Yurt wagon

Trolley of a ger tereg in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. You can see the arch that helps maintain the structure of the yurt.

Yurt wagon or Ger tereg (Mongolian: ᠭᠡᠷ ᠲᠡᠷᠭᠡ) is a traditional mobile dwelling of the Mongolic people, in which a yurt is placed on a large cart usually pulled by oxen.[1]

This type of habitat was mainly used by the Mongol Khans, at least between the 13th and 16th centuries.[2]

William of Rubruck (1215-1295) describes them in his travelogues in the Mongol Empire. He describes a meeting in a yurt with Möngke and his wife where they get drunk, during an evening in the presence of Nestorian priests and the woman returns to the imperial yurt, on the cart: "At last the lady, being drunk like the others, returned in her cart to her home".[3]

Medieval representation of the Cumans cart yurt

References

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  1. ^ Praveen Krishnaiah. "The History and Origin of Yurts: A Mongolian Tale".
  2. ^ Х.Барилга Эм Эн. "Монголын орон сууцны архитектур" (in Mongolian). news.barilga.mn.
  3. ^ Guill. de Rubruquis envoyé de Saint Louis et Marco Polo, marchand vénitien (1888). Deux voyages en Asie au XIIIe siècle. pp. 100–101.