The Silk Route of the Mongols

7/30/2019 The Silk Route of the Mongols

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The Silk Route of th e Mongols

A A Kyrgyz tribesman of th eEurasian Steppe region, withhis hunting eagle.

A Horse games such as thisone are often played amongthe nomadic tribes of Centraland Nonh-East Asia, echoingthe horseback battles of theirpast.

chapter five

The SilkRoute of the Mongols

The Coming ofGhengis Khan

At th e e nd of th e Twelfth Century, in the wastes of th e Mongolians teppes to the north of Ch ina , events were taking p lace which were tochange dramatically th e course of history. The nomadic tribesmen,who had produced such fearsome warr iors as th e Huns (Xiongnu),were coming together under a great Mongolian leader . His name wasGheng is Khan .

Ghengis Khan was proclaimedleader of the Mongols at Karakorum(near Ulan Bator, th e capi ta l ofmode rn Mongo lia ) in 1196. A t th et ime, China was split in two. Thesouthwas ruled by the Sung Dynasty,and the north was already under aManchurian Dynasty of Mongolorigin. In th e West , the Muslimswere divided into a number ofregional powers . There was nolonger a great empire to confront thegrowing Mongol domination, whichnow extended from eastern China towestern Turkestan. Even so , no oneforesaw the explosion of Mongolpower which now took olace.

Ghengis Khan and his powerful army of Mongo l horsemen spilledout of th e easte rn s teppe and overran the surrounding territory in alldirect ions. This was one of the mos t ferocious campa igns the worldhas ever known. Beijing, th e new capital of northern China , wassacked - and its population either fled or was massacred on th e spot.When o ffe re d resistance, th e Mongol armies took no pr isoners .

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ne Silk Route of th e Mongols

The Mongols then turned west beyond th e Pami rs and attacked th eSilk Rou te city of Merv. They are said to have massa cr ed its 7 00 ,0 00inhabitants - a nd eve n killed a ll th e cats and dogs . Usua lly , however ,the Mongols were careful to spare able-bodied men and craftsmen,who were systematically deported and re-employed e lsewhere .

Soon the Mongol Empire stretched all over China and intoAfghanis tan, through much of th e Middle East and into Europe as faras Poland . Fast safe lanes of communicationwere essent ia l in order tocontrol such a huge empire. One of these was th e S ilk Rou te , andoverland t rade was aga in to prosper underMongol protection. Amassive construction programme of state caravanserais (mult ipurpose roadside inns), pos t- houses and bridges was implementedbyth e Mo ng ols ; a nd cities which th e y h ad previously des tr oyed, such asSamarkand, were to rise aga in .For th e first and last time in its long history, almost th e entire length

of th e S ilk R ou te w as ruled by one power. Underwhat has becomeknown as th e PaxMonglica, there was relative peace along its pathsThe final great century of the Silk Rou te had begun.

Y A 14th Century Iranianmanuscript illustrationshowing Ghengis Khanfighting the Chinese in themountains.

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Th e Silk Route of th e Mongols

A Ghengis K ha n o n his thronesurrounded by his court. JohnCarpini would have seensimilar scenes when heattended the greatinternationalgathering atKarakorum, th e Mongolcapital.

ThePope's Emissaryto the Eas t

Mongol aggression was frequently held incheck by th e death of one of their leaders.Mongol armies poised to push out th eboundaries of their empire still furtherwould have to return to Mongolia for theelection of a new leader. In 1241 th e deathof Ogede i (Ghengis Khan's son, who hadsucceeded him) caused o ne s uch halt.Emissar ies from a ll over th e known worldnow travelled to the Mongol capital ofKarakorum for the selection of a newleade r. Th is was one of th e greatestinternational meetings of its time, withrepresentatives travelling from as far afieldas Turkey and Korea , Russia and Rome.Western Europe had by now emerged

from th e so-cal led Dark Ages to th e morestable and prosperous Medieva l period.

Cit ies such as V en ice an d G en oa h ad built up trading links across th eMediterranean and were looking to extend their inf luence furthereastwards . Itwas perhapswith this inmind that th e newly elected PopeInnocent IV felt it necessary to send an em issary from Rome . Moreimportantly, he h ad h op es of forming an alliancewith th e heathenMongols and converting them to Christianity, so protecting Europefrom further Mongol expansion. The P op e c ho se as h is em is sa ry toKarakorum a friar called John Carpini.Friar John Carpini travelled to Mongolia byway of th e Eurasian

Steppe Route, th e branch of the Silk Route that crossed from th e BlackSea north of th e Caspian and skirted th e Tarim Basin by a side routewhich kept north of th e Tian Shan Mounta ins. In fact, geographica l lythis was a much less hazardous and shorter route than the main SilkRoute, but it had previouslybeen vulnerable to raids from thewar-liketribes who inhabited th e Steppes throughwhich it passed. The tribes

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had now been defeated by th e Mongols , making th e route safe forcaravans. During PaxMonglica, th e Eurasian Steppe Route wasprobablymore popular than th e main southern route. The Mongolseven establ ished what are known as th e Golden Horde cit ies a longthe European end of it s path, which they filled with craftsmen andother people transplanted from conquered lands.But FriarJohn Carpini's mission to the Mongolian capital was not a

success. Unlike th e em issaries from all over th e Empire he had broughtwith him no lavish gifts for the new Khan . This was not apprec iated.When the new Khan was se lec ted , all th e emissar ies prostratedthemselves before him - except Friar John Carpini, who s aid h eprostrated himself only before God . The Khan was not impressed bythis obstinate Christian behaviour. The Pope 's h op e s of forming anal legiance with th e Mongols, and perhaps even converting them toChristianity, were dashed .But despite h is lack of tact , Friar John Carpini was an astute

observer. When he returned to Rome , he told th e Pope that he hadnoted signs of division amongst th e Mongols. In h is view, this couldwell divert the Mongols from further expansion into western Europe.As it turned out, Friar John Carpini was right. From now on internalpower struggles effectively halted any further Mongol expansioninto Europe.

Y The interior of a yun, thetraditional tent dwelling of thenomadic tribes ofMongoliaand Central As ia .

urt on the MoSteppe today. As nomads , theMongols seldom stayed inone place for an y length of timeand the easily transponed yurtwas ideal for th is l ifesty le .


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A A 13th Century figurine of aChinese character actor, suchas might have been found atKublai Khan 's court.

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A A map showing the routecovered by Marco Polo on hisjourney to and from Ch in a. T heshaded area indicates theextent of theMongol Empire atth e tim e .

Marco Polo 'sJourney

With much of Asia now under Mongol rule and European tradeexpanding, it was now that th e most famous of all European travellersto th e East made his journey along th e S ilk Route. In 1271 Marco Poloset off from Venice for China, accompanied by his father and his uncle.The two elder Polos had already travelled to China byway of th e

Eurasian Steppe Route in search of trade. They had beenwell receivedby th e Mongol ruler Kublai Khan , who had never before seen any'Latins'. The e lder Polos h ad b ee n quick to se e the possibilities oft rade with the East and promised Kublai Khan they would return.Marco Polo has left us with a detailed description of h is 9000

kilometre journey to China , filled with many adven tu re s . He p as se dalong the Silk Route from Turkey, down through the Persian Gulf toHormuz, north again to Balkh, across the Pamirs to Kashga r and thentook th e southern route around the Tarim Basin into China itself. Evenunder the protection of the Mongol Empire, th e Silk Route h ad itsdangers. In remote regions of Iran, Marco Polo recorded tha t 'un lessmerchants be well armed they run th e risk of being murdered, or atleast being robbed of everything'. Three years after setting out, thePolos finally arrived at the court of Kublai Khan at Shang-du .Marco Polo was impressed by the wealth he found at th e Mongol

court. In particular, he describes 'a very fine marble Palace, th e roomsof which are a ll gilt and painted with f igures of men and beasts ... a llexecutedwith such exquisite art that you regard themwith delight andastonishment'. This description later inspired the English poetColeridge to write h is famous poem about Kublai Khan's 'statelyp leasu re -dome ' in Xanadu (a s Marco ca lled Shang -du ).Kublai Khanwelcomed th e Polos and appointed them to high posts

in his administration. Unfortunately th e y s oo n discovered th a t th ismean t they were no longer free to return home . For sixteen years th ePo los se rved Kublai Khan , travelling a ll over China as h is ambassadors .


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Th e SilkRoute of theMongols

< Y Two illustrations (left andbottom left) taken f rom afamous 15th Century Frenchedition of Marco's story. Theupperpicture shows theKhan 's palace at Khanbalik(today th e city of Beijing),th e lower some nomadicshepherdsmet byMarco onhist ravels. The pictures are notaccurate - the artist had nopictures to follow, justMarco 'sdescriptions.

Final ly Kublai Khan allowed the Po los to leave China. They returnedto th e Wes t by se a along th e Spice Route . Their ship sailed aroundIndia to th e Pe rs ia n Gulf, and from here they returned to Venice,arriving home in 1295.Three years later Marco Polo was imprisoned by Venice's rivals, th e

Genoese. It was during h is capitivity that he dictated th e story of h istravels to one of his fellow pr isoners. This accoun t of h is travelsbecame one of th e most popular books in Medieva l Europe . It wasknown as IlMilione ('The Million Lies') as few be lieved tha t h isfabulous stories of th e Eastwere true. But later historians and t rave lle rshave since established that most of his tale was accu ra te .

Y A ceremonial trumpetgreeting in Samarkand today.This form of welcome datesfrom Mongol t imes.

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The Silk Route of the Mongols