Mongol Eurasia and Its Aftermath

1
Mongol Eurasia and Its Aftermath

• 1200-1500 C.E.

2
The Rise of the Mongols

• 1200-1260 C.E.

3
Nomadism inCentral and Inner Asia

• Nomadic groups depended on scarce water and
  pasture resources.
• There were many conflicts in times of scarcity.
• Many alliances formed and much migration at this
  time because of conflict.

4
Mongol Groups

• Strongly hierarchical organization headed by a
  single leader or khan.
• Khans had to ask that their decisions be ratified
  by a council of leaders.
• Powerful Mongol groups demanded and received
  tribute in goods and slaves from those less
  powerful.
• Some groups lived on tribute alone.

5
Federations

• Various Mongol groups formed complex federations
  that were often tied to marriage alliances.
• Women from prestigious families often played an
  important role in negotiating these alliances.

6
Mongol Woman
7
Seasonal Movements

• Movements of Mongol tribes brought them into
  contact with
• Manichaeism
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Buddhism
• Islam
• Mongols accepted religious pluralism.

8
Sky God

• Mongol khans were thought to represent the Sky
  God.
• He transcended all cultures and religions
• Khans were thus conceived of as universal rulers
  who both transcended and used the various
  religions of their subjects.

9
Economic Self-Sufficiency

• Nomads strove for economic self-sufficiency.
• Relied on trade with settled people for
• Iron
• Wood
• Cotton
• Grain
• Silk
• When trade relations were interrupted, nomads
  would wage war on settled agriculturalists.

10
Mongol Conquests

• 1206 - 1234
• Genghis Khan and his successors conquered all of
  North China.
• Mongols were threatening Southern Song.
• 1234-1265
• Mongol realms united as the khans of the Golden
  Horde, the Jagadai domains of Central Asia, and
  the Il-khans all recognized the authority of the
  Great Khan of Mongolia.

11
Genghis Khan
12
Khubilai

• Declared himself Great Khan in 1265
• Other Khans refused to accept him
• Jagadai Khanate harbored a particular animosity
  towards him.
• Khubilai founded the Yuan Empire with a capital
  at Beijing in 1271.
• In 1279, he conquered the Southern Song.
• After 1279, Yuan attempted to extend its control
  to Southeast Asia.
• Annam and Champa forced to pay tribute to the Yuan

13
Khubilai Khan
14
Mongol Ability

• Factors that contribute to the Mongols ability
  to conquer such vast territories
• Superior horsemanship
• Better bows
• Following arrows with cavalry charge
• Easily learned new military techniques
• Adopted new military technology
• Incorporated non-Mongol soldiers into armies
• Reputation for slaughter of those who did not
  surrender
• Ability to take advantage of rivalries among
  enemies

15
Mongol Bow and Soldier
16
Overland Trade

• Mongol conquests opened overland trade routes.
• Brought about an unprecedented commercial
  integration of Eurasia.
• The growth of long-distance trade under the
  Mongols led to significant transfer of military
  and scientific knowledge between Europe, the
  Middle East, China, Iran, and Japan.

17
Bubonic Plague

• Plague and other diseases spread over the trade
  routes of the Mongol Empire.
• Plague that had lingered in Yunnan was
  transferred to
• Central and north China. Then
• Central Asia. Then
• Kaffa. Then
• The rest of the Mediterranean world.

18
Bubonic Plague
19
Mongols and Islam

• 1260-1500

20
Mongol Rivalry

• 1260s the Il-Khan Mongol Empire controlled
  parts of Armenia and all of Azerbaijan,
  Mesopotamia, and Iran.
• Relations between Buddhist/shamanist Mongols and
  Muslim subjects were tense.
• Mongols murdered last Abbasid caliph and because
  Mongol religious beliefs and customs were
  contrary to those of Islam.

21
1260s in Russia

• Under domination of Golden Horde, led by Genghis
  Khans grandson Batu
• Batu converted to Islam and announced his
  intention to avenge the last caliph.
• This was the first conflict between Mongol
  domains.

22
Golden Horde and Batu
23
Batus Conflict

• European leaders attempted to make an alliance
  with the Il-khans to drive Muslims out of Syria,
  Lebanon, and Palestine.
• Il-khans sought European help in driving the
  Golden Horde out of the Caucasus.
• Plans for an alliance never came to fruition
  because the Il-khan ruler Ghazan became a Muslim
  in 1295.

24
Taxation

• Goal of Il-khan State collect as much tax
  revenue as possible
• Did this through tax farming system
• Tax farming system able to deliver large amounts
  of grain, cash, and silk.
• Butover-taxation led to increases in the price
  of grain and shrinking tax base
• 1295 severe economic crisis!!

25
Ending the Economic Crisis

• Tried tax reduction program and issuing paper
  money.
• These failed
• Economic depression until 1349.
• Il-khan domains fragmented as Mongol nobles
  fought each other for scarce resources.
• Mongols from Golden Horde attacked and
  dismembered the Il-khan empire.

26
Decline

• Il-khan and Golden Horde declined in the
  fourteenth century.
• Timur, the last Central Asian conqueror, built
  the Jagadai Khanate in central and western
  Eurasia.
• The Timurids ruled the Middle East for several
  generations.

27
Writing about History

• Juvaini wrote the first comprehensive account of
  the rise of the Mongols under Genghis Khan.
• Juvaini inspired the work of Rashid al-Din, who
  wrote a history of the world.
• Rashid al-Din was a Muslim who served as an
  adviser to the In-khan ruler.
• Timurids supported many historians including
  Moroccan Ibn Khaldun.

28
Ibn Khalduns Work
29
Muslims under Mongol Rulership

• Made great strides in astronomy, calendar-making,
  and prediction of eclipses.
• Used epicycles to explain movement of moon around
  earth.
• Invented more precise astronomical instruments.

30
Mathematics

• Adapted Indian numerical system
• Devised method of indicating decimal fractions
• Calculated ? more accurately.
• All of these advances were passed along to Europe
  and had a significant effect on the development
  of European science and mathematics.

31
Regional Responses in Western Eurasia
32
Russia and Rule from Afar

• After defeating the Kievan Rus, the Mongols of
  the Golden Horde made a capital at the mouth of
  the Volga.
• Volga was also the end of the overland caravan
  route from Central Asia.
• Mongols ruled Russia from afar.
• Orthodox church left in place
• Russian princes were agents
• Main goal get as much tax revenue as possible
  from the Russians

33
Prince Alexander of Novgorod

• Assisted Mongols in conquest of Russia.
• Mongols favored Novgorod and Moscow as a result
• After Mongols destroyed Ukrainian countryside,
  Russian population shifted from Kiev to Novgorod
  and Russia.
• Moscow became new center of Russian civilization.

34
Prince Alexander
35
Mongol Rule Good or Bad?

• Some historians say the negative effects are
  because of economic depression and cultural
  isolation.
• Others say Russian princes were responsible for
  over-taxation, they were isolated by the church,
  and that government did not change under Mongol
  rule.

36
Ivan III

• Prince of Moscow
• Ended Mongol rule in 1480
• Adopted the title of Tsar.

37
Political Forces

• Europe was divided by the forces of the papacy
  and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
• Because of this, Eastern Europe faced the Mongol
  attacks alone.

38
Attacking Europe

• Mongol armies that attacked Europe were an
  international force including
• Mongols, Turks, Chinese, Iranians, Europeans
• Forces led by Mongol generals.
• Armies made it to the outskirts of Vienna.
• Withdrew in December 1241 to elect a new leader.

39
Diplomacy and Trade

• After the Mongol withdrawal, Europeans initiated
  a variety of diplomatic and trade overtures to
  the Mongols.
• Contact between the two increased through the
  thirteenth century.
• Brought knowledge of many things to Europeans,
  but they questioned customs and beliefs as a
  result of the plague.

40
Centralized States

• Rise and fall of Mongol domination in the
  thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was
  accompanied by the rise of stronger centralized
  states including Lithuania and other Balkan
  kingdoms.

41
Anatolia

• Functioned as a route by which Islamic culture
  was transferred to Europe via Constantinople.
• The Ottomans, who established themselves in
  eastern Anatolia in the 1300s, expanded eastward
  in the 1400s and conquered Constantinople in 1453.

42
Mongol Domination in China

• 1271-1368

43
Before the Mongols in China

• Politically fragmented
• Three states
• Tanggut
• Jin
• Southern Song
• Mongols unified these states and restored or
  preserved the characteristic features of Chinese
  government.

44
Khubilai Khan and China

• Khubilai Khan understood and practiced Chinese
  traditions of government.
• Constructed a Chinese-style capital at Beijing
  and a summer capital at Shangdu, where he could
  practice riding and shooting.

45
Government Innovations

• Tax Farming
• Use of Western Asian Muslims as officials
• Hierarchical system of legally defined status
  groups in terms of race and function
• Confucians had a relatively weak role
• Merchants and doctors were elevated

46
Prosperity

• Chinas cities and ports prospered
• Trade recovered
• Merchants flourished
• Chinese gentry elite moved to cities
• Urban culture was created
• Popular entertainment
• Vernacular literature
• Mandarin dialect of Chinese language

47
Rural Areas

• Cotton growing, spinning, and weaving were
  introduced to China from Hainan Island.
• Mongols encouraged construction of irrigation
  systems.
• Farmers were overtaxed and brutalized while dams
  and dikes were neglected.

48
Population Decline

• Declined by as much as 40
• Northern China saw biggest loss
• Yangzi Valley saw an increase
• Possible reasons for this
• Warfare
• Flooding of Yellow River
• North-south migration
• Spread of diseases including the Plague

49
Scientific Exchange

• Exchange of knowledge was especially common
  between Iran and China because of
• Good relations
• Similar economic policies
• Interest in sponsoring intellectual pursuits
• China imported Il-khan science and technology
• Il-khans imported Chinese scholars and texts

50
Fall of Yuan Empire

• 1368 Chinese leader Zhu Yuanzhang brought an
  end to years of chaos and rebellion by
  overthrowing the Mongols.
• He established the Ming Empire.
• Mongols held power in Mongolia, Turkestan, and
  Central Asia.
• Were able to disrupt Chinese overland trade.

51
Zhu Yuanzhang
52
Early Ming Empire

• 1368-1500

53
Establishing the Ming

• Founded by Zhu Yuanzhang in 1368
• He had previously been a monk, soldier, and
  bandit
• Regime established capital in Nanjing and made
  efforts to
• reject the culture of the Mongols
• Close off trade relations with Central Asia and
  Middle East
• Reassert primacy of Confucian ideology

54
Yuan Practices

• Ming actually continued many institutions and
  practices that had been introduced during the
  Yuan.
• Areas of continuity include
• Provincial structure
• Use of hereditary professional categories
• Mongol calendar
• Use of Beijing as a capital

55
Reestablishing Trade

• 1405-1433 Ming dispatched a series of
  expeditions to Southeast Asia and the Indian
  Ocean under the Muslim admiral Zheng He.
• Goals
• Reestablish trade links with Middle East
• Bring Southeast Asian countries and overseas
  Chinese populations under Chinese control.

56
Zheng Hes Expeditions

• Retraced routes that were well established.
• Imported some luxury goods to China
• Added as many as 50 countries to Chinas list of
  tributaries
• Not a significant increase in long-distance
  trade, so this was not profitable.

57
Zheng He
58
Technology

• Less technological innovation at this time than
  during the Song.
• Chinese lost knowledge of how to make
  high-quality bronze and steel.
• Reasons for slowdown
• High cost of metals and wood
• Revival of civil service examination system
• Labor glut
• Lack of pressure
• Fear of technology transfer

59
Innovation in Asia
Korea and Japan moved ahead of China in
technological innovation.

• Korea excelled in
• Firearms
• Shipbuilding
• Meteorology
• Calendar making

• Japan excelled in
• Mining
• Metallurgy
• Novel household goods

60
Ming Achievement

• Period of great wealth, consumerism, and cultural
  brilliance.
• Vernacular novels written at this time
• Water Margin
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Also known for porcelain-making, and for other
  goods like furniture, lacquered screens, and silk.

61
Ming Creations
62
Centralization and Militarism in East Asia

• 1200-1500

63
Korea, Mongols, and Koryo

• Leaders initially resisted Mongol invasions but
  gave up in 1258 when king of Koryo surrendered
  and joined his family to the Mongols by marriage.
• Koryo kings fell under the influence of the
  Mongols.

64
Profit

• Korea profited from exchange with the Yuan in
  which new technologies were introduced. Some
  examples include
• Cotton
• Astronomy
• Gunpowder
• Calendar making
• Celestial clocks

65
Collapse and Rise

• Koryo collapsed shortly after the fall of the
  Yuan.
• Replaced by Yi dynasty.
• Yi reestablished local identity and restored the
  status of Confucian scholarship.
• Maintained Mongol administrative practices and
  institutions.

66
Innovations of the Yi

• Moveable type in copper frames
• Meteorological science
• Local calendar
• Use of fertilizer
• Engineering of reservoirs
• Grew many cash crops at this time

67
Korean Military Technology

• Patrol ships with mounted cannons
• Gunpowder arrow-launchers
• Armored ships

68
Mongol Invasion of Japan

• Happened in 1274 and was unsuccessful.
• Decentralized lords of Kamakura Japan developed a
  greater sense of unity as a result.
• Shogun centralized planning and preparation for a
  second assault.

69
Second Mongol Invasion

• Happened in 1281. Defeated by defensive
  preparations and a typhoon.
• Kamakura regime continued to prepare for further
  invasions, but these were very expensive.

70
Kamakura Shogunate Falls

• Destroyed in a civil war.
• Ashikaga shogunate established in 1338.
• Ashikaga period was a weak shogunal state, but
  they had strong provincial lords.
• These lords developed markets, religious
  institutions, schools, increased agricultural
  production, and artistic creativity.

71
Onin War

• War took place in 1477.
• After this war, the shogunate exercised no power
  and the provinces were controlled by independent
  regional lords who fought with each other.
• Regional lords also carried out trade with
  continental Asia.

72
Emergence of Vietnam

• Divided into two states
• Chinese-influenced Annam in the north
• Indian-influenced Champa in the south
• Mongols extracted tribute from both states
• After fall of Yuan Empire, the two states began
  to fight with each other

73
Rule by Chinese and Annam

• Ming ruled Annam through puppet government for
  almost 30 years in the early fifteenth century
  until their control was thrown off in 1428.
• By 1500 Annam had completely conquered Champa and
  established a Chinese-style government over all
  Vietnam.