CH 8, sect. 2 – The Mongols and China Mongols were pastoral nomads from the region of modern day Mongolia. They were unified by Temujiin who later was named Genghis Kahn. Mongols were devoted to conquest – at one point had the largest land empire in world history.

Khan died in 1227 and the empire was split into Khanates under the rule of one of his sons. Mongols attacked and defeated the Persian Abbasid empire and also the Song Dynasty. While attacking the Chinese they discovered gunpowder and the fire-lance – it is believed that this is how Europeans learned about these inventions.

The Mongol Dynasty in China: In 1279 Kublai Khan conquered the Song dynasty – established his capital in N. China called Khanbaliq, later was known as Beijing. This dynasty known as the Yuan advanced into Vietnam, Java and Sumatra. Japan was invaded 2x but the invasions failed.

Mongols ruled China but allowed the Chinese to run the political system. Mongols were a separate class from the Chinese with their own laws. The Mongols brought immense prosperity to China which sparked great interest from Europeans – (travels of Marco Polo.) The Yuan dynasty collapsed in 1368 due to invasions, corruption, and internal instability.