Outer Mongolia was a territory of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. Its area was roughly equivalent to that of the modern state of Mongolia, which is sometimes called "Outer Mongolia" in China today, plus the Russian republic of Tuva. While the administrative Outer Mongolia only consisted of the four Khalkha aimags, in the late Qing period "Outer Mongolia" was also used to refer to Khalkha plus Oirat areas Khovd and the directly-ruled Tannu Uriankhai. The name "Outer Mongolia" is contrasted with South Mongolia, which corresponds to the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in China. South Mongolia was given its name because it was more directly administered by the Qing court; North Mongolia had a greater degree of autonomy within the Qing domain. The term ar mongol is sometimes used in Mongolian language to refer to North Mongolia when making a distinction with South Mongolia, so as to elide the history of Qing rule and rather imply a geographic unity or distinction of regions inhabited by Mongols in the Mongolian Plateau. There also exists an English term Northern Mongolia, but possibly with political connotations. It can also be used to refer to Mongolia synchronically. In the Mongolian language, the wordar refers to the back side of something, which has been extended to mean the northern side of any spatial entity, e.g. a mountain or a yurt. The word öbür refers to the south side of a mountain. So the difference between South Mongolia and the Mongolian state is conceived of in the metaphor as at the backward northern side vs. the south side of a mountain. In contrast to, there is also, roughly referring to the region now known as South Mongolia. Today, "Outer Mongolia" is sometimes still informally used to refer to Mongolia. "Outer Mongolia" is also used quite commonly in Taiwan. To avoid confusion between the sovereign nation of Mongolia and China's Inner Mongolia, but to recognize the sovereignty of Mongolia, media in China generally refer to the former as "State of Mongolia" ; that is, the translation of the official name in Mongolian, Монгол Улс/Mongol Uls) instead of just "Mongolia", which could refer to the whole Mongolia area.
