1. WAIT FOR IT!!!!!

2. THE MONGOLS!
The
Homeland

7. That’s One Mighty Big Empire Largest empire created by one single person
"The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see those dear to them bathed in tears, to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters"       -GENGHIS KHAN (Chinggis Khan)

8. Pre-Empire Characteristics
Nomadic (pastoralism)
Tribal (therefore lots of war)
Largely illiterate (because nomads don’t do job specialization!)
Economic system = herding flocks, raiding booty along the edges of powerful civilizations like China
Social System = clan & family importance; constant low-level fighting over pasture, water, slaves, resources, etc.

9. To crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet-to take their horses and hear the lamentation of their women.
That is the best.
~Genghis Khan

10. Empire! 1206-1227 – Genghis Khan conquers a huge empire
Unifies the Mongols themselves by breaking down kinship ties
Comparable to Muhammad’s use of Islam to unify all Arabs). Like the Arabs, he then distracts Mongols from in-fighting by conquering others
MWE?
Empire = China to Syria and Russia to Korea
Capital at Karakorum
Began a period of stability known as the “Pax Mongolica”
The original empire broke up in 1260 but didn’t completely dissolve…

11. Mongol Technology
Mongols were masters of horsemanship and the short bow
Contact with China exposed them to other war technology:
Trebuchet, gunpowder, cannons, flaming arrows, and battering rams

12. The Breakup

13. After Genghis Khan’s Death
Divided into 4 main segments ruled by parts of the Khan’s family and lasting into the 1400s:
Great Kublai Khan (Yuan Dynasty of China)
Khanate of Chaghadai (Central Asia & trade routes)
Golden Horde (Russia, Northern Eurasia)
Khanate of Persia (eastern portions of the former Abbasid Caliphate)

14. Results of the Pax Mongolica
The Bad: The Mongols caused destruction & killed a lot of people causing fear & dislike, but after the initial conquest…
Pax Mongolica = The Mongol Peace; time of stability and peace caused by all of Eurasia basically being under the rule of a single entity
Facilitated contact between various parts of enormous land area from Mediterranean to Pacific.
Promoted interaction between peoples of many different ethnicities, religions, & cultures.
Enabled exchange & spread of ideas, goods, technologies, & disease.
More “civilized” than the “civilized”?