1. 12.2-12.3 Mongol Conquests and Empire

2. Mongols North of China-nomadic people on the move
Lived in steppes (dry grassland)
Steppes served as land trade routes and housed nomadic peoples who frequently invaded Southern neighbors
Mongols and other people of steppes- pastoralists-wandered but followed same pattern and returned to same places
Traveled on horseback and ate meat and horse milk
Were assembled into different clans claiming a common ancestor

4. Rise of the Mongols Various nomadic clans of steppes
Sometimes, would be strong enough to take over entire empires
Mongols originally divided group
Leader to emerge to unify them together

5. Genghis Khan
~1200 AD-Mongol clan leader Temujin-unify Mongols under him
Defeated rivals-by Genghis-”universal ruler”
Invaded Northern China then turned to Islamic empire
Campaign of terror attacking and destroying city by city and killing almost all inhabitants inside

6. Genghis’s Success
Incredible organizer-armies of 10,000 broken down into specific roles
Horseback was a very important tool used
Great strategist-one group would attack then would pretend to go away only for another group to come in
Incited huge amounts of terror-if group refused to surrender peacefully-might kill all its inhabitants

7. Mongol Empire Genghis dies in 1227-some sort of illness
Continued to conquer land- largest unified land empire in history
Khanates-completed conquest on Northern China and Korea
Division of empire in 4 regions (khanates)
Central Asia, Persia, Russia, Mongolia/China
Descendent of Genghis ran each one

8. Mongols as Rulers Some cities were wiped out completely
Much of the land was destroyed- could not be resettled
Mongols actually quite tolerant in peace-allowing people to practice own religions, etc.
Pax Mongolica- stability and law across much of Eurasia
Trade increased across Europe and Asia

10. Kublai Khan
Son of Genghis-takes over as Great Khan-focus on China, Korea, etc.
Became first invader to conquer all of China
Founded new Chinese Dynasty-Yuan
Short-lived (less than 100 years) but united all of China for first time in over 300 years
Overall tolerance-Chinese culture and government continues to develop
Lived much like a Chinese emperor with palace, etc.
Moved capital to China-saw himself as Chinese emperor

12. Failure to Conquer Japan
Tried to conquer Japan in and 1281-failed both times
Sent fleets they forced Koreans to make-Japanese turned back the fleets
Sent 150,000 warriors over to invade Japan on ships-saved by kamikaze-divine wind-that sank and pushed the ships away

13. Mongols and Chinese
Could conquer China on horseback but could not rule it
Little in common with the Chinese- obeyed different laws, kept out of high g0vernment offices, etc.
Restored Grand Canal and extended it North
Build 1,100 mile highway
Increased foreign trade with caravan routes and the Silk Road
Chinese products (gunpowder, paper money & printing) reaching outside of China

14. Marco…..Polo Many Europeans visited China- due to trading mainly
Most famous: Marco Polo
Knew Asian languages-went to several cities on government missions
Wrote and spoke of his travels to China
Talked about incredible cities, wealth, government, etc.
To Polo, China greatest civilization in the world

15. End of Mongol Rule Tried to conquer more parts of Southeast Asia
Armies suffered humiliating losses
Spent too much money on wars, public works, palace, etc.
After Kublai’s death in 1294-Yuan began to fade with much infighting and rebellions
Chinese rebels overthrew Yuan in China-founded Ming Dynasty
At same time, Mongol Empire had also fallen apart most other places