History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0062/00627.txt

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$Title{Civilizations Past And Present
The Mongol Impact}
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$Date{1992}
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Title:       Civilizations Past And Present
Book:        Chapter 8:  The Rising Flood Of Asian Culture, 300-1300
Author:      Wallbank;Taylor;Bailkey;Jewsbury;Lewis;Hackett
Date:        1992

The Mongol Impact

     In the latter half of the thirteenth century, a rapidly rising Mongol
Empire significantly altered the course of history. East Asia, India, the
Middle East, and even Europe felt either the direct impact or indirect
shockwaves from Mongol invasions. To the Middle East, the Mongols brought
long-range disaster; India suffered but survived to produce another imperial
age a century later. China, as in the past, ultimately assimilated its
invaders without seriously interrupting the course of its development. Yet
despite such serious disruptions, the Mongol era dramatically illustrated the
importance of newly emerging civilizations in bringing peoples closer
together.

The Role Of The Central Asian Nomads

     The Mongols were part of an old and developing tradition. Just prior to
their conquests, they had been steppe nomads, ranging widely and pitching
their black felt tents wherever they could find pasturage for their animals,
like similar peoples who had terrorized settled Eurasian populations since the
fourth century B.C.

     Mongol society on the steppe fostered a strange mixture of values,
combining the fierce ruthlessness and brutality of fighting men with a crude
democratic equality. Males, particularly the ruling Khans, held almost
unlimited authority. Polygamy was common among the warriors, although marital
fidelity was equally enforced among men and women. Wives sometimes rode and
fought beside their men, but usually confined their activities to domestic
affairs. In addition to caring for children, women milked the mares and made
all clothing. They were also responsible for many tasks required by their
nomad life, such as breaking camp, loading the ox-wagons, and driving animals
on the march. This division of labor was obviously uneven, but within its
context, women were honored and afforded a rough approximation of social
equality.

     As was true of their predecessors, the Mongols held military advantages
in their superior cavalry tactics and mobility. Their disadvantages were their
relatively few numbers, plus their dependence upon the administrative skills
of their subjects. This situation, however, changed steadily as civilization
spread on the Central Asian steppes after the sixth century. Even the Mongols
were by then quite familiar with new urban influences.

     The Turks, who had figured in Eurasian history for a thousand years
before the emergence of the Mongols, were even more aware that times were
changing. Originating in the Altai mountains, near the Orkhon River north of
Tibet, the Turks began attacking northwest China in the third century and
continued to be mentioned in Chinese annals as the Yueh-chih, a special branch
of the Hsiung-nu frontier barbarians. As some Turks began living in cities in
500, they were noted for their skills as iron workers. According to the
Chinese, Turks produced the first written language among Central Asian peoples
in the sixth century, although the earliest known Turkish records date from
two hundred years later. By that time, the Turks had produced their first
steppe empire.

     Between the sixth and eighth centuries, Turkish and Chinese regimes
competed for control of the steppes. With Chinese support, the first Turkish
empire (552-583) extended its dominion over most of Central Asia. Internal
dissension caused it to split briefly into eastern and western Khanates,
followed by Chinese conquest under the early T'ang emperors. Later, as the
T'ang regime weakened, a second Turkish empire dominated the steppes
(684-734), only likewise to succomb to internal weaknesses. Although
maintaining many old tribal institutions, these states had central
bureaucracies and appointed provincial officials, as did many petty Turkish
monarchies in border areas.

     During and after their imperial experiments, the Turks absorbed and
disseminated much of the culture of the more advanced neighboring areas.
Trade, religion, and warfare facilitated the process. Eastern Turks borrowed
early from China, adopting Buddhism and converting their western kinsmen in
distant Ferghana. After the eighth century, when the rising Caliphate brought
Islam to the steppes, the combined pressures of population increases and
Muslim fanaticism led the Turks on to complete conquests in the Middle East
and India. Such incursions, which were still occurring in the fifteenth
century, usually brought short-range disaster to occupied regions; but they
spread civilization in Central Asia.

     For more than five centuries before the Mongol conquests, this process
had been growing in intensity. Westward and to the north of the Chinese
frontiers, a series of large states, partially urbanized but still containing
large nomad populations, rose and fell. The two best known were the Uighur
Empire of the ninth century and the Tangut state which succeeded it. Both of
these regimes prospered on the overland trade with China, which continued to
grow. For all Central Asians - Turks, Uighurs, Tanguts, Tibetans, Mongols, and
a host of others - trade was one of many stimuli that turned their attention
toward the outside world in the thirteenth century.

Formation Of The Mongol Empire

     At the opening of the thirteenth century, slightly more than a million
Mongols began their whirlwind conquests and empire-building. Within less than
a century, they had subdued most populations from the Pacific to the Danube,
terrorized the rest, and established the Pax Tatarica, which permitted more
trade and travel across Eurasia than the world would see until the seventeenth
century. This was the largest empire ever known, comparable in geographic area
only with the current Soviet Union. Like all steppe empires, however, it was
extended so far beyond its native human resources that it began to weaken even
as it was being formed and extended.

     Mongol successes against such great odds resulted largely from the
leadership of a guiding genius who launched his people into history. The son
of a minor Mongol chief, he was born in 1162 and named Temujin, or "man of
iron." When Temujin's father was killed by enemies, the young warrior was
forced into a lonely exile on the steppe, where he nursed his desire for
vengeance though barely managing to survive. Using cunning, courage,
brutality, and patience, he gathered followers, persevering through tribal
wars and confederacies. Ultimately, a convocation of all the tribes in 1206
recognized him as "Genghis Khan," unquestioned leader of the Mongols.

     During the first stage of empire building, to 1241, the Mongols
concentrated on the steppe and its less developed border areas. Genghis Khan
subdued the barbarian kingdoms north of the Chinese wall, destroyed the
western Muslim states on the steppes, and occupied eastern Russia. After his
assassination in 1227, his son conquered the semibarbarian Chin state in
northern China and extended Mongol control in Russia beyond Kiev.

     In their second phase of conquest the Mongols extended their domain to
include old civilized areas. They gained dominance over eastern Tibet (1252),
Korea (1258), and Sung China (1274-1279). Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis and
conqueror of the southern Sung, also seized major areas in Burma, Annam, and
Cambodia. Meanwhile, Mongol armies in the Middle East, led by Hulagu Khan,
were toppling nearly every Muslim state in Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria. The
Mongol tide was finally arrested by an Egyptian army in Palestine (1260), by
the failure of Kublai's naval attacks against Japan (1281) and Java (1293),
and by contention among Mongol rulers of the far-flung territories.

     Because they were so few in number, the Mongols relied upon terror to
control conquered peoples. They routinely resorted to mass torture, killing,
destruction, and resettlement of whole populations. In Baghdad, for example,
Hulagu Khan executed 800,000 men, women, and children, sparing only a few
skilled craftsmen. By destroying the irrigation system, the Mongols almost
permanently ruined Mesopotamian agriculture. Even under more benign Mongol
rule, China's population dropped from 100 million to less than 70 million
during the period.

[See Mongol Empire 13th C: The Mongol Empire, Late 13th Century.]

The Mongol Political Structure

     The ultimate base of authority in the sprawling Mongol territories was a
cavalry force of 130,000. Small contingents of this superbly armed and
disciplined body were usually sufficient in areas already demoralized by
terrorism. Communications were maintained by the famous Mongol couriers and
thousands of post stations, which radiated in all directions from the imperial
capital at Karakorum. Under watchful Mongol military commanders, local rulers
or officials collected tribute, maintained routine services, and enforced
native law, unless it violated Mongol custom or the Khan's decrees.

     By the mid-thirteenth century, this military foundation was supporting a
central bureaucracy of Turkish, Tibetan, and Chinese officials, in various
ministries, such as justice, treasury, and military affairs. An examination
system provided recruits for the expanding civil service, and young Mongols
trained for the examinations at an imperial academy. Under this central
government, the empire was divided into four parts: the Grand Khanate (Central
Asia and North China), and three sub-Khanates of Asia, Persia, and Russia.

China Under The Mongols

     During the reign of Kublai Khan (1260-1294), China briefly gained new
significance in the Mongol system. Although Kublai successfully maintained his
titular authority over the sub-Khanates, he moved his capital from Karakorum
to Peking; proclaimed himself the founder of the Yuan dynasty, ruled a unified
China; and turned attention primarily to his Chinese territories. This strain
on Mongol unity led directly to imperial decline after Kublai's time.

     For most of our knowledge about China in this era, we are indebted to the
Venetian traveler Marco Polo. As a youth, he had accompanied his father and
uncle, Venetian merchants, eastward to Kublai's court, arriving there about
1275. Polo served the Khan seventeen years as a trusted administrator, before
returning home. His fabulous story, dictated to a fellow prisoner of war in
Genoa, reported the wondrous world of Cathay (China) - its canals, granaries,
social services, technology, and such strange customs as regular bathing.
Polo's contemporaries considered him to be a braggart and a colossal liar.

     Yuan China strongly resembled the picture presented under earlier
dynasties, with some exceptions. The country was governed mainly by
foreigners: Mongols at the top, other Central Asians on the next rung,
northern Chinese in lower positions, and southern Chinese almost completely
excluded from office. Kublai retained the traditional ministries and local
governmental structure. Generally, Mongol law prevailed, but the conquerors
were often influenced by Chinese legal precedents, as in the acceptance of
brutal punishments for loose women or those unfaithful to their husbands. Most
religions were tolerated unless they violated Mongol laws; for example, Muslim
rules for slaughtering animals and circumcising infants led to persecutions
under Kublai. According to Polo, the state insured against famine, kept order,
and provided care for the sick, the aged, and the orphaned. To the awed
Venetian, the Yuan state appeared fabulously wealthy, as indicated by the
Khan's 12,000 personal retainers, bedecked in silks, furs, fine feathers and
sparkling jewels. ^4

[Footnote 4: Marco Polo, Travels, (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1931), pp.
133-149, p. 30.]

     In its cultural preferences, the Yuan court reverted to Chinese
traditions. Taoism and Confucianism were subordinated at first to Buddhism but
both revived during Kublai's reign. Chinese drama remained popular although
influenced somewhat by Central Asian dance. Interest in drama encouraged the
development of classical Chinese opera, a combination of singing, dancing, and
acting, which reached maturity in the Yuan period. Some of the most
influential Chinese painters were also producing at this time, and the novel
emerged as a reflection of Chinese concerns. An example was the Romance of the
Three Kingdoms, a long and rambling tale, set in late Han times but written in
the fourteenth century.

Pax Tatarica: Relinking Of East And West

     During the century of the Mongol Peace, when much of Eurasia was unified
and pacified by Mongol armies, East and West were in closer communication than
ever before, even in Han and Roman times. Hosts of missionaries, traders, and
adventurers journeyed to and from Asia, Africa, and Europe, thus partially
preparing for the coming age of exploration.

     Even before the Polos, Christian missionaries had led the way eastward,
encouraged by hopes for Mongol conversion and alliance against the Muslims.
John of Piani Carpini, dispatched by the Council of Lyons with the pope's
blessing, visited Karakorum in 1245 but failed to convert the khan or enlist
him as a papal vassal. A few years later, a Flemish Franciscan, William of
Rubruck, met with similar results; but another Franciscan, John of Monte
Corvino, converted thousands between his arrival in Peking in 1289 and his
death in 1322. Meanwhile, Mongol religious toleration drew Near Eastern
Christians into Central Asia and Buddhists into the Middle East.

     In addition to the missionaries, swarms of other people, responding to
the Mongol interest in foreign knowledge and skills, moved continuously on the
travel routes. Between 1325 and 1354, Ibn Batuta, the famous Muslim
globetrotter from the Sudan, visited Constantinople, every Middle Eastern
Islamic state, India, Ceylon, Indonesia, and China. In Hangchow, he
encountered a man from Morocco whom he had met before in Delhi. Some travelers
went the opposite way. Rabban Sauma, a Nestorian monk from Central Asia,
traveled to Paris; and a Chinese Christian monk from Peking, while in Europe
as an envoy from the Persian khan to the pope, talked with the English and
French kings.

     Eurasian traders - Persians, Arabs, Greeks, and western Europeans - were
the most numerous and worldly wise of all travelers. They were enticed by
Mongol policies that lowered tolls in the commercial cities and provided
special protection for merchants' goods. A Florentine document published about
1340 described favorable conditions on the silk route as "perfectly safe
whether by day or night ... Whatever silver the merchants carry ... the lord
of Cathay takes from them ... and gives ... paper money ... in exchange ...
and with this money you can readily buy silk and whatever you desire to buy
and all the people of the country are bound to receive it." ^5

[Footnote 5: Quoted in G. F. Hudson, Europe and China (Boston: Beacon Press,
1931), p. 156.]

     Land trade between Europe and China, particularly in silk and spices,
increased rapidly in the fourteenth century. The main western terminals were
Nizhni Novgorod, east of Moscow, where the China caravans made contact with
merchants of the Hanseatic League; Tabriz, in northeast Persia, which served
as the eastern terminal for Constantinople; and the Syrian coastal cities,
where the caravans met Mediterranean ships, mostly from Venice.

     Expanding land trade along the old silk route did not diminish the
growing volume of sea commerce. Indeed the Mongol devastation of Middle
Eastern cities provided a quick stimulus, particularly to the spice trade,
which was redirected through the Red Sea and Egypt to Europe. Within a few
decades, however, the Egyptian monopoly drove prices up sharply, and the
European demand for cheaper spices helped revive overland trade. By now,
however, the southern sea route was thriving for other reasons. The Mongol
conquest of China had immediately opened opportunities to Japanese and Malayan
sea merchants, causing a modest commercial revolution. Later, after China
stabilized and became involved in the exchange, the volume of ocean trade
between northeast Asia and the Middle East surpassed that of Sung times.

The Mongol Legacy

     Although their conquests brought immediate - and in some cases, long-term
- havoc, Mongol control ultimately promoted stability. Their inexperience
forced the Mongols to encourage trade and borrow freely from civilized
peoples, while their commercial contacts spread knowledge of explosives,
printing, navigation, shipbuilding, and medicine to the West. In the Middle
East they furthered art, architecture, and historical writing, and to China
they brought Persian astronomy and ceramics, plus sorghum, a new food from
India. The Mongol era also saw great commercial and population growth in Japan
and Southeast Asia. Not least important was a new awareness of the wider
world, which the Mongols gave to a Europe poised for global exploration.

     This European gain, however was far outweighed by negative effects upon
Asia, best indicated by declining populations. Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan
lost about three million people before 1350, a drop of 30 percent. Significant
declines also occurred in Burma (10 percent), Korea (19 percent), and China
(30 percent). In territories formerly controlled by the Sung, the loss was
approximately 29 million, ^6 and this was accompanied by discrimination which
seriously depressed the native population. Chinese insecurities under Mongol
rule led directly to the narrow provincialism of the later Ming dynasty. For
the Middle East and most of Asia, the Mongol era produced formidable handicaps
in the upcoming period of European expansion.

[Footnote 6: Population estimates in this chapter were taken from Colin
McEvedy and Richard Jones, Atlas of World Population History (New York:
Penguin Books), p. 171.]

     While decisively affecting Eurasian history, the Mongols were incapable
of creating a lasting state. Indeed, their empire dissolved almost as fast as
it was formed, because the Mongols were divided by the diverse cultures they
absorbed. Thus Kublai's Mongols turned Buddhist, while those in the Middle
East and Russia became Muslims. In time, even the Mongol Muslims fought among
themselves. The Yuan regime declined rapidly after Kublai's death, as the
economy became more oppressive and the Mongol aristocracy weakened. A
nationalist rebellion, beginning in southern China, ultimately ended the
foreign dynasty. After the Chinese reconquered most of Mongolia and Manchuria,
many northern Mongols reverted to nomadism. Others, on the western steppes,
were absorbed into Turkish states.