The Mongols AN AGE OF ACCELERATING CONNECTIONS (600 1450)
The following slides are to be read in place of the textbook. By no means is this PowerPoint a complete history of the Mongols. However, by reading these slides, watching the video clips, and answering the questions on the worksheet you will have an adequate understanding of their contribution to world history. This PowerPoint is divided into three parts:
Rise of the Mongols AN AGE OF ACCELERATING CONNECTIONS (600 1450)
The Mongols came from the steppes (prairies of Northern Asia) and were for the most part pastoral nomads (farming was limited). They were superb herdsmen and riders, even teaching their children to ride goats.
Tedious work was done by slaves, people who were captured during wars or people who sought refuge in slavery to avoid starvation. Mongols made clothing from leather & furs (women oversaw breeding of livestock), developed ironworking, and primarily dieted on meat and milk (vegetables & grains were acquired through trade).
Political federations formed from arranged marriages and the combination of families. The Khan served as the leader of powerful families and was responsible for decision making. Although most Mongols believed their Khan could speak to and for a god (traditional shamanism), elements of Buddhism, Islam, & Christianity were also present.
In 1206, Genghis Khan (formerly Temujin) became the supreme ruler of the Mongols. He set out to convince the kingdoms of Eurasia to pay him tribute. Genghis Khan did not participate in all campaigns, sometimes his generals led the Mongol armies. 1215, conquers modern Beijing 1219, begins full scale invasion of Central Asia 1221, takes over most of Iran 1227, he dies.
Quick Video 1 Genghis Khan BBC 1/5 This 10 minute video will introduce you to Genghis Khan and Mongolian life on the steppes. http://safeshare.tv/w/vuowowcxym
Following his death, his sons and grandsons continued to expand Mongol territories. 1234, Mongols conquer northern China 1236, they attacked Russia, within 5 years they conquered Kievan Russia 1258, they sack Baghdad in the Middle East and executed the Abbasid caliph Although their original intention was to acquire tribute they had conquered most of Asia. The Mongol Empire remained unified until 1265.
India really wasn t conquered by the Mongols at least not to this extent, I m not sure why this mapmaker decided to shade so much of it in.
In 1265, Khubilai (aka Kublai Khan a grandson of Genghis Khan) declared himself the Great Khan, however other family descendants of Genghis Khan refused to accept him. In 1271, he declared himself the founder of the Yuan Empire (Domain of the Great Khan).
This caused a division amongst the Mongol s khanates (the territorial divisions of Mongolian lands).
In 1279, the Yuan (think Mongols) destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty. A few years later Mongol troops were occupying parts of Vietnam and forcing tribute payments. In 1274 and 1281, the Mongols attempted, but failed to invade Japan.
In Central Asia the Mongol s maintained closer relations with Turkic speaking nomads and Muslims as opposed to the Yuan Mongols in China.
The Mongols rarely ever outnumbered their opponents, it was a combination of their skill and utilization of weapons that allowed them to be a dominant fighting force. Used catapults to project flaming objects Flaming arrows Javelin, mace bows
Cities that refused to surrender faced mass slaughter or starvation under siege. Each conquered area brought in new recruits to the Mongol army.
Despite the reputation of being barbarians, the Mongols did help protect the trade routes of the Silk Roads.
Increased and reliable trade brought new styles and large quantities of silk westward. Merchants encountered ambassadors, scholars, and missionaries over the long routes. Marco Polo was from Venice, and according to his account he traveled all the way to China and even worked for the court of Kublai Khan. However, in his tales he leaves out important Chinese cultural traditions like foot binding and drinking tea.
On the other hand, this increased connectivity also transported the plague. The great pandemic of 1374 1352 was a combination of a variety of diseases that spread throughout the Mongol lands (it did far more damage than what the Mongols could do in war).
The Mongols in Western Eurasia AN AGE OF ACCELERATING CONNECTIONS (600 1450)
Different Mongol states emerged after the rise of Kublai Khan in 1265. (Il kan state,golden Horde, Khante of Jagadai, and Domain of the Great Khan).
In the West, the Mongols and Muslims had a cumbersome relationship. Muslims abhorred the Mongols worship of idols Some Turkic Muslims served the Mongol imperial family In 1258, the Abbasid caliphate was destroyed
However, Islam itself became the focus of inter Mongol tension. The leader of the Golden Horde declared himself a Muslim and swore to avenge the murder of the Abbasid caliph & also claimed the Caucasus (lands between the Caspian and Black Seas) lands just north of the Ilkhanate!
Europeans such as the French sought an alliance with the mostly non Muslim Il khan Mongols as a way of repelling the new Muslim leadership of the Golden Horde (Remember the Crusades?) Its worth noting that this is kind of ironic. Sure the khan of the Golden Horde had become a Muslim, but most Russians were still Christian. And while the leader of the Il Khan was not a Muslim, most of the inhabitants of Persia were! In return, the Golden Horde sought out an alliance with Muslim Mamluks in Egypt. (The Mamluks were seen as bitter enemies of the Il Khan because the Ilkhanate had tried to take them over, but were unsuccessful). However, in 1295 the new Il khan ruler declared himself a Muslim too (to the disappointment of Christian Europeans) and tension between the Mongols eased.
The Il khan government was centered in Persia (i.e. therefore the old Abbasid capital of Baghdad lost the seat of its power in the region to a new capital). The Il Khan sold tax collecting contracts to small partnerships (think merchants) that would go out and collect taxes from the people. As long as the merchants paid their contract, they could keep whatever extra revenue they kept. The government tended to give contracts to the highest bidder, thus the private tax collectors had to raise taxes to make a profit. However, high taxes led to resentment and other economic problems. Before long, the Golden Horde moved in to occupy parts of the Il khan Empire.
The Mongols (part of the Golden Horde) dominated Russia and forced the inhabitants to pay tribute. The Russian prince Alexander Nevsky persuaded Russian leaders to submit to the Mongols as a way of avoiding annihilation.
The impact of the Mongols in Russia: Contact with the West came to a halt, causing cultural isolation The plague brought in by Mongol armies caused severe population loss Mongols raided villages and towns to collect taxes disrupting the Russian economy Novgorod & Moscow replace Kiev as urban centers Under Ivan III (prince of Moscow) in the late 1400s, Russia was able to shake off the declining Mongols.
Meanwhile, in the Central Asian Khanate of Jagadai rose a man of great ambition, named Timur (aka Tamerlane). Tamerlane saw himself as the next Genghis Khan (even though he was Turkish) and commanded military campaigns into western Eurasia with hopes of unifying a new massive empire. By 1402, he had taken over large portions of the Middle East and planned to even march into China, but he died in 1405 and thus his empire died in its infancy. (His temporary empire laid the groundwork for the Mughals, a Muslim regime that would rule India later).
Although Ottoman Sultans suffered defeat from Tamerlane, it was only temporary. Like the Russians, the Turks took advantage of the Mongol decay and ultimately captured Constantinople in 1453.
In the Balkan region of Eastern Europe, semiautonomous kingdoms emerged amongst the chaos of the Byzantine Empire and the political uncertainties of the Mongols.
Although the Crusades continued against Muslims, the European view of the Mongols was evolving over time. There are accounts of Europeans serving in Mongol armies (The Mongols had a diverse group of recruits; ex: Chinese, Turks, Iranians). Europeans were awed by Mongol power and wealth. They became aware of moveable type, higher math, gunpowder, and use of passports.
Despite their reputation, under the Mongols a cultural flowering of science and history took place within their domains. Juvaini: used objectivity to write about history. Rashid al Din: attempted to write about the history of the world. Ibn Khaldun: greatest historian of the age, wrote about Tamerlane Nasir al Din: made contributions in mathematics and cosmology. Al Kashi: developed a more accurate value for pi.
The Mongols in China and the Rise of the Ming AN AGE OF ACCELERATING CONNECTIONS (600 1450)
Mongol rule in China was known as the Yuan Empire, started by Kublai Khan.
The legacy of the Yuan / Mongol domination of China is mixed. The implemented tax system (same as the one used by Il Khan) was considered oppressive and many farmers became homeless. China s population may have shrunk by 40% due to constant warfare & plague.
On the other hand, the Yuan secured trade routes along the Silk Roads that helped increase the transmission of goods, ideas, and skills across the Mongol domain.
The vast exchanges between east and west cannot be emphasized enough: Chinese painters taught their counterparts in Il Khan Iran new artistic methods. Muslims from the Middle East oversaw the manufacture of weapons and engineering projects for Kublai Khan s armies. Iranians were brought to Beijing to construct an institute for astronomical studies. Muslim doctors and Persian medical texts circulated throughout China.
The Yuan put a much greater emphasis on commerce than their earlier Chinese counterparts. (This was reflective in the race based social class system where merchants from Central Asia and the Middle East held higher positions than the Chinese). As a result, Chinese families who had previously encouraged their sons to take the civil service exam were now focusing on business.
Specialized shops selling clothing, grape wine, furniture, and meats became common. (Islam will not make permanent inroads in China because of the Chinese s desire to consume pork). Teahouses featured sing song girls, drum singers, operas, and other forms of entertainment that was formerly shunned.
Traditional society was changing; however the Yuan were influenced by some Chinese traditions and a synthesis of Chinese & Mongol cultures was sought: Kublai Khan took Confucian ideas into consideration Buddhist & Daoist leaders visited the Great Khan Chinese medical and herbal knowledge was integrated with approaches from the West
In general, Mongolian rule in China was much more hands on than in other places. For example, in Russia local princes were allowed to rule, but in China foreigners or Mongols were used as bureaucrats. Furthermore, the Mongols built a new capital for the Yuan Dynasty in Beijing, nowhere else in the empire did that occur.
By the mid 1300 s a struggle for power within the Mongol ruling class coincided with farmer rebellions that ultimately brought disunity to the Yuan. Amongst the chaos, a Chinese peasant turned commander of rebel troops named Zhu Yuanzhang (aka Hongwu) mounted a campaign to rid the Yuan; he started a new Chinese dynasty called the Ming in 1368 (Some Mongols stayed and assimilated into Chinese culture, others went back to modern day Mongolia).
In many respects, under Hongwu the Ming Dynasty became inward looking and rejected Mongolian influences. The capital was moved from Beijing to Nanjing Confucianism was heavily relied on The examination system was reinstated Relations with Central Asia and the Middle East were halted
However, as time went on the Ming government gradually came to resemble the Yuan. For example, after the successful coup d'état carried out by Yongle, he moved the capital back to Beijing and restored contact with lands in the West.
However, since hostile Mongols still controlled the land trade routes, the Ming sought out maritime routes. Zheng He (Chinese Muslim explorer) led a number of expeditions from 1405 to 1433 (note that this is before Columbus).
Zheng He sailed from China to the Persian Gulf, down the eastern coast of Africa, around India, and throughout Southeast Asia.
Chinese ships were much larger than what would be built in Europe decades later.
Why did the Chinese stop exploring? Some complained stating it was a waste of resources that could be used against barbarians Some thought commerce offended Confucian beliefs China s economic policies taxed trade and manufacturing at very high rates
Despite the maritime achievements of the Ming, a technology gap emerged between the Chinese and their Asian counterparts. Japan produced higher quality steel Korea moved ahead in the production of firearms, printing techniques, & weather predication Why? A population explosion encouraged the production of food staples as opposed to commercial crops (like cotton) that stimulated many technological advancements. The Ming did excel in the production of porcelain.
The Mongols had an impact on Japan, Korea, and Annam (northern Vietnam) even though they didn t necessarily conquer all of those areas. KOREA JAPAN VIETNAM
Korea The Mongols had hoped to use Korea as a launching pad to attack the sea trade of its adversaries. After 20 years of battle, the Mongols finally dominated the peninsula (Koryo Kings were now from Mongol descent, and Korean culture began to reflect that of the Yuan). Isolation came to an end, and new ideas related to art, astronomy, and military affairs (gunpowder) were now found in Korea. This led to the rise of an educated class.
After the Yuan fell, a new kingdom emerged with a capital in Seoul. Similar to Russia and China the Yi regime publicly rejected the period of Mongol domination and attempted to form a local identity (ex: the revival of Confucian classics). However, in contrast to China, Koreans began growing cash crops (cotton), which allowed the peninsula to prosper (which may have also help stimulate other industries such as printing).
Japan The Mongols had attempted to conquer Japan by launching an invasion force from Korea. However, storms caused the Mongols with their catapults, cavalry, and archers to sail back to Korea. In reaction to the Mongol threat, steps were take to centralize Japan s military government under the shogun. (Similar to Japan s reaction to European imperialism centuries later? You might as well play the game instead of being taken over.)
The Mongols attempted a second invasion in 1281, but were met with stiff resistance by the Japanese and a typhoon that ended up sinking half of the Mongol fleet (The Japanese called these divine winds kamikaze). Although no more invasions took place, the Japanese continued to built coastal defenses, enhance the social position of Japan s warrior class, and a national infrastructure.
Between 1333 and 1338, a civil war broke out in Japan when the emperor attempted to reclaim power (remember the emperor for the most part was a figurehead, real power rested with the shoguns). The Ashikaga Shogunate emerged and with the Mongol threat all but over, Japan became decentralized again. Although a period of developing towns and increased agricultural productivity took place, conflict between rival warlords eventually occurred.
Until then relative peace was present, which allowed a growing wealth to stimulate artistic creativity. Sesshu Toyo, painter
Vietnam Northern (Annam) (influenced by China) and Southern (Champa) Vietnam (influenced by Indian Ocean trade) had often clashed with one another. Until the fall of the Yuan, the Mongols took tribute from both regions. However, Mongols tended to focus their attention in other areas of Asia.
Quick Video #2 Wait for it... The Mongols!: Crash Course World History #17 Crash Course has made a number of videos on various topics within world history. Like the others, they can be part cheesy, but also informative. Use this video as a summary of what you now know about the Mongols. http://safeshare.tv/w/iejrfqgnrs