Transcript Ways of the World: A Brief Global History

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
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
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
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
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
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
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 210-174 BCE, Charismatic leader
created a centralized and hierarchical
government system
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
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 500-100 BCE
Great fighters gained control of trade routes
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 12711294 Yuan Dynasty
Improved roads / Built canals
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
Persia and Mongols
1st invasion led by Chinggis Khan, 1219-1221 –
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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