1. Chapter 17: Turks & Mongols

2. Turks & Mongols Both groups were nomads
Roots go back to hunter-gatherers
This chapter represents interrelations between settled and nomadic peoples.

3. Nomadic Society Domesticated animals, but not farmers
Lack of rain in central Asia doesn’t support large-scale agriculture
Migratory patterns to follow
pastureland
Turks lived in Yurts
Rudimentary artisan achievements
Reliance on trade for manufactured
goods

4. Nomadic Society Two social classes: nobles & commoners
Governance basically clan-based
Charismatic individuals become nobles, occasionally assert authority
Unusually fluid status for nobility
Hereditary, but could be lost through incompetence
Advancement for meritorious non-nobles

5. Military Organization
Large confederations under a khan
Authority extended through tribal elders
Exceptionally strong cavalries
Mobility
Speed

6. Nomadic Religion Early religion revolved around shamans
Supernatural powers
Communicated w/gods & nature spirits

7. Nomadic Religion
By sixth century adopted Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Islam, Manichaeism
Conversion to Islam in tenth century due to Abbasid influence
Turks responsible for spread of Islam into Anatolia and India.

8. Turkish Empires Saljuq Turks Persia & Anatolia Ghaznavid Turks
Afghanistan & Northern India

9. Why are they historically significant?
Mongols
“The Mongols made no technological breakthroughs, founded no new religions, wrote few books or dramas”
Why are they historically significant?

10. The Mongols and Eurasian Empire
Built the largest empire in history stretching from Poland to China
13.8 million square miles
100 million people
Chinggis/Genghis Khan

12. Who were the Mongols? From the steppes of eastern central Asia
Nomadic peoples
United under the leadership of Temujin a.k.a Chinggis Khan

13. Steppe

14. Strong Equestrians and Archers
The Mongols were oriented around extreme mobility. They carried their houses with them, drank their own horse's blood to stay alive, and could travel up to 62 miles per day.
They had an elaborate priority-mail-system which allowed orders to be transmitted rapidly across Eurasia.
Mongol archers were very deadly and accurate
Their arrows could kill enemies at 200 meters (Over 600 feet)

15. Chinese depiction of Chinggis
From Temujin to “Universal Ruler”
Born 1167, Orphaned at 10
“Mastered the art of steppe diplomacy”
Personal courage, loyalty
United Mongol tribes into a single confederation
1206 made Chinggis Khan
Chinese depiction of Chinggis
Khan

16. Political & Military Organization
Formed military units that broke down tribal loyalties
Awesome archers
Large, quickly moving armies
Effectively used psychological warfare

17. The wisdom of Chinggis Khan:
“Man’s greatest joy is in victory:
to conquer one’s enemies,
to pursue them, to deprive them of their
possessions,
to make their beloved weep,
to ride on their horses,
and to embrace their wives and daughters…”

18. Mongol Rule
Nomadic invasions and migrations tested the military and administrative strengths of settled societies.
When Mongols collapsed a government, they often adapted the existing administration structures to their purposes.

19. Chronology of the Mongol Empire
Reign of Chinggis Khan
Conquest of northern China
Conquest of Persia
Conquest of Russia
1258 Capture of Baghdad
Conquest of southern China

21. Shortly after Chinggis Khan’s death, his empire split
into four Khanates

22. China: the Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368
Most famous ruler: Khubilai Khan
Government administered by Mongols and non-Chinese advisors
Allowed religious freedom but dismantled Confucian exam system
Prohibited Chinese from learning the Mongol language.
Khubilai Khan

23. Other Mongol Rule Golden Horde Didn’t occupy Russia
hegemony in Russia until mid-fifteenth century
Persian Ilkhanate
Massacred over 200,000
poor administrators
Over time assimilated into the culture
Except in their own homeland, they were out of power in about 90 years

24. “Pax Mongolia?”
Under the Mongols, there was unprecedented long-distance trade
Mongols encouraged the exchange of people, technology, and information across their empire
Weatherford: the Mongols were “civilization’s unrivaled cultural carriers…”
Marco Polo en route to China