1. AP World History: The Mongols
Period Three: 600 CE – 1450 CE
“Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.” - Genghis Khan

3. Mongols used eagles to help them hunt.

4. I Geography and the Mongols
The Mongols were nomadic warriors. Lived on the steppes (flat grassland) and Gobi desert north of China.
B) Dairy is the staple of their diet; yak or horse milk is made into butter, yogurt, and cheese.

5. Geography and the Mongols Continued…
C) Skilled horseback riders; rode up to 100 miles per day! D) Weapons included the crossbows and catapult. The Mongols would catapult the dead bodies of plague victims towards their enemies!
“Genghis Khan established an imperial circuit of communications similar to the famous Pony Express of the American West. Genghis Khan’s system had way stations for post riders established in strategic locations across the empire… after Genghis Khan’s grandson Khublai Khan ascended China's dragon throne, he lost control of strategic horse-breeding areas of the steppes. His decline began when he could no longer mobilize and unify the mounted nomadic warriors as his grandfather, uncle, and brother had.” amnh.org

6. Mongol Armor and Crossbows
Silk would absorb sweat & was much lighter to wear than European armor.

7. II Genghis Khan ( )
A) Nomads speaking Mongolian languages carved out regional kingdoms in north China 4-10th centuries CE.
B) In 1206 CE Temujin, 42, became known as Genghis Khan “Universal Ruler”. By brutal force, he had united the fragmented nomadic tribes of Mongolia. Going against custom, Temujin put competent allies rather than relatives in key positions and executed the leaders of enemy tribes while incorporating the remaining members into his clan. Temujin was an animist, but many Mongols were Christians, Muslim and Buddhist.
C) Genghis Khan created a body of law.
1. Banned the kidnapping of women
2. Stealing animals became a capital offense
3. Regulated winter hunting to ensure food for all
DNA studies have revealed that Genghis Khan has 16 million living descendants today!
– National Geographic, 2010

8. Genghis Khan Continued…
C) Genghis’s grandson Batu (1207 – 1255) invaded Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. Mongols left Eastern Europe quickly but remained in Russia for 200 years. Became known as the “Golden Horde” and destroyed Russian infrastructure, cutting Russia off from Western Europe for centuries.

9. Genghis Khan Continued…
D) Kublai Khan ( ), another grandson of Genghis, conquered the Southern Song Dynasty of China. Because Kublai admired Chinese culture, rather than destroying it, he created his own Chinese dynasty; the Yuan!

10. Geography and the Mongols Continued…
Europeans called Mongols the Golden Horde due to gold color of Mongol yurts (tents) in the sun. They could be transported on wheels!

12. IV The Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368)
A) Mongols ruled from their capital Dadu (now Beijing) B) Encouraged trade by keeping the Silk Road safe, expanded the Grand Canal, and welcomed foreign diplomats and merchants (Pax Mongolia) - The most famous visitor to the Khan’s Court under the Yuan Dynasty was Marco Polo! C) Yuan government discriminated against the native Chinese; only Mongols or foreigners could serve in the government. Unlike Confucianism, the Mongols promoted the role of artists, merchants and traders. They eliminated the civil service exam. D) By the 1350s the White Lotus Society formed, dedicated to overthrowing the Yuan. The Mongols considered the White Lotus society a religious sect and banned it, forcing its members to go underground. E) The White Lotus Society inspired a revolution in 1352 in Guangzhou, led by . a Buddhist monk Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1356, Zhu captured Nanjing and made it his capital. Helped by Confucian scholars who performed rituals in his claim of the Mandate of Heaven, the first step toward establishing new dynastic rule. By 1387, 30+ years of war, Zhu liberated all of China. He took the title Hong-wu and founded a new dynasty; the Ming.

14. The Yuan Dynasty Continued…
Yuan Porcelain Vase
Bailin Temple of Zhaoxian, 1330
Zhu Yuanzhang

15. V Mongols and the Islamic Empire
1258 the Mongols sacked Baghdad and executed the last Abbasid caliph, ending the dynasty.
1260 the Mongols were defeated by the Mamluk (slave) dynasty of Egypt, helped by Egyptian Coptic Christians.
Mamluks in Egypt

16. VI Women and “Tolerance” in the Mongol Empire
Mongolian women did not practice Chinese foot binding
Women often fought in battle on horseback
C) Chabi, the wife of Kublai Khan, was one of his political advisors, and proselytized Buddhism.
D) Mongols had a very strict social hierarchy. However, within this hierarchy was tolerance for different ethnicities and religions.
1. Muslim doctors ran the imperial hospitals. Persians and Turks were some of Kublai Khan’s closest advisors.
2. Buddhists, Christians, and Taoists also were in Kublai Khan’s court. Don’t forget Marco Polo!

17. Primary Source: Excerpt from Marco Polo’s Journal
“When the Great Khan is holding court, the seating at banquets is arranged as follows. He himself sits at a much higher table than the rest…His principal wife sits next to him on the left. On the right, at a somewhat lower level, sits his sons in order of age…
They are placed so that their heads are on a level with the Great Khan’s feet. Next to them are seated the noblemen at other tables lower down again…All the wives of the Khan’s sons and grandsons and kinsmen are seated on his left at a lower level, and next to them the wives of his nobles and knights lower down still.”

18. VII Tamerlane’s Empire
Timur “the Lame” was a leader of the Muslim Turks. In the 1360s his armies moved out from his base at Samarkand to conquer Persia, Mesopotamia, India, and southern Russia.
Unlike the Mongols he did not increase trade or cultural diffusion.
Died in 1405, and his empire was pulled apart.
Tamerlane being presented with the heads of Baghdadis by his soldiers.

19. Tamerlane’s Empire Continued…
“Lame he was, mighty he was, merciful he was not. As his latest biographer Justin Marozzi says, the millions he slaughtered – ‘buried alive, cemented into walls, massacred on the battlefield, sliced in two at the waist, trampled to death by horses, beheaded, hanged’ – would have had a different opinion.” Cavendish, Richard. Published in History Today Volume 55 Issue 2 February 2005

20. Death by Mongols
Historian R. J. Rummel estimated 30 million people were killed under the rule of the Mongol Empire, and the population of China fell by half in fifty years of Mongol rule.
“Man’s greatest good fortune is to chase and defeat his enemy, seize his total possessions, leave his married women weeping and wailing, ride his gelding, use the bodies of his women ” - Genghis Khan

21. Summary Questions
Fill in your Period 3 Civilization chart for the Mongols.
How much did geography help or hurt the Mongols?
Why did the Mongols create a Chinese rather than a Mongolian Dynasty? Why did they not do something similar in Russia?
How did Marco Polo describe the Mongols? What do you think his impression was and why? Do you think his description is accurate? Why or why not?
What should the legacy of the Mongols be?

22. Key Vocabulary
Batu Crossbow Dadu Genghis Khan Kublai Khan Mamluks Marco Polo Ming Dynasty Mongols Pax Mongolia Tamerlane Temujin White Lotus Society Yuan Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang