T H E MONG OL T R ANSFOR MAT I ON OF AFRO-EURA S IA 401

 How did Mongol conquests affect cross-cultural contacts and regional development in Afro-Eurasia?

systems. Yet they brought far-flung parts of the world together

THE MONGOL
z
as they conquered territories much larger than their own.
T R A N S F O R M AT I O N OF
A F RO - E U R A S I A WHO WERE THE MONGOLS?
The Mongols were a combination of forest and prairie peo-
 How did Mongol conquests affect cross-cultural ples. Residing in circular, felt-covered tents, which they shared
contacts and regional development in Afro-Eurasia? with some of their animals, they lived by hunting and livestock
herding. They changed campgrounds with the seasons. Life
on the steppes was such a constant struggle that only the
The world’s sea-lanes grew crowded with ships; ports buzzed strong survived. Their food, primarily animal products, pro-
with activity. Commercial networks were clearly one way to vided high levels of protein, which built up their muscle mass
integrate the world. But just as long-distance trade connected and their strength. Always on the march, their society resem-
people, so could conquerors—as we have seen throughout bled a perpetual standing army with bands of well-disciplined
the history of the world. Now, transformative conquerors military units led by commanders chosen for their skill.
came from the Inner Eurasian steppes, the same place that
centuries earlier had unleashed horse-riding warriors such as M I L I TA RY S K I L L S Mongol archers were uniquely skilled.
the Xiongnu (see Chapters 6 and 7). Wielding heavy compound bows made of sinew, wood, and
Like the Xiongnu and the Kushans before them, the Mon- horns, they were deadly accurate at over 200 yards—even at
gols not only conquered but intensified trade and cultural ex- full gallop. Their small but sturdy horses, capable of
change. By consolidating a latticework of states across northern withstanding extreme cold, bore saddles with high supports
and central Asia, they created an empire that straddled east and in front and back, enabling the warriors to maneuver at high
west (see Map 10-12). It was unstable and not as durable as speeds. With their feet secure in iron stirrups, the archers
other dynasties. It did not even have a shared faith; the mother could rise in their saddles to aim their arrows without
of the conquering emperors, Hulagu and Kubilai Khan, was a stopping. These expert horsemen often remained in the
devout Christian, reflecting Nestorian missionaries’ centuries- saddle all day and night, even sleeping while their horses
long efforts to convert the animistic nomads. Many Europeans continued on. Each warrior kept many horses, replacing tired
prayed that the entire empire would convert. But it did not; the mounts with fresh ones so that the armies could cover up to
Mongols were a religious patchwork of Afro-Eurasian belief seventy miles per day.

Mongol Warriors. This

miniature painting is one of
the illustrations for History by
Rashid al Din, the most
outstanding scholar under the
Mongol regimes. Note the
relatively small horses and
strong bows used by the
Mongol soldiers.
402 Chapter 10 BEC O M IN G “THE WOR LD,” 1 0 0 0 – 1 3 0 0 CE

S
M O U N T A I N
K H A N AT E O F T H E G O L D E N H O R D E
EA

S
TIC
BAL Moscow

POLAND

L
RUSSIAN
Leigritz

R A
PRINCIPALITIES
Kiev

U
UKRAINE
Buda New Sarai
Pest Old Sarai Lake Balkas

ARAL
SEA

CA
BLACK SEA C AU

SP
CAS
US M

IAN
Constantinople TS.
KHANATE OF TH

SEA
BYZANTINE Samarkand
EMPIRE Tabriz
TS .
Aleppo U SH M
Balkh
DUK
H IN
MEDITERRANEAN SEA Damascus Herat

H
Baghdad I

M
IL-KHANATE O M
Jerusalem U A L
N A
TA

SULTANATE
RE

A R A B I A OF DELHI
D
SE
A

MAP 10-12 M O N G O L C A M PA I G N S AND CONQUESTS, INDIAN OCEAN

1200–1300
Mongol campaigns and conquests brought Afro-Eurasian worlds together as never before.
Trace the outline of the entire area of Mongol influence shaded on this map. What cul-
tural groups did the Mongol armies conquer, partially conquer, or invade? How many dif-
ferent Khanates did the Mongols establish across Eurasia, and what were they? What role
did geography play in limiting the spread of their influence?
 T H E MONG OL T R ANSFOR MAT I ON OF AFRO-EURA S IA 403
 How did Mongol conquests affect cross-cultural contacts and regional development in Afro-Eurasia?

S I B E R I A

Lake
Baikal

MONGOL ANCESTRAL
KarakorumHOMELAND RT
SE
DE
BI
GO

Shangdu
AGATAI (Xanadu) SEA
Dadu OF
Khanbaliq (Beijing)
JAPAN KAMAKURA
KORYO SHOGUNATE
JAPAN
Kyoto
Kaifeng
KHANATE OF THE
. Yangzhou
TIBET GREAT KHAN iR
z
ng

Hangzhou
(YUAN EMPIRE)
Ya

YUNNAN
BURMA Pagan Guangzhou PACIFIC

OCEAN
AN
NA
M

KHMER
CHA

EMPIRE SOUTH
CHINA
MPA

SEA

0 500 1000 Miles

0 500 1000 Kilometers

Mongol campaigns
Mongol ancestral homeland
Mongol controlled
SU

BORNEO
Area of loose or temporary Mongol control
M
A
T
R
A
Global Connections & Disconnections
T H E T R AV ELS O F MARC O PO LO AND I BN BAT T UTA

The most famous of the thirteenth- and fourteenth- In 1271, Marco Polo (1254–1324), the son of an
century travelers were Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta. They enterprising Venetian merchant, set out with his father
encountered a world linked by trade routes that often had and uncle on a journey to East Asia. Making their way
as their ultimate destination the imperial court of the along the fabled Silk Road across central Asia, the Polos
Great Khan in China. These two men, and less celebrated arrived in Xanadu, the summer capital of the Mongol
travelers, observed worlds that were highly localized and Empire, after a three-and-a-half-year journey. There they
yet culturally unified. remained for more than two decades. When they returned

Marco Polo. This medieval

painting shows the caravan of
Marco Polo’s father and uncle
crossing Asia.

K I N S H I P N E T W O R K S A N D S O C I A L R O L E S Mongol own property and to divorce. Elite women even played im-
tribes solidified their conquests by extending kinship portant political roles. Consider Sorghaghtani Beki, Kubilai
networks, thus building an empire out of an expanding Khan’s mother, who helped to engineer her sons’ rule. Illit-
confederation of familial tribes. The tents (households) were erate herself, she made sure that each son acquired a sec-
interrelated mostly by marriage: they were alliances sealed by ond language to aid in administering conquered lands. She
the exchange of daughters. Conquering men married conquered gathered Confucian scholars to prepare Kubilai Khan to rule
women, and conquered men were selected to marry the China. Chabi, Kubilai’s senior wife, followed a similar pat-
conquerors’ women. Chinggis Khan may have had more than tern, offering patronage to Tibetan monks who set about con-
500 wives, most of them daughters of tribes that he conquered verting the Mongol elite in China to Tibetan Buddhism.
or that allied with him.
Women in Mongol society were responsible for child-
rearing, shearing and milking livestock, and processing pelts
for clothing. But they also took part in battles. Kubilai Khan’s
CONQUEST AND EMPIRE
niece Khutulun became famous for besting men in wrestling The nomads’ need for grazing lands contributed to their desire
matches and claiming their horses as spoils. Although women to conquer the splendors of distant fertile belts and rich cities.
were often bought and sold, Mongol wives had the right to Then, as they acquired new lands, they increasingly craved
 j
A half-century after Polo began his travels, the
Moroccan-born scholar Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn
Battuta (1304–1369) embarked on a journey of his own.
Then just twenty-one, he vowed to visit the whole of the
Islamic world without traveling the same road twice. It was
an ambitious goal, for Islam’s domain extended from one
end of the Eurasian landmass to the other and far into
Africa as well. On his journey, Ibn Battuta eventually
covered some 75,000 miles. Along his way, he claimed to
have met at least sixty rulers, and in his book he recorded
the names of more than 2,000 persons whom he knew
personally.
The writings of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta provide a
wealth of information on the well-traversed lands of Africa,
Europe, and Asia. What they and other travelers observed
was the extreme diversity of Afro-Eurasian peoples,
reflecting numerous ethnicities, political formations, and
religious faiths. In addition, they observed that the vast
majority of people lived deeply localized lives, primarily
seeking to obtain the basic necessities of everyday life. Yet,
Ibn Battuta. During his journey, Ibn Battuta traveled they were also aware the same societies welcomed trade
throughout Africa. In this woodcut, he is depicted in Morocco.
and cultural exchange. In fact, they wrote most eloquently
about how each of the four major cultural systems of the
landmass—Christian, Muslim, Indian, and Chinese—
to Venice in 1295, fellow townsmen greeted them with struggled to define itself. Interestingly, if Ibn Battuta and
astonishment, believing that the Polos had perished Marco Polo had been able to travel in the “unknown”
years before. So, too, Marco Polo’s published account of worlds—the African hinterlands, the Americas, and
his travels generated an incredulous reaction. Some of his Oceania—they would have witnessed to varying degrees
European readers considered his tales of eastern wonders similar phenomena and challenges.
to be mere fantasy, yet others found their appetites for
Asian splendor whetted by his descriptions.

control of richer agricultural and urban areas nearby to in- sands of Koryo men and ships for (ill-fated) invasions of
crease their wealth and power through tribute. Trade disputes Japan. Thus, a realm took shape that touched all four of Afro-
also likely spurred their expeditions. The Mongols depended Eurasia’s main worlds.
on settled peoples for grain and manufactured goods (includ- Mongol raiders ultimately built a permanent empire by
ing iron for tools, wagons, weapons, bridles, and stirrups), and incorporating conquered peoples and some of their ways.
their first expansionist forays followed caravan routes. Their feat of unification was far more surprising and sudden
The expansionist thrust began in 1206 under a united than the ties developed incrementally by traders and travel-
cluster of tribes. A gathering of clan heads acclaimed one of ers on ships. Now, Afro-Eurasian regions were connected by
those present as Chinggis (Genghis) Khan, or Supreme Ruler. land and by sea, in historically unparalleled ways.
Chinggis (c. 1155–1227) subsequently launched a series of
conquests southward across the Great Wall of China, and
westward to Afghanistan and Persia. The Mongols also in-
vaded Korea in 1231. The armies of Chinggis’s son reached
MONGOLS IN C H I NA
both the Pacific Ocean and the Adriatic Sea. His grandsons Mongol forces under Chinggis Khan entered northern
founded dynasties in China, in Persia, and on the southern China at the beginning of the thirteenth century, defeating
Eurasian steppes. One of them, Kubilai Khan, enlisted thou- the Jin army that was no match for the Mongols’ superior
 406 Chapter 10 BEC O M IN G “THE WOR LD,” 1 0 0 0 – 1 3 0 0 CE

cavalry on the North China plain. But below the Yangzi River,
where the climate and weather changed, the Mongol horse-
men fell ill from diseases such as malaria, and their horses
perished from the heat. To conquer the semitropical south,
the Mongols took to boats and fought along rivers and canals.
Kubilai Khan (1215–1294) seized the grandest prize of all—
southern China—after 1260. His cavalries penetrated the
higher plateaus of southwest China and then attacked South
China’s economic heartland from the west. The Southern
Song army fell before his warriors brandishing the latest gun-
powder-based weapons (which the Mongols had borrowed
from Chinese inventors only to be used against them).

T H E FA L L O F H A N G Z H O U Hangzhou, the last Song

capital, succumbed in 1276. Rather than see the invaders
pillage the city and their emperors’ tombs, the Southern Song
bowed to the inevitable. Kubilai Khan’s most able commander,
Bayan, led his crack Mongol forces in seizing town after
town, ever closer to the capital. The Empress Dowager tried
to buy them off, proposing substantial tribute payments, but
Bayan had his eye on the prize: Hangzhou, which fell under
Mongol control but survived reasonably intact. Bayan escorted
the emperor and the Empress Dowager to Beijing, where
Kubilai treated them with honor. Within three years, Song
China’s defeat was complete. With all of South China in their
grip, the Mongols established the Yuan dynasty with a new
capital at Dadu (“Great Capital,” present-day Beijing).
Although it fell to Mongol control, Hangzhou survived
reasonably intact. It was still one of the greatest cities in the Mongols on Horseback. Even after the Mongols became the
world when the Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited in the rulers of China, the emperors remembered their steppe origin and
1280s and the Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta in the 1340s. maintained the skills of horse-riding nomads. This detail from a
Both men agreed that neither Europe nor the Islamic world thirteenth/fourteenth-century silk painting shows Kubilai Khan
had anything like it. (See Global Connections & Disconnec- hunting.
tions: The Travels of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta.)
the soft underbelly of the Song state. In this sweep, portions of
O U T S I D E R S T A K E C O N T R O L The Mongol conquest mainland Southeast Asia became annexed to China for the first
both north and south changed the political and social landscape. time. Even the distant Khmer regime felt repercussions when
However, Mongol rule did not impose rough steppeland ways the Mongol fleet (which grew out of the conquered Song navy)
on the “civilized” urbanite Chinese. Outsiders, non-Chinese, passed by on its way to attack Java—unsuccessfully—in 1293.
took political control. They themselves were a heterogeneous Kubilai Khan used the conquered Chinese fleets to push his ex-
group of Mongols, Tanguts, Khitan, Jurchen, Muslims, pansionism onto the high seas—with little success during the
Tibetans, Persians, Turks, Nestorians, Jews, Armenians—a unsuccessful 1274 and 1281 invasions of Japan from Korea.
conquering elite that ruled over a vast Han majority. The result The ill-fated Javanese expedition was his last.
was a segmented ruling system in which incumbent Chinese
elites governed locally, while newcomers managed the central
dynastic polity and collected taxes for the Mongols.
T H E FA L L OF B AG H DA D
In the thirteenth century, Mongol tribesmen streamed out of
M O N G O L R E V E R B E R AT I O N S the steppes, crossing the whole of Asia and entering the east-
ern parts of Europe. Mongke Khan, a grandson of Chinggis,
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
made clear the Mongol aspiration for world domination: he
Southeast Asia also felt the whiplash of conquest. Circling appointed his brother Kubilai to rule over China, Tibet, and
Song defenses in southern China, the Mongols galloped south- the northern parts of India; and he commanded another
west and conquered states in Yunnan and in Burma. From brother, Hulagu, to conquer Iran, Syria, Egypt, Byzantium,
there, in the 1270s, the armies headed directly back east into and Armenia.
 CONCLUS ION 407

When Hulagu reached Baghdad in 1258, he encountered grated. In central Afro-Eurasia, Islam was firmly estab-
a feeble foe and a city that was a shadow of its former glori- lished, its merchants, scholars, and travelers acting as com-
ous self. Merely 10,000 horsemen faced his army of 200,000 mercial and cultural intermediaries joining the landmass
soldiers, who were eager to acquire the booty of a wealthy together, as they spread their universalizing faith. As
city. Even before the battle had taken place, Baghdadi poets seaborne trade expanded, India, too, became a commercial
were composing elegies for their dead and mourning the de- crossroads. Merchants in its port cities welcomed traders
feat of Islam. arriving from Arab lands to the west, from China, and from
The slaughter was vast. Hulagu himself boasted of taking Southeast Asia. China also boomed, pouring its manufac-
the lives of at least 200,000 people. The Mongols pursued tures into trading networks that reached throughout Afro-
their adversaries everywhere. They hunted them in wells, la- Eurasia and even into Africa. Christian Europe had two
trines, and sewers and followed them into the upper floors of centers, both of which were at war with Islam. In the east,
buildings, killing them on rooftops until, as an Iraqi Arab his- Byzantium was a formidable empire with a resplendent and
torian observed, “blood poured from the gutters into the unconquerable capital city, Constantinople, in many ways
streets. . . . The same happened in the mosques” (Lewis, pp. the pride of Christianity. In the west, the Catholic papacy
82–83). In a few weeks of sheer terror, the venerable Abbasid had risen from the ashes of the Roman Empire and sought
caliphate was demolished. Hulagu’s forces showed no mercy to extend its ecclesiastical authority over Rome’s territories
to the caliph himself, who was rolled up in a carpet and tram- in western Europe.
pled to death by horses, his blood soaked up by the rug so it Trade helped outline the parts of the world. The prosper-
would leave no mark on the ground. With Baghdad crushed, ity it brought also supported new classes of people—thinkers,
the Mongol armies pushed on to Syria, slaughtering Muslims writers, and naturalists—who clarified what it meant to
along the way. belong to the regions of Afro-Eurasia. By 1300, learned
In the end, the Egyptian Mamluks stemmed the advanc- priests and writers had begun to reimagine these regions as
ing Mongol armies and prevented Egypt from falling into more than just territories: they were maturing into cultures
their hands. The Mongol Empire had reached its outer lim- with definable—and defensible—geographic boundaries.
its. Better at conquering than governing, the Mongols strug- Increasingly these intellectuals delivered their messages to
gled to rule their vast possessions in makeshift states. Bit commoners as well as to rulers.
by bit, they ceded control to local administrators and dy- Neither the Americas nor sub-Saharan Africa saw the
nasts who governed as their surrogates. There was also same degree of integration, but trade and migration in these
chronic feuding among the Mongol dynasts themselves. In areas did have profound effects. Certain African cultures
China and in Persia, Mongol rule collapsed in the fourteenth flourished as they encountered the commercial energy of
century. trade on the Indian Ocean. Indeed, Africans’ trade with one
Mongol conquest reshaped Afro-Eurasia’s social land- another linked coastal and interior regions in an ever more
scape. Islam would never again have a unifying authority like integrated world. American peoples also built cities that
the caliphate or a powerful center like Baghdad. China, too, dominated cultural areas and thrived through trade. Ameri-
was divided and changed, but in other ways. The Mongols can cultures shared significant features: reliance on trade,
introduced Persian, Islamic, and Byzantine influences on maize, and the exchange of goods such as shells and pre-
China’s architecture, art, science, and medicine. The Yuan cious feathers. And larger areas honored the same spiritual
policy of benign tolerance also brought elements from Chris- centers.
tianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam into the Chinese By 1300, trade, migration, and conflict were connecting
mix. The Mongol thrust thus led to a great opening, as fine Afro-Eurasian worlds in unprecedented ways. When Mongol
goods, traders, and technology flowed from China to the rest armies swept into China, into Southeast Asia, and into the
of the world in ensuing centuries. Finally, the Mongol state heart of Islam, they applied a thin, surface-like coating of po-
promoted an Afro-Eurasian interconnectedness that this huge litical integration to these widespread regions and built on
landmass had not known before and would not experi- existing trade links. At the same time, most people’s lives re-
ence again for hundreds of years. Out of conquest and war- mained quite local, driven by the need for subsistence and
fare would come centuries of trade, migration, and increasing governed by spiritual and governmental representatives act-
contacts among Africa, Europe, and Asia. ing at the behest of distant authorities. Still, locals noticed
the evidence of cross-cultural exchanges everywhere—in the
clothing styles of provincial elites, such as Chinese silks in

zC ONCLUSION
Paris or Quetzal plumes in northern Mexico; in enticements
to move (and forced removals) to new frontiers; in the news
of faraway conquests or advancing armies. Worlds were com-
Between 1000 and 1300, Afro-Eurasia was forming large ing together within themselves and across territorial bound-
cultural spheres. As trade and migration spanned longer dis- aries, while remaining apart as they sought to maintain their
tances, these spheres prospered and became more inte- own identity and traditions. In Afro-Eurasia especially, as the
 408 Chapter 10 BEC O M IN G “THE WOR LD,” 1 0 0 0 – 1 3 0 0 CE

movement of goods and peoples shifted from ancient land Rev i ew a n d re s e a r ch m at e r i a l s a re ava i l abl e
routes to sea-lanes, these contacts were more frequent and at S t u dy S p a c e : A W W N O R T O N . C O M / S T U DY S PAC E
far-reaching. Never before had the world seen so much ac-
tivity connecting its parts. Nor within them had there been so
much shared cultural similarity—linguistic, religious, legal, KEY TERMS
and military. Indeed, by the time the Mongol Empire arose,
the regions composing the globe were those that we now rec- Angkor Wat (p. 389) karim (p. 365)
ognize as the cultural spheres of today’s world. These were Cahokia (p. 398) Kubilai Khan (p. 405)
truly worlds together and worlds apart. Crusades (p. 394) Mongols (p. 401)
Delhi Sultanate (p. 380) piety (p. 373)
dhows (p. 364) rajas (p. 379)
entrepôts (p. 365) Sufism (p. 374)
feudalism (p. 389) sultans (p. 379)

Chronology 700 CE 800 CE 900 CE 1000 CE

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Mandinka merchants establish vast commercial networks linking West Africa ✦

c. 1000 Cahokia flourishes as a commercial hub in Mississippi River valley ✦

c. 900 Moche people found Chan Chan ✦

THE AMERICAS
c. 900–1100 Toltec Empire in Mexico Valley ✦

1000–1460 Chimú Empire ✦

T H E I S L A M I C WO R L D

SOUTH ASIA Turkish invasions from Central Asia begin ✦

794–1185 Heian period in Japan ✦

Song dynasty founded 960 ✦
918–1392 Koryo dynasty rules ✦

EAST ASIA

Gunpowder invented ✦

SOUTHEAST ASIA
899–1431 Khmer kingdom ✦

C H R I S T I A N E U RO P E