Genghis Khan and the Mongols

AP World History. 600-1450Dan McDowellWest Hills High Schooldanmcdowell@cox.net

Where did they come from?

• Nomads

• Superb riders – even infants

• Centralized decision-making

• Khan = leader

• Acquired iron area and stations….

• Conquered more land in 25 years than Romans in 400 – incredible spread of knowledge

Genghis Kahn - Temujin- A professional, skilled, mobile army – A commitment to global commerce– Secular, unified laws– Religious tolerance (shamanistic)

Genghis Khan’s Tax Laws:– If you do not pay homage,

we will take your prosperity.– If you do not have prosperity,

we will take your children.– If you do not have children,

we will take your wife.– If you do not have a wife,

we will take your head.

Military Might• Three choices: (slaughter, starve, surrender)

• Leveled Baghdad (Muslim backlash)

• 18.4 million estimated killed in China

• Women strong – take notes

Military Might

• Superior military tactics

• Extreme discipline and loyalty

• Used advanced weapons from defeated

• Focus on intelligence gathering, geography

After Genghis’ death…

FOUR KHANATES:Golden Horde (Russia)Il Khan (Middle East)Jagadai (Central Asia)Yuan/Great Khan (China)

OGODEI and KHUBILAI • Ogodei took over, died before he took

Europe…Mongols went back to Karakorum

• Khubilai took over Yuan Empire in China(Khubla Khan)

• China scholars lost prestige, Beijing built & population loss

YUAN DYNASTY

• Adapted some Chinese ways

• Chinese scholars lost prestige

• Beijing and Forbidden City built

• Population loss was huge – 40% gone

• Fails to take Japan

Marco Polo• More Asian products available

to Europe – travel = stories

• Marco Polo: 17 years in Mongol court

• His book inspires European imagination…

How might the Mongols have influenced explorers such as Columbus?

Trade and Tax

• Protected merchants, gave them higher status• Controlled trade routes – allowed safe passage• Spread ideas, inventions of others, disease • Demanded tribute and tax farming• Kiev destroyed, but Moscow spared: Alexander

Nevskii• Mongols collected tribute =

serfdom in Russia

Arts &Sciences: Pax Mongolia• People materials, ideas from different

cultures come together? CULTURAL DIFFUSION!

• Rashid-al-Din – first history of world

• Nasir al-Din – mathematics, cosmology

• Islamic scholars used Greek ideas and created the heliocentric model (before Copernicus)

• Calendar work, astronomy

DECLINE OF MONGOLS

• Too many taxes – resentment

• Many rebellions and MING take over in China

• Such powerful conquerors – but they don’t have a strong enough political system to sustain themselves

• Not great leaders