Mongol Eurasia and Its Aftermath,1200-1500

AP World History

Presentation Outline

1) Rise of the Mongols

2) Mongol Conquests

3) Overland trade and plague

4) Mongols and Islam

5) Regionals Responses in Western Eurasia

6) Mongol Domination in China

7) Mongol Effects on Early Ming

1) The Rise of the Mongols, 1200-1600

Nomadism in Central and Inner Asia

• Mongols were strongly hierarchical.

• Mongols had complex federations tied to together by marriage alliances.

• Their seasonal movements brought them into contact with all types of religions.

– They accepted religious pluralism.

• Mongol khans were thought to represent the Sky God.

Mongol empire – Largest land empire ever created (from Korea to Poland)

Mongol empire – Largest land empire ever created (from Korea to Poland)

2) The Mongol Conquests, 1215-1283• Genghis Khan conquered Northern China.

• The khanates of the Golden Horde, Jagadai, and the Il-Khans all swore allegiance to Genghis.

• When Kublai Khan took over, the Jagadai Khan refused to accept him.

• Kublai established the Yuan empire and in 1279 he conquered the Southern Song.

• The Mongols were able to conquer a vast amount of territory because of their superior horsemanship, better bows, technique of following a volley of arrows with a cavalry charge, using non-Mongol soldiers, reputation for slaughtering those who would not surrender, and their ability to take advantage of rivalries among their enemies.

Genghis Khan – Founder of the Mongol empire.

Khubilai Khan (Grandson of Genghis) finished the conquest of China, created the Yuan dynasty, claimed the title of Great Khan, assumed

supremacy over the other Mongol khanates.

Mongols fighting the Russians at the Battle of the Kalka River. Ended Kievan Russia rule of modern day Russia.

After the death of Genghis, the empire splits into the four different Khanates –

Great Khan, Golden Khan, Il-Khan, Jagadai

Mongols carried 5 dozen arrows into battle and rarely used them all.

Modern day reenactment of Mongol warriors.There was no infantry.

Most Mongols were expert horse archers. Asian bow was more superior –

could shoot 1/3 farther than their enemies’ bows.

Mongols fighting the Teutonic Knights in Germany. Ogodei dies and the Mongols return to China to elect a new Khan.

3) Overland Trade and Plague

• Mongol conquests opened overland trade routes and brought commercial integration of Eurasia.

• Disease including the bubonic plague spread among the world.

Route of Marco Polo along the reopened Silk Road. He stimulated the European desire to explore the east.

Illustration of the spread of the Bubonic Plague which originated in southwestern China.

Mongols and flea infested rats carried it along trade routes.

The effects of the Bubonic Plague.

4) The Mongols and Islam, 1260-1500

Mongol Rivalry

• In the 1260s the Il-Khan Mongols murdered the Abbasid Caliph because of religious differences.

• Batu Khan of the Golden Horde in Russia, converted to Islam and vowed to attack the Il-Khan region.

• Europeans attempted to help the non-Muslim Il-Khans repel the Golden Horde Mongols, but the Il-Khan ruler Ghazan became a Muslim in 1295.

The Il-Khan ruler Ghazan studying the Quran.

Islam and the State

• The goal of the Il-Khan state was to collect as much tax revenue as possible.

• The tax farming system was able to deliver large taxes, but over taxation led to inflation and a severe economic crisis.

• Attempts to solve this crisis involved using paper money, but depression lasted until 1349 when the Golden Horde destroyed the Il-Khan empire.

• As the Golden Horde and the Il-Khan empires declined in the 14th century, Timur built the Jagadai Khanate and his descendents, the Timurids, ruled the Middle East for several generations.

Il-Khan gold coin during the time of Ghazan.

The Jagadai Khanate rose in the 14th century with the decline of the Golden Horde and the Il-Khan.

(modern day Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan)

Timur built the Jagadai Khanate. Ethnically he was a Turk, not a Mongol, so he could not be Khan.

Timur’s Jagadai Khanate (1365 - 1405)

Culture and Science in Islamic Eurasia• Juvaini wrote the first comprehensive work of the rise

of the Mongols under Genghis Khan.• Rashid al-Din published a history of the world.• Muslims under Mongol leadership made great strides

in astronomy, calendar making, and the predication of eclipses.

• Devised decimal fractions, calculated the value of pi, and had a significant effect on the development of European science and mathematics.

Mongols were not only great conquers, they allowed their subjects to pursue intellectual interests.

Muslim historian, Rashid al-Din’s, history of the world – Included history of Europe and China.

Under Mongol leadership, the Muslim scholar Nasir al-Din made great strides in astronomy

– small circles rotating within a large circle.

5) Regional Responses in Western Eurasia

Russia and Rule from Afar• The Golden Horde used Russian princes to tax the

people and kept the Orthodox Church in place.• Favored Prince Alexander of Novogorod because he

had aided in the Mongol conquest of Russia.• Moscow emerged as the new center of the Russian

civilization.• Structure of government did not change under

Mongol rule.• In 1480 Ivan III, the prince of Moscow, ended

Mongol rule and adopted the title of Tsar.

Prince Alexander Nevskii of Novogorod allied with the Mongols because Russia would be destroyed if he resisted, essentially saving

Russia. (right - example of Russian man at arms)

Christian church in Moscow.

Ivan “the Terrible” – First Russian prince to fight the Golden Horde. He adopted the title of Tsar.

New States in Eastern Europe and Anatolia

• Europe was divided and the states of Hungary and Poland faced Mongol attacks alone.

• Mongol armies drove to the outskirts of Vienna, but withdrew in 1241 because they needed to elect a successor to the deceased Khan Ogodei.

• Europeans then initiated a variety of diplomatic and trade overtures toward the Mongols.

• Mongol invasions and the bubonic plague caused Europeans to question their religious beliefs.

• After Mongol power began to wane in the 13th and 14th centuries, strong centralized states such as Lithuania and the Balkan Kingdoms began to assert their control over their neighbors.

• Anatolia functioned as a route by which Islamic culture spread to Europe.

• The Ottomans were kept in check by the Timurids, but expanded eastward and conquered Constantinople in 1453.

Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II on his way to conquer the Byzantine empire. (notice the 2-ton cannon)

Mehmet II enters Constantinople victorious.

6) Mongol Domination in China, 1271-1368

The Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368• Kublai Khan practiced Chinese traditions of

government.• Unified the Tanggut, Jin, and Southern Song empires.• Made innovations of tax farming, Western Asian

Muslims as officials, legally defined status groups, status of merchants and doctors was elevated, and Confucians lowered.

• China’s cities and ports prospered, trade recovered, and merchants flourished.

• Chinese population dropped as much as 40%, probably because of the spread of disease, warfare, infanticide, and the flooding of the Yellow River.

Mongols unified the Tanggut, Jin, and Song empires into the Yuan dynasty. (unified China as we know it)

Example of early weaponry using of gunpowder.

Cultural and Scientific Exchange

• China imported Il-Khan science and technology.• Il-Khans imported Chinese scholars and texts.• Iranian astronomical knowledge, algebra,

trigonometry, Islamic and Persian medical texts, seeds, and formulas were brought to China.

The Fall of the Yuan Empire

• Chinese leader Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols and established the Ming Dynasty

• The Mongols still held Central Eurasia and were able to disrupt overland trade to threaten the Ming.

• The Ming were also threatened by the Jurchens

Ming dynasty began after the Yuan fell and the Mongols were expelled.

Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols and established the Ming Empire.

7) Mongol Effects on Early Ming Dynasty,1368-1500

Ming China on a Mongol Foundation• Zhu Yuanzhang made great efforts to reject

the culture of the Mongols, close off trade relations with Central Asia and the Middle East and reestablish Confucian ideology.

• The Ming still used hereditary professional categories, the Mongol calendar, and Beijing as the capital.

• Mongols continued to serve in the army.

• The Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He launched a series of expeditions to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean to reestablish trade links and bring these areas under Chinese control or influence.

• However, no real trade relations were established and the voyages were non-profitable.

• The voyages were made more for the Yongle Emperor to prove his worth.

• The Zheng He voyages were the last time that the state sponsored such voyages.

Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He launched a series of expeditions to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Comparison of ships from Zheng He and Columbus.

Zheng He’s voyages.

Technology • Chinese lost the knowledge to make high-quality

bronze and steel.– Korea and Japan moved ahead of Ming

China in technological innovation.• However, the Ming period was a time of great wealth,

consumerism, and cultural brilliance.• The novels, Water Margin and Romance of the Three

Kingdoms, porcelain making, furniture, lacquered screens, and silk all contributed to this cultural brilliance.