The Mongols were a nomadic people who grazed their horses and sheep on the vast, treeless plains, of Central Asia. Rival Mongol clans spent much of their time warring with one another. In the early 1200s, however, a brilliant Mongol chieftain united these warring tribes. This chieftain took the name Genghis Khan, meaning “Universal Ruler.” Under his leadership, Mongol armies swept to triumph. In the 13th century CE the Mongols created the largest connected land mass empire in the history of the world. For centuries they have been remembered as a brutal tribe of nomadic barbarians who were a serious threat to people and civilizations throughout Asia and Europe. However, the Mongol conquest led to peace between the nations under Mongol rule,
…show more content…
Having conquered an enormous territory in Asia, the Mongols were able to guarantee the security and safety of travelers. There were some conflicts among the various Mongol Khanates, but recognition that trade and travel were important for all the Mongol domains meant that traders were generally not in danger during the hundred years of Mongol domination and rule over Eurasia. Pax Mongolica refers to the period of social stability, peace and economic growth for the Mongols. It was a time of spreading different ideas and a great cultural expansion around Europe and Asia. Pax Mongolica basically enabled a widespread global communication with the different nations ruled by the Mongols. This led different cultures to blend with each other and combine different philosophies. One example of this blend was the adaptation of Mongols to Islam. The Mongols gained the enormous Islamic empire by using force and brutality, but during the Pax Mongolica, they let the captured rulers remain in power as long as they paid tribute, provided troops when called upon, came before the khan to pledge their loyalty, and kept good order in their territories (document 3). Diplomatic exchanges between Christian Europe and Mongol Asia led to the emergence of the first eye-witness accounts of far-off East Asia. It gave Western Europeans a better perspective of the world and its many different cultures, beliefs, values, attitudes, and institutions. They no longer tried to force all people into the narrow confines of a specific Biblical niche or role as they initially did (document 7). Thus the Mongols impacted the West’s intellectual framework in the 13th and 14th centuries
Having conquered an enormous territory in Asia, the Mongols were able to guarantee the security and safety of travelers. There were some conflicts among the various Mongol Khanates, but recognition that trade and travel were important for all the Mongol domains meant that traders were generally not in danger during the hundred years of Mongol domination and rule over Eurasia. Pax Mongolica refers to the period of social stability, peace and economic growth for the Mongols. It was a time of spreading different ideas and a great cultural expansion around Europe and Asia. Pax Mongolica basically enabled a widespread global communication with the different nations ruled by the Mongols. This led different cultures to blend with each other and combine different philosophies. One example of this blend was the adaptation of Mongols to Islam. The Mongols gained the enormous Islamic empire by using force and brutality, but during the Pax Mongolica, they let the captured rulers remain in power as long as they paid tribute, provided troops when called upon, came before the khan to pledge their loyalty, and kept good order in their territories (document 3). Diplomatic exchanges between Christian Europe and Mongol Asia led to the emergence of the first eye-witness accounts of far-off East Asia. It gave Western Europeans a better perspective of the world and its many different cultures, beliefs, values, attitudes, and institutions. They no longer tried to force all people into the narrow confines of a specific Biblical niche or role as they initially did (document 7). Thus the Mongols impacted the West’s intellectual framework in the 13th and 14th centuries