Mongolia Empire

Mongolia Empire

Mongolia Empire was the largest land empire in the history of Europe. The empire existed between the 13^th and 14^th centuries. The empire extended through Eastern Europe and some parts of Central Europe to the Sea of Japan. The empire was established through a merging of various nomadic communities in ancient Europe. Its first and most influential leader was Genghis Khan. Khan was proclaimed as the leader of the empire by a council during the year 1206 (Ma, 2019). The empire experienced rapid growth and development over the years under his leadership and that of his defendant. The empire easily conquered and defeated almost all armies of the time. This paper is a discussion of the history of empire and its impact on the entire Europe and neighbouring. Thesis: The Mongolia Empire had a significant effect on agriculture, politics and economy of the whole of Europe and the Surrounding.

The mention of Mongol attacks was one of the most dreading fears in Europe. The Mongol expanded their empire by use of swift and decisive attacks on the neighbouring communities. The realm had a unique force of warriors in that it fought using an armed and extremely disciplined cavalry. The empire showed no mercy to any community that resisted their rule. All resisting communities were wiped out by the cavalry (Ma, 2019). Their war ended by depopulating some cities and taking all their food, crops and animals. This was one of the reasons that a mention of the Mongols attack brought their rivals and neighbours to their knees.

It was as a result of Mongol conquest of Central Asia and Eastern Europe that the Bubonic Plague was able to spread from Asia to Europe. The plague took advantage of trade routes to reach Europe. The disease was of great significance in shaping the history of Europe. It was endemic to fleas that lived on marmots on the Eastern side of Asia. The Mongols carried the plague on the fleas across the continents into Europe. The plague was so deadly that it cleared about 66% of the European population at the time. The number of estimated people who died as a result of the plague was about fifty million people. The epidemic also traversed over the Mediterranean Sea to affect a part of northern Africa and large parts of Asia.

Despite the spread of terror and bubonic disease in Europe, the empire had various positive effects on the continent. The empire facilitated a century characterized by peace. It was referred to as the Pax Mongolica as it was attributed to the Mongol Empire. This was a century that existed between the centuries of 1280 and 1360 (Ma, 2019). The period of peace was so instrumental in growing the European economy. It led to the opening of the trading routes that connected business communities from Europe and Asia, specifically China. The trade route as known as the Silk Road. The period also played a significant role in European culture. There was a reasonable exchange of culture between Europe and China as the trading people interacted in their trading activities. On top of peace and cultural exchange, the period was also characterized by the creation and spread of wealth along the trade route of Silk Road. The Pax Mongolica was also instrumental for the stability of Central Asia as trade had no such risks and uncertainties.

The Mongol Empire did not only affect the economy of Europe through trade only. It also influenced the development and spread of technology in Europe. The Pax Mongolica created a suitable environment for sharing and passing knowledge, information and cultural identity. The century of peace was characterized by free and legal entry into various religions in the time. The different religions included Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. There was also the choice of joining the ancient Taoism and any other religion as one would prefer. However, the freedom to enjoy joining any religion was allowed if it did not compromise or interfere with the ruling of Khan. The Mongol Empire was also entirely instrumental in facilitating other activities of the time. The Pax Mongolica provided passage for other people who were not after the trade. Groups of missionaries who were spreading religion and faith were allowed to use the trade routes to reach various regions. There were also groups of explorers who were also allowed to use the trade routes. An example of an explorer is the famous Marco Polo, who achieved to travel to the court of the grandson to Khan, Kublai Khan at Xanadu in China (Pederson, 2014). Some of the fundamental technologies made their way to Asia across the Silk Road. Such techniques include the technology of papermaking, printing and manufacturing of gunpowder, among other technologies. Soldiers from the Mongol Empire came with their culture. They participated in activities such as the domestication of animals, plants and flowers as well as vegetables. The religion spread to new communities as these soldiers interacted with the local people. According to a famous historian Ma Debin, the Silk Road was the melting line or the lifeline of the Eurasian continent. There are so much of activities that took place between Europe and Asia through the passage of Silk Road and the Pax Mongolica century.

The other significant signs of the Mongol Empire was their contribution to the transfer of scientific knowledge across various regions in Europe and Asia continents. The Pax Mongolica revived the trade routes of Silk Road (Pederson, 2014). As a result, different rulers took part in the building of posts and rest points to enhance security for the traders—the effect of this passage is that it brought a breakthrough in trade activities. The discovery was because of the introduction of papers money that replaced the traditional trade that involved the exchange of trade commodities for each other. As a result, there was an improvement in the business because people did not have to carry bulky products when buying other commodities. The use of paper money improved transportation and brought efficiency in trading. The Mongolians took advantage of the trade and the trade route to borrow technology and scientific knowledge from the Persians, Indians, Chinese and the Arabs (Pederson, 2014). The Mongol rule characterized by the improvement of the field of medicine. The Mongol rule created medical facilities to offer treatment and training of new medical practitioners. This led to increases exchange and expansion of medical knowledge across Europe. Medical knowledge was important because it helped improve and maintain the health of the Mongolian soldiers. During the Pax Mongolica, Chinese employed medical experts from India and the Middle East. All the medical experts used by the Chinese were communicated to various European centres. It was Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, who established the first institution that focused on studying the western medicine.

The other major event contributed by the Mongolians in the history of Europe was the introduction of modern fighting tactics. It was the Mongolians who introduced the deadliest Chinese war inventions in Europe. The two inventions were the use of guns and the manufacturing of gun powders. The inventions brought about a revolution in Europe that saw other European regions take their following centuries to improve their war technology and tactics (Pederson, 2014). The introduction of guns and gun powder marked the transition from the use of knightly combat in the war to modern armies. In later centuries, the Europeans mustered their new war technology for piracy. They could take control over most of the ocean-going silk and spices trade. In the long run, they took advantage of their new war technology to conquer foreign lands and end up imposing colonial rule over the rest of the world. However, it was ironical how the Russians developed better war technology of guns to seize control over most of the colonies of Mongolia. The Russians also took the Outer Mongolia that was the birthplace of the first ruler of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan. Mongol Empire was also responsible for the unification of the Russians. Initially, before the establishment of the Mongol Empire, the Russians existed in the form of a series of small self-governing states (Perdue, 2010). However, the Russians had a motive of overthrowing the Mongol of Yoke. All Russian speaking people had to unite together to create a better force. During the year 1480, Grand Duchy from Moscow led the Russians to defeat and overthrows the Mongols. However, the Russians were invaded severally by European empires such as the Napoleon Bonaparte and the Nazis of Germany.

Work Cited

Ma, Debin. “The Great Silk Exchange: How the World Was Connected and Developed.” CiteSeer, The College of Information Sciences and Technology, The Pennsylvania State University, 2019.

Pederson, Neil. “Pluvials, droughts, the Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia.” Amy E. Hessl, Nachin Baatarbileg, et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, March 25, 2014.

Perdue, Peter C. “Boundaries, Maps, and Movement: Chinese, Russian, and Mongolian Empires in Early Modern Central Eurasia.” Volume 20, 1998 – Issue 2, The International History Review, Informa UK Limited, December 1, 2010