Mongolia Under the Khans

Before anybody had ever heard of Ghengis Khan, the Mongols were a nomadic people. They had swift ponies, but they had no aims of world domination. There were several Khans, and none of the Mongolian people liked any of the Khans to have too much power. If one of the Khans got a little too much power, the other Khans would step in and put him into his place.

Even then, the Mongols were a war-like people, but they usually stuck to themselves. They would raid other Mongol villages and run off with their treasure and wives. Getting treasure from the other tribes was how the Khans kept their followers happy.

All that changed, for a while, with a man named Temujin...

Temujin started out life as the son of a minor tribal chieftan. His father was murdered, and he then was exiled with his mother. When he got older, he decided to return and avenge his father's death. In the 1180's and the 1190's, he returned, and integrated his family back into mainstream Mongolian society. To do this, he had to murder his older brother.

As a baby, he had been another infant, Borte promised to him as his future wife. At age 16, he decided to claim his bride. His promised father-in-law agreed that the marriage was suitable, and he gave him a sable cloak, along with the wife. He built a reputation as a strong leader.

Borte was later kidnapped, and Temujin conducted a raid to reclaim his wife. His success led to him being named a Khan in 1190. By 1200, he started conducting a campaign to unite all the tribes. The other Mongols didn't like him gaining all this power, so they decided to eliminate him. In 1204, he was defeated. It looked like the end for him.

However, Temujin was smart. He knew that they would be celebrating and getting drunk on fermented mare's milk. He rode away, sunken in defeat, but he knew that would not be the end. Three days later, as the victor's celebrated in a drunken stupor, he rode his small force in and defeated the leaders of his enemies.

In 1206, he called for a kurultai, or a meeting of all the tribes that occurred very infrequently. There, he was elected "Genghis Khan", or "Oceanic Leader." Because the ocean was a very remote concept to the Mongols, this was a way of saying that he was ruler over all.

Genghis KHAN poster by paulhelm
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Now that Genghis Khan had united the Mongolians, he had a problem. The Mongolian economy revolved around raiding other tribes and distributing the goods. In order to keep his followers happy, he had to give them treasure, but he couldn't get it by raiding other Mongols any more. So they started raiding other countries.

They first attacked the people of Northwest China. Then they turned down the silk road.

The Mongols were fierce warriors, and were successful in part because of their fast ponies. They could ride for up to 4 days straight on their swift mounts. They didn't even have to stop to eat, because they would cut a slit in the ponies' necks and drink some of the blood for sustenance. Scouts from the cities that they raided never were able to see them coming. Once the Mongols reached the city, they were given a choice: surrender, or die. When they surrendered, the men were then recruited into their armies. This helped increase the size of the armies.

One of the few places that the Mongols didn't militarily conquer was Tibet. They did get their submission, however.

In 1227, Temujin died. The Mongols were called back from their raiding for another kurultai.

Illustration by Postmann Michael, who has released it into the public domain. The illustration shows the extent of the Mongol empire at Genghis Khan's death.

Ögedei, Temujin's son, was elected Khan in the kurultai. Ögedei continues in his father's footsteps, conquering more and more territory. It was during this reign that the Mongols expand into China. They also invade Russia. The Europeans ended up getting lucky. The Mongols were just about to take over Vienna when Ögedei dies, and the Mongols are called back for another kurultai. The empire is then divided among Genghis Khan's four grandchildren:

• Batu Khan - Batu becomes leader of Russia and the Ukraine. This was also known as the Khanate of the Golden Horde. Their descendants are now known as the Cossacks.
  
• Hulegu - Becomes the leader of Persia. He became the Il-Khan and converted to Islam. The Mughals later descend from him and invade India.
  
• Chagatai - Chagatai ends up ruling Samarkan, and becomes the ancestor of Tamarlane.
  
• Kublai Khan - Becomes the leader of East Asia.
  
  Although these areas were ruled by different leaders, you could freely travel among the lands. The silk road was opened up all the way from the Mediterranean to the Western Pacific.
  
  Painting of Ögedei Khan from the 14th century.

Hulegu reigned over his area during the crusades. The crusaders had heard of a legendary kingdom ruled by Prester John, and they thought that the Mongols might be Prester John's military forces. The rumors might have also been increased because Hulegu was fighting the Moslems, so in a way, they were fighting on the same side. The earlier return of the Mongols for the kurultai after Ögedei's death might have also contributed to the crusader's thoughts. They tried to make an alliance, but the crusaders were more interested in spiritual matters, while the Mongols just wanted to fight and take over territory. There were some Nestorian Christians in the Il-Khanate, but there were many people of other religions as well.

Hulegu's Il-Khanate lasted for about 80 years. The modern country of Iran was built upon some of the legacy that his kingdom left behind.

Drawing in the public domain.

Chagatai was Genghis's second son, and he ended up ruling land surrounded by Kublai's lands to the East, the Golden Horde to the North, and the Il-Khanate to the South. He ruled the cities of Samarkand and Kabul. Tamarlane later took over this territory. When the Mongolian Empire started to fall apart, this Khanate was one of the last places to still be open to the west.

Kublai Khan ruled China, Mongolia, and Korea. During his rule, he took over South China. This was not an easy task, because Southern China is hilly and there are more rivers and lakes than in Northern China. The traditional method of relying on the fast ponies did not work as well in this part of the country. Nevertheless, the Mongols take over the Song dynasty and the Yuan dynasty is proclaimed. Yuan means "long-lasting." Kublai Khan established his capital city in what is now present-day Beijing.

Some of the Mongols decide that they don't like the sedentary life, and return to the grasslands of Mongolia. This proves to be fortunate, in that later, when the Ming dynasty takes over the Mongols, they have a place to return to.

Painting titled Dschingis Khan und seine Erben, created by Anige of Nepal in 1294. In the public domain.

Most of the Mongols were illiterate. In contrast, the Chinese that Kublai Khan ruled tended to be well-educated. The literati of China were used to administering the country, but the Mongolians did not trust them. However, the Mongols needed the literati to help run the country. So they introduced the semuren, which means "people with the light eyes." These were people that came from outside of China that would work alongside the Chinese literati. The literati were primarily relegated to being clerical workers.

Marco Polo was a semu-ren. He traveled to China with his father Nicolo Polo, and his uncle Maffeo Polo, leaving in 1271. He impressed Kublai Khan so much that he ended up working in the court. He ended up being away from his homeland of Vienna for 24 years.

Drawing of Marco Polo in the public domain.

The literati did not like being treated like administrative workers. They started expressing themselves through art. They developed a genre of painting where they used symbols of perseverence, like bamboo and rocks. The Mongols did not see the subtle undertones.

They would also write plays. They would create historical dramas. For example, they created a drama about the Han dynasty, dealing with resistance to authority. To the Chinese, there was significance and meaning that went beyond the historical context. The Mongols did not see the true allegorical meaning behind their art.

The Mongols stayed in power in China for eight decades, but after Kublai Khan, the emperors were weak. In the 1340s, plague struck the Yangzee river. This plague was probably related to the black death that also struck Europe. In some areas, up to 50% of the population died. With all these people dying, maintenance could not be properly conducted on the dikes, which resulted in flooding, and caused more to die. As conditions in the government declined, the local elites became afraid, and horded what they could in order to protect themselves. The peasants began to get organized, and became bandits.

Zhu Yuanzhang was an orphan that survived smallpox. He traveled around in monastery's and joined the "red turbans," a peasant movement. He eventually grew powerful enough to take over. Zhu Yuanzhang eventually overthrew the Mongols and created a new dynasty. In 1368, he formally declared the Ming dynasty. Ming means "bright."

Painting of Zhu Yuanzhang from the 14th century. In the public domain.

Kublai Khan liked Marco Polo so much, that he wouldn't let him leave. However, in 1292, Kublai needed someone with sea experience to escort a Tartan princess to the Il-Khan of Persia. The Polos were given the job. After delivering the princess, they continued on to their homeland, arriving to Venice in 1295.

Their relatives had already given them up for dead, but once they saw all the treasure underneath their clothing, suddenly their memories were jogged.

Marco Polo would have then become forgotten in history, except for what happened on September 6th, 1298. Marco Polo was captured by Vienna's enemy, Genoa, and was thrown into prison. There, he met up with an author named Rustichello, who wrote down his stories. They were not initially well-received. They were known as "the millions," because people didn't believe what he had to say, and thought that his work contained millions of lies. The Venetians did not want to believe that there was a power on Earth that was as sophisticated and powerful as them.

Not everyone thought that Marco's tales were full of lies. Among the people that had a copy of his book and used it as a reference was Christopher Columbus.

Marco Polo Travel Mug by cooldudeproducts
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Over time, the Mongol empire has become associated with ruthlessness. The word "horde" was initially used to describe the Mongolians, and it came from the Turkish word ordu, which means "camp." The word Tartan was also used to describe the Mongols.

However, the Mongol empire changed Europe forever. The Mongols kept the silk road safe and inexpensive to travel on. Since the Europeans acquired a taste for the spices and silks they could get from the East, once the silk road closed up (partially due to political disintegration, partially due to the depopulation due to the black death), they had the motivation to try to find a way back to the East, beginning the era of exploration, and leading to the founding of the New World.

Map from 1460 by Fra Mauro. In the public domain.

My primary sources for creating this page came from the following:

From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History. Lectures 20 and 21, titled "The Rise of the Mongols" and "The Yuan Dynasty."

The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin, available from Amazon.com