The most famous Mongolian in it's civilization is a figure romanticized in some history books, Chinggis Khan (1162-1227). As a fierce warrior committed to his herdsmen brothers, he subdued mightier armies and expanded the Mongolian Empire, striking fear in the hearts of his captives. They were the ultimate nomadic civilization. The empire spread by no particular blueprint looking for world domination. It had a reputation for religious tolerance, as long as there was no political interference with Mongolian rulers. The city of Karakorum had the beginning of a central bureaucracy by setting up administrative mechanisms to collect taxes from it's citizens.
The Mongol Moment is the clash of cultures, where the pastoral, nomadic mongols encounter the settled civilizations of Eurasia, like China, Persia and Russia. Long distance trading was important to the Mongols so they promoted the trading routes, enhancing the local economies in the Afro-Eurasian trading circuit. Diplomacy was also important to maintain the empire, and, to a degree that was unprecedented thus far, had diplomatic relations with China and Persia, exchanging ambassadors, intelligence, skilled workers and trade. There were no hegemonic aspirations or religious crusades to embark on .No hidden agendas.
Karakorun, in the 13th century was a cosmopolitan city that tolerated Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Daoists, and attracted scholars, artists, doctors and engineers.
The Mongol Moment is the clash of cultures, where the pastoral, nomadic mongols encounter the settled civilizations of Eurasia, like China, Persia and Russia. Long distance trading was important to the Mongols so they promoted the trading routes, enhancing the local economies in the Afro-Eurasian trading circuit. Diplomacy was also important to maintain the empire, and, to a degree that was unprecedented thus far, had diplomatic relations with China and Persia, exchanging ambassadors, intelligence, skilled workers and trade. There were no hegemonic aspirations or religious crusades to embark on .No hidden agendas.
Karakorun, in the 13th century was a cosmopolitan city that tolerated Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Daoists, and attracted scholars, artists, doctors and engineers.
Unfortunately, the Black Death, or plague found it's directions along the trading routes of the Eurasian continent inflicting incredible losses. Some estimates say that, starting in 1368, between 30 -66% of Europe's population succumbed to the disease. With much of it's empire in ruin and disrupted by the plague, the Mongol empire began to disintegrate, and by 1350 they were losing control of China, Persia and Russia.
In China with the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, the Mongols left, and, by 1480 left Moscow to the Russians, effectively ending it's reign, with it's citizens assimilating into the societies they once ruled.
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