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4. The Mongol Moment and the Remaking of Eurasia

Mongol Empire as Eurasian network

by the time Mongols arrived (13th):

Chinese culture/Buddhism already integrated East Asia

Christianity did same for Europe

Islam connected lands in between

Mongol Empire (13th/14th) brought all these regions into single interacting network

enabled circulation of goods, information, disease, styles of warfare across Eurasia and parts of Africa

political authorities engaged in diplomatic relationships with one another more than ever before

Economy

Mongols did not produce much of value for distant markets, nor were they active traders

promoted international commerce

largely so that they could tax it

extract wealth from more developed civilizations

Great Khan Ogodei paid well over asking price to attract merchants to Karakorum (capital)

provided financial backing for caravans

introduced standardized measurements/weights

gave tax breaks to merchants

Europe to China

provided relatively secure environment for merchants making long, arduous journey across Central Asia between Europe and China

brought two ends of Eurasian world into closer contact than ever before

launched new phase in history of long-distance trade/travel

many European merchants traveled along Silk Roads to China

guidebooks circulated with useful advice

“In the first place you must let your beard grow and not shave. And...you should furnish yourself with a dragoman [guide/interpreter]. And you must not try to save money by taking a bad one instead of a good one. For the additional wages of a good one will not cost you as much as you will save by having him.” (Frances Pegliotti, Italian banker from Florence)

European merchants (e.g. Marco Polo) returned with tales of rich lands, prosperous commercial opportunities

long-established trading networks that Europeans were just ignorant of

Islamic world to China

along Silk Roads of Mongol Central Asia, Sea Roads of Indian Ocean

Ibn Battuta (Arab Muslim, traveler from Morocco) made journey by sea to China in 1345 following long-established routes of Arab merchants

stayed only for about a year

culturally uncomfortable living outside Islamic world

“In all Chinese provinces, there is a town for the Mohammedans [Muslims], and in this they reside”

Center

Mongol trading circuit was central element in even larger commercial network linking much of Afro-Eurasia in 13th century

Mongol-ruled China was the fulcrum

connected overland route through Mongol Empire with oceanic routes through South China Sea and Indian Ocean

Diplomacy

Mongol Empire prompted diplomatic relationships from one end of Eurasia to the other

Lack of Mongols in Europe

when invasion of Russia spilled over into Eastern Europe, armies destroyed Polish, German, Hungarian forces (1241-1242)

seemed poised to march on Central, Western Europe

death of Great Khan Ogodei required leaders to return to Mongolia

Western Europe lacked adequate pasture for Mongol herds

Western Europe not conquested, but pope and leaders dispatched delegations to Mongol capital

mostly led by Franciscan friars

learn about Mongol intentions

secure Mongol aid in Christian crusade against Islam

if possible, convert to Christianity

largely in vain

no alliance or widespread conversion occurred

one mission came back with letter to pope from Great Khan Guyuk: Europeans must submit to him

Gain of information

information about lands to the east that European missions brought back

contributed to dawning European awareness of wider world

provided later historians with useful information about the Mongols

1287: il-khanate of Persia sought alliance with European powers

take Jerusalem, crush forces of Islam

Persian Mongols’ conversation to Islam ended any anti-Muslim coalition

Court relationships

between Persia and China

regularly exchanged ambassadors

shared intelligence information

fostered trade between regions

sent skilled workers back and forth

Cultural exchange

exchange of peoples and cultures

Mongol policy forcibly transferred many thousands of skilled craftsmen, educated people from homelands to distant parts of empire

religious tolerance and support of merchants drew missionaries and traders from afar

Karakorum (capital): cosmopolitan city with places of worship for Buddhists, Daoists, Muslims, Christians

Chinggis Khan, other Mongol rulers married Christian women

facilitated exchange and blending of religious ideas

Persia

images of Prophet Muhammad using Chinese painting techniques, Buddhist and Christian traditions

one such painting portrayed birth of Prophet in Christian nativity scene

actors/musicians from China, wrestlers from Persia, jester from Byzantium entertained Mongol court

Persian, Arab doctors and administrators sent to China

Chinese physicians, engineers to Islamic world

Exchange of ideas, technology

actively encouraged by Mongol authorities

Chinese technology, artistic conventions flowed westward

painting

printing

gunpowder weapons

compass navigation

high-temperature furnaces

medical techniques

reception shaped by cultural sensibilities

acupuncture poorly received in Middle East because it was too much bodily contact for Muslims

Chinese techniques for diagnosing illness by taking patients’ pulse popular in Middle East since it involved minimal body contact

Muslim astronomers brought skills/knowledge to China because authorities wanted “second opinions on the readings of heavenly signs and portents” and assistance in creating accurate calendars for rituals

plants, crops also circulated

lemons, carrots from Middle East

“seeds of things which are unique in that land”

Persian il-khan Ghazan sent envoys to India, China, elsewhere

European benefits

long cut off from fruitful interchange with Asia

less technologically developed compared to Islamic and Chinese worlds

now could reap benefits of new technology, crops, knowledge of wider world

could do so without suffering devastating consequences of Mongol conquest, unlike other Eurasian peoples

root of Europe’s rise to prominence in following centuries

Plague pandemic

hemispheric catastrophe

“plague” or “pestilence”, later Black Death

Spread

most likely China

Yersinia pestis spread across trade routes of Mongol Empire in early 14th

carried by rodents

transmitted by fleas to humans

erupted initially in 1331 in northeastern China

reached Middle East and Western Europe by 1347

1409: reached East Africa (likely through Chinese maritime expeditions)

Initial wave

symptoms

swelling of lymph nodes

terrible headaches

high fever

internal bleeding just below skin

if infected, usually died within few days

claimed enormous numbers of human victims

sharp contraction in Eurasian population

rates of death were 50-90% of the affected population

about 1/2 of Europe’s people perished during initial outbreak (1348-1350)

Middle East: 1/3 by early 15th

intense first wave followed by periodic visitations over next several centuries

other regions of Eastern Hemisphere (especially India, sub-Saharan Africa) less affected

Descriptions

“so many have died that everyone believes it is the end of the world” (Italian man who buried all five of his children with his own hands, 1348)

“When at any time has such a thing been seen or spoken of? Has what happened in these years ever been read about: empty houses, derelict cities, ruined estates, fields strewn with cadavers, a horrible and vast solitude encompassing the whole world? Consult historians, they are silent; ask physicians, they are stupefied; seek the answers from philosophers, they shrug their shoulders, furrow their brows, and with fingers pressed against their lips, bid you be silent. Will posterity believe these things, when we who have seen it can scarcely believe it?” (Francesco Petrarch, Italian Renaissance scholar, 1349)

“Civilization in both the East and the West was visited by a destructive plague which devastated nations and caused populations to vanish. It swallowed up many of the good things of civilization and wiped them out…. It was as if the voice of existence had called out for oblivion and restriction, and the world responded to its call” (Ibn Khaldun, Islamic historian who lost both parents to plague)

Coping

Religion

faith was one means for people to understand and cope

sense of meaning, comfort, protection

penitents sought to beseech God for mercy or atone for sins through prayer, religious rituals, practices

where faiths coexisted, they could sometimes act together

when Muslim authorities called for population to participate in religious ceremonies, “One saw in this multitude Jews, Christians, Samaritans...who processed after the [Muslim] morning prayer, not ceasing to chant their prayers until daybreak” (Ibn Kathir, Islamic teacher in Damascus)

Other

some lived freely

refusing “no passion or appetite they wished to gratify, drinking and reveling incessantly” (Giovanni Boccaccio in Florence)

Social effects in Europe

Europe: impact most thoroughly studied

labor shortages after initial outburst provoked sharp conflict

scarce workers sought higher wages or better conditions

rich resisted demands

peasant revolts undermined serfdom (14th)

greater interest in technological innovation

created, for a time, more employment opportunities for women

Impact on Mongol network

born of it, primary reason for its demise in 14th and 15th

population contracted

cities declined

volume of trade diminished

by 1350: Mongol Empire in disarray

within a century, lost control of Chinese, Persian, Russian civilizations

Central Asian trade route largely closed

Europeans and Mongols similarities

disruption of Mongol-based land routes and desire to avoid Muslim intermediaries

sea routes to continue to try to reach riches of Asia

naval technology gave military advantages (similar to Mongol skill with bow, mobility on horseback)

took on role of Mongols in organizing, fostering world trade and creating network of communication and exchange

people on the periphery of major established civilizations

less developed compared to Chinese, Indian, Islamic civilizations

forcibly plundered wealthier civilizations

brought devastating disease, catastrophic population decline (Europe: in Americas)

brought more of own culture and people to societies they conquered

Christianity, European languages, settler societies, Western science and technology took root within empires

imperial presence lasted far longer and operated on much larger scale but actions in beginning of global expansion resembled Mongol predecessors (“the Mongols of the seas”)

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