evidence: The Mongols constitute one of the principal ethnographic divisions of Asian peoples. Their traditional homeland is centred in Mongolia—a vast plateau in Central Asia now divided politically into an autonomous region of China (Inner Mongolia) and the independent country Mongolia (historically called Outer Mongolia)—which lies at the eastern end of what was throughout history a great corridor of migration between northeastern China (historically called Manchuria) and Hungary. Physical anthropologists in the 19th century introduced the terms Mongol and Mongolian as descriptive of "racial type" even though the Mongols exhibited a wide range of physical characteristics. Today the Mongols are recognized as a group of peoples bound together by a common language and a common nomadic tradition.