MONGOL EMPIRE

A Nomadic Group• Pastoral nomads of Eurasian steppes• Moved regularly with flocks & herds• Decision-making involved many voices

– Council with representatives from powerful families– Khan – leader– People who disagreed could strike out on their own

• Menial camp work fell to slaves• Weak groups secured land rights & protection

from strong groups – Provided slaves, livestock, weapons, silk, or cash– More powerful families lived almost entirely off

tribute

• Women’s Lives – Arranged marriages in childhood– Women could wield power in negotiation– Wives & mothers of rulers managed stat during period between ruler’s death &

succession of new ruler– Woman could not be khan

• Religion– Often more than 1 religion in a family– Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam most common– Almost all Mongols observed traditional shamanism– Khan could speak to & for an ultimate god

Genghis Khan• United many nomadic tribes of

northeast Asia• Emerged as leader in 1206• Began conquest

– Resulted in conquest of most of Eurasia– Included raids– Often accompanied by massacres of

civilians– Many areas surrendered

• Practiced meritocracy • Encouraged religious tolerance• Brought Silk Road under cohesive

political environment– Increased communication and trade

• Succeeded by his son Ogodei Khan• Split empire into khanates among sons

and grandsons

Mongol Rulers

Split of the Khanates• Ogodei died 1241, leaving vast empire• Khubilai Khan declared himself Great Khan

in 1265– Not acceptd by other branches of the family– Transferred court to old Jin capital (Beijing)– Declared himself founder of Yuan Empire in 1271– Destroyed Song Empire in 1279– Moved to attack northern Vietnam (Annam) and

southern Vietnam (Champa)– Failed to conquer Java and Japan

• Jagadai’s descendents dominated Central Asia– Good relationship with nomads there– Hatred of Khubilai contributed to Central Asia

becoming independent Mongol center & to the spread of Islam there

Military Techniques• Extraordinary horseback riders &

skilled with superior bows– Arrows decimated enemy marksmen

early in battle– Charged enemy’s infantry to fight with

sword, lance, javelin, and mace– Cavalry only met its match at Battle of

Ain Jalut– Fired flaming arrows – Hurled enormous projectiles from

catapults

• Resisting cities faced siege & annihilation– Surrender only option– Slaughter of one city spread terror &

caused others to surrender– Conquered areas contributed men to

“Mongol” armies

Trade & Disease• Trade affected all parts of the empire

– New styles & huge quantities of silk westward to Middle East & Europe

– Artistic motifs from Japan & Tibet reached England!– Porcelain became important in trade

• Merchants encountered ambassadors, scholars, and missionaries over routes– Marco Polo [1254-1324]– Stories of wealth stimulated European ambition to find

easier routes to Asia…

• Exchange spread diseases like the bubonic plague– Festered in southwestern China since early Tang period– Rats carrying infested fleas spread along supply trains– Typhus, influenza, and smallpox also traveled routes– Trade, not conquest, took greatest toll in lives

Islam• Issues of which branches adopted Islam & which did not

mostly due to political rivalries• Il-Khan state controlled Iran by 1260• Golden Horde in southern Russia

– Ruled indigenous Muslim population– Batu’s successor declared himself a Muslim & swore to

avenge death of Abbasid caliph conflict over land also claimed by the Il-Khan

• Even Buddhist leaders had Shi’ite or Turkik Muslim advisors • Doctrine clashed with Mongol ways

– Abhorred Mongols’ worship of Buddhist & shamanist idols– Mongol law specified slaughtering animals with spilling out blood,

which horrified Muslims forbidden to consume blood

• European leaders thought helping non-Muslim Il-Khans repel the Golden Horde would lend the Il-Khan to help relieve Muslim pressure on crusader principalities in the Middle East– Brief correspondence between Il-Khan court and Pope Nicholas IV– Golden Horde responded by seeking alliance with Muslim Mamluks in

Egypt

• Basically, Islam made things complicated within the vast Mongol Empire and with its contacts in Europe and the Middle East

Culture & Science• Il-Khans and Timurids presided over cultural

flowering in Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia• Blended Iranian & Chinese art and culture• Dominant tendencies were Muslim• Scholars & historians recorded history and

scientific discoveries• Mathematical tables & geometric models of lunar

motion later became known to Nicholas Copernicus

• Excelled in predicting eclipses• New precision to astrolabes• Decimal notation• More precise value for pi

Relationship with Mongols: The Golden Horde

• Gradually lost unity as districts formed into smaller khanates– White Horde – Crimean khanate

• East-west routes and north-south routes conferred importance on certain trade locations

• Ruled from capital at (Old) Sarai– Granted privileges to the Orthodox Church– Church helped reconcile Russian people to distant masters– Alexander Nevskii, prince of Novgorod, persuaded some fellow

princes to submit to Mongols• Mongols favored Moscow, ruled by Alexander’s son Daniel• Moscow became dominant political center in 1300s

• Russian language grew to become dominant written language

• Unsuccessfully attempted to introduce paper money• Destructive & brutal tax collecting

– Led to severe population lossin Ukraine– Eastern Europe suffered under the “Mongol Yoke”

• Continuities– Traditional structure of local government survived Mongol rule– Princely families continued to battle for dominance – Mongols added new

player to the struggle

Relationship with Mongols: New States in Eastern Europe

• Anatolia & Eastern Europe responded dynamically– HRE Emperor Frederick II (r.1212-1250) appreciated

Muslim culture– Negotiated with Muslims

• Teutonic Knights resisted– Dedicated to Christianizing Slavic & Kipchak populations– Fought Alexander Nevskii & the Mongols in Slav territory– Knights’ power destroyed in battle loss in 1242

• Mongol armies consisted mainly of Turks, Chinese, and Iranians led by Mongols

• Eventually appreciated intelligence brought by Mongols– Diplomatic passports– Coal mining– Movable type– Metallurgy– Mathematics– Gunpowder– Bronze cannon

• Decline of Mongol power enabled rise of Lithuania and Serbia

Dominance in China: the Yuan Empire 1271-1368

• Founded by Khubilai Khan– Buddhist priests popular with rulers– Confucians, now a formal hereditary status, sometimes in government

• Capital at Beijing– Built the Forbidden City palace complex

• Social structure– Mongols ranked highest by law (warriors)– Below them: Central Asians & Middle Easterners (tax collectors)– Northern Chinese (came under rule 2 generations earlier than southern Chinese)– Southern Chinese

• Administration– Stressed census-taking and tax collecting– Organized all of China into provinces– Cities prospered along caravan routes or Grand Canal– Many gentry families chose commerce & urban lifestyle

• Agriculture– Cottage industries liked to urban economies– 90% lived in countryside– Treatises on planting, harvesting, and butchering published– On the whole, countryside did poorly under Yuan period

• Brutal tax collection• Servitude or homelessness for many farmers• Neglect of dams caused flooding

• Fall of Yuan Empire– Internal strife among princes in 1340s– Farmer rebellions– Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Yuan Empire Ming Empire rose in 1368

The Big Picture• The Mongol Empire began conquest of Asia under Genghis

Khan in the early 1200s. • After the death of Ogodei Khan, the Mongol Empire was

administered in separate khanates, including the Golden Horde, Il-Khan, and Yuan Empire.

• Mongols did not practice one single religion, but the most prominent were Islam, Buddhism, and elements of Christianity and shamanism.

• Mongol conquest devastated Kievan Russia, but the language achieved greater importance and many traditions survived.

• Khubilai Khan began the Yuan Empire, with Mongols at the top of society and southern Chinese at the bottom.

• Mongol rule systematized government, but cities benefited more from Mongol policies than the countryside.

• Mongol-protected trade routes encouraged a steady exchange of scientific and cultural ideas.