱃, romanized: Taŋut; Mongolian: Тангуд) were a Sino-Tibetan people who founded and inhabited the Western Xia dynasty. The group initially lived under Tuyuhun authority, but later submitted to the Tang dynasty. After the collapse of Tang dynasty, the Tanguts established the Western Xia. They spoke the Tangut language, which initial research believed to be either of the Qiangic or Yi groups of the Tibeto-Burman family, later phylogenetic and historical linguistic accounts revealed that it belonged to the Gyalrongic branch of the Qiangic group. The Western Xia was annihilated by the Mongol Empire in 1227 AD, and most of its written records and architecture were destroyed. Today the Tangut language and its unique script are extinct; only fragments of Tangut literature remain.

The Tangut language, otherwise known as Fan, belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Like many other Sino-Tibetan languages, it is a tonal language with predominantly mono-syllabic roots, but it shares certain grammatical traits central to the Tibeto-Burman branch. It used to be debated as to whether Tangut belonged to the Yi or Qiangic subdivision of Tibeto-Burman. The Tanguts, called the Dangqiang () in Chinese, are typically regarded by Chinese scholars to be synonymous with or at least related to the Qiang people. Historically, "Qiang" was a collective term for the multiple ethnic groups who lived on the western borderlands of China, including the modern Qiang people (Rma). The name Tangut first appears in the Orkhon inscriptions of 735. In their own Tangut language, the Tanguts called themselves Mi-niah (Miñak). Until the 19th century, the term Minjak was still used to refer to the area inhabited by Qiang people in today's Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.

According to William of Rubruck, who travelled to various parts of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the Tanguts were valiant and had big swarthy men among them, in contrast to the Uyghurs, who were "of medium size, like us".

The early Tanguts inhabited the steppes and mountains of southeast Qinghai and northwest Sichuan. Their home originally was in the highlands of western Sichuan. These regions correspond to the Amdo and Kham regions of the Tibetan plateau. At some point their leader Tuoba Chici, who was likely of mixed Xianbei and Qiang heritage, submitted to Tang China rule and was bestowed the title of Captain General of Western-Rong and the surname "Li". In the early 8th century, increasing pressure from the Tibetan Empire had forced the Tanguts to migrate north from their homelands in northeastern Tibet to the eastern Ordos region. By the time of the An Lushan Rebellion (755–763), the Tanguts were the predominant local power in what is now eastern Gansu, Ningxia, and northern Shaanxi.