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Wait For It...The Mongols!_ Crash Course World History #17.mp4Middle Ages Asia.mp4Medieval China_ Crash Course History of Science #8.mp4European Trade Influence in Asia for Middle School.mp4Castles.mp4Medieval Asia
Medieval Asia
The Mongol Empire controlled most of Asia and some parts of Eastern Europe from around 1210 to 1375. Look at the map of the Mongol Empire. Was the Mongol Empire the largest empire in history?
The Mongol Empire was the largest land-based empire in history. This means that all of the territory controlled by the Mongol Empire was one big piece of connected land. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the British Empire was larger, but its territory was not connected. Large oceans often separated different parts of the British territory.
Mongols came from Mongolia, a region in northern Asia. Most Mongols were pastoralists, or people who raised animals and moved with the seasons. Mongols became pastoralists in order to adapt to their environment.
Were Mongols the only pastoralists?
No! Many communities around the world practice pastoralism. Just like farming communities who farmed, pastoralist communities have practiced pastoralism in different ways. For example, some pastoralists move many times a season, and others move only twice a year.
Are people today still pastoralists?
Yes! Today, communities across the world still practice pastoralism. These communities keep animals and move during different seasons. Many pastoralists also have access to modern technology, such as solar panels, televisions, satellite dishes, and cell phones.
The founder of the Mongol Empire was a man named Temujin. He was born in Mongolia in the 1100s. The passage below comes from a Mongolian history text. In the passage, an older person is telling Temujin what Mongolia was like before he was born. Read the passage.
Before you were born, the stars turned in the heavens. Everyone was fighting. Instead of sleeping, they robbed each other of their possessions. . . . Instead of resting, they fought each other. In such a world one did not live as one wished, but rather in constant conflict. There was no rest, only battle. There was no affection, only mutual slaughter.
mutual slaughter: killing each other
Adapted from The Secret History of the Mongols, paragraph 254
Why was Mongolian society unstable in the 1100s?
In the 1100s, Mongolian society became unstable when the Liao Dynasty (pronounced LEE'ow), which ruled Mongolia, collapsed.
After the Liao Dynasty ended, no major power controlled the Mongolian Steppe. As a result, many Mongolians fought one another for power.
How else did Temujin gain loyalty?
Temujin also gave educated people jobs in the Mongol confederacy. These educated people were often advisors who helped Mongols strengthen their government. For example, several educated Uyghurs (WEE-gurs), a group who joined the Mongol confederacy in the early 1200s, helped Mongols improve their written language.
In the year 1206, Temujin held a large meeting with the leaders of many tribes of the Mongol confederacy. In this meeting, Mongol leaders elected Temujin as their new leader. They also gave Temujin the title Genghis Khan. Many historians think that the title "Genghis Khan" means "the ruler who rules all land between the oceans."
Mongolia: one of the world's earliest democracies
Genghis Khan was elected as Mongolia's leader. Elections were common in the Mongol Empire, and they were held at large meetings called khuriltai (kur-ill-TAI). Today, the country of Mongolia is a democracy, a type of government where people elect their leaders. The country of Mongolia's parliament is called the Great Khural, which comes from the word khuriltai!
After Genghis Khan became the elected leader of the Mongol confederacy, he made several changes to the Mongol army and government. These changes helped Genghis Khan conquer land beyond Mongolia. As Mongols conquered other regions, their confederacy became known as the Mongol Empire.
Mongol women rulers
After Genghis Khan established the Mongol Empire, many Mongol women held powerful political positions. They ruled parts of the empire and advised Mongol princes. For example, a Mongol woman named Sorghaghtani Beki (sor-gah-TAH-nee beh-kee) made policies across the empire and helped the Mongols conquer China.
In the 1300s, a Persian historian named Rashid al-Din wrote this about Sorghaghtani Beki:
[She is] extremely intelligent and able . . . the most intelligent woman in the world.
Genghis Khan's changes to his government and army helped the Mongol Empire win battles across Asia. The map below shows military campaigns, or a series of battles, led by Genghis Khan and his generals. Look at the map.
Genghis Khan's first military campaign was against the Western Xia Dynasty in 1207. Between 1207 and 1218, he and his generals led several campaigns against other states in East Asia, such as the Song Dynasty. He also led campaigns in Central Asia against the cities of Samarkand and Kabul. In the 1220s, Mongol armies also fought in Russia. Genghis Khan died during a campaign against the Western Xia (pronounced SEE'ah) Dynasty in 1227.
Where was Genghis Khan buried?
Genghis Khan died while on a campaign in Central Asia. After that, historians think that soldiers took his body back to Mongolia. Today, teams of archaeologists search parts of the Mongolian countryside to look for Genghis Khan's buried tomb!
After Genghis Khan died, Mongol rulers continued to campaign across Asia and Eastern Europe. Mongol battles were often destructive, and tens of thousands of soldiers and average people died as a result of the violence.
What other weapons did Mongol armies use?
Mongol armies also used biological warfare, or fighting with germs, during their battles. For example, in the 1300s, Mongol armies launched dead bodies over Eastern European city walls. These bodies were infected with a deadly disease known as the Bubonic Plague, or Black Death. These bodies exposed people in the walled cities to the sickness. To launch these bodies, Mongol armies used trebuchets.
In the decades after Genghis Khan died, the Mongol Empire split into four regions, called domains. Each domain was ruled by one of Genghis Khan's sons or grandsons. Although domains were sometimes independent, their Mongol rulers still cooperated with each other.
How did the four domains work together?
Mongol rulers built roads and encouraged trade and communication across the four domains. For example, Mongols gave people a type of travel document called a paiza. A paiza allowed some merchants to travel without paying any taxes or tolls. A paiza also allowed them to use free horses and eat free food from roadside stations.
Throughout the 1200s, rulers of each of the Mongol domains continued to conquer parts of Asia and Eastern Europe. After Mongol armies conquered a region, Mongol rulers worked to create peace and promote trade. Mongol rulers made changes that helped revive, or bring back, Silk Road trade.
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that crossed parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The map shows the four Mongol domains, as well as some of the goods and people that were traded from different regions of the Silk Road. Look at the map.
What kind of goods were most popular along the Silk Road?
Many people in the Middle East and Europe wanted to buy goods from East Asia. Ceramics from East Asia were particularly popular along many parts of the Silk Road.
The wealthiest region under Mongol rule was East Asia. Silk Road trade and trade between China, Korea, and Japan helped make many people in the region wealthy. Look at the timeline of East Asian history.
The timeline shows that trade between China and Japan happened before, in between, and after the Mongol invasions of Japan. So, historians believe that the Mongol invasions did not stop trade in East Asia.
After Mongols conquered a region, they were faced with a challenge. Mongol rulers were foreign conquerors, but they needed the people they conquered to be loyal to them. A Mongol ruler named Khublai Khan (KOOB-lai kahn), who ruled the Mongol domain called the Yuan Dynasty, faced this challenge when he conquered China in the 1200s. At that time, many people in China followed the teachings of Confucianism, an important philosophy in East Asia. The maps below show where Confucian schools were founded in China before and after the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
During the Yuan Dynasty, Mongol rulers, such as Khublai Khan, built Confucian schools. Yuan rulers also built more schools in the northern part of the territory near the city of Beijing. As a result, more Chinese people had the opportunity to attend a Confucian school. Building these schools helped Khublai Khan gain the respect and loyalty of his Chinese
How else did Khublai Khan gain Chinese support?
In addition to building schools, Khublai Khan took other steps to gain Chinese support:
Khublai Khan gave his second son a Chinese name and a Mongolian name.
Khublai Khan paid for people to translate several important Chinese texts into Mongolian. He then asked Mongolian government officials to study these texts. This showed his Chinese subjects that he respected Chinese learning.
Because Mongols ruled such a large amount of territory, they ruled over people who practiced many different religions. Some popular religions at the time were Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Mongols themselves also practiced many different religions. The objects below were made under Mongol rule.
Did Mongols have their own religion?
Many Mongols practiced a religion known as Tengrism. Tengrism is named after Tengri, a god many Mongols believed to be the blue sky. Tengrism was often practiced differently in different locations. Most followers believed that there were many spirits who lived in nature, particularly on top of tall mountains.
Unlike other religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam, Tengrism had no written texts. Instead, Mongols relied on people called shamans to communicate between spirits and human beings.
The four Mongol domains ended between 1370 and 1502. But after these domains ended, Mongol rulers founded several other governments. Read the information below that tells about four different governments that were founded after the end of the Mongol domains.
How long did Genghis Khan's relatives rule?
Rulers related to Genghis Khan continued to rule until the 1900s! For example, Alim Khan, the ruler of the city of Bukhara in Central Asia, was a relative of Genghis Khan. He died in 1944, which was less than 100 years ago!
Mongols were a group of people from northern Asia. In 1206 CE, a man named Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire. Eventually, the Mongol Empire controlled territory across Asia and Eastern Europe. Although many people died in Mongol battles, the Mongol Empire also encouraged trade and allowed people to practice many different.
What is Mongolia like today?
Today, more than three million people live in Mongolia. Mongolian people also live outside of Mongolia, in countries such as China, Russia, Japan, Korea, and the United States. More than one million people live in Mongolia's capital city, Ulaanbaatar (OO-lan-BAH-tar).
Medieval Japan
Medieval Japan
Japan is an archipelago [ar-keh-PEL-ah-go], or group of islands, in East Asia. There are four main islands that make up the Japanese archipelago. These islands are east of China, which is the largest country in East Asia today.
The medieval period in Japan lasted from around 700 to 1600 CE. In the medieval period, Japanese territory was smaller than it is today. From 794 to 1185 CE, Japan was ruled by emperors from the capital city of Heian (HAY-ahn), which was also called Kyoto (KIO-toh). Look at the map of medieval Japan.
Kyoto: then and now
People have lived in the Kyoto area for thousands of years. But Kyoto became the capital of Japan in the 700s. For more than 1,000 years, it remained Japan's capital city!
Today, Kyoto is a large, modern city with more than one million people. Many old neighborhoods in the city have been preserved. These neighborhoods are popular places to visit.
The emperor of Japan and the royal family lived in the capital city, Kyoto. Around the emperor's palace was the imperial court. Many people who worked for the emperor lived in the imperial court. Here are some of these groups:
Many Buddhist monks and nuns worked at the court. Buddhism was a popular religion in the court at the time.
Courtiers, or people who worked at the court, helped the emperor manage the day-to-day running of Japan.
Members of powerful families also worked at the court. Often, members of these powerful families married people from the royal family.
A book called the Tale of Genji, written in the 1000s, provides many details about life in the imperial court at this time. From the 1000s until today, many artists in Japan have painted scenes from this book. The painting below shows a scene from the Tale of Genji.
The Tale of Genji: The world's first novel?
Many people consider this book to be the world's first novel. It was written by Murasaki Shikibu, who was a noblewoman at the court in Kyoto. In the Tale of Genji, she describes the life of a nobleman named Genji and his adventures. She also records many details of the court at the time, even down to the smallest details about the clothing people wore!
During the medieval period, people regularly traveled between Japan and other parts of East Asia. Many people sailed to China to learn about its culture, religion, government, and art. In particular, many of these Japanese travelers wanted to know more about Buddhism.
One famous traveler was a Buddhist named Kukai. Read about some of the events from Kukai's life.
Between the years 700 and 1100 CE, several families became increasingly wealthy and powerful. Read the passage about how these families became powerful.
In the capital city, Kyoto, some wealthy families would arrange for their daughters to marry sons from the royal family. Marriages allowed these wealthy families to influence some of the emperor's decisions. These same families often controlled large amounts of land. Around the year 1100, almost half the land in Japan was controlled by wealthy families! In order to protect their land and wealth, these families often hired their own armies. Eventually, these armies became larger and more powerful than the emperor's own troops.
The most powerful family of all: the Fujiwara clan
At this time, the most powerful family in Japan was the Fujiwara clan. "Clan" is a word often used to describe a large family. The Fujiwara clan owned large amounts of land, and its members often influenced the decisions of the emperor. The poem below was written by a member of the Fujiwara clan in 1018. Read the poem. Why do you think the author compared himself to the "full moon"?
This world, I think,
Is indeed my world.
Like the full moon
I shine,
Uncovered by any cloud!
Fujiwara no Michinaga, 1018
In the 1150s, wars broke out between powerful families over who would become the next emperor of Japan. One leader from a powerful family was a man named Minamoto no Yoritomo. Yoritomo was a warrior, and over time he convinced other warriors to follow him. These warriors were often known as samurai (SAH-muh-rai). Yoritomo asked these samurai to pledge an oath of loyalty to him. In exchange for their loyalty, Yoritomo would provide these warriors with certain benefits. Both Yoritomo and the samurai benefited from this relationship.
How else did Yoritomo become so powerful?
Some of the women in Yoritomo's family helped Yoritomo to gain more power:
Yoritomo's mother was from the Fujiwara clan, one of the most powerful families in Japan at the time.
Yoritomo married a woman from the Hojo clan, which was another powerful family in Japan. This clan later became the most powerful family in Japan!
Over time, Yoritomo became powerful enough to start a new government in the city of Kamakura. Read about how this new government interacted with the old government.
Yoritomo started a new government in the city of Kamakura in eastern Japan. His government was a military government, or a government run by warriors. But the emperor still ruled from the city of Kyoto.
This system is often called dual government, meaning rule by two governments. In this system, both Yoritomo and the emperor supported one another instead of fighting for power.
Surviving a period of war
Even after Yoritomo formed a powerful government, the late 1100s were a time of near-constant war in Japan. In addition to these wars, there were also several natural disasters, such as large earthquakes and famines. War and natural disasters made life difficult for most people in Japan at the time. A Japanese Buddhist named Kamo no Chomei wrote this description of the capital city around the 1180s:
In all the provinces, peasants were abandoning the land and leaving the region. Some went to live in the mountains. In the court, special Buddhist prayers were carefully conducted, but to no effect. . . . It became common for beggars to be heard in the main street of the capital, complaining about their conditions.
Chomei, "An account of my hut"
Even though Yoritomo had a powerful government, he was often at war with other powerful families and their samurai. Over time, samurai developed new ways to fight wars. The passage below describes how samurai fought during the Genpei War, which lasted from 1180 to 1185. Read the passage.
From the mountain cliffs to the shallows of the sea they had piled up large boulders, and over these stacked thick logs, on top of which they positioned two rows of shields and [built] double turrets, with narrow openings through which to shoot. Warriors stood with bows strung and arrows at the ready. . . . In the shallows of the sea to the south were large boats ready to [sail] to the deeper water, where tens of thousands of ships floated, like wild geese scattered across the sky.
turrets: small towers on top of a wall or castle
Genpei Josuiki
The samurai navy: defeating the Mongols!
Many samurai were skilled fighters on land. But samurai also had a navy! In the 1200s, a group called the Mongols invaded Japan. But samurai, fighting on ships, defeated the Mongol troops. According to Japanese legends, these samurai were helped by a kamikaze, which means "heavenly wind" in the Japanese language. This kamikaze (ka-meh-ka-zeh) blew away the Mongol ships.
This "heavenly wind" was most likely a typhoon (tie-FOON), a kind of powerful tropical storm. It is possible that these typhoons hurt the Mongols and helped Japanese soldiers defeat them.
As samurai fought in wars and long military campaigns together, they began to develop their own culture. For example, samurai began to follow new kinds of Buddhism. They also followed local Japanese religious traditions, which are often referred to as Shinto traditions.
Read the two passages from the Tale of Heike (HAY-kay), an account that describes battles in the Genpei War (1180–1185). The Tale of Heike provides some information about the religious beliefs of samurai in medieval Japan. The first passage shows a Buddhist belief, and the second passage shows a Shinto belief.
What is a shrine?
A shrine is a sacred place that is dedicated to a holy figure, such as a god, ancestor, or saint. In Shinto traditions, shrines are often dedicated to a single god. Sometimes, shrines have their own buildings, but other times, people keep small shrines in their homes.
Do other religions have shrines?
Yes! Shrines are common in different faiths practiced across the world. For example, some Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus pray at shrines.
Samurai had other roles besides fighting wars. Many samurai also watched over estates, or the large pieces of land controlled by powerful families. Samurai protected the land and farmers from bandits and made sure that farmers remained on the land and farmed. The graph below shows the population of Japan between 950 and 1450.
Between the years 950 CE and 1450 CE, the population of Japan doubled. One reason was because samurai protected farmers from bandits, which made farming safer. Peasants also developed new ways of farming. This helped them grow more crops to feed more people.
What new farming methods did people develop?
Farmers began to use new methods of irrigation, or watering fields. Irrigation allowed farmers to more efficiently water their fields, which allowed them to grow more food. By the year 1300, many villages in Japan had grown larger, and farmers began to live closer together. Living closer together helped farmers share these new methods with each other.
In the 1300s, the way Japan was ruled changed again. A new powerful family, the Ashikaga family, took over the military government of Japan. Their military leader was known as the shogun. Even though there was still an emperor, the emperor had almost no power after the Ashikaga family took control. During this period, there were four major groups in Japanese society.
Trading with neighbors
Some daimyo in southern Japan participated in international trade, without the support of the shogun. For example, several daimyo traded with the Ryukyu Kingdom, which ruled a group of islands south of Japan until the 1600s. In the 1600s, the Ryukyu Kingdom was conquered by one of these daimyo and became part of Japan.
Daimyo traded high-quality Japanese goods, such as lacquered bowls, to other countries.
The Ryukyu Kingdom traded goods from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, such as frankincense. Frankincense was often turned into incense.
Some historians have claimed that between 1100 and 1600, Japan developed a feudal society.
These historians have argued that many societies around the world had a "feudal" structure at certain points in their history. They claim that feudal societies share several common characteristics.
Do leaders share power today?
An important part of feudal systems is shared military power. This means that the ruler, such as the king or the emperor, did not have complete control over the military or warriors. Instead, in feudal systems, many warriors worked for other powerful individuals, and there were often many different armies.
In many countries today, there is just one army, and this army works only for its government. Often, the ruler of a country is also the head of the army. If average people pay others to fight or commit violence, both those who pay and those who fight are considered criminals.
Some historians have claimed that both medieval Europe and medieval Japan had feudal societies. The table below compares government and social groups in medieval Europe and medieval Japan.
Based on the table, this was a feature of medieval Europe only:
The two most powerful groups of people were not in the military.
The two most powerful groups of people in medieval Europe were the royal family and nobles. Royal families and nobles were not part of the military.
These were features of both medieval Europe and medieval Japan:
Warriors worked for more powerful people in exchange for land and money.
In medieval Europe, knights worked for noble families. In medieval Japan, samurai worked for daimyo families. So, in both societies, warriors were paid for their service to more powerful families.
Peasants often were not allowed to leave the land they lived on.
The table shows that in both societies, more powerful people forced peasants to remain on the land.
This was a feature of medieval Japan only:
The two most powerful groups of people were military leaders.
In medieval Japan, the two most powerful groups of people were shoguns and daimyo. Both of these groups were made up of military leaders.
In the medieval period, people in Europe and people in Japan were often involved in local wars. As a result, similar types of buildings developed in both places. For example, people in both Europe and Japan built castles.
Himeji Castle: World Heritage Site
Today, the Himeji Castle is a World Heritage Site. A World Heritage Site is a natural or human-made place with special historical or cultural value to humankind. The United Nations has agreed that these sites should be protected.
Buddhism and Shinto influenced the religious beliefs of many people in medieval Japan. Buddhist ideas first came to Japan from China, and Shinto traditions were native to Japan.
Shoguns and daimyo were powerful military leaders in medieval Japan. They became more powerful around 1300 and had more power over peasants than earlier military leaders.
Emperors in Kyoto were strongest before the year 1100. Afterwards, they gradually lost power to military governments.
Ideas about feudal societies have been used to understand both medieval Europe and medieval Japan.
The legacies of medieval Japan
Japan today is a modern, populous country with more than 125 million people. But parts of medieval Japan still appear in popular culture. For example, books and movies about the medieval period have been popular in Japan and in countries around the world. Many people consider Rashomon, a film set in medieval Japan, one of the greatest movies ever made!
Many video games have been made about medieval Japan. Some of these video games allow people to play in specific battles from history or as well-known samurai and daimyo.
Many beautiful buildings from the medieval period have been preserved. For example, people can visit the Todaiji temple where Kukai taught after his return from China. Deer are allowed to roam the area and are popular with visitors.
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