What is this about?
How the Mongol Empire expanded and the effects and legacy they had on trade and other cross-cultural interactions
- Although the Mongols were brutal in their conquests and inflicted massive chaos, long term their positive effect on cross cultural trade and contact cannot be denied
The Mongols and their Surroundings
- Were originally pastoral nomads from Central Asia
- Herded goat and sheep
- Settle in lands where there is pasture for their animals
- Allows people to survive in harsh environments (Central Asia for example is a very harsh environment)
- Expected everyone, whether you were male or female, to become skilled horse riders
- Hunting and warfare highly emphasized in Mongol society
- Mongol women had much more rights than in other societies
- Could remarry after being widowed and could initiate divorce
- Also rode horses
Genghis Khan
- Also known as Temujin, he was born in the late 1100s
- Consolidated power by allying with other tribes and embarking on military campaigns against tribes against him
- Emphasized loyalty heavily
- Became “khan” (leader) of Mongols in early 1200s
The Beginning of Conquest
Genghis Khan while conquering other territories gained a reputation for being a skilled yet terrifying warrior who ruthlessly killed anyone who went against him
Northern China
- Conquered Northern China, which was controlled by Jurchens, a people who established the Jin Empire
- Captured Jurchen capital of Beijing and renamed it to Khanbaliq
Afghanistan and Persia
- Was ruled by the Khwarazmian Empire at the time
- Genghis Khan wanted to open trade and diplomatic with the shah of the empire so he sent envoys in peace but the shah murdered them
- Enraged Genghis Khan slaughtered the army and seized control of its territory, wrecking ruthless destruction city after city
Genghis Khan at War
- Mongols were able to conquer such a large amount of land thanks to their fearsome and skillful soldiers
- Soldiers were very good riders and were really good with the bow
- Were highly disciplined and used tactics such as psychological warfare and surprise attacks
- When approaching an enemy settlement they would always ask if they wanted to surrender, if they said no the invasion would happen
- Whenever they conquered a territory they would use the military technology they had and incorporate it into their army
- When they conquered China and Persia, they exploited their knowledge in developing siege weapons like portable towers
Genghis Khan at Peace
- Pax Mongolica (Mongolian Peace) flourished after conquests were over
- Consulted Islamic and Chinese teachings and innovations when establishing his government
- Instituted policy of religious tolerance
- Soldiers, now free from war, took charge of protecting Silk Roads
- New trade channels flourished
- Tried to unify Mongol Empire under one alphabet, called Uyghur alphabet, but this failed
- Yassa was a code of laws implemented by him to establish order and justice throughout his land
- Was influenced by Chinese and Islamic legal systems
- Contributed to the development of Mongol unity and identity
- Established small central government and encouraged trade and commerce
Mongolian Empire Expands
- After Genghis Khan died his heirs divided the empire into four regional empires and they on their own continued to expand
- Note: Khanate of Chaghati which ruled Central Asia is irrelevant
Golden Horde
- Controlled Russia for three centuries
- Batu, founder of Golden Horde, demanding the city-states they conquered to pay tribute
- Initially Western Europe was cool with the Mongols as they promoted trade and were religiously tolerant… until they conquered Russia
- This is because Russia is Christian
- Tried to conquer Western Europe but failed
- Mongols indirectly ruled over Russia
- Way they enforced power was by making the existing Russian rulers send regular tributes to the Mongols
- One city-state named Moscow set aside some of the tributes to build an army to resist the Mongols
- Under Ivan the Great, they were able to defeat the Golden Horde and restore Russian independence in 1380
Legacy of Mongols in Russia
- Three centuries of Mongol rule in Russia caused Russia to be even more isolated from the rest of Western Europe
- As a result Russia developed a more distinct Russian culture
- Russians started to embrace more centralized forms of government
Ilkhanate
- Founded by Hulegu, this khanate ruled Persia
- Conquered Abbasid Caliphate
- Siege of Baghdad: Mongols loot and destroy Baghdad (capital of Abbasid Caliphate), kill the caliph and 200,000+ citizens
- Originally were religiously tolerant, but after Hulegu and most of the other Mongols living in the ilkhanate convert to Islam, they allowed massacres of Christians and Jews
- Let Persians serve as ministers and provincial and local officials as the Mongols had little experience with administration
- The lack of knowledge of administration was one of the flaws of the Mongols and was also a factor in the decline of their empire later on
Yuan Dynasty
- Founded by Kublai Khan, they controlled all of China
- Kublai Khan is also known as a Great Khan
- Genghis Khan conquered northern China, Kublai Khan then conquered the Song Dynasty in southern China
- Meaning Kublai Khan got to rule all of China
- When rebuilding the Chinese government he leaned toward Chinese tradition instead of Mongol tradition
- Was skilled at administrating the large territory
- Instituted policy of religious tolerance
- Kublai Khan was interested in culture and actively promoted Buddhism while also providing support for Daoists, Muslims, Christians
- Worked to improve the welfare of his subjects and brought prosperity to China through an increase in trade and through cultural exchanges
Mongols Lose Power
Decline of Yuan Dynasty
- Many policies alienated Chinese
- Mongols dismantled civil service examination system, alienating the once-prestigious scholar-gentry class
- Despite being religiously tolerant, the Mongols emphasized segregation of Mongols from non-Mongols
- For example non-Mongols weren’t allowed to speak Mongolian
- Hired foreigners for government positions instead of native-born Chinese
- Yuan Dynasty also failed to expand beyond China
- Tried but failed to conquer Japan, Indochina, Burma
- This made the Mongols look weaker to the subject Chinese population
- Zhu Yuanzhang, a Buddhist monk from a poor peasant family, led a revolt that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and founded the Ming Dynasty
- Ming wanted to get rid of all Mongol influence from China and “make it Chinese” again
- For example they sponsored study of Chinese cultural traditions and established a national school system
- Also restarted the civil service examination system that the Mongols stopped
The Other Khanates
- The fall of the Yuan Dynasty was in parallel with the decline of the other khanates
- Golden Horde lost its territory and a new Russian Empire took its place
Rise of Tamerlane
- Was a Muslim Turkic-Mongol conqueror who saw himself as the person who would restore the Mongol Empire to its former glory
- Conquered parts of the Ilkhanate (Persia), Chagatai Khanate (Central Asia), Golden Horde, and even sacked the Delhi Sultanate
- Like Genghis Khan, he was a conqueror but not a governor
- Empire fragmented after his death
- Tamerlane would later deeply influence three Turkish Muslim states: the Mughal Empire (India), Safavid Empire (Persia), and the Ottoman Empire (Anatolia)
Long-Term Impact of the Mongol Invasions
- During Pax Mongolica, interregional trade between Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe spiked again
- Mongols also built roads and protected trade routes
- Interregional cultural exchange:
- Islamic scientific knowledge found its way in China
- Paper from China was able to spur the creation of Gutenburg’s printing press
- Helped to transmit diseases like the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death
- Era of walled cities in Europe as they were useless against the Mongol’s siege technology
- Example: the cannon used Chinese gunpowder, Muslim flamethrowers, and European bell-casting techniques