I have heard that the Mongols are ruthless, bloodthirsty plunderers of Central Asia. As nomads, they don't not always have the all supplies that they needed, so trade is important. They have the ability to trade peacefully and had successfully done so before, but they became greedy and started taking materials by force from their southern neighbors. They stop for no man and mow down anything in the way of what they wanted. Their powerful, organized military and skilled cavalry razed entire villages to the ground. This makes me really nervous about my upcoming trip. Apparently, word spreads from village to village about the terror-inspiring Mongols, and eventually, to avoid death, people just hand the Mongols the key to the village and whatever supplies they want. According to Holt McDougal Online, "the military was organized into 10,000 man armies, 1,000 man brigades, 100 man companies, and 10 man squads." The cavalry is extremely powerful, because as nomads, the Mongols spend a great amount of time on horseback, and so are very skilled in riding. They even developed a saddle so that they would be able to turn around in their seat and fire arrows behind them. To me that seems both innovative and terrifying. The Mongols use new technology from the Muslims and Chinese, like gunpowder, to help them in their conquests. The old leader, Genghis Khan, was known for his brilliant battle strategy, and some of his tactics are still used today. For example, according to History.com, when the Mongols were conquering Yinchuan, China they employed one of their most famous strategies: they only sent a small part of their cavalry to fight in the battle, then the cavalry made it look like they were turning around and fleeing, so the Chinese chased after them, but it would turn out that the small part of the cavalry was actually leading them to a spot further on where the rest of the Mongols would be waiting to attack. It seems to me that the Mongols are extremely intelligent, but also overly harsh and fierce. One gruesome and horrifying thing that I have heard that is that, if they are running low on food, the cavalry will cut into their horse's neck and drink the blood. I hope Kublai Khan has a good side and doesn't kill my father, uncle, and me when we travel there later this year!
I cannot believe how misinformed I was before traveling to the Mongol Empire seventeen years ago! Now, after experiencing the culture in the Mongol Empire and working on government missions in China, I know that, at heart, the Mongols really are promoters of trade and cultural exchange. In fact, under the rule of Kublai Khan, trade has never been better! Here is an excerpt from the book I am writing about my travels, called The Travels of Marco Polo: "More precious and costly wares are imported into Khan-balik [Beijing] than into any other city in the world... All the treasures that come from India precious stones pearls, and other rarities are brought here. So too are the choicest and costliest products of Cathay [China] itself and every other province." Trade really has been flourishing in the Mongol Empire of late. According to Holt McDougal Online, Khublai even built a system of paved roads that are around 1,100 miles long connecting the East and West in order to facilitate trade and safe travel! He has been inviting traders, travelers, and missionaries from Persia, Central Asia, and India to visit his vast empire so that he can learn about their cultures and promote cultural exchange. Whenever the Mongols take over a land, they are culturally tolerant. They benevolently allow the people of that land to keep most aspects of their religion, government, and tradition. The Mongol government is very practical. I experienced this while on government missions for Kublai Khan. Also, in my travels I have seen a great amount of absurd things. I would have to say that one of the most strange things I have seen was in China. They burned coal in their homes for fuel! We don't do anything like that in Europe.
As a 21st century historian, I believe that there are two sides to every great story. Each side believes what suits them best. The reason history has such different views of the Mongols is that they were both great and terrible. They affected some people in great ways and terrorized others. For example, when Kublai Khan finally became emperor of China, he did great things for them, like restoring and expanding the Grand Canal by over one hundred miles. And, under his rule, trade flourished. Also, he was religiously and culturally tolerant of the people. However, he was also conquering new lands all the time, and I am sure some of the people he conquered strongly disliked him for forcibly taking their land and killing their people. And, people share their opinions all the time. The Chinese probably shared some good opinions of the Mongols with their children, the terrorized people probably shared horrible opinions, and the two starkly different views were just passed down the generations. The Mongol Empire is comparable to the Islamic Empire in terms of how benevolently they treat their conquered people. The Mongols were very religiously tolerant and allowed conquered people to keep their own faith. It was rare that they would change parts of the cultures of the people they conquered. The Islamic Empire was also religiously tolerant, allowing Christians and Jews to keep their faith, but only because the Qur'an, their holy text, forbade forced conversion to Islam. Still, the two empires were astoundingly similar in that regard.
I cannot believe how misinformed I was before traveling to the Mongol Empire seventeen years ago! Now, after experiencing the culture in the Mongol Empire and working on government missions in China, I know that, at heart, the Mongols really are promoters of trade and cultural exchange. In fact, under the rule of Kublai Khan, trade has never been better! Here is an excerpt from the book I am writing about my travels, called The Travels of Marco Polo: "More precious and costly wares are imported into Khan-balik [Beijing] than into any other city in the world... All the treasures that come from India precious stones pearls, and other rarities are brought here. So too are the choicest and costliest products of Cathay [China] itself and every other province." Trade really has been flourishing in the Mongol Empire of late. According to Holt McDougal Online, Khublai even built a system of paved roads that are around 1,100 miles long connecting the East and West in order to facilitate trade and safe travel! He has been inviting traders, travelers, and missionaries from Persia, Central Asia, and India to visit his vast empire so that he can learn about their cultures and promote cultural exchange. Whenever the Mongols take over a land, they are culturally tolerant. They benevolently allow the people of that land to keep most aspects of their religion, government, and tradition. The Mongol government is very practical. I experienced this while on government missions for Kublai Khan. Also, in my travels I have seen a great amount of absurd things. I would have to say that one of the most strange things I have seen was in China. They burned coal in their homes for fuel! We don't do anything like that in Europe.
As a 21st century historian, I believe that there are two sides to every great story. Each side believes what suits them best. The reason history has such different views of the Mongols is that they were both great and terrible. They affected some people in great ways and terrorized others. For example, when Kublai Khan finally became emperor of China, he did great things for them, like restoring and expanding the Grand Canal by over one hundred miles. And, under his rule, trade flourished. Also, he was religiously and culturally tolerant of the people. However, he was also conquering new lands all the time, and I am sure some of the people he conquered strongly disliked him for forcibly taking their land and killing their people. And, people share their opinions all the time. The Chinese probably shared some good opinions of the Mongols with their children, the terrorized people probably shared horrible opinions, and the two starkly different views were just passed down the generations. The Mongol Empire is comparable to the Islamic Empire in terms of how benevolently they treat their conquered people. The Mongols were very religiously tolerant and allowed conquered people to keep their own faith. It was rare that they would change parts of the cultures of the people they conquered. The Islamic Empire was also religiously tolerant, allowing Christians and Jews to keep their faith, but only because the Qur'an, their holy text, forbade forced conversion to Islam. Still, the two empires were astoundingly similar in that regard.
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