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{{Short description|13th- and 14th-century empire originating in Mongolia}}
[[File:Mongol Empire map 2.gif |right|thumb|300px|Expansion of the Mongol Empire]]
{{distinguish|Mughal Empire}}


{{use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
The '''Mongol Empire''', an area ruled by the great [[Mongolia|Mongol]] [[Khan (title)|Khans]] in the 13th and 14th centuries, was one of the largest land [[empire]]s in history.
The original homeland of the Mongols, was bounded by the Khingan Mountains on the east, the Altai and Tian mountains on the west, the Shilka River and the mountain ranges by [[Lake Baikal]] on the north, and the [[Great Wall of China]] on the south.


{{Infobox former country
It was founded by [[Genghis Khan]] in 1206 [[AD]] when he brought together the Mongol and Turkic [[tribe]]s. When he died in 1227 AD, he had conquered Central Asia, North China and parts of eastern Persia. Later his grandson [[Kublai Khan]] would go on to expand the empire and found the Mongol-ruled [[Yuan Dynasty]], ruling whole [[China]]. The Mongol Empire stretched from Eastern Europe to East Asia, including Central Asia and the Middle East. Its power did not last long, though. By the 1360s it had broken into several empires, all of which were later destroyed.
| conventional_long_name = Great Mongol Nation
| native_name = {{MongolUnicode|ᠶᠡᠬᠡ<br />ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ<br />ᠤᠯᠤᠰ}}<br />''Yeke Mongγol Ulus'' ([[Middle Mongol]])
| common_name = Mongol Empire<br />Mongolian Empire
| status = [[Khaganate]] ([[Nomadic empire]])     
| image_map = Mongol Empire map 2.gif
| image_map_caption = Expansion of the Mongol Empire 1206–1294<br />superimposed on a modern political map of [[Eurasia]]
| capital = [[Avarga]] (1206–1235)<br />[[Karakorum]] (1235–1260)<br />[[Khanbaliq]] (1271–1368)
| common_languages = {{hlist|[[Middle Mongol]]|[[Turkic languages]]{{NoteTag|Especially western [[Kipchak languages|Kipchak dialects]] in the Golden Horde,<ref>{{cite book |last = Kołodziejczyk |first = Dariusz |author-link = Dariusz Kołodziejczyk |title = The Crimean Khanate and Poland-Lithuania: International Diplomacy on the European Periphery (15th-18th Century). A Study of Peace Treaties Followed by Annotated Documents. |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FHrTxHmegRYC&pg=PP1 |year = 2011 |publisher = Brill |location = Leiden, South Holland |isbn = 978-90-04-19190-7 }}</ref> [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]] in the Chagatai Khanate<ref name="Kim2013">{{cite book |last = Kim |first = Hyun Jin |title = The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fX8YAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 |access-date = 20 November 2016 |year = 2013 |publisher = Cambridge University Press |isbn = 978-1-107-06722-6 |page = 29 }}</ref> and [[Old Uyghur]] in the Yuan dynasty.}}|[[Chinese language|Chinese]]|[[Iranian languages|Persian]] and other languages}}
| religion = {{hlist|[[Tengrism]] |[[Shamanism]]|[[Buddhism]]|[[Nestorianism|Nestorian Christianity]]|[[Islam]]}}
| government_type = [[Elective monarchy]]<br />Later also [[Hereditary monarchy|hereditary]]
| title_leader = [[Khagan]]-[[Emperor of China|Emperor]]{{NoteTag|name=Emperor|Decades before [[Kublai Khan|Kublai Emperor]] announced the dynastic name "[[Yuan dynasty|Great Yuan]]" in 1271, [[khagan]]s (Great Khans) of the "Great Mongol State" (''Yeke Mongγol Ulus'') already started to use the Chinese title of [[Emperor of China|Emperor]] ({{zh |c = 皇帝 |p = Huángdì }}) practically in the [[Chinese language]] since the enthronement of [[Genghis Khan|Genghis Emperor]] ({{zh |c = 成吉思皇帝 |l = Chéngjísī Huángdì |labels = no }}) in Spring 1206.<ref name="Enthronement1206">{{cite book |script-title = zh:《元史》 |trans-title = History of Yuan |title-link = History of Yuan |language = lzh |chapter = 太祖本纪 [Chronicle of [[Genghis Khan|Taizu]]] |quote = [[1206|元年]]丙寅，[[Genghis Khan|帝]]大会诸王群臣，建九斿白旗，即[[Emperor of China|皇帝]]位于斡难河之源，诸王群臣共上尊号曰成吉思皇帝["Genghis [[Emperor of China|Huangdi]]"]。}}</ref>}}
| year_leader1 = 1206–1227
| leader1 = [[Genghis Khan]]
| year_leader2 = 1229–1241
| leader2 = [[Ögedei Khan]]
| year_leader3 = 1246–1248
| leader3 = [[Güyük Khan]]
| year_leader4 = 1251–1259
| leader4 = [[Möngke Khan]]
| year_leader5 = 1260–1294
| leader5 = [[Kublai Khan]] (nominal)
| year_leader6 = 1333–1368
| leader6 = [[Toghon Temür]] (nominal)
| legislature = [[Kurultai]]
| event_start = Enthronement of Genghis [[Khagan]]-[[Emperor of China|Emperor]]
| year_start = 1206
| event1 = ''[[Pax Mongolica]]''
| date_event1 = 1250–1350
| event2 = [[Division of the Mongol Empire]]
| date_event2 = 1260–1294
| event3 = Proclaimation of the dynastic name "[[Yuan dynasty|Great Yuan]]"{{NoteTag|name=GreatYuan}}
| date_event3 = 1271
| event4 = Fall of the [[Ilkhanate]]
| date_event4 = 1335
| event5 = Division of the [[Chagatai Khanate]]
| date_event5 = 1347
| event_end = Fall of the [[Yuan dynasty]]
| year_end = 1368
| event_post = Fall of the [[Golden Horde]] ([[Great Horde]])
| date_post = 1502
| stat_year1 = 1206
| stat_area1 = 4000000
| ref_area1 = <ref name="Taagepera499">{{cite journal |date = September 1997 |title = Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia |journal = [[International Studies Quarterly]] |volume = 41 |issue = 3 |pages = 475–504 |doi = 10.1111/0020-8833.00053 |first = Rein |last = Taagepera |author-link = Rein Taagepera |jstor = 2600793 |url= http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 |access-date = 8 December 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181119114740/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 |archive-date = 19 November 2018 |url-status = live }}</ref>
| stat_year2 = 1227
| stat_area2 = 12000000
| ref_area2 = <ref name="Taagepera499" />
| stat_year3 = 1294
| stat_area3 = 23500000
| ref_area3 = <ref name="Taagepera499" />
| stat_year4 = 1309
| stat_area4 = 24,000,000
| ref_area4 = <ref name="Taagepera499" />
| currency = Various{{NoteTag|Including coins such as [[dirham]]s and paper currencies based on silver ([[Sukhe (unit)|''sukhe'']]) or silk, or the later small amounts of [[Yuan dynasty coinage|Chinese coins]] and paper [[Jiaochao]] currency of the [[Yuan dynasty]].}}
| p1 = Khamag Mongol
| p2 = Khwarazmian Empire
| p3 = Qara Khitai{{!}}{{nowrap| Qara Khitai}}
| p4 = Jin dynasty (1115–1234){{!}}Jin dynasty
| p5 = Southern Song dynasty
| p6 = Western Xia
| p7 = Abbasid Caliphate
| p8 = Nizari Ismaili state
| p9 = Kievan Rus'
| p10 = Volga Bulgaria
| p11 = Cumania
| p12 = Alania
| p13 = Dali Kingdom
| p14 = Kimek–Kipchak confederation
| p15 = Sultanate of Rum
| p16 = Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate
| s1 = Chagatai Khanate{{!}}{{nowrap| Chagatai Khanate}}
| s2 = Golden Horde
| border_s2 = no
| s3 = Ilkhanate
| s4 = Yuan dynasty{{!}}{{nowrap |Yuan dynasty}}
}}
{{Campaignbox Mongol invasions and conquests}}
 
The '''Mongol Empire''' of the 13th and 14th centuries was the [[List of largest empires|largest contiguous land empire]] in [[human history|history]].<ref>Morgan. ''The Mongols''. p.&nbsp;5.</ref> Originating in [[Mongolia]] in [[East Asia]], the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the [[Sea of Japan]] to parts of [[Eastern Europe]], extending northward into parts of the [[Arctic]];<ref>{{cite journal |last = Pow |first = Stephen |title = The Mongol Empire's Northern Border: Re-evaluating the Surface Area of the Mongol Empire |url = https://www.academia.edu/37799970 |journal = Genius Loci - Laszlovszky 60 |access-date = 6 April 2020 |date = 6 April 2020 }}</ref> eastward and southward into the [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Mainland Southeast Asia]] and the [[Iranian Plateau]]; and westward as far as the [[Levant]] and the [[Carpathian Mountains]].
 
The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of several [[nomad|nomadic tribes]] in the [[Mongol]] homeland under the [[leadership]] of [[Genghis Khan]] ({{circa|1162}}–1227), whom a council proclaimed as the ruler of all Mongols in 1206. The empire grew rapidly under his rule and that of his descendants, who sent out [[Mongol invasions|invading armies]] in every direction.<ref>Diamond. ''Guns, Germs, and Steel''. p.&nbsp;367.</ref><ref>''The Mongols and Russia'', by [[George Vernadsky]]</ref> The vast transcontinental empire connected the [[Eastern world|East]] with the [[Western world|West]], and the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], in an enforced ''[[Pax Mongolica]]'', allowing the dissemination and exchange of trade, technologies, commodities and ideologies across [[Eurasia]].<ref>Gregory G.Guzman "Were the barbarians a negative or positive factor in ancient and medieval history?", ''The Historian'' 50 (1988), 568–70.</ref><ref>Allsen. ''Culture and Conquest''. p.&nbsp;211.</ref>
 
The empire began to split due to wars over succession, as the grandchildren of Genghis Khan disputed whether the royal line should follow from his son and initial heir [[Ögedei Khan|Ögedei]] or from one of his other sons, such as [[Tolui]], [[Chagatai Khan|Chagatai]], or [[Jochi]]. The Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagatayid factions, but disputes continued among the descendants of Tolui. A key reason for the split was the dispute over whether the Mongol Empire would become a sedentary, cosmopolitan empire, or would stay true to the Mongol nomadic and steppe-based lifestyle. After [[Möngke Khan]] died (1259), rival [[kurultai]] councils simultaneously elected different successors, the brothers [[Ariq Böke]] and [[Kublai Khan]], who fought each other in the [[Toluid Civil War]] (1260–1264) and also dealt with challenges from the descendants of other sons of Genghis.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/goldenHorde.html |title = The Islamic World to 1600: The Golden Horde |publisher = University of Calgary |year = 1998 |access-date = 3 December 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101113102742/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/goldenHorde.html |archive-date = 13 November 2010 }}</ref><ref>Michael Biran. ''Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State in Central Asia''. The Curzon Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7007-0631-3}}.</ref> Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as he sought unsuccessfully to regain control of the [[List of Chagatai Khans|Chagatayid]] and [[House of Ögedei|Ögedeid]] families.
 
During the reigns of Genghis and Ögedei, the Mongols suffered the occasional defeat when a less skilled general received the command. The Siberian [[Tumed]]s defeated the Mongol forces under [[Borokhula]] around 1215–1217; [[Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu|Jalal al-Din]] defeated [[Shikhikhutug|Shigi-Qutugu]] at the [[Battle of Parwan]] in 1221; and the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin]] generals Heda and Pu'a defeated Dolqolqu in 1230. In each case, the Mongols returned shortly after with a much larger army led by one of their best generals, and were invariably victorious. The [[Battle of Ain Jalut]] in [[Galilee]] in 1260 marked the first time that the Mongols would not return to immediately avenge a defeat, due to a combination of the death of Möngke Khan in 1259, the Toluid Civil War between Ariq Böke and Kublai Khan, and [[Berke|Berke Khan]] of the [[Golden Horde]] attacking [[Hulagu Khan]] in Persia. Although the Mongols launched many more invasions of the Levant, briefly occupying it and raiding as far as [[Gaza City|Gaza]] after a decisive victory at the [[Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar]] in 1299, they withdrew due to various geopolitical factors.
 
By the time of Kublai's death in 1294, the Mongol Empire had [[Division of the Mongol Empire|fractured into four separate khanates or empires]], each pursuing its own interests and objectives: the [[Golden Horde]] khanate in the northwest, the [[Chagatai Khanate]] in Central Asia, the [[Ilkhanate]] in the southwest, and the [[Yuan dynasty]]{{NoteTag|name=GreatYuan|As per modern historiographical norm, the "[[Yuan dynasty]]" in this article refers exclusively to the realm based in China. However, the Chinese-style dynastic name "Great Yuan" ({{lang|zh|大元}}) as proclaimed by Kublai Emperor was meant to be applied to the entire Mongol Empire.<ref name="GreatYuan1">{{cite book |last = Robinson |first = David |title = In the Shadow of the Mongol Empire: Ming China and Eurasia |year = 2019 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=itKyDwAAQBAJ&q=great+yuan+entire+mongol+empire&pg=PA50 |page = 50 |isbn = 9781108482448 }}</ref><ref name="GreatYuan2">{{cite book |last = Robinson |first = David |title = Empire's Twilight: Northeast Asia Under the Mongols |year = 2009 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PDjWpqU55eMC&q=great+yuan+refer+to+entire+mongol+empire&pg=PA293 |page = 293 |isbn = 9780674036086 }}</ref><ref name="GreatYuan3">{{cite book |last1 = Brook |first1 = Timothy |last2 = Walt van Praag |first2 = Michael van |last3 = Boltjes |first3 = Miekn |title = Sacred Mandates: Asian International Relations since Chinggis Khan |year = 2018 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6p1WDwAAQBAJ&q=great+yuan+refer+to+entire+mongol+empire&pg=PA45 |page = 45 |isbn = 9780226562933 }}</ref> In spite of this, "Yuan dynasty" is rarely used in the broad sense of the definition by modern scholars due to the ''de facto'' [[Division of the Mongol Empire|disintegrated nature]] of the Mongol Empire.}} in the east, based in modern-day [[Beijing]].<ref name="China p413">''The Cambridge History of China: Alien Regimes and Border States''. p. 413.</ref>
 
In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the nominal [[suzerainty]] of the Yuan dynasty.<ref>Jackson. ''Mongols and the West''. p. 127.
</ref><ref>
Allsen. ''Culture and Conquest''. pp. xiii, 235.
</ref>
In 1368, the [[Han Chinese|Han]]-ruled [[Ming dynasty]] took over the Yuan capital of [[Khanbaliq|Dadu]], marking the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in [[China proper]]. The Genghisid rulers of the Yuan then retreated north and continued to rule the [[Mongolian Plateau]] as the [[Northern Yuan dynasty]]. The Ilkhanate disintegrated in the period 1335–1353. The Golden Horde had broken into competing khanates by the end of the 15th century and was defeated and thrown out of Russia in 1480 by the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]] while the Chagatai Khanate lasted in one form or another until 1687.
 
== Name ==
The Mongol Empire referred to itself as {{MongolUnicode|ᠶᠡᠬᠡ<br />ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ<br />ᠤᠯᠤᠰ}} ''yeke Mongγol ulus'' ({{lit}} 'nation of the great Mongols' or the 'great Mongol nation') in Mongol or ''kür uluγ ulus'' ({{lit}} the 'whole great nation') in Turkic.<ref name=philology>{{cite book|title= Introduction to Altaic Philology: Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu|year= 2010|page= 169|authors= Igor de Rachewiltz, Volker Rybatzki}}</ref>
 
After the 1260 to 1264 [[Toluid Civil War|succession war]] between [[Kublai Khan]] and his brother [[Ariq Böke]], Kublai's power became limited to the eastern part of the empire, centred on China. Kublai officially issued an imperial [[edict]] on 18 December 1271 to name his realm Great Yuan (''Dai Yuan'', or ''Dai Ön Ulus'') and to establish the [[Yuan dynasty]]. Some sources give the full Mongolian name as ''Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus''.<ref>Rybatzki. p. 116.</ref>
 
== History ==
=== Pre-empire context ===
{{Main|Proto-Mongols}}
[[File:Mongolia XI.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Mongolian tribes during the Khitan [[Liao dynasty]] (907–1125)]]
[[File:East-Hem 1200ad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|alt=Map of Eurasia showing the different states|The [[Old World]] on the eve of the Mongol invasions, c. 1200]]
 
The area around [[Mongolia]], [[Manchuria]], and parts of [[North China]] had been controlled by the [[Liao dynasty]] since the 10th century. In 1125, the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] founded by the [[Jurchens]] overthrew the Liao dynasty and attempted to gain control over former Liao territory in Mongolia. In the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the [[Khamag Mongol]] confederation, ruled at the time by [[Khabul Khan]], great-grandfather of Genghis Khan.<ref name="Barfield. p. 184">Barfield. p. 184.</ref>
 
The [[Mongolian plateau]] was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations (''khanlig''): [[Keraites]], [[Khamag Mongol]], [[Naimans|Naiman]], [[Merkit|Mergid]], and [[Tatar confederation|Tatar]]. The Jin emperors, following a policy of [[divide and rule]], encouraged disputes among the tribes, especially between the Tatars and the Mongols, in order to keep the nomadic tribes distracted by their own battles and thereby away from the Jin. Khabul's successor was [[Ambaghai|Ambaghai Khan]], who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143.<ref name="Barfield. p. 184" />
 
In 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, opening a long period of active hostilities. The Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161.<ref name="Barfield. p. 184" />
 
During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the usually cold, parched steppes of Central Asia enjoyed their mildest, wettest conditions in more than a millennium. It is thought that this resulted in a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock, which significantly enhanced Mongol military strength.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Pluvials, droughts, the Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia|author=Neil Pederson|doi=10.1073/pnas.1318677111|pmid=24616521|pmc=3970536|volume=111|issue=12|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|pages=4375–79|year=2014|bibcode=2014PNAS..111.4375P|doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
=== Rise of Genghis Khan ===
{{Main|Rise of Genghis Khan}}
{{see also|Khamag Mongol|Genghis Khan}}
[[File:YuanEmperorAlbumGenghisPortrait.jpg|thumb|alt=Painting of Genghis Khan|[[Genghis Khan]], [[National Palace Museum]] in [[Taipei, Taiwan]]]]
 
Known during his childhood as Temüjin, Genghis Khan was a son of a Mongol chieftain. As a young man he rose very rapidly by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. The most powerful Mongol leader at the time was Kurtait; he was given the Chinese title "Wang", which means King.<ref>E.D. Philips The Mongols p. 37</ref> Temujin went to war against Kurtait (now Wang Khan). After Temujin defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan. He then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin. The term Mongol came to be used to refer to all Mongolic speaking tribes under the control of Genghis Khan. His most powerful allies were his father's friend, [[Keraites|Khereid]] chieftain [[Toghrul]], and Temujin's childhood ''anda'' (i.e. [[blood brother]]) [[Jamukha]] of the Jadran clan. With their help, Temujin defeated the Merkit tribe, rescued his wife Börte, and went on to defeat the Naimans and the Tatars.<ref name=morgan-49>Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 49–73.</ref>
 
Temujin forbade looting of his enemies without permission, and he implemented a policy of sharing spoils with his warriors and their families instead of giving it all to the aristocrats.<ref>Riasanovsky. ''Fundamental Principles of Mongol law''. p. 83.</ref> These policies brought him into conflict with his uncles, who were also legitimate heirs to the throne; they regarded Temujin not as a leader but as an insolent usurper. This dissatisfaction spread to his generals and other associates, and some Mongols who had previously been allies broke their allegiance.<ref name=morgan-49 /> War ensued, and Temujin and the forces still loyal to him prevailed, defeating the remaining rival tribes between 1203 and 1205 and bringing them under his sway. In 1206, Temujin was crowned as the [[khagan]] (Emperor) of the ''Yekhe Mongol Ulus'' (Great Mongol State) at a [[Kurultai]] (general assembly/council). It was there that he assumed the title of Genghis Khan (universal leader) instead of one of the old tribal titles such as Gur Khan or Tayang Khan, marking the start of the Mongol Empire.<ref name="morgan-49" />
 
=== Early organization ===
[[File:Dschingis Khan 01.jpg|thumb|[[Genghis Khan]] ascended the throne in the Ikh Khuraldai region in the Onan river, from the [[Jami' al-tawarikh]].]]
 
Genghis Khan introduced many innovative ways of organizing his army: for example dividing it into decimal subsections of arbans (10 soldiers), zuuns (100), [[Mingghan]]s (1000), and [[Tumen (unit)|tumens]] (10,000). The [[Kheshig]], the [[imperial guard]], was founded and divided into day ([[khorchin]] [[torghuds]]) and night ([[khevtuul]]) guards.<ref>Ratchnevsky. p. 191.</ref> Genghis rewarded those who had been loyal to him and placed them in high positions, as heads of army units and households, even though many of them came from very low-ranking clans.<ref name="Secret history. p. 203">''Secret history''. p. 203.</ref>
 
Compared to the units he gave to his loyal companions, those assigned to his own family members were relatively few. He proclaimed a new code of law of the empire, [[Ikh Zasag]] or [[Yassa]]; later he expanded it to cover much of the everyday life and political affairs of the nomads. He forbade the selling of women, theft, fighting among the Mongols, and the hunting of animals during the breeding season.<ref name="Secret history. p. 203" />
 
He appointed his stepbrother [[Shikhikhutug]] as supreme judge (jarughachi), ordering him to keep records of the empire. In addition to laws regarding family, food, and the army, Genghis also decreed religious freedom and supported domestic and international trade. He exempted the poor and the clergy from taxation.<ref>Vladimortsov. p. 74.</ref> He also encouraged literacy and the adaptation of the [[Uyghur script]] into what would become the [[Mongolian script]] of the empire, ordering the [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]] [[Tata-tonga]], who had previously served the khan of [[Naimans]], to instruct his sons.<ref>Weatherford. p. 70.</ref>
 
====Push into Central Asia====
{{Main|Mongol invasion of Central Asia}}
[[File:Mongol Empire c.1207.png|thumb|Mongol Empire circa 1207]]
 
Genghis quickly came into conflict with the Jin dynasty of the Jurchens and the [[Western Xia]] of the [[Tanguts]] in northern China. He also had to deal with two other powers, [[Mongol invasions of Tibet|Tibet]] and [[Qara Khitai]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Man |first=John |title=Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection |date=2004 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |location=New York |page=116}}</ref>
 
Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, making the Mongol Empire the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with the Mongol aristocracy, constituted the ruling class.<ref>Morgan. pp. 99–101.</ref>
 
====Religious policies====
Prior to the three western khanates' adoption of Islam, Genghis Khan and a number of his Yuan successors placed restrictions on religious practices they saw as alien. Muslims, including [[Hui people|Hui]], and Jews, were collectively referred to as ''Huihui''. Muslims were forbidden from [[Islamic dietary laws|Halal]] or [[Dhabihah|''Zabiha'' butchering]], while Jews were similarly forbidden from [[Kashrut]] or [[Shechita|''Shehita'' butchering]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7_4Gr9Q438C&pg=PA230 |title=Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road|author=Johan Elverskog|year=2010|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|edition=illustrated|page=228|isbn=978-0-8122-4237-9|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref> Referring to the conquered subjects as "our slaves," Genghis Khan demanded they no longer be able to refuse food or drink, and imposed restrictions on slaughter. Muslims had to slaughter sheep in secret.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUEswLE4SWUC&pg=PA24 |title=China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement and sects|author=Michael Dillon|year=1999|publisher=Curzon Press|location=Richmond|page=24|isbn=978-0-7007-1026-3|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref>
 
<blockquote>Among all the [subject] alien peoples only the Hui-hui say "we do not eat Mongol food". [Cinggis Qa’an replied:] "By the aid of heaven we have pacified you; you are our slaves. Yet you do not eat our food or drink. How can this be right?" He thereupon made them eat. "If you slaughter sheep, you will be considered guilty of a crime." He issued a regulation to that effect ... [In 1279/1280 under Qubilai] all the Muslims say: “if someone else slaughters [the animal] we do not eat". Because the poor people are upset by this, from now on, Musuluman [Muslim] Huihui and Zhuhu [Jewish] Huihui, no matter who kills [the animal] will eat [it] and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves, and cease the rite of circumcision.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamicpopulation.com/asia/China/China_integration%20of%20religious%20minority.pdf|title=The Integration of Religious Minorities in China: The Case of Chinese Muslims|first=Donald Daniel|last=Leslie|year=1998|page=12|publisher=The Fifty-ninth George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology|access-date=30 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217112014/http://islamicpopulation.com/asia/China/China_integration%20of%20religious%20minority.pdf|archive-date=17 December 2010|df=dmy}}</ref></blockquote>
 
Genghis Khan arranged for the Chinese Taoist master [[Qiu Chuji]] to visit him in Afghanistan, and also gave his subjects the right to religious freedom, despite his own shamanistic beliefs.
 
===Death of Genghis Khan and expansion under Ögedei (1227–1241)===
{{main|Mongol invasions and conquests}}
[[File:CoronationOfOgodei1229.jpg|thumb|Coronation of [[Ögedei Khan]] in 1229 as the successor of Genghis Khan. By [[Rashid-al-Din Hamadani|Rashid al-Din]], early 14th century.]]
 
Genghis Khan died on 18 August 1227, by which time the Mongol Empire ruled from the Pacific Ocean to the [[Caspian Sea]], an empire twice the size of the [[Roman Empire]] or the Muslim [[Caliphate]] at their height.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} Genghis named his third son, the charismatic [[Ögedei Khan|Ögedei]], as his heir. According to Mongol tradition, Genghis Khan was [[Tomb of Genghis Khan|buried in a secret location]]. The regency was originally held by Ögedei's younger brother [[Tolui]] until Ögedei's formal election at the kurultai in 1229.<ref>Man. ''Genghis Khan''. p. 288.</ref>
 
Among his first actions Ögedei sent troops to subjugate the [[Bashkirs]], [[Bulgars]], and other nations in the Kipchak-controlled steppes.<ref>Saunders. p. 81.</ref> In the east, Ögedei's armies re-established Mongol authority in Manchuria, crushing the [[Puxian Wannu|Eastern Xia]] regime and the [[Tungusic peoples|Water Tatars]]. In 1230, the great khan personally led his army in the campaign against the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] of China. Ögedei's general [[Subutai]] captured the capital of Emperor [[Emperor Aizong of Jin|Wanyan Shouxu]] in the [[Mongol siege of Kaifeng|siege of Kaifeng]] in 1232.<ref>Atwood. p. 277.</ref> The Jin dynasty collapsed in 1234 when the [[Siege of Caizhou|Mongols captured Caizhou]], the town to which Wanyan Shouxu had fled. In 1234, three armies commanded by Ögedei's sons Kochu and Koten and the [[Tangut people|Tangut]] general Chagan invaded southern China. With the assistance of the [[Song dynasty]] the Mongols finished off the Jin in 1234.<ref>Rossabi. p. 221.</ref><ref>Atwood. p. 509.</ref>
 
Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin. Two Han Chinese leaders, [[Shi Tianze]], Liu Heima (劉黑馬, Liu Ni),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?ei=oj8sVYfZEYb4yASM8oCADQ&id=1yMnAQAAIAAJ&dq=liu+heima+mongols&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=liu+heima+ Collectif 2002] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916005621/https://books.google.com/books?ei=oj8sVYfZEYb4yASM8oCADQ&id=1yMnAQAAIAAJ&dq=liu+heima+mongols&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=liu+heima+ |date=16 September 2015}}, p. 147.</ref> and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NfzOAAAAMAAJ&q=Ogodei+divided+them+into+three+tiimens+%28Chinese:+wan-hu%29+and+thirty-six+minqat+commanded+by+the+Khitan+Hsiao+Cha-la+and+Hans+Liu+Ni+%28Heima%29+and+Shi-+T%27ien-tse.+By+1234,+three+and+perhaps+more+lumen-it+noyad+were+posted.+The+three+...&dq=Ogodei+divided+them+into+three+tiimens+%28Chinese:+wan-hu%29+and+thirty-six+minqat+commanded+by+the+Khitan+Hsiao+Cha-la+and+Hans+Liu+Ni+%28Heima%29+and+Shi-+T%27ien-tse.+By+1234,+three+and+perhaps+more+lumen-it+noyad+were+posted.+The+three+...&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_z8sVYkri6rJBIT1gMgH&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA May 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922090127/https://books.google.com/books?id=NfzOAAAAMAAJ&q=Ogodei+divided+them+into+three+tiimens+%28Chinese:+wan-hu%29+and+thirty-six+minqat+commanded+by+the+Khitan+Hsiao+Cha-la+and+Hans+Liu+Ni+%28Heima%29+and+Shi-+T%27ien-tse.+By+1234,+three+and+perhaps+more+lumen-it+noyad+were+posted.+The+three+...&dq=Ogodei+divided+them+into+three+tiimens+%28Chinese:+wan-hu%29+and+thirty-six+minqat+commanded+by+the+Khitan+Hsiao+Cha-la+and+Hans+Liu+Ni+%28Heima%29+and+Shi-+T%27ien-tse.+By+1234,+three+and+perhaps+more+lumen-it+noyad+were+posted.+The+three+...&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_z8sVYkri6rJBIT1gMgH&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA |date=22 September 2015}}, p. 50.</ref> Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=F00qAQAAMAAJ&q=%28Brief+history+of+the+Black+Tartars%29+which+lists+the+men+who+held+posts+under+Og%C3%B6dei,+or+more+precisely,+from+the+last+two+families,+Shi+Tianze+and+Liu+Heima+%23%23%23%23%23,+see+Meng-ta+peilu+und+Hei-ta+shih+liieh,+translated+by+E.+Haenisch+and+Yao+Ts%27ung-wu,+edited+by+P.+Olbricht+and+E.+Pinks,+%E2%80%9CAsiatische+Forschungen%E2%80%9D,+Bd.+56+%28Wiesbaden:+Otto+Harrassowitz,+1980%29,+pp.+202-206.+and+professional&dq=%28Brief+history+of+the+Black+Tartars%29+which+lists+the+men+who+held+posts+under+Og%C3%B6dei,+or+more+precisely,+from+the+last+two+families,+Shi+Tianze+and+Liu+Heima+%23%23%23%23%23,+see+Meng-ta+peilu+und+Hei-ta+shih+liieh,+translated+by+E.+Haenisch+and+Yao+Ts%27ung-wu,+edited+by+P.+Olbricht+and+E.+Pinks,+%E2%80%9CAsiatische+Forschungen%E2%80%9D,+Bd.+56+%28Wiesbaden:+Otto+Harrassowitz,+1980%29,+pp.+202-206.+and+professional&hl=en&sa=X&ei=f0AsVd_hPM-KyASpzoHADg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA Schram 1987] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017141939/https://books.google.com/books?id=F00qAQAAMAAJ&q=%28Brief+history+of+the+Black+Tartars%29+which+lists+the+men+who+held+posts+under+Og%C3%B6dei,+or+more+precisely,+from+the+last+two+families,+Shi+Tianze+and+Liu+Heima+%23%23%23%23%23,+see+Meng-ta+peilu+und+Hei-ta+shih+liieh,+translated+by+E.+Haenisch+and+Yao+Ts%27ung-wu,+edited+by+P.+Olbricht+and+E.+Pinks,+%E2%80%9CAsiatische+Forschungen%E2%80%9D,+Bd.+56+%28Wiesbaden:+Otto+Harrassowitz,+1980%29,+pp.+202-206.+and+professional&dq=%28Brief+history+of+the+Black+Tartars%29+which+lists+the+men+who+held+posts+under+Og%C3%B6dei,+or+more+precisely,+from+the+last+two+families,+Shi+Tianze+and+Liu+Heima+%23%23%23%23%23,+see+Meng-ta+peilu+und+Hei-ta+shih+liieh,+translated+by+E.+Haenisch+and+Yao+Ts%27ung-wu,+edited+by+P.+Olbricht+and+E.+Pinks,+%E2%80%9CAsiatische+Forschungen%E2%80%9D,+Bd.+56+%28Wiesbaden:+Otto+Harrassowitz,+1980%29,+pp.+202-206.+and+professional&hl=en&sa=X&ei=f0AsVd_hPM-KyASpzoHADg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA |date=17 October 2015}}, p. 130.</ref> Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MztuAAAAMAAJ&q=liu+heima+mongols&dq=liu+heima+mongols&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oj8sVYfZEYb4yASM8oCADQ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg eds. Seaman, Marks 1991] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921110546/https://books.google.com/books?id=MztuAAAAMAAJ&q=liu+heima+mongols&dq=liu+heima+mongols&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oj8sVYfZEYb4yASM8oCADQ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg |date=21 September 2015}}, p. 175.</ref> There were four Han Tumens and three Khitan Tumens, with each Tumen consisting of 10,000 troops. The Yuan dynasty created a Han army 漢軍 from Jin defectors, and another of ex-Song troops called the Newly Submitted Army 新附軍.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8hOgAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA66&dq=han+tumen+khitan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Ij8sVefWHaXIsATnqID4AQ&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=han%20tumen%20khitan&f=false Hucker 1985] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910174259/https://books.google.com/books?id=8hOgAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA66&dq=han+tumen+khitan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Ij8sVefWHaXIsATnqID4AQ&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=han%20tumen%20khitan&f=false |date=10 September 2015}}, p. 66.</ref>
 
In the West Ögedei's general [[Chormaqan]] destroyed [[Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu]], the last [[shah]] of the [[Khwarazmian dynasty|Khwarizmian Empire]]. The small kingdoms in southern Persia voluntarily accepted Mongol supremacy.<ref>May. ''Chormaqan''. p. 29.</ref><ref>Amitai. ''The Mamluk-Ilkhanid war''</ref> In East Asia, there were a number of [[Mongol invasions of Korea|Mongolian campaigns into Goryeo Korea]], but Ögedei's attempt to annex the [[Korean Peninsula]] met with little success. [[Gojong of Goryeo|Gojong]], the king of [[Goryeo]], surrendered but later revolted and massacred Mongol ''[[darughachi]]s'' (overseers); he then moved his imperial court from [[Gaeseong]] to [[Ganghwa Island]].<ref>Grousset. p. 259.</ref>
 
====Invasions of Kievan Rus' and central China====
{{main|Mongol invasion of Rus'|Mongol invasion of China}}
{{See also|Mongol invasions of India|Mongol invasions of Korea|Mongol conquest of Tibet}}
[[File:Sacking of Suzdal by Batu Khan.jpg|thumb|alt=Painting of a battle scene|The sack of [[Suzdal]] by [[Batu Khan]] in 1238, [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]] from a 16th-century chronicle]]
 
Meanwhile, in an offensive action against the [[Song dynasty]], Mongol armies captured Siyang-yang, the [[Yangtze River|Yangtze]] and [[Sichuan]], but did not secure their control over the conquered areas. The Song generals were able to recapture Siyang-yang from the Mongols in 1239. After the sudden death of Ögedei's son Kochu in Chinese territory the Mongols withdrew from southern China, although Kochu's brother Prince Koten invaded [[Tibet]] immediately after their withdrawal.<ref name=morgan-49 />
 
[[Batu Khan]], another grandson of Genghis Khan, overran the territories of the [[Volga Bulgaria|Bulgars]], the [[Alans]], the Kypchaks, Bashkirs, [[Mordvin]]s, [[Chuvash people|Chuvash]], and other nations of the southern [[Eurasian Steppe#Russian Steppe|Russian steppe]]. By 1237 the Mongols were encroaching upon [[Principality of Ryazan|Ryazan]], the first Kievan Rus' principality they were to attack. After a three-day siege involving fierce fighting, the Mongols captured the city and massacred its inhabitants. They then proceeded to destroy the army of the [[Grand Principality of Vladimir]] at the [[Battle of the Sit River]].<ref name="Timothy May. Chormaqan. p. 32">Timothy May. ''Chormaqan''. p. 32.</ref>
 
The Mongols captured the [[Alania]] capital [[Maghas]] in 1238. By 1240, all Kievan Rus' [[Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'|had fallen to the Asian invaders]] except for a few northern cities. Mongol troops under Chormaqan in Persia [[Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia|connecting his invasion]] of [[Transcaucasia]] with the invasion of Batu and Subutai, forced the [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] and [[Armenia]]n nobles to surrender as well.<ref name="Timothy May. Chormaqan. p. 32" />
 
[[Giovanni de Plano Carpini]], the pope's envoy to the Mongol great khan, travelled through [[Kiev]] in February 1246 and wrote:
 
{{blockquote|They [the Mongols] attacked Russia, where they made great havoc, destroying cities and fortresses and slaughtering men; and they laid siege to Kiev, the capital of Russia; after they had besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death. When we were journeying through that land we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there are at the present time scarce two hundred houses there and the inhabitants are kept in complete slavery.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html |title=The Destruction of Kiev |publisher=Tspace.library.utoronto.ca |access-date=12 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/6473/20160819150506/https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html |archive-date=19 August 2016}}</ref>}}
 
Despite the military successes, strife continued within the Mongol ranks. Batu's relations with [[Güyük]], Ögedei's eldest son, and [[Büri]], the beloved grandson of [[Chagatai Khan]], remained tense and worsened during Batu's victory banquet in southern Kievan Rus'. Nevertheless, Güyük and Buri could not do anything to harm Batu's position as long as his uncle Ögedei was still alive. Ögedei continued with [[Mongol invasions of India|offensives into the Indian subcontinent]], temporarily investing [[Uchch]], [[Lahore]], and [[Multan]] of the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and stationing a Mongol overseer in [[Kashmir]],<ref>Jackson. ''Delhi Sultanate''. p. 105.</ref> though the invasions into India eventually failed and were forced to retreat. In northeastern Asia, Ögedei agreed to end the conflict with [[Goryeo]] by making it a client state and sent Mongolian princesses to wed Goryeo princes. He then reinforced his [[kheshig]] with the Koreans through both diplomacy and military force.<ref>Bor. p. 186.</ref><ref>Atwood. p. 297.</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=William E.|last=Henthorn|title=Korea: the Mongol invasions|publisher=E.J. Brill|year=1963|url=https://archive.org/details/koreamongolinvas00hent|pages=160, 183|access-date=13 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315092904/https://archive.org/details/koreamongolinvas00hent|archive-date=15 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
====Push into central Europe====
{{Main|Mongol invasion of Europe}}
[[File:Legnica.JPG|thumb|alt=Painting of a battle scene with mounted warriors on either side|The [[Battle of Legnica|battle of Liegnitz]], 1241. From a medieval manuscript of the [[Hedwig of Poland|Hedwig]] legend.]]
 
The [[Mongol invasion of Europe|advance into Europe]] continued with Mongol invasions of Poland and Hungary. When the western flank of the Mongols plundered Polish cities, a European alliance among the [[Poles]], the [[Moravia]]ns, and the Christian military orders of the [[Hospitallers]], [[Teutonic Knights]] and the [[Knights Templar|Templars]] assembled sufficient forces to halt, although briefly, the Mongol advance [[Battle of Legnica|at Legnica]]. The [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]] army, their [[Croats|Croatian allies]] and the Knights Templar were beaten by the Mongols at the banks of the [[battle of Mohi|Sajo River]] on 11 April 1241. Before Batu's forces could continue on to [[Vienna]] and northern [[Albania]], news of Ögedei's death in December 1241 brought a halt to the invasion.<ref name="Weatherford. p. 158">Weatherford. p. 158.</ref><ref>Matthew Paris. ''English History'' (trans. by [[J. A. Giles]]). p. 348.</ref> As was customary in Mongol military tradition, all princes of Genghis's line had to attend the kurultai to elect a successor. Batu and his western Mongol army withdrew from Central Europe the next year.<ref name="Morgan. p. 104">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. p. 104.</ref> Today researchers doubt that Ögedei's death was the sole reason for the Mongols withdrawal. Batu did not return to Mongolia, so a new khan was not elected until 1246. Climatic and environmental factors, as well as the strong fortifications and castles of Europe, played an important role in the Mongols' decision to withdraw.<ref>{{citation |author=Stephen Pow |editor=Yang L. |editor2=Bork HR. |editor3=Fang X. |editor4=Mischke S. |title=Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road |chapter=Climatic and Environmental Limiting Factors in the Mongol Empire's Westward Expansion: Exploring Causes for the Mongol Withdrawal from Hungary in 1242 |publisher=Springer Open |location=Cham |pages=301–321 |isbn=978-3-030-00727-0 |date=2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Deep ditches and well-built walls: a reappraisal of the Mongol withdrawal from Europe in 1242|periodical=Libraries and Cultural Resources|publisher=University of Calgary|url=https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/11023/232|url-status=|format=|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|last=Stephen Pow|date=2012|language=en|pages=|doi=10.11575/PRISM/25533|quote=}}</ref>
 
===Post-Ögedei power struggles (1241–1251)===
Following the Great Khan Ögedei's death in 1241, and before the next kurultai, Ögedei's widow [[Töregene]] took over the empire. She persecuted her husband's Khitan and Muslim officials and gave high positions to her own allies. She built palaces, cathedrals, and social structures on an imperial scale, supporting religion and education.<ref name="Jackson. p. 95">Jackson. ''Mongols and the West''. p. 95.</ref> She was able to win over most Mongol aristocrats to support Ögedei's son [[Güyük Khan|Güyük]]. But Batu, ruler of the [[Golden Horde]], refused to come to the kurultai, claiming that he was ill and that the Mongolian climate was too harsh for him. The resulting stalemate lasted more than four years and further destabilized the unity of the empire.<ref name="Jackson. p. 95" />
 
[[File:Цар Батий на престолі.jpg|thumb|left|[[Batu Khan]] consolidates the [[Golden Horde]]]]
When Genghis Khan's youngest brother [[Temüge]] threatened to seize the throne, Güyük came to Karakorum to try to secure his position.<ref>The Academy of Russian science and the academy of Mongolian science ''Tataro-Mongols in Europe and Asia''. p. 89.</ref> Batu eventually agreed to send his brothers and generals to the kurultai convened by Töregene in 1246. Güyük by this time was ill and alcoholic, but his campaigns in Manchuria and Europe gave him the kind of stature necessary for a great khan. He was duly elected at a ceremony attended by Mongols and foreign dignitaries from both within and without the empire&nbsp;— leaders of vassal nations, representatives from Rome, and other entities who came to the kurultai to show their respects and conduct diplomacy.<ref>Weatherford. p. 163.</ref><ref>Man. ''Kublai Khan''. p. 28.</ref>
 
[[File:LetterGuyugToInnocence.jpg|thumb|upright=0.45|[[Güyük Khan]] demanding [[Pope Innocent IV]]'s submission. The 1246 [[Letter from Güyük Khan to Pope Innocent IV|letter]] was written in Persian.]]
Güyük took steps to reduce corruption, announcing that he would continue the policies of his father Ögedei, not those of Töregene. He punished Töregene's supporters, except for governor [[Arghun the Elder]]. He also replaced young [[Qara Hülëgü]], the khan of the [[Chagatai Khanate]], with his favorite cousin [[Yesü Möngke]], to assert his newly conferred powers.<ref name=atwood-255>Atwood. p. 255.</ref> He restored his father's officials to their former positions and was surrounded by Uyghur, [[Naimans|Naiman]] and Central Asian officials, favoring [[Han Chinese]] commanders who had helped his father conquer Northern China. He continued military operations in Korea, advanced into Song China in the south, and into Iraq in the west, and ordered an empire-wide census. Güyük also divided the Sultanate of Rum between [[Kaykaus II|Izz-ad-Din Kaykawus]] and [[Kilij Arslan IV|Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan]], though Kaykawus disagreed with this decision.<ref name=atwood-255 />
 
Not all parts of the empire respected Güyük's election. The [[Hashshashin]]s, former Mongol allies whose Grand Master Hasan Jalalud-Din had offered his submission to Genghis Khan in 1221, angered Güyük by refusing to submit. Instead he murdered the Mongol generals in Persia. Güyük appointed his best friend's father [[Eljigidei]] as chief commander of the troops in Persia and gave them the task of both reducing the strongholds of the [[Nizari Ismaili state|Nizari Ismailis]] and conquering the [[Abbasids]] at the center of the Islamic world, Iran and [[Iraq]].<ref name=atwood-255 /><ref>Weatherford. p. 179.</ref>
 
====Death of Güyük (1248)====
In 1248, Güyük raised more troops and suddenly marched westward from the Mongol capital of Karakorum. The reasoning was unclear. Some sources wrote that he sought to recuperate at his personal estate, Emyl; others suggested that he might have been moving to join Eljigidei to conduct a full-scale conquest of the Middle East, or possibly to make a surprise attack on his rival cousin Batu Khan in Russia.<ref name="Atwood. p. 213">Atwood. p. 213.</ref>
 
Suspicious of Güyük's motives, [[Sorghaghtani Beki]], the widow of Genghis's son Tolui, secretly warned her nephew Batu of Güyük's approach. Batu had himself been traveling eastward at the time, possibly to pay homage, or perhaps with other plans in mind. Before the forces of Batu and Güyük met, Güyük, sick and worn out by travel, died en route at Qum-Senggir (Hong-siang-yi-eulh) in [[Xinjiang]], possibly a victim of poison.<ref name="Atwood. p. 213" />
 
[[File:Turtle-Karakorum.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of a field with a large stone tortoise|A [[Stone Turtle]] at the site of the Mongol capital, [[Karakorum]].]]
 
Güyük's widow [[Oghul Qaimish]] stepped forward to take control of the empire, but she lacked the skills of her mother-in-law Töregene, and her young sons Khoja and Naku and other princes challenged her authority. To decide on a new great khan, Batu called a kurultai on his own territory in 1250. As it was far from the Mongolian heartland, members of the Ögedeid and Chagataid families refused to attend. The kurultai offered the throne to Batu, but he rejected it, claiming he had no interest in the position.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 159">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. p. 159.</ref> Batu instead nominated [[Möngke Khan|Möngke]], a grandson of Genghis from his son Tolui's lineage. Möngke was leading a Mongol army in Russia, the northern Caucasus and Hungary. The pro-Tolui faction supported Batu's choice, and Möngke was elected; though given the kurultai's limited attendance and location, it was of questionable validity.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 159" />
 
Batu sent Möngke, under the protection of his brothers, [[Berke]] and Tukhtemur, and his son [[Sartaq]] to assemble a more formal kurultai at Kodoe Aral in the heartland. The supporters of Möngke repeatedly invited Oghul Qaimish and the other major Ögedeid and Chagataid princes to attend the kurultai, but they refused each time. The Ögedeid and Chagataid princes refused to accept a descendant of Genghis's son Tolui as leader, demanding that only descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei could be great khan.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 159" />
 
===Rule of Möngke Khan (1251–1259)===
 
When Möngke's mother Sorghaghtani and their cousin [[Berke]] organized a second kurultai on 1 July 1251, the assembled throng proclaimed Möngke great khan of the Mongol Empire. This marked a major shift in the leadership of the empire, transferring power from the descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei to the descendants of Genghis's son Tolui. The decision was acknowledged by a few of the Ögedeid and Chagataid princes, such as Möngke's cousin [[Kadan]] and the deposed khan Qara Hülëgü, but one of the other legitimate heirs, Ögedei's grandson Shiremun, sought to topple Möngke.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 103">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 103–04.</ref>
 
Shiremun moved with his own forces toward the emperor's nomadic palace with a plan for an armed attack, but Möngke was alerted by his falconer of the plan. Möngke ordered an investigation of the plot, which led to a series of major trials all across the empire. Many members of the Mongol elite were found guilty and put to death, with estimates ranging from 77 to 300, though princes of Genghis's royal line were often exiled rather than executed.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 103" />
 
Möngke confiscated the estates of the Ögedeid and the Chagatai families and shared the western part of the empire with his ally Batu Khan. After the bloody purge, Möngke ordered a general amnesty for prisoners and captives, but thereafter the power of the great khan's throne remained firmly with the descendants of Tolui.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 103" />
 
====Administrative reforms====
Möngke was a serious man who followed the laws of his ancestors and avoided alcoholism. He was tolerant of outside religions and artistic styles, leading to the building of foreign merchants' quarters, [[Buddhist monasteries]], [[mosques]], and [[Christian churches]] in the Mongol capital. As construction projects continued, Karakorum was adorned with Chinese, European, and [[Persian architecture]]. One famous example was a large silver tree with cleverly designed pipes that dispensed various drinks. The tree, topped by a triumphant angel, was crafted by [[Guillaume Boucher]], a Parisian goldsmith.<ref>{{cite journal|title=European Captives and Craftsmen Among the Mongols, 1231–1255|author=Guzman, Gregory G.|journal=[[The Historian (journal)|The Historian]]|volume=72|issue=1|pages=122–50|date=Spring 2010|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2009.00259.x|s2cid=144625106}}</ref>
 
[[File:Hulagu Khan.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Stylized line drawing of Hulagu, seated and drinking from a bowl|[[Hulagu]], Genghis Khan's grandson and founder of the [[Il-Khanate]]. From a medieval Persian manuscript.]]
 
Although he had a strong Chinese contingent, Möngke relied heavily on Muslim and Mongol administrators and launched a series of economic reforms to make government expenses more predictable. His court limited government spending and prohibited nobles and troops from abusing civilians or issuing edicts without authorization. He commuted the contribution system to a fixed poll tax which was collected by imperial agents and forwarded to units in need.<ref name="Allsen. p. 280">Allsen. ''Mongol Imperialism''. p. 280.</ref> His court also tried to lighten the [[tax|tax burden]] on commoners by reducing tax rates. He also centralized control of monetary affairs and reinforced the guards at the postal relays. Möngke ordered an empire-wide census in 1252 that took several years to complete and was not finished until [[Novgorod]] in the far northwest was counted in 1258.<ref name="Allsen. p. 280" />
 
In another move to consolidate his power, Möngke assigned his brothers [[Hulagu]] and [[Kublai]] to rule Persia and Mongol-held China respectively. In the southern part of the empire he continued his predecessors' struggle against the Song dynasty. In order to outflank the Song from three directions, Möngke dispatched Mongol armies under his brother Kublai to [[Yunnan]], and under his uncle Iyeku to subdue Korea and pressure the Song from that direction as well.<ref name=atwood-255 />
 
Kublai conquered the [[Dali Kingdom]] in 1253 after the Dali King Duan Xingzhi defected to the Mongols and helped them conquer the rest of [[Yunnan]]. Möngke's general Qoridai stabilized his control over Tibet, inducing leading monasteries to submit to Mongol rule. Subutai's son Uryankhadai reduced the neighboring peoples of Yunnan to submission and went to war with the kingdom of [[Đại Việt]] under the [[Trần dynasty]] in northern Vietnam in 1258, but they had to draw back.<ref name=atwood-255 /> The Mongol Empire tried to invade Đại Việt again in 1285 and 1287 but were defeated both times.
 
====New invasions of the Middle East and Southern China====
{{main|Mongol invasions of the Levant}}
{{See also|Mongol invasion of China|Siege of Baghdad (1258)}}
[[File:DiezAlbumsFallOfBaghdad.jpg|thumb|Mongol invasion of Baghdad]]
 
After stabilizing the empire's finances, Möngke once again sought to expand its borders. At kurultais in Karakorum in 1253 and 1258 he approved new invasions of the Middle East and [[South Central China|south China]]. Möngke put Hulagu in overall charge of military and civil affairs in Persia, and appointed Chagataids and Jochids to join Hulagu's army.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 129">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. p. 129.</ref>
 
The Muslims from [[Qazvin]] denounced the menace of the [[Nizari Ismaili state|Nizari Ismailis]], a well-known sect of [[Shiites]]. The Mongol Naiman commander [[Kitbuqa]] began to assault several Ismaili fortresses in 1253, before Hulagu advanced in 1256. Ismaili Grand Master [[Rukn al-Din Khurshah]] surrendered in 1257 and was executed. All of the [[List of Ismaili castles|Ismaili strongholds]] in Persia were destroyed by Hulagu's army in 1257, except for [[Gerdkuh|Girdkuh]] which held out until 1271.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 129" />
 
[[File:Bagdad1258.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Colorful medieval depiction of a siege, showing the city of Baghdad surrounded by walls, and the Mongol army outside|[[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Fall of Baghdad, 1258]]]]
 
The center of the Islamic Empire at the time was Baghdad, which had held power for 500 years but was suffering internal divisions. When its caliph [[al-Mustasim]] refused to submit to the Mongols, [[Battle of Baghdad (1258)|Baghdad was besieged and captured]] by the Mongols in 1258 and subjected to a merciless sack, an event considered one of the most catastrophic events in the history of Islam, and sometimes compared to the [[Siege of Mecca (683)|rupture of the Kaaba]]. With the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, Hulagu had an open route to Syria and moved against the other Muslim powers in the region.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 132">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 132–35.</ref>
 
His army advanced toward [[Ayyubid]]-ruled Syria, capturing small local states en route. The sultan [[Al-Nasir Yusuf]] of the Ayyubids refused to show himself before Hulagu; however, he had accepted Mongol supremacy two decades earlier. When Hulagu headed further west, the [[Lesser Armenia|Armenians]] from [[Cilicia]], the [[Seljuks]] from [[Sultanate of Rum|Rum]] and the Christian realms of [[Principality of Antioch|Antioch]] and [[County of Tripoli|Tripoli]] submitted to Mongol authority, joining them in their assault against the Muslims. While some cities surrendered without resisting, others, such as Mayafarriqin fought back; their populations were massacred and the cities were sacked.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 132" />
 
====Death of Möngke Khan (1259)====
[[File:MongolEmpire.jpg|thumb|alt=Map of Asia|The extent of the Mongol Empire after the death of [[Möngke Khan]] (reigned 1251–1259).]]
 
Meanwhile, in the northwestern portion of the empire, Batu's successor and younger brother Berke sent punitive expeditions to [[Ukraine]], [[Belarus]], [[Lithuania]] and [[Poland]]. Dissension began brewing between the northwestern and southwestern sections of the Mongol Empire as Batu suspected that Hulagu's invasion of Western Asia would result in the elimination of Batu's own dominance there.<ref>Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 127–28.</ref>
 
In the southern part of the empire, Möngke Khan himself led his army, but did not complete the conquest of China. Military operations were generally successful, but prolonged, so the forces did not withdraw to the north as was customary when the weather turned hot. Disease ravaged the Mongol forces with bloody epidemics, and Möngke died there on 11 August 1259. This event began a new chapter in the history of the Mongols, as again a decision needed to be made on a new great khan. Mongol armies across the empire withdrew from their campaigns to convene a new kurultai.<ref>Lane. p. 9.</ref>
 
===Disunity===
<!--Linked from [[Mongol invasions and conquests]]-->
 
====Dispute over succession====
[[File:DiezAlbumsArmedRiders II.jpg|thumb|The Mongols at war]]
Möngke's brother Hulagu broke off his successful military advance into Syria, withdrawing the bulk of his forces to [[Mughan]] and leaving only a small contingent under his general [[Kitbuqa]]. The opposing forces in the region, the Christian Crusaders and Muslim Mamluks, both recognizing that the Mongols were the greater threat, took advantage of the weakened state of the Mongol army and engaged in an unusual passive truce with each other.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 138">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. p. 138.</ref>
 
In 1260, the Mamluks advanced from Egypt, being allowed to camp and resupply near the Christian stronghold of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], and engaged Kitbuqa's forces just north of Galilee at the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]]. The Mongols were defeated, and Kitbuqa executed. This pivotal battle marked the western limit for Mongol expansion in the Middle East, and the Mongols were never again able to make serious military advances farther than Syria.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. p. 138" />
 
In a separate part of the empire, [[Kublai Khan]], another brother of Hulagu and Möngke, heard of the great khan's death at the Huai River in China. Rather than returning to the capital, he continued his advance into the [[Wuchang District|Wuchang]] area of China, near the [[Yangtze River]]. Their younger brother [[Ariq Böke|Ariqboke]] took advantage of the absence of Hulagu and Kublai, and used his position at the capital to win the title of great khan for himself, with representatives of all the family branches proclaiming him as the leader at the kurultai in Karakorum. When Kublai learned of this, he summoned his own kurultai at [[Kaiping]], and nearly all the senior princes and great [[noyan]]s in North China and Manchuria supported his own candidacy over that of Ariqboke.<ref name="Morgan. p. 104" />
 
====Mongolian Civil War====
{{See also|Toluid Civil War|Berke–Hulagu war}}
[[File:YuanEmperorAlbumKhubilaiPortrait.jpg|thumb|left|[[Kublai Khan]], [[Genghis Khan]]'s grandson and founder of the Yuan dynasty]]
 
Battles ensued between the armies of Kublai and those of his brother Ariqboke, which included forces still loyal to Möngke's previous administration. Kublai's army easily eliminated Ariqboke's supporters and seized control of the civil administration in southern Mongolia. Further challenges took place from their cousins, the Chagataids.<ref name="Wassaf p. 12">Wassaf. p. 12.{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref name="Jackson. p. 109">Jackson. ''Mongols and the West''. p. 109.</ref><ref name="Barthold. Turkestan. p. 488">Barthold. ''Turkestan''. p. 488.</ref> Kublai sent Abishka, a Chagataid prince loyal to him, to take charge of Chagatai's realm. But Ariqboke captured and then executed Abishka, having his own man [[Alghu]] crowned there instead. Kublai's new administration blockaded Ariqboke in Mongolia to cut off food supplies, causing a famine. Karakorum fell quickly to Kublai, but Ariqboke rallied and re-took the capital in 1261.<ref name="Wassaf p. 12" /><ref name="Jackson. p. 109" /><ref name="Barthold. Turkestan. p. 488" />
 
In southwestern Ilkhanate, Hulagu was loyal to his brother Kublai, but clashes with their cousin Berke, a Muslim and the ruler of the Golden Horde, began in 1262. The suspicious deaths of Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, unequal distribution of war booty, and Hulagu's massacres of Muslims increased the anger of Berke, who considered supporting a rebellion of the Georgian Kingdom against Hulagu's rule in 1259–1260.<ref>L. N.Gumilev, A. Kruchki. ''Black legend''</ref>{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}} Berke also forged an alliance with the Egyptian Mamluks against Hulagu and supported Kublai's rival claimant, Ariqboke.<ref name=barthold>Barthold. ''Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion''. p. 446.</ref>
 
Hulagu died on 8 February 1264. Berke sought to take advantage and invade Hulagu's realm, but he died along the way, and a few months later Alghu Khan of the Chagatai Khanate died as well. Kublai named Hulagu's son [[Abaqa Khan|Abaqa]] as new Ilkhan, and nominated Batu's grandson [[Möngke Temür]] to lead the Golden Horde. Abaqa sought foreign alliances, such as attempting to form a [[Franco-Mongol alliance]] against the Egyptian Mamluks.<ref>Prawdin. ''Mongol Empire and Its Legacy''. p. 302.</ref> Ariqboqe surrendered to Kublai at [[Shangdu]] on 21 August 1264.<ref>Weatherford. p. 120.</ref>
 
==== Campaigns of Kublai Khan (1264–1294) ====
{{Main|Kublai Khan's campaigns}}
[[File:Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba.jpg|thumb|right|The [[samurai]] [[Takezaki Suenaga|Suenaga]] facing Mongol's bomb and Goryeo's arrows. ''[[Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba]]'' (蒙古襲来絵詞), circa 1293.]]
[[File:Mitsui Sukenaga.jpg|thumb|right|defeating the Mongolian invasion army (left) Samurai Mitsui Sukenaga (right)]]
[[File:Tagezaki Suenaga,Ekotoba5.jpg|thumb|right|Samurai Shiraishi clan]]
 
In the south, after [[Battle of Xiangyang|the fall of Xiangyang]] in 1273, the Mongols sought the final conquest of the Song dynasty in South China. In 1271, Kublai renamed the new Mongol regime in China as the [[Yuan dynasty]] and sought to [[sinicize]] his image as [[Emperor of China]] to win the control of the Chinese people. Kublai moved his headquarters to Khanbaliq, the genesis for what later became the modern city of [[Beijing]]. His establishment of a capital there was a controversial move to many Mongols who accused him of being too closely tied to [[Chinese culture]].<ref>Man. ''Kublai Khan''. p. 74.</ref><ref>Sh.Tseyen-Oidov – Ibid. p. 64.</ref>
 
The Mongols were eventually successful in their campaigns against (Song) China, and the Chinese [[Southern Song|Song imperial family]] surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, making the Mongols the first non-Chinese people to conquer all of China. Kublai used his base to build a powerful empire, creating an academy, offices, trade ports and canals, and sponsoring arts and science. Mongol records list 20,166 public schools created during his reign.<ref name=man>Man. ''Kublai Khan''. p. 207.</ref>
 
[[File:Mongol warrior of Genghis Khan.jpg|thumb|left|Mongol warrior on horseback, preparing a mounted archery shot.]]
 
After achieving actual or nominal dominion over much of Eurasia and successfully conquering China, Kublai pursued further expansion. His [[First Mongol invasion of Burma|invasions of Burma]] and [[Sakhalin]] were costly, and his [[Mongol invasions of Vietnam|attempted invasions]] of [[Đại Việt]] (northern Vietnam) and [[Champa]] (southern Vietnam) ended in devastating defeat, but secured vassal statuses of those countries. The Mongol armies were repeatedly beaten in Đại Việt and were crushed at the [[Battle of Bạch Đằng (1288)]].
 
Nogai and [[Köchü|Konchi]], the khan of the [[White Horde]], established friendly relations with the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate. Political disagreement among contending branches of the family over the office of great khan continued, but the economic and commercial success of the Mongol Empire continued despite the squabbling.<ref>Weatherford. p. 195.</ref><ref>Vernadsky. ''The Mongols and Russia''. pp. 344–66.{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref>Henryk Samsonowicz, Maria Bogucka. ''A Republic of Nobles''. p. 179.{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref>
 
In 1274 and again in 1281, Kublai Khan [[Mongol invasions of Japan|invaded Japan]] on two separate occasions. However, he was not able to conquer Japan.
 
===Disintegration into competing entities===
{{Main|Division of the Mongol Empire}}
[[File:Funérailles de Tchaghataï.jpeg|thumb|The funeral of [[Chagatai Khan]].]]
 
Major changes occurred in the Mongol Empire in the late 1200s. Kublai Khan, after having conquered all of China and established the Yuan dynasty, died in 1294. He was succeeded by his grandson [[Temür Khan]], who continued Kublai's policies. At the same time the [[Toluid Civil War]], along with the [[Berke–Hulagu war]] and the subsequent [[Kaidu–Kublai war]], greatly weakened the authority of the great khan over the entirety of the Mongol Empire and the empire fractured into autonomous khanates, the Yuan dynasty and the three western khanates: the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate. Only the Ilkhanate remained loyal to the Yuan court but endured its own power struggle, in part because of a dispute with the growing Islamic factions within the southwestern part of the empire.<ref name="ReferenceA">Prawdin.{{Page needed|date=February 2012}}</ref>
 
After the death of [[Kaidu]], the Chatagai ruler Duwa initiated a peace proposal and persuaded the Ögedeids to submit to Temür Khan.<ref>d.Ohson. ''History of the Mongols. p. II''. p. 355.{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref>Sh.Tseyen-Oidov. ''Genghis bogdoos Ligden khutagt khurtel (khaad)''. p. 81.{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref> In 1304, all of the khanates approved a peace treaty and accepted Yuan emperor Temür's supremacy.<ref>Vernadsky – ''The Mongols and Russia''. p. 74.</ref><ref>Oljeitu's letter to Philipp the Fair</ref><ref>J. J. Saunders ''The History of the Mongol conquests''</ref><ref>Howorth. p. 145.</ref> This established the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty over the western khanates, which was to last for several decades. This supremacy was based on weaker foundations than that of the earlier Khagans and each of the four khanates continued to develop separately and function as independent states.
 
Nearly a century of conquest and civil war was followed by relative stability, the ''[[Pax Mongolica]]'', and international trade and cultural exchanges flourished between Asia and Europe. Communication between the Yuan dynasty in China and the Ilkhanate in Persia further encouraged trade and commerce between east and west. Patterns of Yuan royal textiles could be found on the opposite side of the empire adorning Armenian decorations; trees and vegetables were transplanted across the empire; and technological innovations spread from Mongol dominions toward the West.<ref>Weatherford. p. 236.</ref>{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} [[Pope John XXII]] was presented a memorandum from the eastern church describing the Pax Mongolica: "... Khagan is one of the greatest monarchs and all lords of the state, e.g., the king of Almaligh (Chagatai Khanate), emperor Abu Said and Uzbek Khan, are his subjects, saluting his holiness to pay their respects."<ref>Vernadsky. p. 93.</ref> However, while the four khanates continued to interact with one another well into the 14th century, they did so as [[sovereign state]]s and never again pooled their resources in a cooperative military endeavor.<ref>The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, by Denis C. Twitchett, Herbert Franke, John King Fairbank, p413</ref>
 
====Development of the khanates====
[[File:Xian 2006 6-27.jpg|thumb|left|Mongol rider, [[Yuan dynasty]]]]
[[File:Temür Chabar Toqta Öldjeïtu.jpeg|thumb|A European depiction of the four khans, Temür (Yuan), Chapar ([[House of Ögedei]]), [[Toqta]] (Golden Horde), and Öljaitü (Ilkhanate), in the ''Fleur des histoires d'orient''.<ref>Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Division occidentale. Nouvelle acquisition française 886, fol. 37v</ref>]]
 
In spite of his conflicts with Kaidu and Duwa, Yuan emperor Temür established a tributary relationship with the war-like [[Shan people]] after his series of military operations against [[Thailand]] from 1297 to 1303. This was to mark the end of the southern expansion of the Mongols.
 
When [[Ghazan]] took the throne of the Ilkhanate in 1295, he formally accepted Islam as his own religion, marking a turning point in Mongol history after which Mongol Persia became more and more Islamic. Despite this, Ghazan continued to strengthen ties with Temür Khan and the Yuan dynasty in the east. It was politically useful to advertise the great khan's authority in the Ilkhanate, because the [[Golden Horde]] in Russia had long made claims on nearby Georgia.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Within four years, Ghazan began sending tribute to the Yuan court and appealing to other khans to accept Temür Khan as their overlord. He oversaw an extensive program of cultural and scientific interaction between the Ilkhanate and the Yuan dynasty in the following decades.<ref>Allsen. ''Culture and Conquest''. pp. 32–35.</ref>
 
Ghazan's faith may have been Islamic, but he continued his ancestors' war with the Egyptian Mamluks, and consulted with his old Mongolian advisers in his native tongue. He defeated the Mamluk army at the [[Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]] in 1299, but he was only briefly able to occupy Syria, due to distracting raids from the [[Chagatai Khanate]] under its ''de facto'' ruler [[Kaidu]], who was [[Kaidu–Kublai war|at war]] with both the Ilkhans and the Yuan dynasty.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
Struggling for influence within the Golden Horde, Kaidu sponsored his own candidate Kobeleg against [[Bayan (khan)|Bayan]] (r. 1299–1304), the khan of the White Horde. Bayan, after receiving military support from the Mongols in Russia, requested assistance from both Temür Khan and the Ilkhanate to organize a unified attack against Kaidu's forces. Temür was amenable and attacked Kaidu a year later. After a bloody battle with Temür's armies near the [[Zawkhan River]] in 1301, Kaidu died and was succeeded by [[Duwa]].<ref>René Grousset. ''The Empire of the Steppes''</ref><ref>Atwood. p. 445.</ref>
 
[[File:MongolsInHungary1241.jpg|thumb|Hungarian King [[Béla IV]] in flight from the Mongols under general [[Kadan]] of the [[Golden Horde]].]]
Duwa was challenged by Kaidu's son Chapar, but with the assistance of Temür, Duwa defeated the Ögedeids. [[Tokhta]] of the Golden Horde, also seeking a general peace, sent 20,000 men to buttress the Yuan frontier.<ref>Atwood. p. 106.</ref> Tokhta died in 1312, though, and was succeeded by [[Ozbeg]] (r. 1313–41), who seized the throne of the Golden Horde and persecuted non-Muslim Mongols. The Yuan's influence on the Horde was largely reversed and border clashes between Mongol states resumed. [[Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan]]'s envoys backed Tokhta's son against Ozbeg.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
In the Chagatai Khanate, [[Esen Buqa I]] (r. 1309–1318) was enthroned as khan after suppressing a sudden rebellion by Ögedei's descendants and driving Chapar into exile. The Yuan and Ilkhanid armies eventually attacked the Chagatai Khanate. Recognising the potential economic benefits and the Genghisid legacy, Ozbeg reopened friendly relations with the Yuan in 1326. He strengthened ties with the Muslim world as well, building mosques and other elaborate structures such as baths.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} By the second decade of the 14th century, Mongol invasions had further decreased. In 1323, [[Abu Sa'id (Ilkhanid dynasty)|Abu Said Khan]] (r. 1316–35) of the Ilkhanate signed a peace treaty with Egypt. At his request, the Yuan court awarded his custodian [[Chupan]] the title of commander-in-chief of all Mongol khanates, but Chupan died in late 1327.<ref>Allsen. ''Culture and Conquest''. p. 39.</ref>
 
[[Civil war]] erupted in the Yuan dynasty in 1328–29. After the death of Yesün Temür in 1328, [[Tugh Temür]] became the new leader in Khanbaliq, while Yesün Temür's son [[Ragibagh Khan|Ragibagh]] succeeded to the throne in Shangdu, leading to the civil war known as the [[War of the Two Capitals]]. Tugh Temür defeated Ragibagh, but the Chagatai khan [[Eljigidey]] (r. 1326–29) supported [[Khutughtu Khan Kusala|Kusala]], elder brother of Tugh Temür, as great khan. He invaded with a commanding force, and Tugh Temür abdicated. Kusala was elected khan on 30 August 1329. Kusala was then poisoned by a [[Kypchak]] commander under Tugh Temür, who returned to power.
[[File:Asia in 1335.svg|thumb|The successor states of the Mongol Empire in 1335: the [[Ilkhanate]], [[Golden Horde]], [[Yuan dynasty]] and [[Chagatai Khanate]]]]
Tugh Temür (1304–32) was knowledgeable about Chinese language and history and was also a creditable poet, calligrapher, and painter. In order to be accepted by other khanates as the sovereign of the Mongol world, he sent Genghisid princes and descendants of notable Mongol generals to the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhan Abu Said, and Ozbeg. In response to the emissaries, they all agreed to send tribute each year.<ref>Franke. pp. 541–50.</ref> Furthermore, Tugh Temür gave lavish presents and an imperial seal to Eljigidey to mollify his anger.
 
===Relict states of the Mongol Empire===
[[File:Iron Helmet, Mongol Empire (19219750434).jpg|thumb|left|Iron helmet, Mongol Empire]]
With the death of Ilkhan [[Abu Sa'id (Ilkhanid dynasty)|Abu Said Bahatur]] in 1335, Mongol rule faltered and Persia fell into political anarchy. A year later his successor was killed by an Oirat governor, and the Ilkhanate was divided between the Suldus, the [[Jalayir]], [[Jöchi Khasar|Qasarid]] [[Togha Temür]] (d. 1353), and Persian warlords. Taking advantage of the chaos, the [[Georgia (country)| Georgians]] pushed the Mongols out of their territory, and the Uyghur commander [[Ghiyath al-Din Eretna|Eretna]] established an independent state ([[Eretnids]]) in [[Anatolia]] in 1336. Following the downfall of their Mongol masters, the loyal vassal, the [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia]], received escalating threats from the Mamluks and were eventually overrun in 1375.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Armenian kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades : the integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins, 1080–1393|last=G.|first=Ghazarian, Jacob|date=2000|pages=159–61|publisher=Curzon|isbn=978-0-7007-1418-6|location=Richmond|oclc=45337730}}</ref>
[[File:Bitva na sinix vodax.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Blue Waters]] in 1362, in which [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] successfully pushed the Golden Horde from the [[Principality of Kiev]].]]
Along with the dissolution of the Ilkhanate in Persia, Mongol rulers in China and the [[Chagatai Khanate]] were also in turmoil. The plague known as the [[Black Death]], which started in the Mongol dominions and spread to Europe, added to the confusion. Disease devastated all the khanates, cutting off commercial ties and killing millions.<ref>Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 117–18.</ref> Plague may have taken 50&nbsp;million lives in Europe alone in the 14th century.<ref>Ole Jørgen Benedictow, The Black Death, 1346–1353: The Complete History (2004), p. 382.[https://books.google.com/books?id=KjLHAOE7irsC&lpg=PP1&dq=black%20death%20numbers%20by%20country&pg=PA382#v=onepage&q=black%20death%20numbers%20by%20country&f=false p. 382.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017141939/https://books.google.com/books?id=KjLHAOE7irsC&lpg=PP1&dq=black%20death%20numbers%20by%20country&pg=PA382#v=onepage&q=black%20death%20numbers%20by%20country&f=false |date=17 October 2015}}</ref>
 
As the power of the Mongols declined, chaos erupted throughout the empire as non-Mongol leaders expanded their own influence. The Golden Horde lost all of its western dominions (including modern [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]]) to Poland and [[Lithuania]] between 1342 and 1369. Muslim and non-Muslim princes in the Chagatai Khanate warred with each other from 1331 to 1343, and the Chagatai Khanate disintegrated when non-Genghisid warlords set up their own puppet khans in [[Transoxiana]] and [[Moghulistan]]. [[Janibeg]] Khan (r. 1342–1357) briefly reasserted Jochid dominance over the Chaghataids. Demanding submission from an offshoot of the Ilkhanate in [[Azerbaijan]], he boasted that "today three uluses are under my control".<ref name="Prawdin. p. 379">Prawdin. p. 379.</ref>
 
[[File:Menli I Giray.jpg|thumb|left|[[Crimean]] [[Tatar]] [[Khan (title)|khan]], [[Mengli Giray]].]]
However, rival families of the Jochids began fighting for the throne of the Golden Horde after the assassination of his successor [[Berdibek]] Khan in 1359. The last Yuan ruler [[Toghan Temür]] (r. 1333–70) was powerless to regulate those troubles, a sign that the empire had nearly reached its end. His court's unbacked currency had entered a [[hyperinflation|hyperinflationary spiral]] and [[Red Turban Rebellion|the Han-Chinese people revolted]] due to the Yuan's harsh impositions. In the 1350s, [[Gongmin of Goryeo]] successfully pushed Mongolian garrisons back and exterminated the family of Toghan Temür Khan's empress while [[Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen]] managed to eliminate the Mongol influence in Tibet.<ref name="Prawdin. p. 379" />
 
Increasingly isolated from their subjects, the Mongols quickly lost most of China to the rebellious Ming forces and in 1368 fled to their heartland in Mongolia. After the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty the Golden Horde lost touch with Mongolia and China, while the two main parts of the Chagatai Khanate were defeated by [[Timur]] (Tamerlane) (1336–1405), who founded the [[Timurid Empire]]. However, remnants of the Chagatai Khanate survived; the last Chagataid state to survive was the [[Yarkent Khanate]], until its defeat by the Oirat [[Dzungar Khanate]] in the [[Dzungar conquest of Altishahr]] in 1680. The Golden Horde broke into smaller Turkic-hordes that declined steadily in power over four centuries. Among them, the khanate's shadow, the [[Great Horde]], survived until 1502, when one of its successors, the [[Crimean Khanate]], sacked Sarai.<ref name="Halperin. p. 28">Halperin. p. 28.</ref> The Crimean Khanate lasted until 1783, whereas khanates such as the [[Khanate of Bukhara]] and the [[Kazakh Khanate]] lasted even longer.
 
==Military organization==
{{Main|Mongol military tactics and organization}}
[[File:Genghis Khan The Exhibition (5465078899).jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of a Mongol warrior]]
 
The number of troops mustered by the Mongols is the subject of some scholarly debate,<ref>Sverdrup. p. 109.</ref> but was at least 105,000 in 1206.<ref>Sverdrup. p. 110.</ref> The Mongol military organization was simple but effective, based on the [[decimal]] system. The army was built up from squads of ten men each, arbans (10 people), zuuns (100), [[Mingghan]]s (1000), and [[Tumen (unit)|tumens]] (10,000).<ref name="Morgan. pp. 80">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 80–81.</ref>
 
The Mongols were most famous for their [[Mounted archery|horse archers]], but troops armed with lances were equally skilled, and the Mongols recruited other military specialists from the lands they conquered. With experienced Chinese engineers and a bombardier corps which was expert at building [[trebuchet]]s, [[catapult]]s and other machines, the Mongols could lay siege to fortified positions, sometimes building machinery on the spot using available local resources.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 80" />
 
[[File:Subudei.jpg|thumb|left|Mongol general [[Subutai]] of the [[Golden Horde]]]]
Forces under the command of the Mongol Empire were trained, organized, and equipped for mobility and speed. Mongol soldiers were more lightly armored than many of the armies they faced but were able to make up for it with maneuverability. Each Mongol warrior would usually travel with multiple horses, allowing him to quickly switch to a fresh mount as needed. In addition, soldiers of the Mongol army functioned independently of [[Military supply chain management|supply lines]], considerably speeding up army movement.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. pp. 74–75">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 74–75</ref> Skillful use of couriers enabled the leaders of these armies to maintain contact with each other.
 
Discipline was inculcated during a ''nerge'' (traditional hunt), as reported by [[Ata al-Mulk Juvayni|Juvayni]]. These hunts were distinctive from hunts in other cultures, being the equivalent to small unit actions. Mongol forces would spread out in a line, surround an entire region, and then drive all of the [[game (food)|game]] within that area together. The goal was to let none of the animals escape and to slaughter them all.<ref name="Morgan. The Mongols. pp. 74–75" />
 
Another advantage of the Mongols was their ability to traverse large distances, even in unusually cold winters; for instance, frozen rivers led them like highways to large urban centers on their banks. The Mongols were adept at river-work, crossing the river [[Sajó]] in spring flood conditions with thirty thousand cavalry soldiers in a single night during the [[Battle of Mohi]] (April 1241) to defeat the Hungarian king [[Béla IV]]. Similarly, in the attack against the Muslim [[Muhammad II of Khwarezm|Khwarezmshah]] a flotilla of barges was used to prevent escape on the river.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
Traditionally known for their prowess with ground forces, the Mongols rarely used [[navy|naval]] power. In the 1260s and 1270s they used seapower while conquering the [[Song dynasty]] of China, though their attempts to mount seaborne [[Mongol invasions of Japan|campaigns against Japan]] were unsuccessful. Around the Eastern Mediterranean, their campaigns were almost exclusively land-based, with the seas controlled by the Crusader and Mamluk forces.<ref>Morgan. ''Mongols and the Eastern Mediterranean''</ref>
 
All military campaigns were preceded by careful planning, reconnaissance, and the gathering of sensitive information relating to enemy territories and forces. The success, organization, and mobility of the Mongol armies permitted them to fight on several fronts at once. All adult males up to the age of 60 were eligible for conscription into the army, a source of honor in their tribal warrior tradition.<ref>Morgan. ''The Mongols''. p. 75</ref>
 
==Society==
{{Main|Society of the Mongol Empire}}
 
===Law and governance===
{{See also|Organization of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan}}
[[File:DiezAlbumsExecution.jpg|thumb|The executed – the long and full beard probably means he is not a Mongol – has been thrown off a cliff.]]
The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law devised by Genghis, called ''[[Yassa]]'', meaning "order" or "decree". A particular canon of this code was that those of rank shared much the same hardship as the common man. It also imposed severe penalties, ''e.g.'', the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] if one mounted soldier following another did not pick up something dropped from the mount in front. Penalties were also decreed for rape and to some extent for murder. Any resistance to Mongol rule was met with massive collective punishment. Cities were destroyed and their inhabitants slaughtered if they defied Mongol orders.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} Under ''Yassa'', chiefs and generals were selected based on [[meritocracy|merit]]. The empire was governed by a non-democratic, [[parliament]]ary-style central assembly, called [[kurultai]], in which the Mongol chiefs met with the great khan to discuss domestic and foreign policies. Kurultais were also convened for the selection of each new great khan.<ref>San,T. "Dynastic China: An Elementary History" .pg 297</ref>
 
Genghis Khan also created a national seal, encouraged the use of a written alphabet in Mongolia, and exempted teachers, lawyers, and artists from taxes.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
The Mongols imported Central Asian Muslims to serve as administrators in China and sent Han Chinese and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, thus using foreigners to curtail the power of the local peoples of both lands.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=41930343|journal=Journal of Asian History|title=Sino-Khitan Administration in Mongol Bukhara|last=Buell|first=Paul D.|volume= 13|number=2|date=1979|pages=137–38}}</ref> The Mongols were tolerant of other religions, and rarely persecuted people on religious grounds. This was associated with their culture and progressive thought. Some historians of the 20th century thought this was a good military strategy: when Genghis was at war with Sultan Muhammad of Khwarezm, other Islamic leaders did not join the fight, as it was seen as a non-holy war between two individual powers.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
===Religions===
{{Main|Religion in the Mongol Empire}}
 
[[File:GhazanConversionToIslam.JPG|thumb|alt=Painting of a stylized building, showing Ghazan kneeling and accepting conversion|[[Persian miniature]] depicting [[Ghazan]]'s conversion from Buddhism to [[Islam]].]]
 
At the time of Genghis Khan, virtually every religion had found Mongol converts, from [[Buddhism]] to [[Christianity]], from [[Manichaeism]] to [[Islam]]. To avoid strife, Genghis Khan set up an institution that ensured complete religious freedom, though he himself was a [[Shamanism|shamanist]]. Under his administration, all religious leaders were exempt from taxation and from public service.<ref>Weatherford. p. 69.</ref>
 
Initially there were few formal places of worship because of the nomadic lifestyle. However, under Ögedei (1186–1241), several building projects were undertaken in the Mongol capital. Along with palaces, Ögedei built houses of worship for the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and [[Taoism|Taoist]] followers. The dominant religions at that time were [[Shamanism]], [[Tengrism]], and Buddhism, although Ögedei's wife was a Nestorian Christian.<ref>Weatherford. p. 135.</ref>
 
Eventually, each of the successor states adopted the dominant religion of the local populations: the Mongol-ruled Chinese Yuan dynasty in the East (originally the Great Khan's domain) embraced Buddhism and Shamanism, while the three Western khanates adopted Islam.<ref name="Foltz. pp. 105–106">Foltz. pp. 105–06.</ref><ref>Ezzati. ''The Spread of Islam: The Contributing Factors''. p. 274.</ref><ref>Bukharaev. ''Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons''. p. 145.</ref>
 
===Arts and literature===
{{See also|List of historical cities and towns of Mongolia|Mongolian literature}}
The oldest surviving literary work in the [[Mongolian language]] is ''[[The Secret History of the Mongols]]'', which was written for the royal family some time after Genghis Khan's death in 1227. It is the most significant native account of Genghis's life and genealogy, covering his origins and childhood through to the establishment of the Mongol Empire and the reign of his son, Ögedei.
 
Another classic from the empire is the ''[[Jami' al-tawarikh]]'', or "Universal History". It was commissioned in the early 14th century by the Ilkhan [[Abaqa Khan]] as a way of documenting the entire world's history, to help establish the Mongols' own cultural legacy.
 
Mongol scribes in the 14th century used a mixture of resin and vegetable pigments as a primitive form of [[correction fluid]];<ref>Hull. ''The Mongol Empire''. p. 60</ref> this is arguably its first known usage.
 
The Mongols also appreciated the visual arts, though their taste in portraiture was strictly focused on portraits of their horses, rather than of people.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}
 
===Science===
[[File:SanjufiniZij1.jpg|thumb|alt=Sanjufini Zij by al-Sanjufini| A 1363 astronomical handbook with Middle Mongolian glosses. Known as the Sanjufini Zij.]]
[[File:DiezAlbumsAstronomers.jpg|thumb|alt=Mongols and Persian astronomers| Mongols look on as Persian astronomers work. Early 14th century illustration in the [[Jami' al-tawarikh|Compendium of Chronicles]].]]
The Mongol Empire saw some significant developments in science due to the patronage of the Khans. Roger Bacon attributed the success of the Mongols as world conquerors principally to their devotion to mathematics.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baumann |first1=Brian |title=Divine Knowledge: Buddhist Mathematics according to the anonymous Manual of Mongolian astrology and divination |date=2008 |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |location=Leiden, Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-15575-6 |page=304}}</ref> Astronomy was one branch of science that the Khans took a personal interest in. According to the [[History of Yuan|Yuanshi]], Ögedei Khan twice ordered the armillary sphere of Zhongdu to be repaired (in 1233 and 1236) and also ordered in 1234 the revision and adoption of the Damingli calendar.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baumann |first1=Brian |title=Divine Knowledge: Buddhist Mathematics according to the anonymous Manual of Mongolian astrology and divination |date=2008 |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |location=Leiden, Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-15575-6 |page=296}}</ref> He built a Confucian temple for Yelü Chucai in Karakorum around 1236 where Yelü Chucai created and regulated a calendar on the Chinese model. [[Möngke Khan]] was noted by Rashid al-Din as having solved some of the difficult problems of Euclidean geometry on his own and written to his brother Hulagu Khan to send him the astronomer [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi|Tusi]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Komaroff |first1=Linda |title=Beyond the legacy of Genghis Khan |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondlegacygeng00koma |url-access=limited |date=2006 |publisher=Koninklijk Brill NV |location=Leiden, Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-15083-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beyondlegacygeng00koma/page/n384 358]}}</ref> Möngke Khan's desire to have Tusi build him an observatory in Karakorum did not reach fruition as the Khan died on campaign in southern China. [[Hulagu Khan]] instead gave Tusi a grant to build the Maragheh Observatory in Persia in 1259 and ordered him to prepare astronomical tables for him in 12 years, despite Tusi asking for 30 years. Tusi successfully produced the [[Ilkhanic Tables]] in 12 years, produced a revised edition of Euclid's elements and taught the innovative mathematical device called the [[Tusi couple]]. The [[Maragheh observatory|Maragheh Observatory]] held around 400,000 books salvaged by Tusi from the siege of Baghdad and other cities. Chinese astronomers brought by Hulagu Khan worked there as well.
 
[[Kublai Khan]] built a number of large observatories in China and his libraries included the ''Wu-hu-lie-ti'' (Euclid) brought by Muslim mathematicians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allsen |first1=Thomas T. |title=Conquest and Culture in Mongol Eurasia |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=0-521-80335-7 |page=169}}</ref> [[Zhu Shijie]] and [[Guo Shoujing]] were notable mathematicians in Yuan China. The Mongol physician [[Hu Sihui]] described the importance of a healthy diet in a 1330 medical treatise.
 
[[Ghazan Khan]], able to understand four languages including Latin, built the Tabriz Observatory in 1295. The Byzantine Greek astronomer [[Gregory Chioniades]] studied there under [[Ajall Shams al-Din Omar]] who had worked at Maragheh under Tusi. Chioniades played an important role in transmitting several innovations from the Islamic world to Europe. These include the introduction of the universal latitude-independent astrolabe to Europe and a Greek description of the Tusi-couple, which would later have an influence on Copernican heliocentrism. Choniades also translated several Zij treatises into Greek, including the Persian Zij-i Ilkhani by al-Tusi and the Maragheh observatory. The [[Byzantine-Mongol alliance]] and the fact that the [[Empire of Trebizond]] was an [[Ilkhanate]] vassal facilitated Choniades' movements between Constantinople, Trebizond and Tabriz. Prince Radna, the Mongol viceroy of Tibet based in Gansu province, patronized the Samarkandi astronomer al-Sanjufini. The Arabic astronomical handbook dedicated by al-Sanjufini to Prince Radna, a descendant of Kublai Khan, was completed in 1363. It is notable for having [[Middle Mongolian]] glosses on its margins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elverskog |first1=Johan |title=Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road |url=https://archive.org/details/buddhismislamons00elve |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-8122-4237-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/buddhismislamons00elve/page/n187 182]}}</ref>
 
===Mail system===
{{main|Yam (route)}}
[[File:OljeituToPhilippeLeBel1305.jpg|thumb|alt=A partially unrolled scroll, opened from left to right to show a portion of the scroll with widely spaced vertical lines in the Mongol language. Imprinted over two of the lines is an official-looking square red stamp with an intricate design.| A 1305 letter (on a scroll measuring {{convert|302|by|50|cm|ftin|disp=or|abbr=on|frac=2}}) from the Ilkhan Mongol [[Öljaitü]] to King [[Philip IV of France]].]]
 
The Mongol Empire had an ingenious and efficient mail system for the time, often referred to by scholars as the [[Yam (route)|Yam]]. It had lavishly furnished and well-guarded relay posts known as ''örtöö'' set up throughout the Empire.<ref name="Chambers">Chambers, James. ''The Devil's Horsemen'' Atheneum, 1979, {{ISBN|0-689-10942-3}}</ref> A messenger would typically travel {{convert|25|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=off}} from one station to the next, either receiving a fresh, rested horse, or relaying the mail to the next rider to ensure the speediest possible delivery. The Mongol riders regularly covered {{convert|125|mi|km|-1|order=flip|abbr=on}} per day, better than the fastest record set by the [[Pony Express]] some 600 years later.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} The relay stations had attached households to service them. Anyone with a [[paiza]] was allowed to stop there for re-mounts and specified rations, while those carrying military identities used the Yam even without a paiza. Many merchants, messengers, and travelers from China, the Middle East, and Europe used the system. When the great khan died in Karakorum, news reached the Mongol forces under [[Batu Khan]] in Central Europe within 4–6 weeks thanks to the Yam.<ref name="Weatherford. p. 158" />
 
Genghis and his successor [[Ögedei]] built a wide system of roads, one of which carved through the [[Altai Range|Altai mountains]]. After his enthronement, Ögedei further expanded the road system, ordering the Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde to link up roads in western parts of the Mongol Empire.<ref>''Secret History of the Mongols''</ref>
 
[[Kublai Khan]], founder of the [[Yuan dynasty]], built special relays for high officials, as well as ordinary relays, that had hostels. During Kublai's reign, the Yuan communication system consisted of some 1,400 postal stations, which used 50,000 horses, 8,400 oxen, 6,700 mules, 4,000 carts, and 6,000 boats.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
In [[Manchuria]] and southern [[Siberia]], the Mongols still used [[dogsled]] relays for the Yam. In the Ilkhanate, Ghazan restored the declining relay system in the Middle East on a restricted scale. He constructed some hostels and decreed that only imperial envoys could receive a stipend. The Jochids of the Golden Horde financed their relay system by a special Yam tax.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
==Silk Road==
<!-- This section is linked from [[Silk Road]] -->
{{Main|Silk Road}}
{{see also|Pax Mongolica|Black Death}}
[[File:Toda Mongke and His Mongol Horde.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Tuda Mengu]] of the [[Golden Horde]].]]
 
The Mongols had a history of supporting merchants and trade. Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign merchants early in his career, even before uniting the Mongols. Merchants provided information about neighboring cultures, served as diplomats and official traders for the Mongols, and were essential for many goods, since the Mongols produced little of their own.
 
Mongol government and elites provided capital for merchants and sent them far afield, in an ''ortoq'' (merchant partner) arrangement. In Mongol times, the contractual features of a Mongol-''ortoq'' partnership closely resembled that of [[qirad]] and commenda arrangements, however, Mongol investors were not constrained using uncoined precious metals and tradable goods for partnership investments and primarily financed money-lending and trade activities.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Enerelt |last=Enkhbold |date=2019 |title=The role of the ''ortoq'' in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships |journal=Central Asian Survey |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=531–547 |doi=10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799 |s2cid= 203044817}}</ref> Moreover, Mongol elites formed trade partnerships with merchants from Italian cities, including [[Marco Polo]]’s family.<ref>Enkhbold op cit pp. 7</ref> As the empire grew, any merchants or ambassadors with proper documentation and authorization received protection and sanctuary as they traveled through Mongol realms. Well-traveled and relatively well-maintained roads linked lands from the Mediterranean basin to China, greatly increasing overland trade and resulting in some dramatic stories of those who travelled through what would become known as the [[Silk Road]].
 
Western explorer [[Marco Polo]] traveled east along the Silk Road, and the Chinese Mongol monk [[Rabban Bar Sauma]] made a comparably epic journey along the route, venturing from his home of [[Khanbaliq]] (Beijing) as far as Europe. European missionaries, such as [[William of Rubruck]], also traveled to the Mongol court to convert believers to their cause, or went as papal envoys to correspond with Mongol rulers in an attempt to secure a [[Franco-Mongol alliance]]. It was rare, however, for anyone to journey the full length of Silk Road. Instead, merchants moved products like a bucket brigade, goods being traded from one middleman to another, moving from China all the way to the West; the goods moved over such long distances fetched extravagant prices.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
[[File:Gold coin of Genghis Khan, struck at the Ghazna (Ghazni) mint.jpg|thumb|left|Gold ''[[gold dinar|dinar]]'' of Genghis Khan, struck at the [[Ghazni|Ghazna]] (Ghazni) mint, dated 1221/2]]
 
After Genghis, the merchant partner business continued to flourish under his successors Ögedei and Güyük. Merchants brought clothing, food, information, and other provisions to the imperial palaces, and in return the great khans gave the merchants tax exemptions and allowed them to use the official relay stations of the Mongol Empire. Merchants also served as tax farmers in China, Russia and Iran. If the merchants were attacked by bandits, losses were made up from the imperial treasury.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
Policies changed under the Great Khan [[Möngke Khan|Möngke]]. Because of money laundering and overtaxing, he attempted to limit abuses and sent imperial investigators to supervise the ''ortoq'' businesses. He decreed that all merchants must pay commercial and property taxes, and he paid off all drafts drawn by high-ranking Mongol elites from the merchants. This policy continued under the Yuan dynasty.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
 
The fall of the Mongol Empire in the 14th century led to the collapse of the political, cultural, and economic unity along the Silk Road. Turkic tribes seized the western end of the route from the [[Byzantine Empire]], sowing the seeds of a Turkic culture that would later crystallize into the [[Ottoman Empire]] under the [[Sunni]] faith. In the East, the Han Chinese overthrew the Yuan dynasty in 1368, launching their own [[Ming dynasty]] and pursuing a policy of economic isolationism.<ref name="footsteps">Guoli Liu ''Chinese Foreign Policy in Transition''. p. 364</ref>
 
==Legacy==
{{see also|History of Mongolia}}
[[File:Mongols-map.png|thumb|alt=Map of Asia|Map showing the boundary of 13th century Mongol Empire compared to today's Mongols in [[Mongolia]], Russia, the [[Central Asia]]n States, and China]]
 
The Mongol Empire&nbsp;— at its height of the largest contiguous empire in history&nbsp;— had a lasting impact, unifying large regions. Some of these (such as eastern and western Russia, and the western parts of China) remain unified today.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Timothy May|url=http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/5.2/may.html|title=The Mongol Empire in World History|volume=5|issue=2|journal=World History Connected|date=February 2008|access-date=15 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210122729/http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/5.2/may.html|archive-date=10 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Mongols might have been assimilated into local populations after the fall of the empire, and some of their descendants adopted local [[religion]]s; for example, the eastern khanate largely adopted [[Buddhism]], and the three western khanates adopted [[Islam]], largely under [[Sufi]] influence.<ref name="Foltz. pp. 105–106" />
 
According to some{{specify|date=February 2012}} interpretations, Genghis Khan's conquests caused [[Destruction under the Mongol Empire|wholesale destruction on an unprecedented scale]] in certain geographic regions, leading to changes in the demographics of Asia.
 
The non-military achievements of the Mongol Empire include the introduction of a writing system, a Mongol alphabet based on the characters of the [[Old Uyghur]], which is still used in [[Mongolia]] today.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hahn|first1=Reinhard F.|title=Spoken Uyghur|year=1991|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=London and Seattle|isbn=978-0-295-98651-7}}</ref>
 
[[File:Facial Chronicle - b.10, p.049 - Tokhtamysh at Moscow.jpg|thumb|[[Tokhtamysh]] and the armies of the [[Golden Horde]] initiate the [[Siege of Moscow (1382)]].]]
 
Some of the other long-term consequences of the Mongol Empire include:
* Moscow rose to prominence while it was still under the [[Timeline of the Tataro-Mongol Yoke in Russia|rule of the Mongol-Tatar yoke]], some time after Russian rulers were accorded the status of tax collectors for the Mongols. The fact that the Russians collected tribute and taxes for the Mongols meant that the Mongols themselves rarely visited the lands which they owned. The Russians eventually gained military power, and their ruler [[Ivan III of Russia|Ivan III]] completely overthrew the Mongols and formed the [[Moscow principality|Russian Tsardom]]. After the [[Great Stand on the Ugra River]] proved that the Mongols were vulnerable, the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]] gained independence.
* Europe's knowledge of the known world was immensely expanded by the information which was brought back to it by ambassadors and merchants. When [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]] sailed in 1492, his mission was to reach [[Cathay]], the land of the Grand Khan in China, and give him a letter from the monarchs [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and [[Isabella I of Castile]].{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}
* Some studies indicate that the [[Black Death]] which devastated Europe in the late 1340s may have traveled from China to Europe along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire. In 1347, the [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] possessor of [[Feodosiya|Caffa]], a great trade emporium on the [[Crimean Peninsula]], came under siege by an army of Mongol warriors under the command of [[Janibeg]]. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army was reportedly withering from disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a [[biological weapon]]. The corpses were catapulted over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants.<ref>Svat Soucek. ''A History of Inner Asia''. Cambridge University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-521-65704-0}}. p. 116.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wheelis|first=Mark|date=September 2002|title=Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa|journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases|volume=8|issue=9|pages=971–975|doi=10.3201/eid0809.010536|pmid=12194776|pmc=2732530|issn=1080-6040|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Genoese traders fled, transferring the plague via their ships into the south of Europe, from where it rapidly spread. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75–200&nbsp;million with up to 50&nbsp;million deaths in Europe alone.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Black Death, 1346–1353: the Complete History|last=Benedictow|first=Ole Jørgen|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2004|isbn=978-1-84383-214-0|page=382}}</ref>
 
[[File:Meczennicy Sandomierscy.jpg|thumb|upright|Dominican martyrs killed by Mongols during the [[Second Mongol invasion of Poland|Mongol invasion of Poland]] in 1260.]]
* Western researcher [[R. J. Rummel]] estimated that 30&nbsp;million people were killed by the Mongol Empire. Other researchers estimate that as many as 80&nbsp;million people were killed, with 50&nbsp;million deaths being the middle ground. The population of China fell by half during fifty years of Mongol rule. Before the Mongol invasion, the territories of the Chinese dynasties reportedly had approximately 120&nbsp;million inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported that China's total population was roughly 60&nbsp;million. While it is tempting to attribute this major decline in China's population solely to Mongol ferocity, today scholars have mixed opinions about this subject. Scholars such as Frederick W. Mote argue that the wide drop in numbers reflects an administrative failure to keep records rather than a ''de facto'' decrease, while others such as Timothy Brook argue that the Mongols reduced much of the south Chinese population, and very debatably the Han Chinese population, to an invisible status through cancellation of the right to passports and denial of the right to direct land ownership. This meant that the Chinese had to depend on and be cared for chiefly by Mongols and Tartars, which also involved recruitment into the Mongol army. Other historians such as William McNeill and [[David O. Morgan]] argue that the [[bubonic plague]] was the main factor behind China's demographic decline during this period.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}
* The [[Muslim world|Islamic world]] was subjected to massive changes as a result of the Mongol invasions. The population of the Iranian plateau suffered from widespread disease and famine, resulting in the death of up to three-quarters of its population, possibly 10 to 15&nbsp;million people. Historian Steven Ward estimates that Iran's population did not reach its pre-Mongol levels again until the mid-20th century.<ref name="Steve Ward">{{cite book|last=R. Ward|first=Steven|title=Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eUTLaaVOOQC&pg=PA39|publisher=Georgetown University Press|year=2009|page=39|isbn=978-1-58901-258-5|access-date=13 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015234934/https://books.google.com/books?id=8eUTLaaVOOQC&pg=PA39|archive-date=15 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
* David Nicole states in ''The Mongol Warlords'', "terror and mass extermination of anyone opposing them was a well tested Mongol tactic."<ref name="Mongol Conquests">{{cite web |url=http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm#Mongol |title=Mongol Conquests |publisher=Users.erols.com |access-date=15 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041028051334/http://www.usna.edu/Users/history/kolp/HH345/PRE1492.HTM#Mongol |archive-date=28 October 2004 |url-status=live}}</ref> About half of the Russian population may have died during the invasion.<ref name="parallelsixty.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.parallelsixty.com/history-russia.shtml |title=History of Russia, Early Slavs history, Kievan Rus, Mongol invasion |publisher=Parallelsixty.com |access-date=15 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121024544/http://www.parallelsixty.com/history-russia.shtml |archive-date=21 January 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, [[Colin McEvedy]] in ''Atlas of World Population History, 1978'' estimates the population of Russia-in-Europe dropped from 7.5&nbsp;million prior to the invasion to 7&nbsp;million afterward.<ref name="Mongol Conquests" /> Historians estimate that up to half of Hungary's two million population were victims of the Mongol invasion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-34789/Hungary |title=The Mongol invasion: the last Arpad kings |publisher=Britannica.com |date=20 November 2013 |access-date=15 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512114337/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-34789/Hungary |archive-date=12 May 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Historian [[Andrea Peto]] says that [[Rogerius of Apulia|Rogerius]], an eyewitness, said that "the Mongols killed everybody regardless of gender or age" and "the Mongols especially 'found pleasure' in humiliating women."<ref>[[Andrea Peto]] in {{cite book|author1=Richard Bessel | author1-link = Richard Bessel |author2=Dirk Schumann|title=Life After Death: Approaches to a Cultural and Social History of Europe During the 1940s and 1950s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NilW70Yol74C&pg=PA143|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=143|isbn=978-0-521-00922-5|access-date=13 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017141939/https://books.google.com/books?id=NilW70Yol74C&pg=PA143|archive-date=17 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
* One of the more successful tactics employed by the Mongols was to wipe out urban populations that refused to surrender. During the Mongol invasion of Rus', almost all major cities were destroyed. If they chose to submit, the people were generally spared, though this was not guaranteed. For example, the city of Hamadan in modern-day Iran was destroyed and every man, woman, and child executed by Mongol general Subadai, after surrendering to him but failing to have enough provisions for his Mongol scouting force. Several days after the initial razing of the city, Subadai sent a force back to the burning ruins and the site of the massacre to kill any inhabitants of the city who had been away at the time of the initial slaughter and had returned in the meantime. Mongolian armies made use of local peoples and their soldiers, often incorporating them into their armies. Prisoners of war sometimes were given the choice between death and becoming part of the Mongol army to aid in future conquests. Due to the brutal methods employed to subdue their subjects, Mongols maintained long lasting resentment from those they conquered. This resentment towards the Mongol rule has been highlighted as a cause for the empire's rapid fracturing.<ref>The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars= Historia Mongalorum Quo s Nos Tartaros Appellamus: Friar Giovanni Di Plano Carpini's Account of His Embassy to the Court of the Mongol Khan by Da Pian Del Carpine Giovanni and Erik Hildinger (Branden BooksApril 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-8283-2017-7}})</ref> In addition to intimidation tactics, the rapid expansion of the empire was facilitated by military hardiness (especially during bitterly cold winters), military skill, meritocracy, and discipline.
* The [[Kalmyks]] were the last Mongol nomads to penetrate European territory, having migrated to Europe from Central Asia at the turn of the 17th century. In the winter of 1770–1771, approximately 200,000 Kalmyks began the journey from their pastures on the left bank of the [[Volga River]] to [[Dzungaria]], through the territories of their [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] and [[Kyrgyz people|Kyrgyz]] enemies. After several months of travel, only one-third of the original group reached Dzungaria in northwest China.<ref>Michael Khodarkovsky (2002)."''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ti51WfA68RYC&pg=&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making Of A Colonial Empire, 1500–1800] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017141939/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ti51WfA68RYC&pg=&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false |date=17 October 2015}}''". Indiana University Press. p. 142. {{ISBN|0-253-21770-9}}</ref>
 
== See also ==
* [[Mughal-Mongol genealogy]]
* [[Tellurocracy]]
* [[Xiongnu#Mongolic theories|Xiongnu origin of Mongol]]
* [[Destruction under the Mongol Empire]]
 
== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{NoteFoot}}
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}
 
=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book |author-link = Thomas T. Allsen |last = Allsen |first = Thomas T. |title = Mongol Imperialism: The Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia, and the Islamic Lands, 1251–1259 |isbn = 978-0-520-05527-8 |year=1987 |publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{cite book |author-link = Thomas T. Allsen |last = Allsen |first = Thomas T. |title = Culture and conquest in Mongol Eurasia |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-60270-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Amitai-Preiss |first=Reuven |title=Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281 |year=1995 |location=Cambridge, England; New York, NY |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-46226-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mongolsmamluksma0000amit}}
* {{cite book |last = Atwood |first = Christopher P. |title = Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire |url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atwo |url-access = registration |year=2004 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Facts on File, Inc. |isbn=978-0-8160-4671-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Barfield, Thomas Jefferson |year=1992 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-1-55786-324-9 |title=The perilous frontier: nomadic empires and China}}
* {{cite book |author=Brent, Peter |title=The Mongol Empire |year=1976 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson}}
* {{cite book |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0318-1 |last=Burgan |first=Michael |title = Empire of the Mongols |year=2005 |location=New York, NY}}
* {{cite book |last = Diamond |first = Jared |author-link = Jared Diamond |year=1997 |title = Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies |title-link = Guns, Germs, and Steel |publisher = W. W. Norton & Co. |location = New York, NY |isbn=978-0-393-31755-8}}
* {{cite book |last = Finlay |first = Robert |title = The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History |publisher=University of California Press |location = Berkeley, CA |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-520-24468-9}}
* {{cite book |last = Foltz |first = Richard C. |author-link = Richard Foltz |title=Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century |location=New York, NY |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-312-23338-9}}
* {{cite book |last = Franke |first = Herbert |editor1=Twitchett, Denis |editor2=Fairbank, John King |title = Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368 |volume=6 |series = [[The Cambridge History of China]] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location = Cambridge, England; New York, NY |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-24331-5}}
* {{cite book |last = Grousset |first = Rene |author-link = René Grousset |title = The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia |url = https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou |url-access = registration |translator = Naomi Walford (from French) |location=New Brunswick, NJ |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970|isbn = 9780813506272 }}
* {{cite book |author=Halperin, Charles J. |title = Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History |url=https://archive.org/details/russiagoldenhord0000halp |url-access=registration |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-253-20445-5 |location=Bloomington, IN}}
* {{cite book |author=Howorth, Henry H. |title=History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: Part I: The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks |location=New York, NY |publisher=Burt Frankin |year=1965 |orig-year=London edition, 1876}}
* {{cite book |author=Hull, Mary |title=The Mongol Empire (World History Series) |year=1997 |publisher=Greenhaven Press |isbn=978-1-56006-312-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/mongolempire00hull}}
* {{cite journal |author=Jackson, Peter |title=The dissolution of the Mongol Empire |journal=[[Central Asiatic Journal]] |volume=XXXII |year=1978 |pages=208–351}}
* {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Peter |title=The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England; New York, NY |isbn=978-0-521-54329-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Jackson, Peter |author-link=Peter Jackson (historian) |location=Harlow, UK; New York |title=The Mongols and the West: 1221–1410 |year=2005 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-36896-5}}
* {{cite book |author=Lane, George |title=Daily life in the Mongol empire |year=2006|isbn=978-0-313-33226-5 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Connecticut}}
* {{cite book |author=Man, John |title=Genghis Khan: Life, death and resurrection |isbn=978-0-312-36624-7 |year=2004 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |location=New York, NY}}
* {{cite book |author=Man, John|title=Kublai Khan: from Xanadu to superpower|publisher=Bantam Books|year=2007 |isbn=978-0-553-81718-8}}
* {{cite journal |author=Morgan, David |author-link=David Morgan (historian) |title=The Mongols and the Eastern Mediterranean: Latins and Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204 |editor=Arbel, B. |display-editors=etal |journal=[[Mediterranean Historical Review]]|volume=4|issue=1|date=June 1989 |page=204 |doi=10.1080/09518968908569567 |issn=0951-8967}}
* {{cite book |author=Morgan, David |title=The Mongols |edition=2nd |year=2007 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA; Oxford, UK; Carlton, Victoria, Australia |isbn=978-1-4051-3539-9}}
* {{cite book |author=Prawdin, Michael |author-link=Michael Prawdin |orig-year=1940 |year=1961 |publisher=Collier-Macmillan Canada |title=Mongol Empire |isbn=978-1-4128-0519-3 |location=New Brunswick, NJ}}
* {{cite book |author=Ratchnevsky, Paul |translator=Haining, Thomas Nivison |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-631-18949-7 |title=Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy |url=https://archive.org/details/genghiskhan00paul}}
* {{cite book |author=Rossabi, Morris |title=China Among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbors, 10th–14th Centuries |publisher=University of California Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-520-04383-1 |location=Berkeley, CA}}
* {{cite book |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6191-6 |last=Sanders |first=Alan J.K. |title=Historical Dictionary of Mongolia |year=2010 |location=Lanham, Maryland}}
* {{cite book |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-1766-7 |last=Saunders |first=John Joseph |title=The history of the Mongol conquests |year=2001 |location=Philadelphia}}
* {{cite book |author=Rybatzki, Volker |title=The Early Mongols: Language, Culture and History |isbn=978-0-933070-57-8 |year=2009 |publisher=Indiana University}}
* {{cite book |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1-84383-596-7 |editor1=Rogers, Clifford J. |editor2=[[Kelly DeVries|DeVries, Kelly]] |editor3=France, John |title=Journal of Medieval Military History |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |volume=8 |date=November 2010 |chapter=Numbers in Mongol Warfare |author=Sverdrup, Carl |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4jHEwSc2gEMC&pg=PA109}}
* {{cite book |author=Vladimortsov, Boris |title=The Life of Chingis Khan |publisher=B. Blom |year=1969}}
* {{cite book |author=Weatherford, Jack |year=2004 |title=Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World |location=New York, NY |publisher=Three Rivers Press |isbn=978-0-609-80964-8}}
{{refend}}
 
== Further reading ==
{{cleanup bare URLs|section|date=April 2022}}
===General surveys===
{{refbegin}}
* Atwood, Christopher, P. '' Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire '', New York: Facts on File (2004)
* [[Vasily Bartold|Bartold, Vasily]]. ''Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion (Trans. T. Minorsky & C.E. Bosworth)'', London: Luzac & Co. (1928)
* [[Vasily Bartold|Bartold, Vasily]]. ''Four Studies on Central Asia, vol. 1 (Trans. V, Minorsky and T. Minorsky)'', Leiden: Brill. (1956)
* [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-inner-asia/BDD3A61EFF8F8E4BDBBD5894031D50BD ''The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age, (ed.) Nicola Di Cosmo, Allen J. Frank, Peter B. Golden'']
** Chapter 2:  P. Jackson. The Mongol age in Eastern Inner Asia, pp.&nbsp;26–45
** Chapter 3: M. Biran. The Mongols in Central Asia from Chinggis Khan's invasion to the rise of Temür: the Ögödeid and Chaghadaid realms, pp.&nbsp;46–66
** Chapter 4: I. Vásáry. The Jochid realm: the western steppe and Eastern Europe, pp.&nbsp;67–86
** Chapter 5: A.P. Martinez. Institutional development, revenues and trade, pp.&nbsp;89–108
** Chapter 6: P.B. Golden. Migrations, ethnogenesis, pp.&nbsp;109–119
** Chapter 7: D. Deweese. Islamization in the Mongol Empire, pp.&nbsp;120–134
** Chapter 8: T.T. Allsen. Mongols as vectors for cultural transmission, pp.&nbsp;135–154
* [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-china/1E25830E70381855630DB9CC056E0E08 ''The Cambridge History of China, vol. 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368, (ed.) Herbert Franke, Denis C. Twitchett'']
** Chapter 4: T.T. Allsen. The rise of the Mongolian empire and Mongolian rule in north China, pp.&nbsp;321–413
** Chapter 5: M. Rossabi. The reign of Khubilai khan, pp.&nbsp;414–489
** Chapter 6:  Hsiao Ch'i-ch'ing. Mid-Yüan politics, pp.&nbsp;490–560
** Chapter 7: J. Dardess. Shun-ti and the end of Yüan rule in China, pp.&nbsp;561–586
** Chapter 8: E. Endicott-West. The Yüan government and society, pp.&nbsp;587–615
** Chapter 9: F. W. Mote. The Chinese society under Mongol rule, 1215–1368, pp.&nbsp;616–664
* [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-iran/D0BEE51C0C239F497ADBC0CA18796A5B ''The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, (ed.) J. A. Boyle'']
** Chapter 4: J. A. Boyle. Dynastic and Political History of The Il-Khāns, pp.&nbsp;303–421
** Chapter 6: I. P. Petrushevsky. The Socio-Economic Condition of Iran Under The Īl-Khāns, pp.&nbsp;483–537
** Chapter 7: A. Bausani. Religion under the Mongols, pp.&nbsp;538–549
** Chapter 10: E. S. Kennedy. The Exact Sciences in Iran under the Saljuqs and Mongols, pp.&nbsp;659–680
* Buell, Paul. 'Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire, 1200-1370' 2003
* [[Henry Hoyle Howorth|Howorth, Henry]]. '' History of the Mongols: From the 9th to the 19th Century, part 1. The Mongols proper and the Kalmuks''  (1876)
* [[Henry Hoyle Howorth|Howorth, Henry]]. '' History of the Mongols: From the 9th to the 19th Century, part 2. The so-called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia, 2 divions''  (1880)
* [[Henry Hoyle Howorth|Howorth, Henry]]. '' History of the Mongols: From the 9th to the 19th Century, part 3. The Mongols of Persia ''  (1880)
* [[David O. Morgan|Morgan, David]]. '' The Mongols''  (2007)
* [[Peter Jackson (historian)|Jackson, Peter]]. '' The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion'', Yale University Press (2017). isbn 9780300125337
 
=== Administration, Economy and Finance ===
* {{Cite book|last=Allsen |first= Thomas T.|title= Mongol Imperialism: The Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia, and the Islamic Lands, 1251-1259 |publisher= University of California Press |year=1987 |isbn= 9780520055278}}
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41645437?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents ''Thomas, Allsen. (1989). Mongolian Princes and Their Merchant Partners, 1200-1260. Asia Major, 2(2), third series, 83-126. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41645437'']
* {{Cite book|last=Badarch |first= Nyamaa|title= The Coins of Mongol Empire and Clan Tamgha of Khans (XIII - XIV [Centuries]) |publisher= Ulaanbaatar|year=2005 |isbn= 9789992904237}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ciocîltan |first=  Virgil|title= The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries |publisher= Brill|year=2012 |isbn= 978-90-04-22666-1}}
* [https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799 Enkhbold, Enerelt. (2019). "The role of the ortoq in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships", ''Central Asian Survey'', 38:4, 531-547, DOI: 10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799]
* {{Cite book|last=Endicott-West |first=Elizabeth |title= Mongolian Rule in China: Local Administration in the Yuan Dynasty |publisher= Harvard University Asia Center |year=1989 |isbn= 9780674585256}}
* Kim, Hodong. [http://cces.snu.ac.kr/data/publications/jces1_2kim.pdf "The Unity of the Mongol Empire and Continental Exchange over Eurasia,"] ''Journal of Central Eurasian Studies'' 1 (2009): 15–42.
* {{Cite book|last=Kolbas |first= Judith|title= The Mongols in Iran: Chingiz Khan to Uljaytu, 1220-1309 |publisher= Routledge|year=2006 |isbn= 9780700706679}}
* {{Cite book|last=Lambton |first= Ann, K.S.|title= Continuity and Change in Medieval Persia: Aspects of the Administrative Econmic and Social History, 11th-14th Century |publisher= SUNY Press |year=1988 |isbn= 9780887061332}}
* {{Cite book|last=Lane |first=George |title=Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-Century Iran: A Persian Renaissance |publisher= Routledge |year=2003 |isbn= 978-0415297509}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ostrowsk |first= David |title= Muscovy and the Mongols: Cross-Cultural Influences on the Steppe Frontier, 1304-1589 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0521894104 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Prajakti |first= Kalra|title= The Silk Road and the Political Economy of the Mongol Empire |publisher= Routledge|year=2018|isbn= 9780415786997}}
* {{Cite book|last=Vogel |first=Hans-Ulrich |title= Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues |publisher=Brill |year=2012|isbn= 9789004231931}}.
* {{Cite book|last=Schurmann |first= Herbert|title= Economic Structure of the Yüan Dynasty. Translation of Chapters 93 and 94 of the Yüan shih |publisher= Harvard University Press |year=1956 |isbn= 978-0674432925}}
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718506?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents Schurmann, Herbert. (1956). "Mongolian Tributary Practices of the Thirteenth Century," ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'', 19(3/4), 304-389. doi:10.2307/2718506'']
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718765?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents Smith, John (1970). "Mongol and Nomadic Taxation," ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'', 30, 46-85. doi:10.2307/2718765'']
 
===Culture, Arts and Science===
* {{Cite book|last= Allsen |first=Thomas |title= Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire: A Cultural History of Islamic Textiles |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=  9780521583015}}
* {{Cite book|last= Allsen |first=Thomas |title= Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780511497445}}
* [https://brill.com/view/journals/jesh/62/2-3/jesh.62.issue-2-3.xml?language=en Biran, Michal (ed.). (2019). Mobility Transformations and Cultural Exchange in Mongol Eurasia, ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'' 62(2-3).]
** Blair, Sh. Muslim-style Mausolea across Mongol Eurasia: Religious Syncretism, Architectural Mobility and Cultural Transformation, pp.&nbsp;318–355
** Jackson, P. Reflections on the Islamization of Mongol Khans in Comparative Perspective, pp.&nbsp;356–387
** Yang, Q. Like Stars in the Sky: Networks of Astronomers in Mongol Eurasia, pp.&nbsp;388–427
** Biran, M. Libraries, Books, and Transmission of Knowledge in Ilkhanid Baghdad, pp.&nbsp;464–502
* [https://brill.com/view/title/16894 {{Cite book|last=Buell |first=Paul |title=A Soup for the Qan: Chinese Dietary Medicine of the Mongol Era As Seen in Hu Sihui's Yinshan Zhengyao |publisher= Brill |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-47-44470-1}}]
* {{Cite book|last=Kadoi |first=Yuka |title= Islamic Chinoiserie: The Art of Mongol Iran|publisher= Edinburgh University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0748635825}}
* {{Cite book|last=Pfeiffer |first=Judith |title=Politics, Patronage and the Transmission of Knowledge in 13th–15th Century Tabriz |publisher= Brill |year=2014 |isbn=978-90-04-26257-7}}
* {{Cite book|last=Prazniak |first=Roxann |title= Sudden Appearances: The Mongol Turn in Commerce, Belief, and Art |publisher= University of Hawaii Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0824876579}}
* “Islamic and Chinese Astronomy under the Mongols: a Little-Known Case of Transmission”, in : Yvonne Dold-Samplonius, Joseph W. Dauben, Menso Folkerts & Benno van Dalen, éds., From China to Paris. 2000 Years Transmission of Mathematical Ideas. Series: Boethius 46, Stuttgart (Steiner), 2002, pp.&nbsp;327–356.
* {{Cite book|last=Weatherford |first=Jack |title=Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World |publisher= Crown and Three Rivers Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-609-80964-4}}
 
=== Institutions ===
* Allsen, Thomas T. (1986). Guard and Government in the Reign of The Grand Qan Möngke, 1251-59. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 46(2), 495-521. doi:10.2307/2719141
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2011). "Imperial Posts, West, East and North: A Review Article: Adam J. Silverstein, Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic Morld," ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi'', 17:1, 237-76
* Atwood, Christopher P. [https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=ealc "Ulus Emirs, Keshig Elders, Signatures, and Marriage Partners: The Evolution of a Classic Mongol Institution,"] Imperial Statecraft: Political Forms and Techniques of Governance in Inner Asia, Sixth-Twentieth Centuries, (ed.) Sneath, D. (Bellington WA, 2006), pp.&nbsp;141–174 Google Scholar.
* Jackson, Peter. "YĀSĀ," ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', online edition, 2013, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yasa-law-code (accessed on 20 September 2016)
* Munkuyev, N.Ts. (1977). A NEW MONGOLIAN P'AI-TZŬ FROM SIMFEROPOL. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 31(2), 185-215. Retrieved November 9, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23682673
* Ostrowski, Donald. The tamma and the Dual-Administrative Structure of the Mongol Empire Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, vol. 61, no 2, 1998, p.&nbsp;262-277 doi: 10.1017/S0041977X0001380X
* Vasary, Istvan. (1976). THE GOLDEN HORDE TERM DARUĠA AND ITS SURVIVAL IN RUSSIA. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 30(2), 187-197. Retrieved November 9, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23657271
 
===Biography, society and gender===
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Biran |editor-first=Michal |title=In the Service of the Khans: Elites in Transition in Mongol Eurasia |publisher= Asiatische Studien 71(4) |year=2017 |isbn=  9781108347990}}
* Biran, Michal, Jonathan Brack & Francesca Fiaschetti (ed.). ''Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia: Generals, Merchants, and Intellectuals''. Univ of California Press, 2020
* {{Cite book|last= Broadbridge |first= Anne|title= Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=2018 |isbn=  9781108347990}}
* Paul Buell, [https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/7.1/buell.html “Some Royal Mongol Ladies: Alaqa-beki, *Ergene-Qatun and Others,”] World History Connected, 2010
* {{Cite book|last=Lane |first= George|title= Daily Life in the Mongol Empire  |publisher= Hackett Publishing Company |year=2009 |isbn= 978-0872209688}}
* In the service of the Khan. Eminent personalities of the early Mongol-Yüan period (1200–1300). (ed.) Igor de Rachewiltz, Hok-Lam Chan, Ch'i-Ch'ing Hsiao and Peter W. Geier (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 1993)
* {{Cite book|last=McLynn |first=Frank |title=Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy  |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0306825170 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Ratchnevsky |first=Paul |title=Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=1993 |isbn=978-0631189497 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Rossabi |first=Morris |title=Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times  |publisher=University of California Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0306825170 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Weatherford |first= Jack|title= The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire |publisher= Broadway Books |year=2011 |isbn=  978-0307407160}}
 
===Diplomatic and military===
* Amitai-Preiss, Reuven (1995). Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281 (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563485
* Dashdondog, Bayarsaikhan (2011). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220–1335). Leiden: Brill. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004192119
* [https://brill.com/view/journals/eurs/17/2/eurs.17.issue-2.xml Fiaschetti, Francesca  (ed.). (2019). Diplomacy in the Age of Mongol Globalization, Eurasian Studies 17(2)]
* Halperin, Charles (1988). Russia and The Golden Horde (Pennsylvania: Indiana University Press)
* Henthorn, W.E. (1963). Korea: the Mongol invasions (Leiden: Brill)
* Hsiao, Chi-chi'ng (1978). The Military Establishment of the Yuan Dynasty (Cambridge: Harvard University Press)
* Jackson, Peter. (2005). The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410 (Harlow and New York: Pearson Longman)
* May, Timothy (2007). The Mongol Art of War: Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Military System (Yardley: Westholme Publishing)
* Vernadsky, George (1953). The Mongols and Russia (New Haven: Yale University Press)
{{refend}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
{{commons category|Mongol Empire}}
* [http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm Genghis Khan and the Mongols]
* [http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm Genghis Khan and the Mongols]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090618031319/http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Mongol_Empire The Mongol Empire]
* [http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Mongol_Empire The Mongol Empire]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050509082004/http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/intro.html Mongols]
* [http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/intro.html Mongols] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050509082004/http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/intro.html |date=2005-05-09 }}
* [http://www.leader-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=799 Genghis Khan Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112072759/http://www.leader-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=799 |date=2012-01-12 }}
* [http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/ The Mongols in World History]
* [http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/ The Mongols in World History]
* [http://elibrary.sd71.bc.ca/subject_resources/socials/mogolempire.htm The Mongol Empire for students]
* [http://sd71.bc.ca/sd71/school/courtmid/Library/subject_resources/socials/mogolempire.htm The Mongol Empire for students]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070422025219/http://paradoxplace.com/Insights/Civilizations/Mongols/Mongols.htm Paradoxplace Insight Pages on the Mongol Emperors]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html William of Rubruck's Account of the Mongols]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071222203105/http://steppes.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=board18&action=print&thread=1167258099 Mongol invasion of Rus (pictures)]
* [http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Mongol Worldwide Death Toll]
* {{cite web |url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66009/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Neumann,%20I_Remnants%20of%20the%20Mongol%20imperial%20tradition_Neumann_Remnants_of_the_Mongol.pdf |title = Remnants of the Mongol imperial tradition |first1 = Iver B. |last1 = Neumann |first2 = Einar |last2 = Wigen |publisher = [[London School of Economics|The London School of Economics and Political Science]]}}
* [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=758258 Mongol Empire Google Earth]


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{{Mongol Empire}}
{{Yuan dynasty topics}}
{{Empires}}
{{Inner Asia}}
{{subject bar |commons = y |voy = y |portal1 = Asia |portal2 = History |portal3 = China |portal4 = Iran }}


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[[Category:Mongol Empire| ]]
[[Category:Mongol Empire| ]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of East Asia]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of North Asia]]
[[Category:History of Mongolia]]
[[Category:History of Mongolia]]
[[Category:Khanates]]
[[Category:1206 establishments]]
[[Category:Mongols|Empire]]
[[Category:1360s disestablishments]]
[[Category:Mongol states]]
[[Category:1200s establishments in Asia]]
[[Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia]]
[[Category:14th-century disestablishments in Asia]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1206]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1368]]
[[Category:1368 disestablishments in Asia]]
[[Category:1206 establishments in Asia]]
[[Category:Former countries in Asia]]
[[Category:Former countries in East Asia]]
[[Category:Former countries in North Asia]]
[[Category:Former countries in Europe]]
[[Category:Former countries in Chinese history|Yuan dynasty]]
[[Category:Historical transcontinental empires]]

Latest revision as of 14:10, 15 September 2022

Expansion of the Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire, an area ruled by the great Mongol Khans in the 13th and 14th centuries, was one of the largest land empires in history. The original homeland of the Mongols, was bounded by the Khingan Mountains on the east, the Altai and Tian mountains on the west, the Shilka River and the mountain ranges by Lake Baikal on the north, and the Great Wall of China on the south.

It was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206 AD when he brought together the Mongol and Turkic tribes. When he died in 1227 AD, he had conquered Central Asia, North China and parts of eastern Persia. Later his grandson Kublai Khan would go on to expand the empire and found the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty, ruling whole China. The Mongol Empire stretched from Eastern Europe to East Asia, including Central Asia and the Middle East. Its power did not last long, though. By the 1360s it had broken into several empires, all of which were later destroyed.

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