Mongol Empire
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The Mongol Empire (Mongolian: Монголын Эзэнт Гүрэн , Mongolyn Ezent Güren or Их Mонгол улс, Ikh Mongol Uls; 1206–1368[note 2]) was the largest contiguous empire and the second largest empire overall in world history, after the British Empire. It emerged from the unification of Mongol and Turkic tribes in modern day Mongolia, and grew through invasions, after Genghis Khan had been proclaimed ruler of all Mongols in 1206. At its greatest extent it stretched from the Danube to the Sea of Japan and from Novgorod to Camboja, and held sway over a population of over 100 million people. It is often identified as the "Mongol World Empire" because it spanned much of Eurasia.[1][2][3][4][5][6] As a result of the empire's conquests and political and economic impact on most of the Old World, its wars with other great powers in Africa, Asia and Europe are also believed to be an ancient world war.[7][8] Under the Mongols new technologies, various commodities and ideologies were disseminated and exchanged across Eurasia.
By 1279, the Mongol Empire covered over 33,000,000 km2 (12,741,000 sq mi),[9] 22% of the Earth's total land area. However, by that time the empire had already partly fragmented, with the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate being de facto independent and refusing to accept Kublai Khan as Khagan.[10][11] By the time of Kublai Khan's death, the Mongol Empire had already divided into four separate khanates, each pursuing its own separate interests and objectives.[12] The khagans of the Yuan Dynasty assumed the role of Chinese emperors and fixed their capital at Dadu (modern-day Beijing) from old Mongol capital Karakorum. Although other khanates accepted them as their titular suzerains and sent tributes and some support after the peace treaty in 1304, the three western khanates were virtually independent,[13][14] and they each continued their own separate developments.[15]
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[edit] Formation
Before the rise of the Jin Dynasty founded by the Jurchens, the Khitan Liao Dynasty had ruled over Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin Dynasty overthrew the Liao Dynasty, and attempted to gain control over former Liao territory in Mongolia. However, the Mongols under Qabul Khan, great grandfather of Temujin (Genghis Khan), pushed out the forces of the Jin Dynasty from their territory in early 12th century. Mongols and Tatars began a deadly rivalry soon. The Golden Kings of Jin Dynasty encouraged the Tatars in order to keep the nomads weak. There were five main powerful khanliks: Kereyds, Mongols, Naimans, Merkits and Tatars in Mongolian plateau at the time.
Temujin, the son of Mongol chieftain who suffered a difficult childhood, united the nomadic, previously ever-rivaling Mongol-Turkic tribes under his rule through political manipulation and military might. As allies, his father's friend powerful Kereyt chieftain Wang Khan Toghoril and childhood anda (close friend) Jamukha of the Jadran clan helped him to defeat the Merkids whose army stole his wife Borte, the Naimans and ancient enemy - the Tatars. Temujin forbade looting of enemies after any victorious battle without his permission. And he divided the booty to Mongol warriors and their families instead of giving all to the aristocrats.[16] Temujin held the title – the khan of the Mongol tribes, however, his uncles were also legitimate heirs to the throne. Those actions disappointed them and they persuaded Jamukha and the Kereyds to leave Temujin. For rival aristocrats, the latter was no more than an insolent usurper. Temujin's powerful position and reputation among the Mongols and other nomads raised the fears of Kereyd elites. Virtually all his uncles, cousins and other clan chieftains had turned against him. Jamukha and later Wang Khan rejected the alliance. A falling out with them nearly destroy him at the war. But he recovered his forces and reinforced by his quda Khungirat and other tribes. In 1203-1205, the Mongols under Temujin destroyed rival tribes including Kereyds, Naimans and Merkits while the Ongud voluntarily joined him. In 1206, Temujin crowned as the Khaghan of Yekhe Mongol Ulus (Great Mongol Nation) at a Kurultai and assumed the title "Chingis Khan" (or more commonly known as "Genghis Khan", probably meaning Ocean ruler or Universal ruler) instead of the old tribal titles such as Gur Khan or Tayang Khan. This event essentially marked the start of the Mongol Empire under the leadership of Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan appointed his loyal friends as the heads of army units and households. He also divided his nation into arbans (each with 10 people), zuuns (100), myangans (1000) and tumens (10,000) of decimal organization. The Kheshig or the Imperial Guard was founded and divided into day (khorchin, torghuds) and night guards (khevtuul).[17] Genghis Khan rewarded those who had been loyal to him and placed them in high positions. Most of those people were hailed from very low-rank clans. Compared to the units he gave to his loyal companions, those assigned to his own family members were quite fewer.[18] He proclaimed new law of the empire Ikh zasag or Yassa and codified everything related to the everyday life and political affairs of the nomads at the time. For example He forbade the hunting of animals during the breeding time, the selling of women, thief of other's properties as well as the fight between the Mongols by his law.[19] Genghis Khan appointed his adopted brother Shigi-Khuthugh supeme judge (jarughachi) and ordered him to keep a record of blue devter. In addition to family, food and army, he also decreed religious freedom and supported domestic and international trade. Genghis Khan exempted poor people and clerics with their properties from taxation.[20] Thus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians from Manchuria, North China, India and Persia joined Genghis Khan long before his foreign conquests. The Khaan adopted Uyghur script which would form Uyghur-Mongolian script of the empire and ordered Uyghur Tatatunga who served the khan of Naimans before to instruct his sons.[21]
He quickly came into conflict with the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchens and the Western Xia of the Tanguts in northern China. Under the provocation of the Muslim Khwarezmid Empire, he moved into Central Asia as well, devastating Transoxiana and eastern Persia, then raiding into Kievan Rus' (a predecessor state of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) and the Caucasus. 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.
[edit] Organization
[edit] Military setup
The Mongol military organization was simple, but effective. It was based on an old tradition of the steppe, which was a decimal system known in Iranian cultures since Achaemenid Persia, and later: the army was built up from squads of ten men each, called an arbat; ten arbats constituted a company of a hundred, called a zuut; ten zuuts made a regiment of a thousand called myanghan and ten myanghans would then constitute a regiment of ten thousand (tumen), which is the equivalent of a modern division.
Unlike other mobile-only warriors, such as the Xiongnu or the Huns, the Mongols were very comfortable in the art of the siege. They were very careful to recruit artisans and military talents from the cities they conquered, and along with a group of experienced Chinese engineers and bombardier corps, they were experts in building the trebuchet, Xuanfeng catapults and other machines with which they could lay siege to fortified positions. These were effectively used in the successful European campaigns under General Subutai. These weapons may be built on the spot using immediate local resources such as nearby trees.
Within a battle Mongol forces used extensive coordination of combined arms forces. Though they were famous for their horse archers, their lance forces were equally skilled and just as essential to their success. Mongol forces also used their engineers in battle. They used siege engines and rockets to disrupt enemy formations, confused enemy forces with smoke, and used smoke to isolate portions of an enemy force while destroying that force to prevent their allies from sending aid.
The army's discipline distinguished Mongol soldiers from their peers. The forces under the command of the Mongol Empire were generally trained, organized, and equipped for mobility and speed. To maximize 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. Skillful use of couriers enabled these armies to maintain contact with each other and with their higher leaders. Discipline was inculcated in nerge (traditional hunts), as reported by Juvayni. These hunts were distinct from hunts in other cultures which were the equivalent to small unit actions. Mongol forces would spread out on line, surrounding an entire region and drive all of the game within that area together. The goal was to let none of the animals escape and to slaughter them all.
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 permitted them to fight on several fronts at once. All males aged from 15 to 60 and capable of undergoing rigorous training were eligible for conscription into the army, the source of honor in the tribal warrior tradition.
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 Sajó in spring flood conditions with thirty thousand cavalry in a single night during the battle of Mohi (April, 1241), defeating the Hungarian king Bela IV. Similarly, in the attack against the Muslim Khwarezmshah, a flotilla of barges was used to prevent escape on the river.
[edit] Law and governance
- See also: Organization of state under Genghis Khan.
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 imposed severe 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. 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 vandalizing 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 assembly, 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.
[edit] Religions
Mongols were highly tolerant of most religions, and typically sponsored several at the same time. At the time of Genghis Khan, virtually every religion had found converts, from Buddhism to Christianity and Manichaeanism to Islam. To avoid strife, Genghis Khan set up an institution that ensured complete religious freedom, though he himself was a shamanist. Under his administration, all religious leaders were exempt from taxation, and from public service.[22] Mongol emperors organized competitions of religious debates among clerics with a large audience.
Initially there were few formal places of worship, because of the nomadic lifestyle. However, under Ögedei, several building projects were undertaken in Karakorum. Along with palaces, Ogodei built houses of worship for the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and Taoist followers. The dominant religion at that time was Shamanism, Tengriism and Buddhism, although Ogodei's wife was a Christian.[23] Later, three of the four principal khanates embraced Islam.[24]
[edit] Buddhism
Buddhists entered the service of Mongol Empire in the early 13th century. However, Buddhist monasteries established in Karakorum and their clerics were granted tax exempts, the religion was given official status by the Mongols quite later. All variants of Buddhism, such as Chinese, Tibetan and Indian Buddhism flourished, though Tibetan Buddhism was eventually favored in the imperial level under emperor Mongke. The latter appointed Namo from Kashmir a chief of all Buddhist monks.
Ogedei's son and Guyuk's younger brother, Khoten, became the governor of Ningxia and Gansu. He launched a military campaign into Tibet under the command of Generals Lichi and Dhordha. The marauding Mongols burned down Tibetan monuments such as the Reting monastery and the Gyal temple in 1240. Prince Kötön was convinced that no power in the world exceeded the might of the Mongols. However, he believed that religion was necessary in the interests of the next life. Thus he invited Sakya Pandita to his ordo. Prince Kötön was impressed and healed by Sakya Pandita's teachings and knowledge. Then he became the first known Buddhist prince of Mongol empire.
Kublai, the founder of Yuan Dynasty, also favored Buddhism. As early as 1240s, he made contacts with a Chan Buddhist monk Haiyun, who became his Buddhist adviser. Kublai's second son, whom he later officially designated as his successor of the Yuan Dynasty, was given Chinese name "Zhenjin" (literally, "True Gold") with the help of Haiyun. Khatun Chabi influenced Kublai to be converted to Buddhism. She received the Hévajra tantra initiations from Phagspa and was very impressed. Kublai appointed him his state preceptor, and later imperial preceptor, giving him power over all the Buddhist monks within the territory of the Yuan Dynasty. For the rest of the Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia and China to 1368, Tibetan lamas were most influential Buddhist clergy. But Indian Buddhist textual tradition strongly influenced the religious life in China during the Yuan Dynasty.
The Ilkhans in Iran held Paghmo gru-pa order as their appanage in Tibet and lavishly patronized a variety of Indian, Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist monks. In 1295, Ghazan persecuted Buddhists and destroyed their temples. Before his conversion he built Buddhist temple in Khorasan. The 14th century Buddhist literatures found at Chagatai Khanate show their popularity among the Mongols and the Uighurs. Tokhta of Golden Horde also encouraged lamas to settle in Russia.[25] But his policy was halted by his successor Muslim Ozbeg Khan.
[edit] Christianity
Some Mongols had been proselytized by Christian Nestorians since about the 7th century, and a few Mongols were converted to Catholicism, esp. by John of Montecorvino who was appointed by Papal states.[26]
Although, the religion never achieved great position in the Mongol Empire, many Great Khans and khans were raised by Christian mothers and tutors. Some of the major Christian figures among the Mongols were: Sorghaghtani Beki, daughter in law of Genghis Khan, and mother of the Great Khans Möngke, Kublai, Hulagu and Ariq Boke; Sartaq, khan of Golden Horde; Doquz Khatun, the mother of the ruler Abaqa; Kitbuqa, general of Mongol forces in the Levant, who fought in alliance with Christians. Marital alliances with Western powers also occurred, as in the 1265 marriage of Maria Palaiologina, daughter of Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, with Abaqa. Tokhta, Oljeitu and Ozbeg had Greek Khatuns as well. Mongol Empire contained the lands of the Eastern Orthodox church in Caucasus and Russia, the Apostolic church in Armenia and the Assyrian Church of Nestorians in Central Asia and Persia.
The 13th century saw attempts at a Franco-Mongol alliance with exchange of ambassadors and even military collaboration with European Christians in the Holy Land. Ilkhan Abagha sent a tumen to support crusaders during the Ninth Crusade in 1271. The Nestorian Mongol Rabban Bar Sauma visited some European courts in 1287-1288. At the same time however, Islam began to take firm root amongst the Mongols, as those who embraced Christianity such as Tekuder, became Muslim.[27] After Onggud Mar Yahbh-Allaha, the monk of Kublai Khan, was elected a catholicos of the eastern Christian church in 1281, Catholic missionaries were began to sent to all Mongol capitals.
[edit] Islam
Mongols employed many Muslims in various fields and increasingly took their advice in administrative affairs. Muslims became a favored class of officials as they were well educated and knew Turkish and Mongolian. Notable Mongol converts to Islam include Nogai Khan, Ghazan, Tuda Mengu, Mubarak Shah and Berke who was the first Muslim leader of any the Mongol khanates.
Ghazan was the first Muslim khan to adopt Islam as national religion of Ilkhanate followed by Uzbek who urged his subjects to accept the religion as well. Though in Chagatai Khanate, Mongols continued their nomadic lifestyle as Buddhism and shamanism flourished until the 1350s. When western part of the khanate embraced Islam quickly, eastern part or Moghulistan retarded Islamization until Tughlugh Timur (1329/30-1363) accepted Islam with his thousands of subjects. While three out of the four Mongol khanates converted to Islam, Mongol men did not fully prohibit women's political influence. They joined banquets and kurultai with Mongol men and weren't forced to wear chadors or burqas. Despite the Mongols were usually converted by the Shi'a, they didn't presecute the Sunni Muslims and strongly favored their schools.
Though the Yuan Dynasty was the only Khanate not to convert to Islam, there had been many Muslim foreigners since the khans were tolerant of other religions. Contact between Yuan emperors in China and Muslim states in North Africa, India and Middle East lasted until the mid-14th century. Muslims were classified as Semuren, "various sorts", below the Mongols but above the Chinese. According to Jack Weatherford, there were more than one million Muslims in Yuan Dynasty.
[edit] Tengriism
Shamanism, which practices a form of animism with several meanings and with different characters, was a popular religion in ancient Central Asia and Siberia. The central act in the relationship between human and nature was the worship of the Blue Mighty Eternal Heaven - "Blue Sky" (Хөх тэнгэр, Эрхэт мөнх тэнгэр). Chingis Khan showed his spiritual power was greater than others and himself to be a connector to heaven after the execution of rival shaman Teb Tengri Kokhchu.
Under the Mongol Empire the khans such as Batu, Duwa, Kebek and Tokhta kept a whole college of male shamans. Those shamans were divided into bekis and others. The bekis (not confused with princess) were camped in front of the Great Khan's palace while some shamans left behind it. In spite of astrological observations and regular calendar ceremonies, Mongol shamans led armies and performed weather magic (zadyin arga). Shamans played a powerful political role behind the Mongol court.
While Ghazan converted to Islam, he still practiced some elements of Mongol shamanism. The Yassa code remained in place and Mongol shamans were allowed to remain in the Ilkhanate empire and remained politically influential throughout his reign as well as Oljeitu's. However, ancient Mongol shamanistic traditions went into decline with the demise of Oljeitu and with the rise of rulers practicing a purified form of Islam. With Islamization the shamans were no longer important as had been they in Golden Horde and Ilkhanate. But they still performed in ritual ceremonies alongside the Nestors and Buddhist monks in Yuan Dynasty.
[edit] Mail system
The Mongol Empire had an ingenious and efficient mail system for the time, often referred to by scholars as the Yam, which had lavishly furnished and well guarded relay posts known as örtöö set up all over the Mongol Empire. The yam system would be replicated later in the U.S. in the form of the Pony Express.[28] A messenger would typically travel 25 miles (40 km) from one station to the next, and he would either receive a fresh, rested horse or relay the mail to the next rider to ensure the speediest possible delivery. The Mongol riders regularly covered 125 miles per day, which is faster than the fastest record set by the Pony Express some 600 years later.
It is said that Chingis and his successor Ogedei built roads. One of roads that Ogedei built carved the Altai Range. After his enthronement, the latter organized the road system and ordered Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde to link up roads in western parts of the Mongol Empire.[29] In order to reduce pressure on households, he set up relay stations with attached households every 25 miles. Although, someone with paiza was allowed to supply with remounts and served specified rations, those carrying military rarities used the Yam even without a paiza. News of Great Khan’s death in Karakorum, Mongolia reached the Mongols forces under Batu Khan in Central Europe within 4-6 weeks thanks to the Yam.[30] Mongke Khan limited notorious abuses of the Mongols when they use the system.
Kublai Khan built special relays for high-officials as well as ordinary relays which had hostels. During the reign of Kublai, Yuan communication system was comprised of some 1,400 postal stations, which used 50,000 horses, 8,400 oxen, 6,700 mules, 4,000 carts, and 6,000 boats.[31] In Manchuria and Siberia, the Mongols still used dogsled relays for the yam. Ghazan restored the declining relay system in Middle East on restricted scale. He constructed few number of hostels and decreed only imperial envoys to receive a stipend. The Jochids of Golden Horde financed their relay system by special jam tax. It is known that Major Khans of Mongol World reopened the yam between Mongol Khanates in 1304-1305.
[edit] Economy
[edit] Appanage system
Members of Golden Kin (or Golden Family - Altan urag) was entitled to a share (khubi - хувь) of the benefits of each part of Mongol Empire just as each Mongol noble and their family, as well as each warrior, was entitled to an appropriate measure of all the goods seized in war. In 1206, Genghis Khan gave large lands with people as share to his family and loyal companions, of whom most were people of common origin. Shares of booty were distributed much more widely. Empresses, princesses and meritorious servants, as well as children of concubines, all received full shares including war prisoners.[32] For example, Kublai called 2 siege engineers from the Ilkhanate in Middle East, then under the rule of his nephew Abagha. After the Mongol conquest in 1238, the port cities in Crimea paid the Jochids custom duties and the revenues were divided among all Chingisid princes in Mongol Empire accordance with the appanage system.[33] As loyal allies, the Kublaids in East Asia and the Ilkahnids in Persia sent clerics, doctors, artisans, scholars, engineers and administrators to and received revenues from the appanages in each other's khanates.
After Genghis Khan (1206-1227) distributed nomadic grounds and cities in Mongolia and North China to his mother Hoelun, youngest brother Temuge and other members and Chinese districts in Manchuria to his another brothers, Ogedei distributed shares in North China, Khorazm, Transoxiana to the Golden Family, imperial sons in law (khurgen-хүргэн) and notable generals in 1232-1236. Great Khan Mongke divided up shares or appanages in Persia and made redistribution in Central Asia in 1251-1256.[34] Although Chagatai Khanate was the smallest in its size, Chagatai Khans owned Kat and Khiva towns in Khorazm, few cities and villages in Shanxi and Iran in spite of their nomadic grounds in Central Asia.[35] First Ilkhan Hulegu owned 25,000 households of silk-workers in China, valleys in Tibet as well as pastures, animals, men in Mongolia.[36] His descendant Ghazan of Persia sent envoys with precious gifts to Temur Khan of Yuan Dynasty to request his great-grandfather's shares in Great Yuan in 1298. It is claimed that Ghazan received his shares that were not sent since the time of Mongke Khan.[37]
Mongol and non-Mongol appanage holders demanded excessive revenues and freed themselves from taxes. Ogedei decreed that nobles could appoint darughachi and judges in the appanages instead direct distribution without the permission of Great Khan thanks to genius Khitan minister Yelu Chucai. Kublai Khan continued Ogedei's regulations somehow, however, both Guyuk and Mongke restricted the autonomy of the appanages before. Ghazan also prohibited any misfeasence of appanage holders in Ilkhanate and Yuan councillor Temuder restricted Mongol nobles' excessive rights on the appanages in China and Mongolia.[38] Kublai's successor Temur abolished imperial son in law Goryeo King Chungnyeol's 358 departments which caused financial pressures to Korean people, though, Mongols gave them some autonomy.[39]
The appanage system was severely affected beginning with the succession war that caused the split of the unified empire in 1260-1264.[40] Nevertheless, this system survived. For example, Abagha of the Ilkhanate allowed Mongke Temur of the Golden Horde to collect revenues from silk-workshops in northern Persia in 1270 and Baraq of the Chagatai Khanate sent his Muslim vizier to Ilkhanate, ostensibly to investigate his appanages there (The vizier's main mission was to spy on the Ilkhanids in fact) in 1269.[41] After a peace treaty declared among Mongol Khans: Temur, Duwa, Chapar, Tokhta and Oljeitu in 1304, the system began to see a recovery. During the reign of Tugh Temur, Yuan court received a third of revenues of the cities of Mawarannahr under Chagatai Khans while Chagatai elites such as Eljigidey, Duwa Temur, Tarmashirin were given lavish presents and sharing in the Yuan Dynasty's patronage of Buddhist temples.[42] Tugh Temur was also given some Russian captives by Chagatai prince Changshi as well as Kublai's future khatun Chabi had servant Ahmad Fanakati from Ferghana valley before her marriage.[43] In 1326, Golden Horde started sending tributes to Great Khans of Yuan Dynasty again. By 1339, Ozbeg and his successors had received annually 24 thousand ding in paper currency from their Chinese appanages in Shanxi, Cheli and Hunan.[44] H.H.Howorth noted that Ozbeg's envoy required his master's shares from the Yuan court, the headquarter of the Mongol world, for the establishment of new post stations in 1336.[45]
This communication ceased only with the break up, succession struggles and rebellions of Mongol Khanates.[note 3]
[edit] Money
Genghis Khan authorized the use of paper money shortly before his death in 1227. It was backed by precious metals and silk.[46] The Mongols used Chinese silver ingot as a unified money of public account, while circulating paper money in China and coins in the western areas of the empire such as Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate. Under Ogedei Khan the Mongol government issued paper currency backed by silk reserves and founded a Department which was responsible for destroying old notes.[47] In 1253, Mongke established a Department of Monetary affairs to control the issuance of paper money in order to eliminate the overissue of the currency by Mongol and non-Mongol nobles since the reign of Great Khan Ogedei.[48] His authority established united measure based on sukhe or silver ingot, however, the Mongols allowed their foreign subjects to mint coins in the denominations and use weight they traditionally used.[49] During the reigns of Ogedei, Guyuk and Mongke, Mongol coinage increased with gold and silver coinage in Central Asia and copper and silver coins in Caucasus, Iran and southern Russia.[50]
Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan issued paper money backed by silver and again banknotes supplemented by cash and copper cash. Marco Polo wrote that the money was made of mulberry bark. The standardization of paper currency allowed the Yuan court to monetize taxes and reduce carrying costs of taxes in goods as did the policy of Mongke Khan. But forest nations of Siberia and Manchuria still paid their taxes in goods or commodities to the Mongols.[51] Chao was used in Yuan Dynasty only and Ilkhan Rinchindorj Gaykhatu failed to adopt the experiment in Middle East in 1294. Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate and Ilkhanate minted their own coins in gold, silver and copper.[52] Ghazan's fiscal reforms enabled the Khanate to inaugurate a unified bimetallic currency in the Ilkhanate.[53] Chagatai Khan Kebek renewed the coinage backed by silver reserves and created unified monetary system through the realm.
[edit] 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.
Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign merchants before uniting the Mongols. They provided him information about neighboring cultures and served as diplomats and official traders of his empire. Genghis Khan and his family supplied them with capital and sent to Khorazm. Since then, their ortoq (merchant partner) business had flourished under Ogedei and Guyuk. The merchants supplied imperial palaces with clothing, food and other provisions. Great Khans gave them paiza exempting taxes and allowed to use relay stations of Mongol Empire. They also served as tax farmers in China, Russia and Iran. The merchants’ losses to banditry had to be made up by the imperial treasury. The Mongols and their partner merchants (mostly Muslims and Uyghurs) created a silver tax with unfixed interest rate. Because of money laundering and overtaxing the yam, Mongke attempted to limit abuses and sent imperial investigators to supervise the ortoq. He decreed all merchants to pay commercial and property taxes. Mongke also paid out all drafts drawn by high rank Mongol elites to merchants. This policy continued in Yuan Dynasty, however, Hulegu and his son Abagha of the Ilkhanate ignored their officials to interfere with partner merchants in Middle East. The court of Mongol Empire encouraged merchants, whether the Chinese, Indians, Persians, Central Asians or Hansa venders, to trade within their realms. Mongke-Temur granted the Genoese and the Venice exclusive rights to hold Caffa and Azov in 1267. Golden Horde permitted the German merchants to trade in all over its territories including Russian principalities in 1270's.
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. Despite the unmaterialized Franco-Mongol alliance, trade of Western Europe especially Italians with the Mongol territories had rapidly increased since 1300. They established their ports, markets and guilds in China, Russia, Crimea and Iran under the Mongols.
[edit] Military conquests
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[edit] Central Asia
Mongol invasion of Central Asia initially was composed of Genghis Khan's victory over and unification of the Mongol and Turkic central Asian confederations such as Merkits, Tartars, Mongols, Uighurs that eventually created the Mongol Empire. It then continued with invasion of Khwarezmid Empire in Persia.
Huge areas of Islamic Central Asia and north-east Iran were seriously depopulated.[54] Every city or town that refused surrender and resisted the Mongols was subject to destruction. In Termez, on the Oxus: “all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain”. Each soldier was required to execute a number of persons that varied according to circumstances. We have reports of 24 per warrior for Urgench.[55]
[edit] Middle East
The Mongol invasion of the Middle East consists of the conquest, by force or voluntary submission, of the areas today known as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey, with further Mongol raids reaching southwards as far as Gaza into the Palestine region in 1260 and 1300. The major battles were the Battle of Baghdad (1258), when the Mongols sacked the city which for 500 years had been the center of Islamic power; and the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, when the Muslim Egyptian Mamluks, were for the first time able to stop the Mongol advance at Ain Jalut, in the northern part of what is today known as the West Bank.
Due to a combination of political and geographic factors, such as lack of sufficient grazing room for their horses, the Mongol invasion of the Middle East turned out to be the farthest that the Mongols would ever reach, towards the Mediterranean and Africa.
[edit] East Asia
Mongol invasion of East Asia refers to the Mongols 13th and 14th century conquests under Genghis Khan and his descendants of Mongol invasion of China, the invasion of Korea which forced Korea to become a vassal, and attempted Mongol invasion of Japan, and it also can include Mongols attempted invasion of Vietnam. The biggest conquest was the total invasion of China in the end.
[edit] Europe
Mongol invasion of Europe largely constitute of their invasion and conquest of Kievan Rus, much of Russia, invasion of Poland and Hungary among others. Over the three years (1237-1240) the Mongols destroyed and annihilated all of the major cities of Russia with the exceptions of Novgorod and Pskov.[56]
Pope's envoy to Mongol Khan Giovanni de Plano Carpini, who passed through Kiev in February 1246, wrote:
"They [the Mongols] attacked Russia, where they made great havoc, destroying cities and fortresses and slaughtering men; and they laid siege to Kiev, the capital of Russia; after they had besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death. When we were journeying through that land we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there are at the present time scarce two hundred houses there and the inhabitants are kept in complete slavery."[57]
[edit] Post-Genghis Khan
At first, the Mongol Empire was ruled by Ögedei Khan, Genghis Khan's third son and designated heir, but after his death in 1241, the fractures which would ultimately crack the Empire began to show. Enmity between the grandchildren of Genghis Khan resulted in a five year regency by Ögedei's widow until she finally got her son Guyuk Khan confirmed as Great Khan. But he only ruled two years, and following his death – he was on his way to confront his cousin Batu Khan, who had never accepted his authority – another regency followed, until finally a period of stability came with the reign of Mongke Khan, from 1251-1259. The last universally accepted Great Khan was his brother Arigboh (aka. Arigbuga, or Arigbuha), his elder brother Kublai Khan dethroned him with his own supporters after some extensive battles. Kublai Khan ruled from 1260-1294. Despite his recognition as Great Khan, he was unable to keep his brother Hulagu and their cousin Berke from open warfare in 1263, and after Kublai's death there was not an accepted Great Khan, so the Mongol Empire was fragmented for good.
Genghis Khan divided his realm into four Khanates, subdivisions of a single empire under the Great Khan (Khan of Khans). The following Khanates emerged after the regency following Ögedei Khan's death, and became formally independent after Kublai Khan's death:
- Blue Horde (under Batu Khan) and White Horde (under Orda Khan) would soon be combined into the Golden Horde, with Batu Khan emerging as Khan.
- Il-Khanate - Hulegu Khan
- Empire of the Great Khan (China) - Kublai Khan
- Mongol homeland (present day Mongolia, including Kharakhorum) - Tolui Khan
- Chagatai Khanate - Chagatai Khan
The empire's expansion continued for a generation or more after Genghis's death in 1227. Under Genghis's successor Ögedei Khan, 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 concluded in 1279 with the conquest of populous China, which then constituted the majority of the world's economic production.
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. Batu Khan and Subutai were preparing to start with a winter campaign against Austria and Germany, and finish with Italy. However, news of Ögedei's death spared Western Europe as Batu had to turn his attentions to the election of the next Great Khan. It is often speculated that this was one of the great turning points in history and that Europe may well have fallen to the Mongols had the invasion gone ahead. 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 Saif ad-Din Qutuz in 1261 at Ayn Jalut.