Transcript The Turkish & Mongol Empires or “How Stinky Barbaric Nomads took over the World”

The Turkish & Mongol
Empires
or
“How Stinky Barbaric Nomads
took over the World”
Introduction
 Turkish & Mongol invasions perhaps the most important to
world history in the period 1000-1500
 Extended up to the very periphery of Eurasia
 Redefined the relationship of nomadic to "civilized" people
 made definitions more difficult for historians
 previously the civilizations had unified lands of the nomads
 now, however, the nomadic groups - both Turk and Mongol
- unified "civilized" lands under their control
 These invasions from steppe of central Asia were part of a long
pattern dating back to Attila
Saljuk Turks
 Came into ME from Aral Sea
(970)
 Tughril Beg defeated remnants
of Abbasid Empire -- becoming
"sultan" of Islamic empire
(1055)
 pushed towards the West in the
middle east  Constantinople
Defeated Byzantium in 1071 at
Manzikert
 Created sultanate of Rum
w/Nicaea as capital
 continued to fight with the
Crusaders for Jerusalem
"Indian" Turks
 Spread from Aral Sea into India
 Introduced militantly strong
Islam throughout India
 used force as well as
education –
 Hinduism seen as sinful
 polytheistic and had
pictures of the gods
 conflict also between caste
based Hindu society and
egalitarian Muslim society
Mahmud
 Established basis for problems of
modern India and Pakistan
 Hindu and Muslims tension
Indian Turks (cont.)
 most famous of Turks in India
was Mahmud (997-1030) "the
image breaker“
 Destroyed Hindu statues,
paintings
 India helpless to Turkish
onslaught
 only one warrior class
 rest converted to Islam
 or relied on karma,
dharma, and
reincarnation
 Conquest extended south to
Delhi,
 India  Turkish sultanate
The Mongol World Empire:
China & The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
Greatest empire in history of the world:
extended from Caspian Sea to Pacific Ocean;
North into Russia, Siberia, & Korea
South into Persia & Burma
Rise of the Mongol Empire
•Nomadic people
•families belong to clans;
•clans belonged to tribes
•within tribes chiefs elected from nobility
•tribes politically divided
•traded & warred among themselves & neighbors
Genghis Khan
•Genghis Khan:
-founder of the Mongol Empire
-able to unite all the tribes
-elected as Great Khan
Military
Mongol Archer
•extremely disciplined & well
organized
•possessed superior tactics
•very mobile
•used terror as a weapon
•allowed conquered people to join
military
•all these helped defeat larger armies
Chinese canon, 1368
Division of the Mongol Empire
Golden Horde
Great Khanate
Chagatai
Ikhanate
•Genghis divided empire among his four sons
•over generations they became independent = 4
Khanates
•Ikhanate (Persia) – absorbed Persia & E.Turkish
region
•Golden Horde (Russia – Cossacks)
•Chagatai (C. Russia)
•Great Khanate (China, Mongolia, Korea)
•maintained trade & communication w/China
Mongol Rule in China
•Mongols conquer Beijing (1227)
•Kublai, chosen as Great Khan in 1260
•grandson of Genghis
•Reunifies Mongol Empire
•moves capital to Beijing
•Expands Grand Canal
•1271 adopts Chinese dynastic name = Yuan
•conquers the southern Sung in 1279
Kublai Khan
Government & Society under Kublai Khan
 adopts custom of hereditary
succession
 rebuilds Beijing as walled city
 govt. shifts towards Chinese forms of
govt. and taxation
 Chinese citizens segregated from the
400,000 Mongols in China
 military service reserved for
 Mongols only
Walls surrounding Beijing
 military officers most important
positions
 civil administration highly centralized
 Relied on non-Chinese to run
bureaucracy
Societal Divisions
Categories:
•level one = Mongols
-top military & civil posts
•level two = Persians,Turks, some Europeans
-filled high civil posts
•level three = northern Chinese
•level four = southern Chinese
Kublai Khan w/Mongol Warriors
Chinese officials directly controlled Chinese
Citizenry & the Mongols controlled Chinese
officials.
Marco Polo
1275-1292
•served Kublai Khan
•influenced future traders & explorers
•brought knowledge of China to Europe
•diffusion of Asian cultures, technology & ideas
Religion
Christianity spread from Persia to central Asia & China
churches built
papal missions sent from Rome
Tibetan & Chinese Buddhism expand
Islam flourished the most
permanently established in central & western Asia
mosques built
Mosque
Cathedral
Buddhist Temple
Decline of Yuan Dynasty
dynasty collapses in 1368
Shortest dynasty in Chinese history
Rebellion, esp. in S. China
Plague in S. China --  pop. & labour
Spread to C. Asia, ME & Europe through trade routes
“The Black Death” kills ¼ of pop. in W. Europe
Mongols fighting Japanese Samurai
Decline of Yuan Dynasty (cont.)
Mongol siege of
Baghdad
 Mongol Khanates separated by religion, culture, & distance
 govt. officials corrupt
 economy 
 Warlords control respective regions
 Mongol influence in China quickly disappeared
Legacy of Mongol Rule
Collapse of Mongol rule in Persia
leads to rise of Timur (Tamerlane) &
Timurid rule in Persia, Bactria & India
Diffusion of ideas, technology, culture
across two continents
Renewed European interest in
science, literature, medicine, math
Sparks the Renaissance & Age of
Exploration
The Black Death
Unified resistance of various groups
against Mongol invaders
Timur & the siege of Bhatnair