Eurasia in the wake of the Mongol world empire

Today we learnt about the nature of the Mongol world empire and some views on its significance in world history. Did the Mongol world empire mark a 'turning point' in world history by bringing about an 'interlocking of histories'? More than two thirds of the worlds population were contained within this single political administrative entity afterall.

Institutions needed to be established under Mongol rule to allowed more effective leadership. This was because they had to control a huge region. Apart from anything else, there were massive linguistic difficulties. These areas under their control all had their own social structures and political institutions. They all needed to be fashioned into a cohesive unit. Some instituions that were established to combat the difficulties included:

1. Great Qan ie Chinggis and his successors - He had overall supreme political and military authority and controlled foreign policy, thus making him a powerful institutional force.
2. Qanates (regions of the empire) were established, all having a great deal of independence:

· Golden Horde (present day Russia)

· Chagadai Qanate (central Asia)

· Il-Qanate (Persia, the middle-east and Turkey)

· Empire of the Great Qan (Mongolia, Tibet and China)

3. Darughaci: 'military governor'. These were directly responsible to the Great Qan and served as his representatives. They collected taxes and maintained order within their area of jurisdiction.
4. Yam: postal service and information network. This was crucial for the flow of information and was used for communications and surveillance.
5. Census/registration & taxation systems - all adult males had to be registered so they could be called into labour or military service.

The Mongols were very religiously tolerant. The clergy were exempt from taxation and labour dues, which directly fed into stability within the empire. Because people's religious leader were not being persecuted or oppressed, they were more inclined to work rather than against politcal authority. Also the Mongol's were very open to talent and used people from right across the empire. There was no ethnic heirachy whcih created an open society. They were thus comparatively meritocratic.

Reasons for collapse of the empire:

• Tanistry (succession politics): helped fragment the empire, despite Chinggis' attempts to avoid this.
• Division of the realm: over time the Qanates assumed greater significance vis-à-vis the empire and Qaraqorum. It became increasingly difficult for the centre to exercise authority.
• Diversity and tolerance: In the west, Muslim identity took increasing precedence over allegiance to empire. Muslims looked to Mecca more than Qaraqorum.

Successor States:

• Golden Horde, survives into 16th century
• Il-Qanate, survives into 14th century
• Chagadai Qanate, survives into 16th century under Tamerlane (1336-1405) and the Timurids
• Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) in China.

The retreat of the Mongols from China in 1368 (because of a peasant revolt) marks the end of the Mongol world empire. Its legacy survived in the successor states, as well as in those states influenced by them: the Mughal empire in India (until 18th century) and the Ottoman empire (until 20th century).

The Significance of the Mongol world empire:

Janet Abu-Lughod in 'Before European Hegemony', argues that to an extent, the world was linked into a common commercial network of production and exchange (a world system) in the period from 1250 until 1350. Features of this world system were:

1. Monetisation of trade across Eurasia
2. Capital pooling for long-distance trade
3. Fundamentally "free" trade (it wasn't controlled or governed by the state)

Sam Adshead in 'Central Asia in World History' argues that The Mongol invasions were the big bang of world history. "World institutions" became a permanent feature after this time. Only with the Mongol World Empire that we can talk about such institutions as a permanent feature of human life. These instituions, rather than being like the internation red cross, were rather concepts like "sport", which became ubiquitous. Otheres were:

• Basic Information Circuit - the beginnings of a unified conception of the world, in terms of history, geography etc.
• Microbian Common Market - the common disease pool. Plague (black death) and other diseases were actively and unwittingly spread by the Mongol forces.
• Global Arsenal - integration of styles of warfare across Eurasia: the adoption across Eurasia of composite armies of horse, foot and artillery and, subsequently, the articulation of transoceanic sea-power. There was a unification of technology.

'No longer did the world think locally - it began to think globally'. The Mongol World Empire resulted in a qualitative change in human history. It was, Adshead argues, the birth of a truly world history, the world's first 'global event'. The Mongol World Empire thus resulted in a qualitative change in human history.

Closing of the Steppe Frontier:

After 1492 & the 'Columbian Exchange', new world food plants lead to a 'demographic revolution' in the Old World, so that the balance of power between steppe and sown shifted very much in favour of the sown. No steppe society would again challenge the civilisations of Outer Eurasia in the way that the Mongols had.