1. Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage:
Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History Second Edition and Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources Second Edition
CHAPTER 11
Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage:
The Mongol Moment
1200–1500
Copyright © 2013 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. The World of Pastoral Societies
Pastoral societies needed large grazing areas
Small populations
Small scattered encampments
People related (kinfolk) or clans
Ranking – rich and poor slaves

3. Women offered a greater role than other societies -
Productive labor, domestic duties, care of small animals
Marriage of widows not negative as in China
Women could get divorced
Some served as political advisors and active in military affairs

4. Often called nomads as these societies often moved
Connected and dependent on agriculture neighbors – food stuff and manufactured goods
Large state among pastoral groups not an easy task
Chinggis Khan forged tribal alliances and created a powerful state
Fictive kinship – designating allies as blood relatives and treating them with respect

5. Military advantage
Horseback riding skills of all male and female population
Through raiding, trading and extortion – wealth
Rulers could hold society together as long as wealth kept coming in
All main religions - Manichaeism – 3rd birth 3rd century – religion with elements of Zoroastrian, Christian, Buddhist
Top down conversion – ruler elite adopts religion and others follow

6. Before the Mongols: Pastoralist in History
Art of horseback by 1000 CE -Horse harness, saddle, and iron stirrups, small compound bow, and new swords
Pastoral people mastered horseback riding and later camel riding
They mastered mounted warfare – made possible series of nomadic empires
Played a major role in Afro-Eurasian history

7. Xiongnu – nomads who lived in Mongolian steppes north of China
Penetrated Chinese territory
3rd & 2nd century BCE created a very large military confederacy – Manchuria to deep inside central Asia
Modun BCE, Charismatic leader created a centralized and hierarchical government system

8. Ruler divinely sanctioned
Junior / senior clans
Forced China Emperor Wen (Han Dynasty) to acknowledge equality of people he called barbarian
Empire eventually y falls after repeated Chines attacks
Established model for later empires
Nomadic people played a part in the fall of Roman and Han empires

10. 3rd wave civilizations – Arabs, Berbers, Turks, and Mongols – all nomadic beginnings
Create the largest and influential empires (for this time period)
Most of Eurasia, Byzantium, Persia, India, and China came under control or previously nomadic peoples
1st was the Arabs in Arabian Peninsula
Developed a camel saddle BCE
Great fighters gained control of trade routes

12. Turks
Turning point in history / conversion to Islam 10th and 14th century
Migrated into Middle East
Served as slave soldiers in Abbasid Caliphate and as the Caliphate decline they assumed power
Seljuk Empire 11th and 12th century centered in Persia and present day Iraq
Turkic rulers claimed the title Sultan
Invaded India, Anatolia
Created the Ottoman Empire by 1500 was a great power in Eurasia

13. Africa
Berbers living Western Sahara
Converted to Islam
Scholar Ibn Yasin returned from Mecca and Islam spread with orthodox principles -Created the Almoravid Empire
Northwestern Africa and into Spain by 1086
Took Islamic culture to Morocco and Spain

15. Mongol Empire
13th century creating the largest empire in human history
Pacific coast of Asia to Eastern Europe
Links Europe, China and Islamic world
Very destructive process / established networks of exchange and communication

16. Gave no new language, religion or civilization
Did not try and spread their faith
Religion – ritual invoking ancestors and consulting shamans who predict future, offer sacrifice and communicate with spirit world
Once conquered given status of defeated people, subordinate, exploited

17. Temujin 1162-1227 later known as Chinggis Khan (universal ruler)
12th century Mongols were feuding clans with murder and slaughter
Father was minor chieftain killed by tribal rivals when he was 10
Family soon deserted – social outcasts
Chinggis Khan made friends his allies and built a following of people he could trust

18. Allied with a tribal leader
His military victory over rival tribe made Chinggis Khan a chief with a growing number of followers
Shifting alliances and betrayals, military victories, reputation as leader and friend allowed him to join defeated tribes into his own
1206 a Mongol assemble appointed him Chinggis Khan (supreme leader)

19. Unified Mongol nation
1209 first attack on settled agriculture societies south of Mongolia
Started a campaign of massive killings, and empire building
Chinggis Khan, followed by sons and grandsons create an empire that contains China, Korea, Central Asia, Russia and much of Islam Middle east

20. Mongol Moment
Mongol Empire grew quickly and without any great plan
Each victory provided the Mongols needed resources for making war
Mongol armies better led, better organized and more disciplined than opponents
Fighting units of 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 warriors
Loyalty to leader and if any member of a unit deserted all were subject to death

21. Leaders would share hardships with warriors,
Eat same foods, sleep on the same ground and wear the same clothes
Always at the front of a battle and never at the rear
Enormous wealth from conquered civilizations = all Mongols could dress in linens and silks and own slaves

22. Large numbers of conquered people were placed into the army
Mongol and Turic were Calvary units and other people made up infantry and artillery forces
Conquered people, served a laborers building roads, bridges
Artisans, craftsmen and skilled people were identified and spared from massacre

23. Mongol army reputation - Brutality and destructiveness
Whoever submits will be spared and those who resisted were destroyed including wives and children
Psychological warfare -City after city destroyed
Enemy soldiers passed out to army for destruction
Women and skilled laborers enslaved
Others used as shield during attacks, or fill in moats

24. Empire -Relay stations set up across empire with horses (pony express)
Census taking
Fostered trade – often paid merchants 10% above asking price and allowed them to use relay stations
Mongols had to position in government but allowed Chinese and Muslims lower level positions
Mongols welcomed and supported different religions

26. China and the Mongols
Mongol invasion of China started in the north 1209
This area had been under nomadic control
Marked by great destruction and plunder
Southern China controlled by Song

27. Here the Mongols allowed land owners to keep estates in exchange for support
Some educated Chinese believed the Mongols were given the Mandate of Heaven
Used Chinese administration practices, taxation and postal system
Khubilai Khan Grandson of Chinggis Khan Yuan Dynasty
Improved roads / Built canals

28. Supported peasant agriculture
Mongol rule was still harsh
Mongols did not become Chinese and most did not learn the language
Intermarriage forbidden
Empire last just over 1 hundred years
Friction among Mongol groups, epidemics (plague) and peasant rebellions combined to force Mongols out of China by 1368

29. Persia and Mongols
1st invasion led by Chinggis Khan, –
30 years later a 2nd attack under grandson Hulegu who became the first il-khan (subordinate khan) of Persia
More destructive than that of China
Islamic people were shocked that Mongols (infidels) had defeated them

30. Slaughter of people was greatest in Persian history
Sacking of Baghdad 1258 was end of the Abbasid caliphate – 200,000 people slaughtered
Heavy taxes, torture pushed large numbers of peasants off land
Agriculture suffered but wine making prospered along with silk industry
When Mongol Empire in Persia collapsed – Mongols assimilated into Persian society

31. Russia and Mongols
Mongols marched into Russia between 1237 and 1240
Land divided and controlled by princes who could not unite
Great destruction and massacre of thousands
Armed with catapults and battering rams
Khanate of the Golden Horde

32. Mongols did not occupy
Russia had little to offer
Russian princes were given appointments from the Khan
Required to send tribute to Mongol capital
Russian Orthodox Church flourished
Nobles who joined Mongols on raids shared in the wealth

33. Golden Horde was still very nomadic and did not change as a result of contact with Russia
Residing in the Steppes they eventually adopted Islam and lost their distinct culture

34. Toward World economy
Mongols were not active traders but promoted international commerce
Taxed trade and extracted wealth -Financed merchants, used standardized weights and measures and gave tax breaks to merchants
Linked Europe, China
Many traders along the Silk Road – guide books printed

35. Diplomacy on Eurasian Scale
Facilitated diplomatic relations from one end of Eurasia to the other
Mongols had attacked Polish, German and Hungarian forces but the death of the Great Khan Ogodei ended the threat
Western Europe was spared
Pope sent monks to Mongol capital to find out their intentions, convert to Christianity and to get assistance in Crusades

36. No alliances were made or widespread conversions
Did give Europeans a better understanding of a larger world
Cultural Exchange in the Mongol Realm
Mongol policy of forced relocation, religious tolerance, and support of merchants led to great exchange of cultures
Chinese technology – gunpowder, printing, weapons, compass, navigation, high temperature furnaces, and medical skills

37. Plague: An Afro-Eurasian Pandemic
Black Death
Spread across trade routes early 14th century
Carried by rodents and transmitted by fleas
Started in China 1331 and reached Western Europe by 1347
Infected corpses used by Mongols and catapulted into city of Caffa in 1409

39. 1409 reached East Africa most likely by ocean trade
Killed 50%-90% of populations / ½ the population of Europe
Plague caused long term changes
Labor shortages stated the collapse of serfdom, new technology and employment for women

41. Plague caused trading network to diminish
Provided incentive for Europeans to take to the sea in their attempt to reach Asia
Europeans will become the leaders in fostering trade with India and China