Perspective Mongols

Perspective – Mongols

World History Name: ______

E. Napp Date: ______

A Historian’s Dilemma:

“Because it was the largest contiguous land empire in history, understanding the entire Mongol Empire requires language competence in Mongolian, Chinese, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, Russian, Armenian, Georgian, and Latin. No scholar can be expected master all of these languages, but serious scholars are expected to know at least one or two of them and to use others in translation. Surprisingly, Mongolian may not be the most important language. Before Chinggis Khan, the language was not written and there are no archives of the Mongol Empire, at least none that have survived. The only major historical text in Mongolian is The Secret History of the Mongols, and, although some scholars think it inauthentic, it is our principal source for the biography of Chinggis Khan. Another text from the days of Chinggis Khan, the Altan Debter, or Golden Book, is lost, but Persian and Chinese historians mention it, and their references show the book to be consistent with, although not the same as, The Secret History.

Chinese and Persian texts are the next most important, discussing Mongol rule over the two empires flanking, and captured by, the Mongol Empire. In China, the major text is the official dynastic history of the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty. In Persia, several authors are important, most notably Rashid al-Din. Until his time, the Mongol conquest posed a problem for Muslim historians: The conquest of the Abbasid Empire was not supposed to happen. Muslims were to conquer others, as they had done with great consistency; they were not supposed to be conquered themselves. During Rashid al-Din’s time, however, the Mongols converted to Islam. Rashid al-Din must have understood this well, since he himself had converted from Judaism. Rashid al-Din wrote the history of the Mongol Empire which, he said, marked a new era in world history. Later he wrote Jami’ al-tawarikh, a Collection of Histories, recording the history of all the peoples touched by the Mongols from the Chinese in the east to the Franks in the west. It was the first example of the form of a world history. For the last twenty years of his life, until he was assassinated as the result of a court intrigue in 1318, Rashid al-Din served as principal adviser to the Il-Khan ruler of Persia.

Distant Europe held relatively little importance for the Mongols, but a number of European sources discuss their conquests. These included men such as Giovanni de Piano Carpini, who was sent by Pope Innocent IV to visit the Khans, and William of Rubruck, who visited the Mongols at the behest of the king of France, Louis IX. The most comprehensive account is by Matthew Paris, who chronicled European reactions to the Mongol advances from his post at St. Albans, England, but the most popular came from travelers, of whom the most famous was Marco Polo.”

~ The World’s History, Spodek

Questions:

1-Mongolian may not be the most important language in the study of the Mongolian empire, yet the most important biography of Chinggis Khan is in Mongolian. How do you explain this paradox?

2-Why are Chinese and Persian important languages for studying the Mongol Empire?

3-Would you consider Rashid-al-Din’s Collection of Histories a history of the world? Why or why not?

In addition, what are the main points of the passage?

Historical Context:

“Two European travelers to lands controlled by the Mongols in Central Asia leave us their documented observations. Both contain impressions about the lives of Mongol women, who at the time had more rights in Mongolia than in China, Europe, or many other cultures. Giovanni de Piano Carpini visited the Mongols between 1245 – 1247 at Pope Innocent IV's command. He is credited with being the first European to produce a firsthand report about the Mongols. Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) was a keen observer of the lives of the women in his detailed account of Mongol life on the steppes in chapter 47 of his book, ‘Il Milione,’ or ‘The Travels of Marco Polo.’”

~ Women in World History

Primary Sources:

Giovanni de Piano Carpini:

“Girls and women ride and gallop as skillfully as men. We even saw them carrying quivers and bows, and the women can ride horses for as long as the men; they have shorter stirrups, handle horses very well, and mind all the property. The Tartar (commonly used term for Mongols) women make everything: skin clothes, shoes, leggings, and everything made of leather. They drive carts and repair them; they load camels, and are quick and vigorous in all their tasks. They all wear trousers and some of them shoot just like men."

What are the main points of the passage thus far?

Marco Polo: “Chapter 47: Of the wandering life of the Tartars – of their domestic manners, their food, and the virtue and useful qualities of their women”

“…Now that I have begun speaking of the Tartars, I will tell you more about them. The Tartars never remain fixed, but as the winter approaches remove to the plains of a warmer region, to find sufficient pasture for their cattle; and in summer they frequent cold areas in the mountains, where there is water and verdure, and their cattle are free from the annoyance of horse- flies and other biting insects. During two or three months they go progressively higher and seek fresh pasture, the grass not being adequate in any one place to feed the multitudes of which their herds and flocks consist. Their huts or tents are formed of rods covered with felt, exactly round, and nicely put together, so they can gather them into one bundle, and make them up as packages, which they carry along with them in their migrations upon a sort of car with four wheels. When they have occasion to set them up again, they always make the entrance front to the south. Besides these cars they have a superior kind of vehicle upon two wheels, also covered with black felt so well that they protect those within it from wet during a whole day of rain. These are drawn by oxen and camels, and convey their wives and children, their utensils, and whatever provisions they require.

The women attend to their trading concerns, buy and sell, and provide everything necessary for their husbands and their families; the time of the men is devoted entirely to hunting, hawking, and matters that relate to the military life....Their women are not excelled in the world for chastity and decency. Of conduct, nor for love and duty to their husbands. Infidelity to the marriage bed is regarded by them as a vice not merely dishonorable, but of the most infamous nature; while on the other hand it is admirable to observe the loyalty of the husbands towards their wives, amongst whom, although there are perhaps ten or twenty, there prevails a highly laudable degree of quiet and union. No offensive language is ever heard, their attention being fully occupied with their traffic (as already mentioned) and their several domestic employments, such as the provision of necessary food for the family, the management of the servants, and the care of the children, a common concern. And the virtues of modesty and chastity in the wives are more praiseworthy because the men are allowed the indulgence of taking as many as they choose. Their expense to the husband is not great, and on the other hand the benefit he derives from their trading, and from the occupations in which they are constantly engaged, is considerable; on which account when he receives a young woman in marriage, he pays a dower to her parent. The wife who is the first espoused has the privilege of superior attention, and is held to be the most legitimate, which extends also to the children borne by her. In consequence of this unlimited number of wives, the offspring is more numerous than amongst any other people. Upon the death of the father, the son may take to himself the wives he leaves behind, with the exception of his own mother. They cannot take their sisters to wife, but upon the death of their brothers they can marry their sisters-in-law. Every marriage is solemnized with great ceremony.”

What are the main points of the passage thus far?

The “Pax Mongolica”

Cultural historians credit the Mongols with little permanent contribution because they were absorbed into other, more settled and sophisticated cultures. But they did establish, for about a century, the ‘Pax Mongolica,’ the Mongolian Peace, over a vast region, in which intercontinental trade could flourish across the reopened silk route. Reports from two world travelers, Ibn Battuta (1304-68) of Morocco and Marco Polo (1254-1324) of Venice, give vivid insights into that exotic trade route.

During his thirty years and 73,000 miles of travel, Ibn Battuta commented extensively on conditions of travel and trade. For example, in Central Asia Ibn Battuta encountered a military expedition of Oz Beg Khan (d. 1341), the ruler of the khanate of the Golden Horde:

‘We saw a vast city on the move with its inhabitants, with mosques and bazaars in it, the smoke of the kitchens rising in the air (for they cook while on the march), and horse-drawn wagons transporting the people, (Dunn, p. 167)

The tents of this camp/city were Mongol yurts. Made of wooden poles covered with leather pelt, and with rugs on the floor, the yurts could be disassembled quickly for travel.

Later, Ibn Battuta was granted his request to travel with one of Oz Beg Khan’s wives along the trade route as she returned to her father’s home in Constantinople to give birth to her child. Ibn Battuta reported that the princess traveled with 5000 horsemen under military command, 500 of her own troops and servants, 200 female slave girls, 20 Greek and Indian pages, 400 wagons, 2000 horses, and about 500 oxen and camels. They crossed from Islamic Mongol territory to Christian Byzantium.

Marco Polo was a merchant in a family of merchants, and his account of his travels to and in China was thus particularly attuned to patterns of trade. His numerous descriptions of urban markets support the idea of an urban-centered trade diaspora. For example, consider Marco Polo’s description of Tabriz in northwest Persia:

‘The people of Tabriz live by trade and industry; for cloth and silk is woven here in great quantity and of great value. The city is so favourably situated that it is a market for merchandise from India and Baghdad, from Mosul and Hormuz, and from many other places; and many Latin merchants come here to buy the merchandise imported from foreign lands. It is also a market for precious stones, which are found here in great abundance. It is a city where good profits are made by traveling merchants. The inhabitants are a mixed lot and good for very little. There are Armenians and Nestorians, Jacobites and Georgians and Persians; and there are also worshippers of Mahomet, who are natives of the city and are called Tabrizis.’ (Marco Polo, p. 57)

Central Asian routes challenged travelers and their animals. Despite the Pax Mongolica, merchants still had to be prepared to defend themselves from attack.”

~ The World’s History, Spodek

Analyze the Following Maps:

The Mongol Empire:

Facts Ascertained from Map:

Map of Ibn Battuta’s Travels:

Facts Ascertained from Map:

Map of Marco Polo’s Travels: