Mongolian is a subfamily of the Altaic language family mostly spoken in Asia. It originated in the Altai Mountains and is divided into western languages like Oryat and Kalmyk, and eastern languages like Buryat and Mongolian. While a unified Mongolian language was created in the 12th century, Middle Mongolian emerged from the 13th to 16th centuries under Genghis Khan and the modern form has been used since the 17th century.