Transcript The Mongol World Empire

Huun-Huur-Tu, “Do You Want Me
to Saddle You?,” Where the Young
Grass Grows (1999)
The Mongol World Empire
The Imperial Alternatives
• Run empire on traditional nomadic lines,
as a tribal confederation
• But, what to do with sedentary peoples of
China and Persia?
– Extermination?
– Ruthless exploitation?
• Example of Il Khanate
The Imperial Alternatives - 2
• Borrow practices of previous TurcoMongolian Peoples
– Cooked and uncooked barbarians
– Uighurs
• Introduced writing to Mongols
– Qara-Khitai (or Khitans)
• Darugachi, a provincial administrative figure
• Yam – the postal service
The Imperial Alternatives - 3
• Adopt methods of the
settled peoples
– Most prominent in
China and Persia
– Persia: local
elites, such as
Juwayni, recruited
into service
The Imperial Alternatives - 4
– China
• Lower level of bureaucracy staffed by Chinese
• Upper levels reserved for non-Chinese, often
from Central Asia, such as Mahmud Yalavach
Mongol Institutions
• The Army
– In a sense, all
Mongols belong to the
army
– Highly mobile
– Decimal organization
– Army becomes an
“artificial tribe”
– Tendency to become
an army of
professional
mercenaries
Mongol Institutions - 2
• The Great Yasa (1206?), or law code
• Taxation
– Head tax (qubchur)
– Sales tax (tamgha)
• Communications
Factors for Imperial
Disintegration
• Horizontal stratification: a nobility
emerges
• Vertical differentiation: armies split off
from rest of the people
• Sedentarization and denomadification of
ruling elites, e.g. Kubilai Khan
• Example of Kubilai Khan
– Moves capital to Beijing
– Adopts Chinese dynastic name (Yüan)
– Becomes a Buddhist
Factors for Imperial
Disintegration - 2
• Lack of clear rules for succession to
imperial throne
– Mixture of hereditary right and election
– Both lineal and lateral succession recognized
– Designation by ruling khan also used
Factors for Imperial
Disintegration - 3
• Ögodei, 3rd son of Chingiz
Khan,designated and elected, 1229
• Küyük, son of Ögodei, elected, 1247
• Möngke, son of Chingiz’ youngest son,
elected over opposition, 1251
• Kubilai, brother of Möngke, elected in a
disputed election, leading to civil war,
1260
Disintegration
• Empire becomes group of sub-khanates
• Example of China
–
–
–
–
Mongols illegitimate in eyes of Chinese
1353-54: plague and rebellion
Inflation
1368: Ming dynasty established