Tannu Uriankhai (, ; , ; ) was a historical region of the Mongol Empire (and its principal successor, the Yuan dynasty) and, later, the Qing dynasty. The territory of Tannu Uriankhai largely corresponds to the modern-day Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation, neighboring areas in Russia, and a small part of the modern state of Mongolia. Tannu designates the Tannu-ola Mountains in the region. Uriankhai was the Mongolian name for the Tuvans (and accordingly their realm), which meant "the people living in the woods" (). After Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing dynasty and Republic of China in the early 20th century, the region of Tannu Uriankhai increasingly came under Russian influence and finally became an independent communist state, the Tuvan People's Republic, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1944. Sovereignty over the area has not been officially renounced by the Republic of China, based on the island of Taiwan since 1949. Referring to the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, the People's Republic of China (PRC), which controls Mainland China, has not officially renounced the sovereignty over the area, but just "have no remaining territorial claims" for two countries. But the PRC has official contacts with Tuva and regards it as part of Russia. History With the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China (1279–1368), Tannu Uriankhai was controlled by the Oirots (western Mongols, also known as Zungars) until the end of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Thereafter, the history of western Mongolia, and by extension Tannu Uriankhai (more as a spectator than as a participant), is a story of the complex military relations between the Altan Khanate (Khotogoit tribe) and the Oirots, both competing for supremacy in western Mongolia. The Qing dynasty established its dominion over Mongolia as a result of intervening in a war between the Oirots and the Khalkhas, the dominant tribe in the eastern half of Mongolia. In 1691 the Kangxi Emperor accepted the submission of the Khalkhas at Dolon Nor in Inner Mongolia, and then personally led an army into Mongolia, defeating the Oirots near Ulaanbaatar (the capital of present-day Mongolia) in 1696. Mongolia was now part of the Qing state. Qing rule over Tuva came more peacefully, not by conquest but by threat: In 1726 the Yongzheng Emperor ordered the Khotogoit Khan Buuvei Beise to accompany a high Qing official ("amban") to "inform the Uriankhais of [Qing] edicts" in