Chapter 13 – Section 2
The Mongol & Ming Empires
The Mongols & Ghengiz Khan
Early AD1200’s
•
•
•
•
•
•
“World Emperor”
Strict military discipline & absolute loyalty
Used missiles and cannons
Ruled with toleration & Justice
Respected scholars and artisans
Listened to and respected multiple ideas
The Mongol Peace
AD1200-AD1300’s
• Political stability = economic growth
• Silk road protected  trade flourished
• Cultural Exchanges ↑
– Food, tools, inventions, ideas
• Windmills & gunpowder from China  Europe
• Crops & trees from Middle East  East Asia
Kublai Khan & Mongol Gov’t
AD1279
• Ghengiz Khan’s grandson
– The “Yuan Dynasty”
• Ruled all of China (Korea, Tibet, Vietnam)
• Prevent Mongols from being absorbed into
Chinese civilization
– Only Mongols could serve in military/hold
highest gov’t jobs
• Rebuilt/extended Grand Canal
Marco Polo
AD1271
• Italian merchant, visitor during Yuan
Dynasty
• Spent 17yrs in Kublai Khan’s service
• Wrote vivid descriptions of China and its
wealth/greatness
• Books astonished medieval Europe
– Sparked European interest in Asia’s wealth
and riches
The Ming Restore Order
AD1368
• Yuan declines after Kublai Khan’s death
– Heavy taxes, corruption, natural disasters =
uprising/rebellions
• Zhu Yuanzhang: peasant leader who’s rebel army
overthrows Mongols = Ming Dynasty (Brilliant)
• Restored civil service exam
– Confucius learning once again = success
• Better fertilizer = improved farming
– Population over 100million
• New printing methods = ↑ books
– Arts & cultural revival
Zheng He
AD1405-AD1433 (Expeditions)
• Chinese Admiral
– Led 7 expeditions
• Goal
– Promote trade & collect tribute from lesser
powers across the western seas
• Southeast Asia, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa
• Showed local rulers the strength of China
The Unknown
• Zheng He dies in 1433AD
– Ming Emperor banned building of seagoing
ships
• The true reason is not known
• Fewer than 60 yrs later Christopher
Columbus would sail from Spain and
discover America
– Impossible to imagine what the world would
have been like if China had continued its
overseas expeditions