Mongols Invasion and setting up the Khanates

Nomadic life on the steppes

• the mongols were nomadic people living on the steppes

• they were involved in trade as the “truckers” of the roads

• they had horses and they could move across the continent

• they traded and moved around the steppes of east Asia in yurts

• the steppes were extremely flat

nomadic community structure

• polytheistic religion, specifically fearing the god of thunder

• leaders elected by heads of families

• Women were equal to men

• egalitarian, everyone has to do the work

• fewer children than settled societies because they were always on the move and they were living on the edge of starvation (not good for having a child)

• they didn’t want to travel in big groups

mongols and the silk roads

• their kahnates will expand across the silk roads because that was what they were familiar with and where they traveled

• The silk roads was the mongol’s conquest route

record of mongol rule

• the mongols didn’t have a written language

• history was written by the people who were defeated, so we have to consider their biases on the mongols when reading their writing

mongol military tactics

• organized in units of 10, 100, and 1000, with with a leader for every 10 people

• very organized system, made their conquering effective

• military engineers designed catapults for hurling stones, throwing javelines, and other machines for throwing fire

mongol engineering

• the mongols relied on settled societies to trade for their metals to create military weapons

• saddles were good to turn and fight while still having control over the horse

• composite bows were bent slowly over time to hold their shape and were effective for shooting accurately at long distances

• the mongols had very accurate aim with the bows from very far away

mongol homelands

• chagatai was the heart of the steppes, the mongol homeland

• the mongols will take down china, persia, and russia, creating the biggest empire in the world, ever.

first khans after conquest

• his descendants take control over the land after timujin conquers it all

• these are the first khans after him

• timujin is the conqerer, but kubilai is the one who gets to rule and set up the empire

yuan dynasty

• kubilai khan is painted wearing chinese clothes

• the chinese scholars and the persians hate that they were conquered by mongols

khubilai recruits foriegners to help rule china

• they did not trust the chinese scholars to rule china

• so they hired foreign people that they could trust not to harm their rule

• since the mongols took a chinese name for their dynasty, most people in faraway places did not know that they werent chinese

• scholar gentry were fired because they werent trusted by the mongols

marco polo

• hired by the khan of china as a spy for the yuan dynasty

• he would trade throughout china and go report back about what he saw

• he did this for years

persian khanate

• sophisticated, massive trade routes

• known as second to the chinese khanate ‘

• the il khan

japan invasions

• the chinese khanate tried to invade japan, but the mongols were not good with boats

• on the 3rd invasion attempt, they sailed right into a storm

• the wind was called the kamikazi wind and this was the name of the japanese suicide soldiers

mongol bombs

• mongols got the idea for bombs from the chinese

• with gun powder and their bows, the mongol military was really strong

japanese defensive walls against mongols

• the japanese built walls against the mongols knowing that they would attempt another invasion

russian khanate (khan of the golden horde)

• the khan of russia was given the name “the khan of the golden horde”

• this was because the leading yurts were bright yellow

• not a compliment

the yam

• commuication system for the khanates

• the emperors have to be able to communicate with their armies and administrators

• there were stations to switch out horses, which turned into postal stations

• the yam was linked to the silk roads and persian roads, which linked them to their homeland

• mongols defended these trade routes really well to ensure safety of messengers and merchants

mongol passport

• mongols relied on trade and diplomatic exchanges to strengthen the empire

• mongol officials gave diplomats a paiza, which was an engraved peice of gold, that allowed them to show their status and cross borders

• many paiza’s gave their carriers free food or places to stay.

russian khanate rule

• the mongols didn’t directly rule the russian khanate

• they didn’t change any of the governance

• they set up yurts on the borders of the golden khanate

• collected taxes

tile

• a tile with arabic script was found in russia

• tile was a luxury good

• this is a representation of trade between the khanates

ghengis khan death

• no one knows where he was buried