By: Amanda Stuart and Tanvi patel The rise of mongols By: Amanda Stuart and Tanvi patel

Nomadism in central Asia Nomadism: is a way of life forced by a scarcity of resources When searching for food, nomads often came in contact with other groups which often led to warfare, alliances, or both Around 1000 C.E. the Mongols emerged out of the dislocation and conflicts of these groups Nomadic groups in Central Asia were frequently involved in violence As a result, men were superb riders, warriors, hunters, and herdsmen Decision making was public Mongol groups had strong hierarchies but the leader was the Khan Slaves were valuable for their labor and slaves Many powerful groups discovered that they could survive off of tribute Federations arose based on alliances formed between leading families Women became powerful in negotiation and management and were just as likely as men to suffer assassination or execution Helped spread the ideas of Manichaeism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam across Central Asia Open to practicing different religions

Nomadism contd. Khan spoke for and represented an ultimate God which was represented as Sky or Heaven Nomads trying to remain self sufficient by eating foods that they could supply for themselves and wearing what their animals produced Iron was crucial Used in bridles, stirrups, wagons, weapons Traded iron, wool, leather, and horses for wood, cotton and cotton seeds, vegetables, silk, and grains Learned the value of permanent settlements and resulted in extensive frontier regions

Mongol conquests In 1206 Genghis Khan was named the “Great Khan” For the next 2 decades he expanded his rule into Central Asia, the Middle East, and Russia After he died in 1227, Genghis Khan was succeeded by his son Ögödei (who destroyed the Tanggut and the Jin empire) In 1236 Batu took control of towns along the Volga River, conquered Moscow, Kievan Russia, Poland, and Hungary After the death of Ögödei, Güyük was elected Great Khan in 1246 who then preceded to sack Baghdad and murder the last Abbasid caliph Mongols had fabulous abilities on horseback and special properties of their bows Their arrows could shoot 1/3 farther then Middle Eastern and European bows Jade thumb ring allowed the archers hand to withstand tremendous tension for the drawn bowstring Carried 5 dozen or more arrows in the quivers The first Mongol catapults were taken from the Chinese but due to having short range and poor accuracy, they were improved upon Cities under Mongol attack had 3 options: Fight Die of Starvation Surrender Mongols took advantage between neighboring groups and took advantage of them (i.e. turning the Muslims against the Christians)

Overland trade and the plague Silk was extremely important to the Mongols Elite noble men wore silk Silk was also used for wall hangings and furnishing Trade was protected by Mongol control of the overland trade routes and promoted by Mongol tax policies These journeys produced travel literature that left an image an image of inexhaustible wealth across Central Asia Benefits of this traffic was knowledge in pharmacology, engineering, mathematics, or financial management Due to the Middle Eastern Mongol’s wish to drive away the Russian Mongol’s they often allied themselves with the European sponsors of the crusader states Disadvantage to the traffic: spread of the bubonic plague that has festered in the Yunnan province since the Tang empire Marmots and other desert rodents were infected by travelers who then infected dogs and people Bubonic Plague was also associated with Typhus, Influenza, and Smallpox -This resulted in the “Great Pandemic” of 1347-1352

The fall and rise of islam 1260-1500

Mongol rivalry By 1260 two distinct Mongol realms had developed: Il-Khan and the Golden Horde Il-Khan were ruled by Hülegü and controlled parts of Armenia, all of Azerbaijan, Mesopotamia, and Iran The Golden Horde conquered Southern Russia and established their capital on the Volga River (Sarai) Batu (ruler of the Golden Horde) declared himself a Muslim and his determination to avenge the murder of the last Abbasid Caliph Tension between the Mongols and the Muslims Muslims could not forgive the extremely violent murder of their last caliph Muslims repelled against the Mongol’s worship of idols Shamanic Mongols forbade the spilling of blood and Islamic code of cleanliness (halal) required the blood to be drained from animal carcasses Europeans employed Buddhist Mongol’s to drive out the Muslim Mongols from religious sites in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine However, in 1295 the new Il-Khan ruler Ghazan declared himself a Muslim and ordered all of his subjects to covert to Islam

Islam and the state Tax farming: a governments use of private collectors to collect taxes. Individuals or corporations contracted with the government to collect a fixed amount for the government and are permitted to keep as profit anything they collected over the fixed amount The rates charged by tax farmers drove many land owners into debt and servitude As a consequence the state was forced to appropriate land to grow its own grain This land was tax exempt Tax base shrank as did demands of the army and Mongol nobility for revenue continued to grow Ghazan took advantage of international Mongol contacts for new methods of economic management He ordered the use of paper money, which the people rejected due to lack of confidence in its value Economy sank into depression until the end of the Il Khan period in 1349 Mongol nobles in the Middle East competed among themselves for decreasing revenue, which destabilized the government Russian Mongols participated in the dismemberment of the Il Khan empire and briefly occupied its major cities As the power of Il Khan and Golden Horde weakened , a new power emerged known as the Jagadai Khanate The Timurids laid the ground work of later establishment in India of a Muslim Mongol regime, in the 16th century (Mughals) The rule of the Timurids, Timur, was the last great Central Asian conqueror

Art and science in Islamic eurasia Although Timur was not successful to reunite Iran and China, he made possible the advancement of some specific arts because he practiced concentrating scholars, artists and craftsmen in his capitol Historian Juvaini was a central figure in literary development, he created the first comprehensive narrative describing the rise of the Mongols under Genghis Khan. His works inspired Rashid al-Din (the prime minister of Il Khan) to attempt the first history of the world Timur was acquainted with Ibn Khaldun, a great historian Timur saw himself as a world conqueror and so the story of his conquests was by default the story of the world Nasir Al-Din was a multi-talented Shi’ite believer who was captured by Mongols at the libraries of the Assasins He quickly charmed Hülegü and became a trusted advisor He drew on the works of Omar Khayyam to lay the foundations for complex algebra and trigonometry

Art and Science continued Islamic scholars adopted the cosmological model of Ptolemy Earth was in the center of universe while Sun and planets rotated around it in circular orbit Nasir al-Din proposed a model which included the idea of small circles revolving inside a larger circles The idea was expanded upon by one of Nasir al-Dins students, which allowed for the explaining of the moon’s revolving around the Earth This model traveled to Nicholas Copernicus in Europe who evolved it into a model where all the planets move around the Sun Predictions of the Il-Khan astronomers were translated into Arabic, Latin and Sanskrit In the 700s, Middle Eastern scholars adopted the Indian numerical system, including the concept of zero The Timurids continued the work of the Seljuk and Il Khan to advance work in astronomy and mathematics Ghiyas al-Din Jamshid al-Kashi’s use of decimal fractions for far more precise calculations of pi

Regional definition in response to the mongols

Russia and rule from afar Both the Il-Khan and Timuird Empires promoted the use of the written Persian language and showed an interest in popular religious practices such as the mystical form of Islam known as Sufism The first conflict between Kievan Russia and the Mongols occurred in 1223 when the Mongols defeated a combined Russian and Kipchak (Turkic people) army The Mongols were the first to successfully capture Russia during the winter In 1240, Kiev fell and the princes acknowledged the rule of the Mongols (Batu) Batu and his descendants established the Golden Horde (a collection of small khanates) Mongols placed their capitals at the ends of the overland caravan routes which were the infrastructure of their empires Mongols granted privileges to the Orthodox Church The Mongol’s primary concern in Russia was to extract wealth and re-introduce the idea of paper money Alexander Nevskii was able to gain Mongol favorism by persuading many of the Russian princes to submit to the rule of the Mongols This led to the protection of Novgorod and Moscow

Russia and rule from afar CONTD. Crimea remained a breeding ground for the bubonic plague long after the trading caravans left As the Ukraine was constantly raided by the Mongols on their conquests, it suffered a severe population loss A belief by many historians is that the Mongol conquests of Russia and parts of eastern Europe isolated Russia from the great currents of developments in early modern Europe Others point out that the Kievan economy was already in a loss due to the cease of minted money Russia was also under the domination of the Byzantine Empire (which was greatly unaffected western Europe) The title tsar was originally used for foreign rulers After the Mongols were thrown off in 1480, Russian leaders adopted the title tsar to show that Russia should be ruled by Russians and not a foreign power There were strong similarities between the effects of Mongol domination of Russia in the Middle East Russia under the Mongol dominance of Kiev In the Middle East, Mongol’s ended the dominance of Bhagdad

Social change and centralization of Europe and anatolia When Europe divided between the pope and the Holy Roman Empire, the kingdoms of Eastern Europe had to deal with the Golden Horde on their own The only eastern group unwilling to subdue to the Mongol rule were the Teutonic Knights They had been sent on a crusade to Christianize Slavic and Kipchuck populations Mongols were perceived in many different ways They were thought to be part dog Thought to have come from hell They were cannibals They were the lost tribes of Israel European leaders attempted to open channels of peaceful communication with the Il Khan in an attempt to reach the Great Khan in Mongolia The terror of the Mongols was replaced by the awe of eventual idealization of wealth and power

Social change and centralization of Europe and Anatolia Contd. The Mongols brought the Europeans: Knowledge of Eurasian geography/culture/natural resources/commerce Diplomatic passports Mining and uses of coal Moveable type High temperature metallurgy High efficient enumeration/ higher mathematics Gunpowder The casting and use of the bronze cannon

Social change and centralization of Europe and Anatolia Contd. The terror created by the Mongol invasions combined with other factors (such as the bubonic plague) ignited a storm of religious questioning and anxiety In the 14th century, Mongol hold on Europe weakened and allowed for several regions to emerge (such as Lithuania) The Balkans separated themselves from the Byzantine Empire into several kingdoms The Ottomans (Turks) maintained their independence because the Il-Khan was preoccupied with preventing the Golden Horde from making further invasions

Stabilization of mamluk rule Egypt Mamluks: term used for military slaves who established an empire in Egypt and Syria in 1250 Under Mamluk rule, Egypt remained a military dictatorship until the forces of the Ottoman Empire conquered it in the 1500s The Mamluks remained the dominant elites in Egypt until the end of the 18th century From the 1300s to the late 1700s the Mamluks and their successors continued to import soldiers from Crimea Due to a pandemic, Egypt lost 1/3 of its population (around 1350)

CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING CHAPTER 13!!!! NOW….. GOOD LUCK ON REMEMBERING ALL OF THE INFORMATION