How similar are Mongols and Turks? Are they the same?

Question:Their geographical location are quite similar...
And their history... both are nomads in central asia
I have never been able to tell their difference
but they are different races why?
Thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Their geographical location are quite similar...
And their history... both are nomads in central asia
I have never been able to tell their difference
but they are different races why?
Thanks!

The actually don't come from the same area. The Mongols came from much further east, while the Turks have always straddled the fine line between Europe and Asia (even today, half of Turkey is technically in Europe, and half is in the Asian part of the Middle East).

The reason for your puzzlement may have to do with the fact that the old Mongol warlords, most notably Ghengis Khan, expanded the empire further and further west. His sons continued the expansion, and at one time it reached all the way into Eastern Europe. Because of that expansion, their blood mixed with all the people in the Mongol Empire (which was enormous, taking up most almost all of Central Asia, as well as the lands further east). Accordingly, there are people in Turkey and the surrounding areas who are Mongols (they are usually called "western Mongols"), and many of the regional dialects are Mongolian in origin.

If you actually look at a Mongolian person and a Turkish person, you will notice a tremendous difference in their appearance. Turks look like Arabs mixed with Eastern Europeans, and Mongolians look more Asian.

The whole thing just has to do with the Mongol Empire's expansion, and the fact that one of the ways they expanded their empire was by marrying local women, who then gave birth to children of mixed heritage. It's the same strategy the Romans used more than 1000 years before them. It was easier to intermarry and spread the empire that way than to have to fight constantly for every inch of land. If your soldiers married enough local women and fathered enough children, in a few generations you had control of the land.

I hope that helps clarify it for you a bit.

The both have one thing in common, their earliest history is not well documents except for fables. The Turks were originally from the Eastern steps, and Mongols have always been from Mongolia, but since both people were migratory, its logical to assume their was some mixing in their past.

mongols and Turks are very different people with very different life styles.. the mongols were nomads and the Turks for the most part were farmers and city people. there was alot of mixing with all of the invading going on but the Turks are still a separate people

Just wanted to say that Bronwen has it spot on. I'm also half arab, funnily enough, and i was going to say exactly the same thing.

Their languages have a close relationship, what some call the Altaic family, others the Turkic group. The Mongols were a collection of nomad tribes united by Genghis Khan. Like a stone in a pond, the unification and westward movement of the Mongols had rippling effects of displacing other nomadic peoples further and further west as they sought to keep their independence.

Turks and Mongols have similar roots in the Central Eastern Steppes (western China, southern Siberia, and today's "-stan" nations Uzbek, Afghan, Kyrgh, etc etc)

While sharing a similar root language, and a general geographic origin, they have different political, cultural histories that have separated them for a millennial or more.
http://www.answers.com/topic/altaic