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]

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

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.