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Yuan Dynasty

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty (: Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus; : 元朝 or 大元帝國) lasting officially from 1271 to 1368, also called the Mongol Dynasty, was the name given to the significant ruling family of Borjigin in Asia. It invaded and ruled, during its hundred year life, over the Mongol Empire (stretching from Eastern Europe to the Middle-east to Russia), Korea and China. In the historiography of China, it followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty in China. China]]

Birth of the Yuan

Founding an Empire

Temujin, later to be more prominently known as Genghis Khan, was the first in the line of Yuan rulers. He was the son of Yesügei, the tribal chief of the Kiyad — a tribe in fractured Mongolia. His father was killed in his early life by a rival tribe, the Tartars — this rendered him chief of the Kiyad. Many in the tribe did not take well to a boy-ruler, abandoning him. He and his family were thus reduced to a state of abject poverty — however, at the age of 20 he met his future wife Börte, from whom he received a sable coat, his first semblance of power and wealth. He soon traded this coat for a small tribal army and joined the Kerait, a confederacy of Mongol tribes led by Wang Khan. After successful campaigns against the Tatars in 1202, Temüjin was adopted as Wang Khan's heir. This led to bitterness on the part of Senggum, Wang's former heir, who planned to assassinate Temüjin. Temüjin learned of Senggum's intentions however, and a large civil war broke out among the Mongols. Eventually Temüjin defeated Senggum and succeeded to the title of Wang Khan. Temüjin created a written code of laws for the Mongols called Yassa, and he demanded it to be followed very strictly. Temüjin followed with attacks on other neighboring tribes, which further increased his power. By combining diplomacy, organization, military ability, and brutality, Temüjin finally managed to unite the tribes into the single nation, a monumental feat for the Mongols, who had a long history of internecine dispute. In 1206 Temüjin successfully united the formerly fragmented tribes of what is now Mongolia. At a Khurultai (a council of Mongol chiefs), he was named the "Genghis Khan", or the "Universal Ruler". The birth of Mongolia marked the start of what would become the Yuan Dynasty, eventually ruling the expansive Mongol Empire, Russia and large parts of Asia for the following two centuries. Genghis Khan, with his skills in military strategy, continued the long Mongol tradition of attacking China proper with greater success than ever before, eventually building a powerful military machine with unity as support.

Aspirations to China

At the time of the Khuriltai, Genghis was involved in a dispute with Western Xia — which eventually became the first of his wars of conquest. Despite problems in taking well defended Western Xia cities, he substantially reduced the Western Xia dominion by 1209, when peace with Western Xia was made. He was acknowledged by their emperor as overlord. This marks the first in a line of successes in Northern Chinese kingdoms which wasn't complete until Kublai Khan's rule. A major goal of Genghis was the conquest of the Jin Dynasty of China, both to avenge earlier defeats and to gain the riches of northern China. He declared war in 1211, and at first the pattern of operations against the Jurchen Jin Dynasty was the same as it had been against Western Xia. The Mongols were victorious in the field, but they were frustrated in their efforts to take major cities. In his typically logical and determined fashion, Genghis and his highly developed staff studied the problems of the assault of fortifications. With the help of Chinese engineers, they gradually developed the techniques that eventually would make them the most accomplished and most successful besiegers in the history of warfare. As a result of a number of overwhelming victories in the field and a few successes in the capture of fortifications deep within China, Genghis had conquered and had consolidated Jin territory as far south as the Great Wall of China by 1213. He then advanced with three armies into the heart of Jin territory, between the Great Wall and the Huang He. He defeated the Jin forces, devastated northern China, captured numerous cities, and in 1215 besieged, captured, and sacked the Jin capital of Yanjing (later known as Beijing). The Jin emperor, Xuan Zong, however, did not surrender, but removed his capital to Kaifeng. There his successors finally were defeated, but not until 1234. The vassal emperor of Western Xia had refused to take part in the war against the peoples of the Khwarizm, and Genghis had vowed punishment. While he was in Iran, Western Xia and Jin had formed an alliance against the Mongols. After rest and a reorganization of his armies, Genghis prepared for war against his foes. By this time, advancing years had led Genghis to prepare for the future and to assure an orderly succession among his descendants. He selected his third son Ögedei as his successor and established the method of selection of subsequent khans, specifying that they should come from his direct descendants. Meanwhile, he studied intelligence reports from Western Xia and Jin and readied a force of 180,000 troops for a new campaign.

Northern Conquest

In 1226, Genghis Khan attacked the Tanguts (Western Xia) on the pretext that the Tanguts received the Mongols' enemies. Over the next year he took the cities Heisui, Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Xiliang-fu — the Western Xia were finally defeated near Helanshan Mountain. He soonafter took Tangut city of Ling-zhou and the Yellow River — defeating the Tangut relief army. In 1227, Genghis Khan attacked the Tanguts' capital, and in February, he took Lintiao-fu. In March, he took Xining prefecture and Xindu-fu. In April, he took Deshun prefecture. At Deshun, the Western Xia General Ma Jianlong resisted the Mongols for days and personally led charges against them outside of the city gate. Ma Jianlong later died of arrow shots. On his deathbed in 1227, Genghis Khan outlined to his youngest son, Tolui, the plans that later would be used by his successors to complete the destruction of the Jin empire. The new Western Xia emperor, during Mongol attack, surrendered. The Tanguts officially surrendered in 1227, after being in existence for 190 years, from 1038 to 1227. The Mongols killed the Tangut emperor and his royal family members. During the reign of Ögedei Khan, the Mongols completed the destruction of the Jurchen Jin empire (in 1234), coming into contact and conflict, during this time, with the Southern Song of China. In 1235, under the khan's direct generalship, the Mongols began a war of conquest that would not end for forty-five years. Mongol armies vassalized Korea (which was later used as a base for the two unsuccessful attempts to invade Japan, in 1274 & 1281), established permanent control of Persia proper (commanded by Chormagan) and, most notably, expanded westwards under the command of Batu Khan to subdue the Russian steppe. Their western conquests included almost all of Russia (save Novgorod, which became a vassal), Hungary, and Poland. Ögedei's death in 1241, caused by alcohol, brought the western campaign to a premature end. The commanders heard the news as they were advancing on Vienna, and withdrew for the kuriltai in Mongolia, never again to return so far west. Not until Möngke Khan did any Khan take the conquest of China particularly seriously. Concerned himself more with the war in China, he outflanked the Song Dynasty through the conquest of Yunnan in 1253 and an invasion of Indochina, which allowed the Mongols to invade from north, west, and south. Taking command personally late in the decade, he captured many of the fortified cities along the northern front. These actions ultimately rendered the conquest a matter of time. He dispatched his brother Hülegü to the southwest, an act which was to expand the Mongol Empire to the gates of Egypt. European conquest was neglected due to the primacy of the other two theaters, but Möngke's friendliness with Batu Khan (with whom Güyük Khan had almost come to open warfare — only prevented from doing so by death) ensured the unity of empire. While conducting the war in China, Möngke fell ill of dysentery and died (in 1259), which aborted Hülegü's campaign, staved off defeat for the Song, and caused a civil war that destroyed the unity, and invincibility, of the Mongol Empire. His death gave rise to Kublai Khan, the first Yuan Emperor of China.

Golden Age of the Yuan

Establishment of the Yuan

Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, ascended to the Great Khanate, becoming the supreme leader of all Mongol tribes in 1260. He began his reign with great aspirations and self-confidence — in 1264 he moved the capital of the expansive Mongol Empire to Khanbaliq (Dàdū 大都, present-day Beijing), in recently acquired North China. He began his drive against the Southern Song, establishing, in 1271 — eight years prior to Southern conquest — the first foreign dynasty to rule all of China: the Yuan Dynasty. The creation of a dynasty prior to conquest, keeping in mind that Dynasty was not a Mongol concept, shows political and military tact. The name was significantly in Chinese — neither his native tongue, nor a language he spoke at all. In 1279, Guangzhou fell into Mongol hands, which marks the end of the Southern Song and the onset of China under the Mongols. During Kublai Khan's reign he was put under pressure by many of his advisers to further expand the Mongol Empire through the conquest of Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Indonesia, all of which later failed. Due to the fact that Mongols have gathered a general negative attitude in China, Kublai's early rule may be noted for its bandit-like nature. As if expecting to lose the country, the Mongols attempted to remove as much money and resources as was possible. The Mongols imposed severe restrictions on trade, and spent vast amounts of Chinese money on projects such as the Forbidden Palace and the Grand Canal. Though many reforms were made during Kublai's life, and despite his notable warming to the populace, the Yuan are noted for their refusal to assimilate into China, or its culture. They remained, for their lifetime, foreign rulers, a characteristic often attributed as a cause to their downfall. Before long, Kublai Khan began to serve as a true Emperor, reforming much of China and its institutions, a process which would take decades to complete. He, for example, insulated Mongol rule by centralizing the government of China — making himself (unlike his predecessors) an absolutist monarch. He reformed many other governmental and economic institutions, especially concerning taxation. Although the Mongols sought to govern China through traditional institutions, using Han Chinese bureaucrats, they were not up to the task. The Hans were discriminated against socially and politically. All important central and regional posts were monopolized by Mongols, who also preferred employing non-Chinese from other parts of the Mongol domain — Central Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe — in those positions for which no Mongol could be found. Chinese were more often employed in non-Chinese regions of the empire. This move aided the Yuan Dynasty by maintaining separation from China, but also fueled discontent among the Chinese population. In essence, the society was divided into four classes in order of privilege: Mongols, "Color-eyed" (Central Asians and small number of Europeans), Han (Han Chinese in northern China, Manchus and Jurchens), and Southerners (Han Chinese within Southern Song boundary and other ethnic groups). During his lifetime, Kublai developed the new Mongol capital, Khanbaliq, building the elaborate Forbidden Palace. He also improved the agriculture of China, developing the Grand Canal, highways and public granaries. Marco Polo described his rule as benevolent: relieving the populace of taxes in times of hardship; building hospitals and orphanages; distributing food among the abjectly poor. He also promoted science and religion.

Early Rule

Succession was a problem which marked the Yuan Dynasty, later causing much strife and internal struggle. This may be observed as early as the end of Kublai's reign. His original choice was his son, Zhenjin — but he died prior to Kublai in 1285. Thus, Zhenjin's son ruled as Emperor Chengzong of Yuan China for approximately 10 years following Kublai's death (between 1294 and 1307). Chengzong decided to maintain and continue many of the projects and much of the work begun by his grandfather. However, the corruption in the Yuan Dynasty began during the reign of Chengzong. Emperor Wuzong of Yuan China ascended to the Emperorship of China following the death of Chengzong. Unlike his predecessor, he did not continue Kublai's work, but largely rejected it. During his short reign (1307 to 1311), China fell into financial difficulties, partly by bad decisions made by Wuzong. By the time he died, China was in severe debt and the Chinese people were discontent with the Yuan Dynasty. The fourth Yuan emperor, Emperor Renzong of Yuan China was the last which may be seen as "successful": he stood out among the Mongol rulers of China as an adopter of the culture of China, to the discontent of the Mongol elite. He had been mentored by Li Meng, a Confucian academic. To the displeasure of Mongol nobility he made many reforms, including the liquidation of the Department of State Affairs (resulting in the execution of 5 of the highest ranking officials). Starting in 1313 examinations were introduced for prospective officials, testing their knowledge on significant historical works; in 1315 300 appointments went to Mongols, with an extra quarter of the positions being given to non-Chinese people. Also he codified much of the law.

Impact

As in other periods of alien dynastic rule of China, a rich cultural diversity developed during the Yuan dynasty. The major cultural achievements were the development of drama and the novel and the increased use of the written vernacular. Given the unified rule of central Asia, trades between East and West flourished. The Mongols' extensive West Asian and European contacts produced a fair amount of cultural exchange. Western musical instruments were introduced to enrich the Chinese performing arts. From this period dates the conversion to Islam, by Muslims of Central Asia, of growing numbers of Chinese in the northwest and southwest. Nestorianism and Roman Catholicism also enjoyed a period of toleration. Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism) flourished, although native Taoism endured Mongol persecutions. Confucian governmental practices and examinations based on the Classics, which had fallen into disuse in north China during the period of disunity, were reinstated by the Mongols in the hope of maintaining order over Han society. Advances were realized in the fields of travel literature, cartography, and geography, and scientific education. Certain key Chinese innovations, such as printing techniques, porcelain production, playing cards, and medical literature, were introduced in Europe, while the production of thin glass and cloisonne became popular in China. The first records of travel by Westerners date from this time. The most famous traveler of the period was the Venetian Marco Polo, whose account of his trip to "Cambaluc," the Great Khan's capital (now Beijing), and of life there astounded the people of Europe. The account of his travels, Il milione (or, The Million, known in English as the Travels of Marco Polo), appeared about the year 1299. The works of John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck also provided early descriptions of the Mongols to the West. The Mongols undertook extensive public works. Road and water communications were reorganized and improved. To provide against possible famines, granaries were ordered built throughout the empire. The city of Beijing was rebuilt with new palace grounds that included artificial lakes, hills and mountains, and parks. During the Yuan period, Beijing became the terminus of the Grand Canal, which was completely renovated. These commercially oriented improvements encouraged overland as well as maritime commerce throughout Asia and facilitated the first direct Chinese contacts with Europe. Chinese and Mongol travelers to the West were able to provide assistance in such areas as hydraulic engineering, while bringing back to the Middle Kingdom new scientific discoveries and architectural innovations. Contacts with the West also brought the introduction to China of a major food crop, sorghum, along with other foreign food products and methods of preparation.

Downfall of the Yuan

Civil Unrest

The last of the Yuan Dynasty were marked by successions of struggle, famine, and bitterness on behalf of the Chinese people. The dynasty was, significantly, one of the shortest lived dynasties in the History of China, covering the period of just a century 1271 to 1368. During this time they had been seen as "foreign rule". In time, Khubilai's successors became sinicized, and they then lost all influence on other Mongol lands across Asia. Where the Mongols saw them as too Chinese, the Chinese populace saw them as too Mongol. Gradually, they lost influence in China as well. For one, most of the emperors in the dynasty did not bother learning the language of the people, nor celebrate the culture over which they ruled. The reigns of the later Yuan emperors were short and were marked by intrigues and rivalries. Uninterested in administration, they were separated from both their Mongolian army and their Chinese subjects. China was torn by dissension and unrest; bandits ranged the country without interference from the weakening Yuan armies. Emperor Yingzong ruled for just two years (1321 to 1323); his rule ended in a coup at the hands of five princes. They placed Taidingdi on the throne, and after an unsuccessful attempt to calm the princes he also succumbed to regicide.

Loss of China

The last of the nine successors of Khubilai was expelled from Dadu in 1368 by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), who was referred to as Taizu. Although Zhu, who adopted Mongol military methods, drove the Mongols out of China, he did not destroy their power.

Northern Yuan

The Mongols retreated to Mongolia, where the Yuan Dynasty remained. It is now called the Northern Yuan by modern historians. According to Chinese political orthodoxy, there could be only one legitimate empire, and so the Ming and the Yuan each denied the legitimacy of the other. However, modern Chinese historians tend to regard the Ming dynasty as more legitimate. Chinese called the Mongols "Tatar" (韃靼 dá dá) instead of "Mongol" (蒙古 méng gǔ), even though they called themselves "Mongghol". A Chinese army invaded Mongolia in 1380, and in 1388 a decisive victory was won. About 70,000 Mongols were taken prisoners, and Karakorum (the Mongol capital) was annihilated. Eight years after the invasion, the Mongol throne was taken over by Yesüder, a descendant of Arigh Bugha. After getting the Mongols through the turbulent period, he restored the throne to descendants of Kublai Khan. The Mongols were greatly attacked by the Manchu in the 17th century. In 1634, Ligdan Khan, the last Great Khan of the Mongols, died on his way to Tibet. His son, Ejei Khan, surrendered to the Manchu and gave the great seal of the Yuan Emperor to its ruler, Hong Taiji. As a result, Hong Taiji established the Qing Dynasty as the successor of the Yuan Dynasty in 1636.

References

J. J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests (1971); M. Rossabi, Khubilai Khan (1988).

1271

For broader historical context, see 1270s and 13th century.

Events

Europe

- July 2 - Kings Otakar II of Bohemia and Stephen V of Hungary sign the first Peace of Pressburg, settling territorial claims following the failed invasion of Hungary by Otakar II.
- September 1 - Pope Gregory X is elected pope by compromise between French and Italian cardinals, ending a three-year conclave, the longest ever.
- The County of Toulouse is returned to the crown of France.
- Marco Polo departs from Venice with his father and uncle on his famous journey to Kublai Khan's China.
- The construction of Caerphilly Castle, the largest in Wales, is completed.
- Construction of the Belaya Vezha in Belarus is begun.

North Africa and the Middle East

Belarus
- April 8 - Mamluk sultan Baibars continues his territorial expansion, capturing the strategically important castle Krak des Chevaliers from the Knights Hospitaller in present-day Syria.
- Mamluk sultan Baibars conducts an unsuccessful siege of the city of Tripoli, and also fails in an attempted naval invasion of Cyprus.
- Edward I of England and Charles of Anjou arrive in Acre, starting the Ninth Crusade against Baibars; however, they are unable to capture any territory and a peace is quickly negotiated.

Asia

- September 12 - According to the followers of Nichiren Buddhism, the sect's founder, Nichiren, reaches a turning point known as hosshaku kempon as he discards his identity as a mortal priest and begins to reveal himself as a reincarnation of the Buddha.
- December 18 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuan2), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China.
- The Nakhi kingdom of the northern Himalayan foothills is annexed by the Mongol Empire's Yuan Dynasty.

Births

- September 8 - Charles Martel d'Anjou, son of Charles II of Naples (died 1295)
- September 17 - King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Poland (died 1305)
- November 5 - Mahmud Ghazan, Persian ruler (died 1304)
- Joan of Acre, daughter of King Edward I of England (died 1307)
- Duke Rudolph II of Austria (died 1290)
- Emperor Bing of Song China (died 1279)
- May - Joan of Acre (died 1307)
- Mikhail Yaroslavich, Grand Prince of Vladimir (died 1318)
- Elizabeth of Portugal, queen of Denis of Portugal (died 1336)

Deaths

- January 28 - Isabella of Aragon, queen of Philip III of France (born 1247)
- March 13 - Henry of Almain, English crusader (born 1235)
- August 21 - Alphonse of Toulouse, son of Louis VIII of France (born 1220)
- October 27 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (born 1213)
- Hajji Bektash Wali, Turkish mystic (born 1209)
- Richard de Grey, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
- Baraq, khan
- Yaroslav of Tver, Grand Duke of Vladimir
- Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (born 1220) Category:1271 ko:1271년

Mongol

The Mongols are an ethnic group that originated in what is now Mongolia, Russia, and China, particularly Inner Mongolia. They currently number about 8.5 million and speak the Mongol language. There are approximately 2.3 million Mongols in Mongolia, 4 million Mongols living in Inner Mongolia, and 2 million Mongols living in neighboring provinces. In addition, there are a number of ethnic groups in North China and Russia related to the Mongols: the Daur, Buryat, Evenk, Dorbod and Kalmyk. In history, the word Mongols are ethnically very diverse and doesn't literally mean the people living in Mongolia as there were many that identified themselves as Mongols that now live in Middle East, Europe, and China.

History

Genghis Khan

China and subsequent Great Khans]] The Mongols were originally a confederation of tribes in competition with the Tatar, Kerait, Merkit and Naiman confederations and therefore only one division of what we call the Mongol nation. Genghis Khan unified the Mongol people by absorbing the other confederations into his own and the word Mongol came to mean the entire people. Though few in number (approximately 200,000 people at the height of their empire), Mongols were important in Eurasian history. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the Mongols created the second largest empire in world history, ruling 35 million km² (13.8 million miles²) and more than 100 million people, nearly equal to the British Empire in land area. At its height, the Mongol Empire spanned from Korea to Hungary, and included most of the lands in between, such as Afghanistan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Persia, China, and much of the Middle East. The Mongols were a nomadic people who in the 13th century found themselves encompassed by large, city-dwelling agrarian civilizations. However, none of these civilizations, with the possible exception of the Islamic Caliphate located in Baghdad, were part of a strong central state. Asia, Russia, and the Middle East were either declining kingdoms, or divided city states. Taking the strategic initiative, the Mongols exploited this power vacuum and linked all of these areas into a mutually supportive trade network.

Mongol Empire

In the 1100's Mongols were a small pastoral society on the steppes of Mongolia and spoke a language close to Turkish. They were only a local threat, but much feared by their neighbors. Timujin was born in 1167 and was the son of a minor chieftian. When he was ten his father died and it is thought that his mother taught him to ride and shoot. By the 1180's Timujin had distinguished himself as a good warrior and had many allies. Once he was chieftain, he defeated and incorporated all the rest of the tribes and incorporated them into Mongolia. In 1206 Timujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan (his name was not Genghis Khan as some think). The weapons and tactics of the Mongols developed over many centuries. The Mongols lived in one of the harshest places on earth, and because of this were very resourceful and tough. Their main items of food were milk and some powdered millet. They also drank a powerful fermented milk beverage. War was a normal condition of life for the Mongols and they lived almost constantly at war with each other. Consequently all Mongols were warriors. They wore leather armour and a tightly woven silk undergarment whose purpose was to keep wounds clean. One of the first peoples to use the stirrup, they were excellent horsemen and could jump from horse to horse while riding. Their tactics developed from hunting techniques where they would string out in a wide circle and corral their prey into ever tightening circles, then slaughter them. The Mongols used a composite bow made of layers of wood, bone and sinew, with a string typically made of dried horsehide for strength and durability. Unlike Welsh longbows which were narrower at one end than the other, the Mongol bow was even and symmetrical, also more powerful (with a range of aproximately 350 yards.) The Mongols pulled back the bow string with a ring so that the fingers of a archer did not interfere with the release. Though there is some dispute over the pull of the bows [http://www.coldsiberia.org/monbow.htm], they likely had at least a 100-pound pull and were quite capable of defeating the best armor available in Europe at the time. Mongol horses were medium sized and very nimble with considerable endurance. The horses were accustomed to extremes of temperature, could subsist on pasturage, and dig for grass under the snow. Therefore the Mongols had little fear of winter campaigns, and frequently attacked when least expected. Each Mongol had four to six horses with him at any time. The horses were reared to run in a herd, so the warrior did not have to worry about his horses wandering off. Their mobility and hardiness made them strategically superior to every other military force yet seen in the world. In 1227, Genghis Khan died; his third son Ogedei Khan was elected by the tribes to succeed him. Ogedei Khan continued the expansion into North-Eastern Asia, conquering Korea and Northern China in the process. The armies of the Mongols, led by the brilliant strategist Subutai, had reached Poland, Hungary, and Egypt by 1241, and were poised to continue. When Ogedei Khan suddenly died, Mongol law required all descendants of Genghis to return to elect a new Khan. The leader of the European expedition rushed back to press his claim. Nearly a decade later, Mongka Khan, grandson of Genghis and nephew of Ogedei, took the throne, through the assistance of his mother Sorghaghtani Beki. By this time, the Western expansion had lost its momentum. These events are credited in several counterfactual historical scenarios with saving nascent European civilization from a second "Dark Age" precipitated by Mongol conquest. However, some historians have recently begun to conclude that the Mongols brought great benefits to European civilization after the period of invasion was over through cultural cross-pollination. By 1230, the Mongols had almost overrun Persia and by the mid-1240s they had conquered Russia, with great loss of life by contemporary reports. The Mongols also sacked and razed Baghdad, which was the greatest city in the world at the time. In destroying Baghdad they are estimated to have killed over 800,000 people, however estimates of actual deaths attributed to the Mongols may have been skewed by contemporary chroniclers, who have been accused of bias. Many histories based on these chronicles established a commonly accepted view of the Mongols as bloodthirsty barbarians, which has recently been shaken by new evidence. Regardless, many historians continue to trace the conservatism and xenophobia of Islamic culture to this defeat. A small portion of the Mongol army was finally defeated at Ain Jalut by the Mamluk Army from Egypt; this marked their point of furthest expansion in the Middle East, and is seen by many as the turning point in their fortunes. With the riches from the new empire, they created a new capital for themselves in Karkaroum, which after Genghis Khan's death, Ogedei (his successor) aggrandized with palaces and permanent structures, turning it into a permanent settlement that his father never would have taken part in. The Mongol leadership promoted religious tolerance, so that the people they conquered would be more docile than they would have been if they had imposed a religion on them. The Mongols encouraged trade and opened up the "silk road". The Mongols were the ones who introduced gunpowder to Europe which they in turn had gotten from the Chinese. They also used and spread the printing press throughout their Empire, though it is uncertain whether the European printing press developed by Johann Gutenberg was a case of separate development or imitation. Regardless, it was centuries before the invention would spark the Renaissance in Europe.

Ethnic, cultural and religious diversity

Johann Gutenberg The term Mongol referring to the 12th and 13th century Mongol reign presumably included soldiers and generals in Middle East, China, Eastern and central Europe who all fought under the identity of being Mongols although not exclusively having a heritage in modern Mongolia. The name probably was very symbolic and powerful concept to those that pledged allegiance to the Mongol Empire, to Genghis Khan and his successor Great Khans, and to themselves. It was probably the genius of Genghis Khan to unify all these different people under one identity as a single and powerful fighting force with superb military strategy, dedication and mobility. The word Mongol should not be interpreted literally in historical perspective to many of those who identified themselves as being Mongols. Various members of the Mongol Court, including Sorghaghtani Beki, were Nestorian Christians. While the court was nominally Buddhist and maintained a policy of being open to all religions, it was known as particularly sympathetic to Christians (which may have helped contribute to the legend of Prester John). In 1253 the court followed the suggestion of Crusader Kingdoms in Syria to attack the Muslim capitals of Baghdad and Cairo. Baghdad was conquered and sacked in 1258 with the city's Christians spared, and the Abbasid Caliph killed. However, with the troops on the road to Cairo, Mongka Khan died in 1259 and much of the force returned home for the selection of the new leader. Egyptian troops finally repelled the attack in 1260. This, and the ultimately "gates of Vienna," marked the farthest West the Mongol Empire would progress. Kublai Khan quickly succeeded Mongka Khan, moved the court to Beijing, formed the Yuan dynasty, and re-started the invasion of China, in the first war with guns on both sides. After 18 years, Kublai Khan conquered both Northern and Southern China, forming the largest empire in history (famously described by Marco Polo). However, by the early 14th century, the prominence of trade and a possible cooling of the world's climates led to worldwide outbreaks of plague, which encouraged revolt and invasion. Early Ming Emperors led campaigns into Mongolia and destroyed Harhorin and Khar Khot, but later Ming Emperors resorted to more defensive policies. Meanwhile, various Mongolian tribes fought against each other, usually Western Mongols (Oirat) against Eastern Mongols (Chahar, Tumed, Ordos or Khalkha), and continued to threaten China's borders. The internal struggle gave the emerging Manchu the possibility of assimilating the Mongol tribes bit by bit. In 1636, the Chahar of Inner Mongolia were conquered, in 1691, the Khalkha of Outer Mongolia submitted to the Kangxi Emperor in order to escape from the threat of being conquered by the Oirat, and in the 1750s, the Qianlong Emperor completely destroyed the Oirat Jungar Empire in today's Xinjiang.

Timeline of conquest

The Mongols attempted two unsuccessful invasions of Japan (see Mongol invasions of Japan). The first attempt ended in a retreat after the Battle of Bun'ei in 1274. The second attempt was cancelled after many ships had been destroyed by a famous typhoon, called kamikaze (divine wind) in 1281. The Mongols succeeded very briefly in their invasion of Dai Viet in the northern part of contemporary Vietnam, but were soon defeated by the Vietnamese general Tran Hung Dao after almost three decades. The attack on the Javanese kingdom of Singhasari in 1293 caused the collapse of that state, but the new empire of Majapahit remained independent. Estimated fatalities from the Mongol campaigns are:
- 1200, Northern China — unknown
- 1215, Yanjing China (present-day Beijing) — unknown
- 1221, Nishapur, Persia — ~1.7 million killed in assault
- 1221, Merv, Persia — ~1.4 million killed in assault
- 1221, Meru Chahjan, Persia — ~1.3 million killed in assault
- 1221, Rayy, Persia — ~1.6 million killed in assault
- 1236, Bilär, Bulgar cities, Volga Bulgaria — 150,000 or more, nearly half of population
- 1237-1240, Kievan Rus' — half of population
- 1241, Battle of Legnica — defeat of a combined Polish-German force in Lower Silesia (Poland); the Mongols turn back to attend to the election of a new Grand Khan.
- 1258, Baghdad — ~800,000 people. Results in destruction of Abbasid dynasty and ending of the Caliphate.

Asia

Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, and the world's largest continent. Defined by subtracting Europe from Eurasia, Asia is either regarded as a landmass of its own, or as part of Eurasia. The demarcation between Asia and Africa is the isthmus of Suez (although the Sinai Peninsula, being a part of Egypt east of the canal, is often geopolitically considered a part of Africa). The boundary between Asia and Europe runs via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, to the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River to its source, and the Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea at Kara, Russia. About 60 percent of the world's human population lives in Asia. Asia as a political division consists of the eastern part of Eurasia and nearby islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, often excluding Russia. Pacific Ocean

Etymology

The word Asia entered English, via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ασία (Asia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). This name is first attested in Herodotus (c. 440 BC), where it refers to Asia Minor; or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, as opposed to Greece and Egypt. Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios, son of Hyrtacus, a ruler over several towns, and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from from Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu- "good" is probably an element in that name. Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), cognate of Hebrew יצא, which means "to go out", referring to the direction of the sun at sunset in the Middle East. This may be compared to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Semitic erēbu "to enter" or "set" (of the sun). These etymologies presuppose an originally Mesopotamian or Middle Eastern perspective, which would explain how the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia as lying west of the Semitic speaking area.

Geographical Regions

See also Geography of Asia. As already mentioned, Asia is a subregion of Eurasia. For further subdivisions based on that term, see North Eurasia and Central Eurasia. Some Asian countries stretch beyond Asia. See Bicontinental country for details about the borderline cases between Asia and Europe, Asia and Africa and Asia and Oceania. Asia itself is often divided in the following subregions:
- North Asia
- Central Asia
- East Asia (or Far East)
- Southeast Asia
- South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)
- Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

North Asia

This term is rarely used by geographers, but usually it refers to the bigger Asian part of Russia, also known as Siberia. Sometimes the northern parts of other Asian nations, such as Kazakhstan are also included in Northern Asia.

Central Asia

There is no absolute consensus in the usage of this term. Usually, Central Asia includes:
- the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan (excluding its small European territory), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
- Afghanistan, Mongolia, and the western regions of China are also sometimes included.
- Former Soviet states in the Caucasus region. Central Asia is currently geopolitically important because international disputes and conflicts over oil pipelines, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Chechnya, as well as the presence of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.

East Asia (or Far East)

This area includes:
- The Pacific Ocean islands of Taiwan and Japan.
- North and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula.
- China, but sometimes only the eastern regions Sometimes the nations of Mongolia and Vietnam are also included in East Asia. More informally, Southeast Asia is included in East Asia on some occasions.

Southeast Asia

This region contains the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The countries it contains are:
- In mainland Southeast Asia, the countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
- In Maritime Southeast Asia, the countries of Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia (some of the Indonesian islands also lie in the Melanesia region of Oceania). East Timor (also Melanesian) is sometimes included too. The country of Malaysia is divided in two by the South China Sea, and thus has both a mainland and island part.

South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)

South Asia is also referred to as the Indian Subcontinent. It includes:
- the Himalayan States of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
- the Indian Ocean nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

This can also be called by the Western term Middle East, which is commonly used by Europeans and Americans. Middle East (to some interpretations) is often used to also refer to some countries in North Africa. Southwest Asia can be further divided into:
- Anatolia (i.e. Asia Minor), constituting the Asian part of Turkey.
- The island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The Levant or Near East, which includes Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian portion of Egypt.
- The Arabian peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and occasionally Kuwait.
- The Caucasus region, including Armenia, a tiny portion of Russia and almost the whole of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
- The Iranian Plateau, containing Iran and parts of other nations. Also see Gulf States, for a different grouping involving several of the above countries.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Asia In terms of gross domestic product (PPP), Asia's largest economy wholly within Asia is that of the PRC (People's Republic of China), however the economy of the E.U. (European Union), one state of which (Cyprus) lies within Asia, is the largest in the world. The E.U.'s status as a supranational union, rather than a sovereign state, makes the claim questionable, especially since, when considered alone, the economy of Cyprus is one of the smallest in both the E.U. and Asia, and not many times larger than that of East Timor, the Asian state with the smallest economy (although as of 2005 there is no reliable data for either Iraq or North Korea). Over the last decade, China's and India's economies have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate over 6%. PRC is the world's third largest economy after the E.U. and U.S.A., followed by Japan and India as the world's fourth and fifth largest economies respectively (then followed by the European nations: Germany, U.K., France and Italy). In terms of exchange rates however, Japan has the largest economy in Asia and the third largest in the world. Trade blocs:
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement
- Commonwealth of Independent States
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- South Asia Free Trade Agreement (proposed)

Natural resources

Asia is by a considerable margin the largest continent in the world, and is rich in natural resources, such as Petroleum and iron. High productivity in agriculture, especially of rice, allows high population density of countries in the warm and humid area. Other main agricultural products include wheat and chicken. Forestry is extensive throughout Asia except Southwest and Central Asia. Fishing is a major source of food in Asia, particularly in Japan.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in PRC, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The industry varies from manufacturing cheap goods such as toys to high-tech goods such as computers and cars. Many companies from Europe, North America, and Japan have significant operations in the developing Asia to take avantage of its abundant supply of cheap labor. One of the major employers in manufacturing in Asia is the textile industry. Much of the world's supply of clothing and footwear now originates in Southeast Asia.

Financial and other services

Asia has three main financial centers. They are in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Call centers are becoming major employers in India, due to the availablity of many well-educated English speakers. The rise of the business process outsourcing industry has seen the rise of India and China as the other financial centers.

Early history

Main article: History of Asia The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe. The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, with each of the three regions developing early civilizations around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze shared many similarities and likely exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other notions such as that of writing likely developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The steppe region had long been inhabited by mounted nomads, and from the central steppes they could reach all areas of Asia. The earliest known such central expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, India, and in the Tocharians to the borders of China. The northern part of Asia, covering much of Siberia, was inaccessible to the steppe nomads, due to the dense forests and the tundra. These areas were very sparsely populated. The centre and periphery were kept separate by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus, Himalaya, Karakum Desert and Gobi Desert formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could only cross with difficulty. While technologically and culturally, the urban city dwellers were more advanced, they could do little militarily to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force. Thus the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East were soon forced to adapt to the local societies.

Population density

The following table lists countries and dependencies by population density in inhabitants and km². Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and may therefore be lower here. The whole of Egypt, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey are referred to in the table, although they are only partly in Asia.

Religion

A large majority of the people in the world who practice a religious faith practice one which was founded in Asia. Religions founded in Asia and with a majority of their contemporary adherents in Asia include:
- Bahá'í Faith (slightly more than half of all adherents are in Asia)
- Buddhism (Japan,Sri Lanka, Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, India)
- Hinduism (India, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Bali)
- Islam (Central, South, and Southwest Asia, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia)
- Jainism (India)
- Shinto (Japan)
- Sikhism(India, Malaysia, Hong kong)
- Taoism (China, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan)
- Zoroastrianism (Iran, India, Pakistan) Religions founded in Asia that have the majority of their contemporary adherents in other regions include:
- Christianity (South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, India and the Philippines)
- Judaism (slightly fewer than half of its adherents reside in Asia)

References

External links

- http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html
- http://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/index.html
- [http://www.alloexpat.com AlloExpat - Asia Information & Forums]
- [http://www.asiaexpat.info Asia Expat Forum - Discuss this region with expatriates] Category:Continents zh-min-nan:A-chiu ko:아시아 ms:Asia ja:アジア simple:Asia th:ทวีปเอเชีย

Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire (1206–1368) was the largest contiguous land empire in world history ruling 35 million km² (13.8 million miles²) and more than 100 million people (the British Empire was larger in absolute area, but it was non-contiguous). Founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, it encompassed the majority of the territories from southeast Asia to central Europe. During its existence, the Mongol Empire facilitated cultural exchange and trade between the East, West, and the Middle East in the period of the 13th and 14th centuries.

Overview

The Mongol Empire was tremendously destructive. Historian R. J. Rummel estimated that 30 million people were killed during the reign of the Mongol Empire, and the population of China fell by half in fifty years of Mongol rule. One of the more successful tactics employed by the Mongols was to ruthlessly exterminate urban populations that had refused to surrender. In addition to such fear-inducing slaughters, the rapid expansion of the Empire was facilitated by sheer military hardiness (especially during bitterly cold winters), military skill, meritocracy, and discipline. The Mongol Empire had a lasting impact, unifying large regions, some of which (such as eastern and western Russia and the western parts of China) remain unified today. The Mongols themselves were assimilated into local populations after the fall of the empire, and many of these descendants adopted local religions - for example, the eastern Khanates adopted Islam, largely under Sufi influence. The influence of the Mongol Empire may prove to be even more direct—a recent highly controversial genetic survey indicates that as many as one out of every 200 males in Eurasia may be descended from Genghis Khan. At the time of Genghis Khan's death in 1227, the empire was divided among his four sons, with his third son as the supreme Khan, but by the 1350s, the khanates were in a state of fracture and had lost the order brought to them by Genghis Khan. Eventually the separate khanates drifted away from each other, becoming the Ilkhanate Dynasty in Persia, the Chagatai Khanate in central Asia, the Yuan Dynasty in China, and what would become the Golden Horde in present-day Russia.

Formation

Genghis Khan, through political manipulation and military might, united the Mongol tribes under his rule by 1206. He quickly came into conflict with the Jin empire of the Jurchen and the Western Xia in northern China. Under the provocation of the Khwarezmid Empire, he moved into Central Asia as well, devastating Transoxiana and eastern Persia, then raiding into southern Russia and the Caucasus. While engaged in a final war against the Western Xia, Genghis fell ill and died. Before dying, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, but as custom made clear, it remained the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with the Mongol aristocracy, constituted the ruling class.

Major events in the Early Mongol Empire

- By 1206 Temujin from the Orkhon Valley dominated Mongolia and received the title Genghis Khan, thought to mean Oceanic Ruler or Firm, Resolute Ruler
- 1207, the Mongols began operations against the Western Xia, which comprised much of northwestern China and parts of Tibet. This campaign lasted until 1210 with the Western Xia ruler submitting to Genghis Khan. During this period, the Uighurs also submitted peacefully to the Mongols and became valued administrators throughout the empire.
- 1211, after a great quriltai or meeting, Genghis Khan led his armies against the Jin Dynasty that ruled northern China.
- 1219–1222 While the campaign above was still in progress, the Mongols waged a war in central Asia and destroyed the Khwarazmian Empire, killing around 1.5 million of its inhabitants. One notable feature was that the campaign was launched from several directions.
- 1226, Invasion of the Western Xia, being the second battle with the Western Xia.

Organization

Military setup

Main article: Military advances of Genghis Khan The Mongol military organization was simple, but effective. The organization was based on an old tradition of the steppe, which was like today’s decimal system: the army was built upon a squad of ten, called an "arban"; ten "arbans" constituted a company of a hundred, called a "jaghun". Ten "jaghuns" made a regiment of a thousand – "mingghan". Ten "mingghans" would then constitute a regiment of ten thousand ("tumen"), which is the equivalent of a modern division. The army's discipline distinguished Mongol soldiers from their peers. The forces under the command of the Mongol Empire were generally tailored for mobility and speed. To ensure mobility, Mongol soldiers were relatively lightly armored compared to many of the armies they faced. In addition, soldiers of the Mongol army functioned independently of supply lines, considerably speeding up army movement. Discipline was inculcated in traditional hunts or nerge as reported by Juvayni. All military campaigns were preceded by careful planning, reconnaissance and gathering of sensitive information relating to the enemy territories and forces. The success, organization and mobility of the Mongol armies let them fight on several fronts at once. All males who were aged from 15 to 60 and were capable of undergoing rigorous training were eligible for conscription into the army. Unlike other mobile fighters such as the Huns or the Vikings, the Mongols were very comfortable in the art of the siege. They were very careful to recruit artisans from the cities they plundered, and along with a group of experienced Chinese engineers, they were expert in building the trebuchet and other siege machines. These were mostly built on the spot using nearby trees. Another advantage of the Mongols was their ability to traverse large distances even in debilitatingly cold winters; in particular, frozen rivers led them like highways to large urban conurbations on their banks. In addition to siege engineering, the Mongols were also adept at river-work, crossing the river Sajo in spring flood conditions with thirty thousand cavalry during one night during the battle of Mohi (April, 1241), defeating the Hungarian king Bela IV. Similarly, in the attack against the Khwarezmshah, a flotilla of barges were used to prevent escape on the river.

Law and governance

The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law devised by Genghis, called Yassa, meaning "order" or "decree". A particular canon of this code was that the nobility shared much of the same hardship as the common man. It also made for very stiff penalties, e.g. the death penalty was decreed if the mounted soldier following another did not pick up something dropped from the mount in front. At the same time, meritocracy prevailed, and Subutai, one of the most successful Mongol generals, started life as a blacksmith's son. On the whole, the tight discipline made the Mongol Empire extremely safe and well-run; European travelers were amazed by the organization and strict discipline of the people within the Mongol Empire. Under Yassa, chiefs and generals were selected based on merit, religious tolerance was guaranteed, and thievery and vandalization of civilian property was strictly forbidden. According to legend, a woman carrying a sack of gold could travel safely from one end of the Empire to another. The empire was governed by a non-democratic parliamentary-style central administration called Kurultai in which the Mongol chiefs met with the Great Khan to discuss domestic and foreign policies. Genghis also demonstrated a rather liberal and tolerant attitude to the beliefs of others, and never persecuted people on religious grounds. This proved to be good military strategy, as when he was at war with Sultan Muhammad of Khwarezm, other Islamic leaders did not join the fight against Genghis - it was instead seen as a non-holy war between two individuals. Throughout the empire, trade routes and an extensive postal system ("yam") were created. Many merchants, messengers and travelers from China, the Middle East and Europe used the system. Genghis Khan also created a national seal, encouraged the use of a written alphabet in Mongolia, and exempted teachers, lawyers, and artists from taxes, although taxes were heavy on all other subjects of the empire. At the same time, any resistance to Mongol rule was met with massive collective punishment. Cities were destroyed and their inhabitants slaughtered if they defied Mongol orders. See also: Organization of state under Genghis Khan

Trade networks

Mongols prized their commercial and trade relationships with neighboring economies and this policy they continued during the process of their conquests and during the expansion of their empire. All merchants and ambassadors, having proper documentation and authorization, traveling through their realms were protected. This greatly increased overland trade. During the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, European merchants, numbering hundreds, perhaps thousands, made their way from Europe to the distant land of China – Marco Polo is only one of the best known of these. Well-traveled and relatively well-maintained roads linked lands from the Mediterranean basin to China. The Mongol Empire had negligible influence on seaborne trade, which was much larger, both in value and volume than the overland trade that passed through the territories under the control of the Mongol empire.

After Genghis Khan

The empire's expansion continued for a generation or more after Genghis's death in 1227 — indeed, it was under Genghis's successor Ögedei Khan that the speed of expansion reached its peak. Mongol armies pushed into Persia, finished off the Xia and the remnants of the Khwarezmids, and came into conflict with the Song Dynasty of China, starting a war that would last until 1279 and that would conclude with the Mongols' successful conquest of China. Then, in the late 1230s, the Mongols under Batu Khan invaded Russia and Volga Bulgaria, reducing most of its principalities to vassalage, and pressed on into Eastern Europe. In 1241 the Mongols may have been ready to invade western Europe as well, having defeated the last Polish-German and Hungarian armies at the Battle of Legnica and the Battle of Mohi. However, at this point, news of Ögedei's death led to first the partial suspension of the invasion and then to its effective conclusion as Batu's attention switched to the election of the next Great Khan. During the 1250s, Genghis's grandson Hulegu Khan, operating from the Mongol base in Persia, destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and destroyed the cult of the Assassins, moving into Palestine towards Egypt. The Great Khan Möngke having died, however, he hastened to return for the election, and the force that remained in Palestine was destroyed by the Mamluks under Baibars in 1261 at Ayn Jalut.

Disintegration

Ayn Jalut When Genghis Khan died, a major potential weakness of the system he had set up manifested itself. It took many months to summon the kurultai, as many of its most important members were leading military campaigns thousands of miles from the Mongol heartland. And then it took months more for the kurultai to come to the decision that had been almost inevitable from the start — that Genghis's choice as successor, his third son Ögedei, should indeed become Great Khan. Ögedei was a rather passive ruler and personally self-indulgent, but he was intelligent, charming and a good decision-maker whose authority was respected throughout his reign by apparently stronger-willed relatives and generals whom he had inherited from Genghis. On Ögedei's death in 1241, however, the system started falling apart. Pending a kurultai to elect Ögedei's successor, his widow Toregene Khatun assumed power and proceeded to ensure the election of her son Guyuk by the kurultai. Batu was unwilling to accept Guyuk as Great Khan, but did not possess the power in the kurultai to procure his own election. Therefore, while moving no further west, he simultaneously insisted that the situation in Europe was too precarious for him to come east and that he could not accept the result of any kurultai held in his absence. The resulting stalemate lasted four years. In 1246 Batu eventually agreed to send a representative to the kurultai but never acknowledged the resulting election of Guyuk as Great Khan. Guyuk died in 1248, only two years after his election, on his way west apparently to force Batu to acknowledge his authority, and his widow Oghul Ghaymish assumed power pending the meeting of the kurultai; unfortunately for her, she could not keep the power. Batu again remained in the west but this time gave his support to his and Guyuk's cousin, Möngke, who was duly elected Great Khan in 1251. It was Möngke Khan who unwittingly provided his brother Kublai with a chance to become Khan in 1260. Möngke assigned Kublai to a province in North China. Kublai expanded the Mongol empire and became a favorite of Möngke. Kublai's conquest of China is estimated by Holworth, based on census figures, to have killed over 18 million people. [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.CHAP3.HTM] Later, though, when Kublai began to adopt many Chinese laws and customs, his brother was persuaded by his advisors that Kublai was becoming too Chinese and would become treasonous. Möngke kept a closer watch on Kublai from then on until his death campaigning in the west. After his older brother's death, Kublai placed himself in the running for a new khan against his younger brother, and, although his younger brother won the election, Kublai defeated him in battle, and Kublai became Kublai Khan. He proved to be a strong warrior, but his critics still accused him of being too closely tied to Chinese culture. When he moved his headquarters to Peking, there was an uprising in the old capital that he barely staunched. He focused mostly on foreign alliances, and opened trade routes. He dined with a large court every day, and met with many ambassadors, foreign merchants, and even offered to convert to Christianity if this religion was proved to be correct by 100 priests. By the reign of Kublai Khan, the empire was already in the process of splitting into a number of smaller khanates. After Kublai died in 1294, his heirs failed to maintain the Pax Mongolica and the Silk Road closed. Inter-family rivalry (compounded by the complicated politics of succession, which twice paralyzed military operations as far off as Hungary and the borders of Egypt (crippling their chances of success), and the tendencies of some of the khans to drink themselves to death fairly young (causing the aforementioned succession crises), hastened the disintegration of the empire. Another factor which contributed to the disintegration was the decline of morale when the capital was moved from Karakorum to modern day Beijing by Kublai Khan, because Kublai Khan associated more with Chinese culture. Kublai concentrated on the war with the Song, assuming the mantle of ruler of China, while the more western khanates gradually drifted away. The four descendant empires were the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty in China, the Chagatai Khanate, the Golden Horde that controlled Central Asia and Russia, and the Ilkhans who ruled Persia from 1256 to 1353. Of the latter, their ruler Ilkhan Ghazan was converted to Islam in 1295 and actively supported the expansion of this religion in his empire.

Silk Road

1295, c.1280.]]The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1215 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road vis-à-vis Karakorum. With rare exceptions such as Marco Polo or Christian ambassadors such as William of Rubruck, few Europeans traveled the entire length of the silk road. Instead traders moved products much like a bucket brigade, with luxury goods being traded from one middleman to another, from China to the West, and resulting in extravagant prices for the trade goods. The disintegration of the Mongol Empire led to the collapse of the Silk Road's political unity. Also falling victim were the cultural and economic aspects of its unity. Turkmeni tribes seized the western end of the Silk Road from the decaying Byzantine Empire, and sowed the seeds of a Turkic culture that would later crystalize into the Ottoman Empire under the Sunni faith. Turkmen and Mongol military bands in Iran, after some years of chaos were united under the Saffavid tribe, under whom the modern Iranian nation took shape under the Shiite faith. Meanwhile Mongol princes in Central Asia were content with Sunni orthodoxy with decentralized princedoms of the Chagatay, Timurid and Uzbek houses. In the Kypchak-Tatar zone, Mongol khanates all but crumbled under the assaults of the Black Death and the rising power of Moscovite. In the east end, the Chinese Ming Dynasty overthrew the Mongol yoke and pursued a policy of economic isolationism. Yet another force, the Kalmyk-Oyrats pushed out of the Baikal area in central Siberia, but failed to deliver much impact beyond Turkestan. Some Kalmyk tribes did manage to migrate into the Volga-North Caucasus region, but their impact was limited. After the Mongol Empire, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. Accompanying the crystallization of regional states was the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of sedentary civilizations equipped with gunpowder. Ironically, as a footnote, the effect of gun power and early modernity on Europe was the integration of territorial states and increasing mercantilism. Whereas along the Silk Road, it was quite the opposite: failure to maintain the level of integration of the Mongol Empire and decline in trade, partly due to European maritime trade. The Silk Road stopped serving as a shipping route for silk around 1400.

Legacy

The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in human history. The 12th and 13th century, when the empire came to power, is often called the "Age of the Mongols". The Mongol armies during that time were extremely well organized. The death toll (by battle, massacre, flooding, and famine) of the Mongol wars of conquest is placed at about 40 million according to some [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm#Mongol sources]. Non-military achievements of the Mongol Empire include the introduction of a writing system, based on the Uighur script, and the same is still used in Inner Mongolia. The Empire caused the unification of all the tribes of Mongolia, which made possible the emergence of a Mongol nation and culture. Modern Mongolians are proud of the empire and the sense of identity that it gave to them. Some of the long-term implications of the Mongol Empire include:
- The Mongol empire has always been given credit for reuniting China and expanding its frontiers.
- The Mongol empire (Western) was also responsible for unifying much of the Central Asian republics that formed part of the erstwhile USSR. Today, in a number of Central Asian nations, Tamerlane and other Mongol figures are viewed important symbols of national identity rather than mere "feudal oppressors".
- Russia rose to prominence during this time because Russian rulers were accorded the status of tax collectors for Mongols. In fact, the Russian ruler Ivan the Terrible overthrew the Mongols to form the Russian empire.
- Persia became Iran with almost the same boundaries as the modern Iran. The Persian language gained ascendancy over Arabic in Iran.
- The language Chagatai, widely spoken among a group of Turks, is named after a son of Genghis Khan. It was once widely spoken, and had a literature, but was ruthlessly eliminated in Russia.
- Some historians attribute the origins of the Emirate of Osman, the nucleus of the later Ottoman Empire, to the Mongol empire.
- Europe’s knowledge of the known world was immensely expanded by the information brought back by ambassadors and merchants. When Columbus sailed in 1492, his mission was to reach Cathay, the land of the Genghis Khan. Some research studies indicate that the Black Death, which devastated Europe in the late 1340s, may have reached from China to Europe along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire.
- The Mongol Empire set an example of religious tolerance. A number of principles by which the empire was ruled continue to be emulated in modern times, and form the basis of several principles of modern democratic states.

References

- Howorth, Henry H. History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: Part I: The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks. New York: Burt Frankin, 1965 (reprint of London edition, 1876).

Sources

- [http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm Genghis Khan and the Mongols]
- [http://www.allempires.com/empires/mongol/mongol1.htm The Mongol Empire]
- [http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/intro.html Mongols]
- [http://www.leader-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=799 Genghis Khan Biography] Category:History of Mongolia Category:Former monarchies Category:Mongol peoples Mongo ko:몽골 제국 ja:モンゴル帝国 th:จักรวรรดิมองโกล

Middle East

The Middle East is a political and cultural subregion of Asia, or of Africa-Eurasia. The core of the region comprises the lands between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf along with the Anatolian, Arabian and Sinai peninsulas. Sometimes, it is used in a broader sense which can include areas stretching from North Africa in the west to Pakistan in the east and the Caucasus and/or Central Asia in the north. The media and various international organizations (such as the United Nations) usually considers the Middle East to be Southwest Asia (including Cyprus and Iran) plus all of Egypt. The area encompasses several cultural and ethnic groups, including the Iranians, Arabs, Greeks, Jews, Berbers, Assyrians, Kurds and Turks. The main language groups include: the Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Assyrian, Kurdish and Turkish. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. Most Western definitions of the "Middle East" -- in both established reference books and common usage -- define the region as 'nations in Southwest Asia, from Iran (Persia) to Egypt'. Consequently, Egypt, with its Sinai Peninsula in Asia, is usually considered part of the 'Middle East', although most of the country lies geographically in North Africa. North African nations without Asian links, such as Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, are increasingly being called North African -- as opposed to Middle Eastern (Iran to Egypt - Asia) -- by international media outlets.

History

North African Main article: History of the Middle East Starting in the middle of the 20th century, the Middle East has been at the center of world affairs, and has been an extremely strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area. It possesses huge stocks of crude oil and is the birthplace and spiritual centre of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Borders

The term Middle East defines a cultural area, so it does not have precise borders. The most common and highly arbitrary definition includes: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, Iran (Persia), Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Iran is often the eastern border, but Afghanistan and western Pakistan are often included due to their close relationship (ethnically and religiously) to the larger group of Iranian peoples as well as historical connections to the Middle East including being part of the various empires that have spanned the region such as those of the Persians and Arabs among others. Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and western Pakistan (Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province) share close cultural, linguistic, and historical ties with Iran and are also part of the Iranian plateau, whereas Iran's relationship with Arab states is based more upon religion and geographic proximity. Also the Kurds, another group of Iranic linguistic extraction, are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East without their own state. North Africa or the Maghrib, although often placed outside the Middle East proper, does have strong cultural and linguistic links to the region, and historically has shared many of the events that have shaped the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions including those prompted by Phoenician-colonized Carthage and Greco-Roman civilization as well as Muslim Arab-Berber and Ottoman empires. The Maghrib is sometimes included, sometimes excluded from the Middle East by the media and in informal usage, while most academics continue to identify North Africa as geographically a part of Africa, but being closely related to southwestern Asia in terms of politics, culture, religion, language, history, and genetics. This can be compared with other similar instances in which, for example, Tasmania and Newfoundland, geographically non-European, share many such traits with northwestern western Europe while Madagascar is in some of these respects more like southeast Asia than southeast Africa. The Caucasus region, Cyprus, and Turkey, although often grouped into Southwest Asia based upon geographic proximity and continuity, are generally considered culturally and politically European due to their various historic and recent political ties to that region. For example, Armenia and Cyprus, although both exist in close geographic proximity to the Middle East, possess two important criteria that links them more to Europe than to the Middle East: their national identity that combines an Indo-European linguistic background and majority populations that adhere to Christianity, which are both factors that do not correspond with most typically Middle Eastern countries some of whom possess one trait (Indo-European languages dominate Iran and Afghanistan for example) or the other (Lebanon is the only country that may have a Christian majority but this remains speculative as well). Turkey possesses neither of these European traits, but has deep historic (and according to genetic research DNA) connections with Europe since it was the site of the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire that overlapped into Europe. As a prospective candidate of the European Union and a long-time member of NATO, Turkey has adopted the secular traits that dominate Europe and has severed many of its ties to the Middle East with the notable exception of the religion of Islam. Both Georgia and Azerbaijan were radically altered by the dominion of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and are seen as more 'European' then Middle Eastern and generally viewed as a regional bloc in the Caucasus region. Central Asian countries from the former Soviet