o Overview
-> Conquest and expansion
-> Imperial state building
-> Fragmentation and decline
o Conquest and expansion
-> Pastoral nomadism sustained skilled mounted archers.
-> Chinggis Khan united Mongol tribes in 1206.
-> Loyalty and military merit weakened rival clan power.
-> Mobile cavalry and coordinated tactics enabled conquest.
-> Captured engineers supplied siege skills against cities.
-> Conquests linked China, Central Asia, Persia, and Russia.
o Imperial state building
-> Mongols used local officials to tax settled populations.
-> Religious tolerance helped govern diverse conquered peoples.
-> Kublai Khan founded Yuan rule and defeated Song in 1279.
-> Yuan retained Chinese administration but favored Mongols.
-> Ilkhans ruled Persia; some adopted Islam for legitimacy.
-> Golden Horde collected tribute through Russian princes.
o Fragmentation and decline
-> Succession disputes fractured unified rule into khanates.
-> Yuan, Ilkhanate, Chagatai, and Golden Horde ruled regions.
-> Inter-khanate wars weakened wider imperial coordination.
-> Yuan fiscal strain and disasters fueled peasant rebellion.
-> Ming forces expelled Yuan from China in 1368.
o Overview
-> Trade and communication
-> Cultural and environmental effects
-> Continuity and change
o Trade and communication
-> Mongol conquests joined Eurasian lands under related states.
-> Pax Mongolica: protection made overland travel safer.
-> Safer routes lowered risks, encouraging Silk Roads trade.
-> Merchant privileges and credit supported caravan commerce.
-> Yam relay stations sped imperial orders and diplomatic news.
-> Paiza passes granted authorized travelers access to supplies.
o Cultural and environmental effects
-> Mongol courts moved artisans, often forcibly, across Eurasia.
-> Relocated experts shared medicine and astronomical knowledge.
-> Contacts helped Chinese gunpowder knowledge spread westward.
-> Travelers such as Marco Polo widened knowledge of Asia.
-> Trade and troop movements helped plague spread in the 1300s.
-> Black Death mortality disrupted labor, markets, and revenues.
o Continuity and change
-> Mongols expanded Silk Roads that predated their conquests.
-> Silk and luxury trade persisted; imperial protection grew.
-> Conquest destroyed cities even as rulers later aided commerce.
-> Local religions endured despite conquest and elite migration.
-> Khanate wars reduced security; Eurasian exchange continued.