MONGOLS
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MONGOL CULTURAL DIFFUSION
 …The Mongols made no technological breakthroughs,
founded no new religions, wrote few books or dramas, and
gave the world no new crops or methods of agriculture.
Their own craftsmen could not weave cloth, cast metal,
make pottery, or even bake bread. They manufactured
neither porcelain nor pottery, painted no pictures, and built
no buildings. Yet, as their army conquered culture after
culture, they collected and passed all of these skills from
one civilization to the next …
 Cultural Diffusion
 The spreading of ideas, knowledge, and technology across
cultures
 The Mongol conquest of China resulted in increased contact
between China and the western world
OVERVIEW
 Eastern Steppes of Central Asia
 Nomadic
 Deep loyalty to kin groups (families, clans, tribes)
 Made it difficult to organize a society on a large scale
 Leader: khan (universal ruler)
 Mongol tribes forged together into a powerful
alliance that built the largest empire known (under
Chinggis or Ghengis Khan)
 Later dissolved into smaller kingdoms
 Brought Eurasian empires into closer
contact(interactions)
OVERVIEW CONTINUED…
 Slavery
 Was the result of tribal competition
 Prevent family from starving
 Women
 Had power - just as likely to be killed as men
 Arranged marriages to strengthen tribes
 Supervised birthing and breeding of animals & preparation of
furs
 Food
 What they could provide on the move
 Meat & milk
 Clothing came from animals
 Iron
 Was important for stirrups, bridles, wagons, and weapons
WHY WERE THEY SO SUCCESSFUL?
Equestrian skills
Bow and arrow, jade thumb ring
Only match for skills were the Mamluk
First hurled fire arrows, later introduced
catapults
What choice did the attacked have?
 Slaughter
 Starve
 Surrender
 New recruits helped them learn the lay of the land.
GENGHIS KHAN (TEMUJIN)
 Mongol chieftain that
created the world’s
LARGEST (size & pop.)
empire, stretching from
the Pacific to Eastern
Europe
 Hordes of skilled
horsemen overwhelmed
Chinese
 Used cannons & missiles
 Genghis Khan did not live
to see the completion of
empire expansion. His
heirs conquered China.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION/STATE
Broke up tribes
Forced men of fighting age to join new
military units (with no tribal affiliations)
Chose high military and political officials
because of their talents and loyalty to them
(not based on kinship or tribes)
Successors built a capital at Karakorum
 Showed the source of Mongol authority was superior
to a clan or tribe
MONGOL ARMY
 Most important institution to the Mongol state
 Equestrian skills (trained since childhood)
 Riding horses, hunting, playing games on horseback
 Archers on horseback
 Most mobile forces in the pre-modern world
 Expanded to conquer Northern China, Afghanistan &
Persia
 Great Khan (Chenggis) died in 1227
 Empire divided up into 4 regional empires
 Replaced by Ogedi as Great khan
The Canterbury Tales, 1390
Geoffrey Chaucer
This noble king was called Genghis Khan,
Who in his time was of great renown
That there was nowhere in no region
So excellent a lord in all things.
He lacked nothing that belonged to a king.
As of the sect of which he was born
He kept his law, to which that he was sworn.
And thereto he was hardy, wise, and rich,
And piteous and just, always liked;
Soothe of his word, benign, and honorable,
Of his courage as any center stable;
Young, fresh, and strong, in arms desirous
As any bachelor of all his house.
A fair person he was and fortunate,
And kept always so well royal estate
That there was nowhere such another man.
This noble king, the Tartar Genghis Khan.
LEGACY OF GENGHIS KHAN
Despite illiteracy, he had modern ideas,
including:
 A professional and mobile army
 A commitment to global commerce
 A secularized system of laws
 Religious tolerance
KUBLAI KHAN (QUBILAI)
 Grandson of Genghis Khan
 Hangzhou (Song Capital)
fell to Mongols in 1276
 Proclaimed himself
emperor and set up the
Yuan dynasty
 Visited by Marco Polo for
17 years as a guest of his
court
• Wrote of his generosity
toward the poor and efforts
to build roads
• Trade & writings of Marco
Polo brought European
attention to China.
MONGOL RULE IN CHINA
 Passed laws to preserve the distinction between Mongols and
Chinese cultures
 Forbade Chinese scholars to learn the Mongol script
 Used for records and correspondence at the upper levels of the imperial
government
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Ended Confucian scholar-bureaucrat privileges
No civil service exams and educational system
Mongols forbidden to marry ethnic Chinese
No Chinese women in the royal or imperial harems
Mongol military forces were separate.
Mongols  Central nomads/ Muslims  Northern Chinese  Ethnic
Chinese  Minority peoples of the south
Used the Chinese calendar
Artisans and merchants were favored
Tolerated all religious traditions in China, including Confucianism, Daoism,
Buddhism, and Christianity
Mongols would not use foot binding and most Mongol women remained
independent.
END OF MONGOL RULE IN CHINA
 Launched invasions into Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, and Java
 Humid, tropical jungles were difficult to adapt to
 Inadequate pastureland for horses
 Guerilla tactics by defenders
 Attempted seaborne invasions of Japan
 Failed due to typhoons
 Economic struggles
 Used paper money but did not maintain adequate reserves of the
bullion that backed up the paper notes, which led to massive
inflation
 Yuan dynasty was followed by the Ming dynasty and revival of
traditional values through Neo -Confucianism
HULEGU KHAN
Grandson of Genghis Khan
Defeated the Abbasid Empire
Captured Baghdad
Established the Ilkhanate
Over 200,000 people killed
Brought end of Seljuk Turkish rule
MONGOL RULE IN PERSIA
 Made concession to the locals
 Mongols (and allies occupied the highest administrative
positions, but Persians served as ministers, provincial
governors, and state of ficials at all lower levels
 Persians could administer the ilkhnate as long as they
delivered taxes and maintained order
 Tolerated all religions (including Islam, Christianity,
Buddhism, and Judaism)
 Ended privileges given to Muslims during the Abbasid
caliphate until a later Ilkhan publicly converted to Islam
• Large loss of life
• Brought end of Seljuk Turkish rule
• Poor administration of captured regions
• Mongol religious conversion
THE POWER VACUUM IN
CHINA WAS FILLED BY
THE MING, BUT IN THE
MIDDLE EAST, IT WAS
FILLED BY A TURKISH
NOMADIC LEADER..
TAMERLANE (TIMUR THE LAME)
 Walked with a limp (thus the name)
 Born in Samarkand and later built a capital there
 Conquered Afghanistan& Persia, attacked the Golden Horde in
Russia (weakening it),sacked parts of India, southwest Asia,
and Anatolia (Turkey) and was preparing to invade China when
he died.
 Established authority in rich cities so he could tax trade and
agricultural goods
 Appointed overlords and relied on existing bureaucracies to
work on his behalf
 Empire is divided up after his death, resulting in a Turkish,
Muslim legacy left behind in many regions
THE GOLDEN HORDE
 Batu (grandson) & Mongol armies invaded Russia in 1236.
 Surrender & survive vs. resist & die
 Russian princes submitted to the khan and paid tribute (tax)
 Most taxes came from Russian peasants who gave their crops and
labor to their own princes but also Mongol overlords.
 Russian peasants became serfs as they fled to rural areas looking for
protection from the Mongols.
 Moscow was rebuilt and became a center of power.
 The Mongols (Golden Horde) ruled Russia for 240 years
 Model of absolute power for later Russian rulers
 Cut off Russia from rest of Europe
• Isolation from Western Europe
• Growth of Russian Orthodox Church
• Growth of royal power
THE PAX MONGOLICA
 Period of prosperity (approximately 200 years)
 Mongols provided economic growth and stability
 Nomads understood importance of trade
 Secured trade routes along the Silk Road
 Trade flourished (including luxury goods), as did the
spread of religion, and disease along the Silk Road
 Built up roads, extended the Grand Canal in China
 Set up post offices/trading posts
 Protected merchants, gave them a higher status
 Set up merchant associations
Mongol Empire at it Greatest Size 1294 AD
Largest Empire EVER to Exist