His1010 ch 17

Khanate of Chaghatai

Descendants of Chaghatai, one of Chinggis Khan's sons, ruled the khanate of Chaghatai in central Asia.

Karakorum

For at least the next fifteen years, Boucher lived at the Mongol capital at Karakorum.

Mahmud of Gazni

Mahmud of Ghazni was the first independent ruler of the Turkic dynasty of Ghaznavids, ruling from 999 to 1030.

Khan

That expansion took place when nomadic leaders organized vast confederations of peoples all subject, at least nominally, to a khan ("ruler").

Mongol Military Tactics

The Mongol battlefield tactics were a combination of masterful training with excellent communication and discipline in the chaos of combat. They trained for virtually every possibility, so when it occurred, they could react accordingly. The Mongols also protected their ranking officers well.

Yuan Dynasty

The Song capital at Hangzhou fell to Mongol forces in 1276, and within three years Khubilai had eliminated resistance throughout China. In 1279 he proclaimed himself emperor and established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled China until its collapse in 1368.

Uighurs

The Uighurs were literate and often highly educated, and they provided not only many of the clerks, secretaries, and administrators who ran the Mongol empires but also units of soldiers who bolstered Mongol garrisons.

Capture of Constantinople in 1453

The campaign culminated in 1453 when Sultan Mehmed II captured the city of Constantinople, thus bringing to an end more than a thousand years of Byzantine rule. After subjecting it to a sack, he made the city his own capital under the Turkish name of Istanbul.

Abbasid Empire

The earliest converts were Turkish nomads captured in border raids by forces of the Abbasid caliphate in the early ninth century and integrated into the caliphate's armies as slave soldiers.

Shamans

The earliest religion of the Turkish peoples revolved around shamans—religious specialists who possessed supernatural powers, communicated with the gods and nature spirits, invoked divine aid on behalf of their communities, and informed their companions of their gods' will.

Marco Polo

The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who lived almost two decades at Khubilai's court, praised him for his generosity toward the poor and his efforts to build roads.

Osman

After the Mongol conquest of Persia, large numbers of nomadic Turks migrated from central Asia and followed leaders there. Among those leaders was Osman, who during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries carved a small state for himself in northwestern Anatolia. In 1299 Osman declared independence from the Seljuq sultan and launched a campaign to build a state at the expense of the Byzantine empire. After every successful operation, Osman attracted more and more followers, who came to be known as Osmanlis or Ottomans.

Ottoman

Although Tamerlane's empire foundered soon after his death, it deeply influenced three surviving Turkish Muslim states—the Mughal empire in India, the Safavid empire in Persia, and the Ottoman empire based in Anatolia.

Tamerlane

Because he walked with a limp, contemporaries referred to him as Timur-i lang—"Timur the Lame,". Born about 1336 near Samarkand, Tamerlane took Chinggis Khan as his model. he was a charismatic leader and a courageous warrior, and he attracted a band of loyal followers. During the 1360s he elim-inated rivals to power, either by persuading them to join him as allies or by defeating their armies on the battlefield, and he won recognition as leader of his own tribe. By 1370 he had extended his authority throughout the khanate of Chaghatai and begun to build a magnificent imperial capital in Samarkand.

Khanbaliq

By 1215 the Mongols had captured the Jurchen capital near modern Beijing, which under the new name of Khanbaliq ("city of the khan") served also as the Mongol capital in China. Fighting between Mongols and Jurchen continued until 1234, but by 1220 the Mongols had largely established control over northern China.

Bubonic Plague

By facilitating trade and communications throughout Eurasia, the Mongols unwittingly expedited the spread of bubonic plague. During the 1330s plague erupted in southwestern China. From there it spread throughout China and central Asia, and by the late 1340s it had reached southwest Asia and Europe, where it became known as the Black Death. In China depopulation and labor shortages that followed on the heels of epidemic plague weakened the Mongol regime.

Saljug Turks and Islam

By the mid-to late tenth century, large numbers of Seljuq Turks served in Abbasid armies and lived in the Abbasid realm itself. By the mid-eleventh century the Seljuqs overshadowed the Abbasid caliphs.

Sultanate of Delhi

By the thirteenth century, the Turkish sultanate of Delhi claimed authority over all of northern India. Several of the Delhi sultans conceived plans to conquer southern India and extend Muslim rule there, but none was able to realize those ambitions.

"William of Rubruck on Gender Relations among the Mongols"

From 1253 to 1255 the French Franciscan missionary William of Rubruck traveled extensively in the recently established Mongol empire in hopes of converting the Mongols to Christianity. He was unsuccessful in his principal aim, but he met all the leading Mongol figures of the day, including the Great Khan Möngke. After his return to France, William composed a long account of his journey with descriptions of life on the steppes.

Nestorian Christianity

It opposes the concept of hypostatic union and emphasizes that the two natures (human and divine) of Jesus Christ were joined by will rather than personhood.

Pastoralists & Nomadic Society

Nomadic peoples of central Asia were pastoralists who kept herds of animals—horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and camels. They built societies by adapting to the ecological conditions of arid lands. Central Asia does not receive enough rain to support large-scale agriculture, but grasses and shrubs flourish on the steppe lands. Maintenance of flocks required pastoral peoples of central Asia to move frequently. They drove their animals to lands with abundant grass and then moved them along as the animals thinned the vegetation. They did not wander aimlessly through the steppes but, rather, followed migratory cycles that took account of the seasons and local climatic conditions.

Khans of the Golden Horde

Persia fell under the authority of rulers known as the ilkhans, and the khans of the Golden Horde dominated Russia. The great khans were nominally superior to the others, but they were rarely able to enforce their claims to authority. In fact, for as long as the Mongol empires survived, ambition fueled constant tension and occasional conflict among the four khans.

Ilkhanate in Persia

While the Golden Horde established its authority in Russia, Khubilai's brother Hülegü toppled the Abbasid empire and established the Mongol ilkhanate in Persia. In 1258 he captured the Abbasid capital of Baghdad after a brief siege. His troops looted the city, executed the caliph, and massacred more than two hundred thousand residents by Hülegü's own estimate.

Yurt & Kumiss

Wool was also the source of the felt that they used to fashion large tents called yurts in which they lived. They even prepared an alcoholic drink from animal products by fermentin

Temujin

born about 1167 into a noble family. His father was a prominent warrior who forged an alliance between several Mongol clans and seemed likely to become a powerful leader. When Temüjin was about ten years old, however, rivals poisoned his father and destroyed the alliance. Abandoned by his father's allies, Temüjin led a precarious existence for some years. He lived in poverty, since rivals seized the family's animals, and several times eluded enemies seeking to eliminate him as a potential threat to their own ambitions. A rival once captured him and imprisoned him in a wooden cage, but Temüjin made a daring midnight escape and regained his freedom.

Manichaeism

by the sixth century c.e. many Turks had converted to Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, or Manichaeism.

Chinggis (Genghis) Khan

forged the various Mongol tribes into a powerful alliance that built the largest empire the world has ever seen. He also mastered the art of steppe diplomacy, which called for displays of personal courage in battle, combined with intense loyalty to allies—as well as a willingness to betray allies or superiors to improve one's position—and the ability to entice previously unaffiliated tribes into cooperative relationships.

Khubilai Khan

one of Chinggis Khan's grandsons. Khubilai was perhaps the most talented of the great conqueror's descendants. He unleashed ruthless attacks against his enemies, but he also took an interest in cultural matters and worked to improve the welfare of his subjects. He actively promoted Buddhism, and he provided support also for Daoists, Muslims, and Christians in his realm. The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who lived almost two decades at Khubilai's court, praised him for his generosity toward the poor and his efforts to build roads. Though named great khan in 1260, Khubilai spent four years fighting off contenders. From 1264 until his death in 1294, Khubilai Khan presided over the Mongol empire at its height.

Map 17.1

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Mongols and Trade

the Mongols worked to secure trade routes and ensure the safety of merchants passing through their territories. Merchants increased their commercial investments, and the volume of long-distance trade across central Asia dwarfed that of earlier eras. Lands as distant as China and western Europe became directly linked for the first time because of the ability of individuals to travel across the entire Eurasian landmass.

Safavid Empire

the Mughal empire in India and the Safavid empire in Persia, both of which emerged during the early sixteenth century as Tamerlane's empire finally dissolved.

Mongol Empire

the nomadic Mongols lived on the high steppe lands of eastern central Asia. Like other nomadic peoples, they displayed deep loyalty to kin groups organized into families, clans, and tribes. They frequently allied with Turkish peoples who built empires on the steppes, but they rarely played a leading role in the organization of states before the thirteenth century.