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After landing at the port of Hormuz, you caravan your way through the Ilkhanate to reach Tabriz, which sits in a river valley flanked by mountains and a lake to the west. The city unfolds before you as you descend the valley, the red soil of the Eynali Mountains framing the backdrop of a bustling city surrounded by new walls and buildings that seem to drip with wealth. Tabriz was one of the first cities in the region to surrender to the Mongols, and it has benefited from the Mongol destruction of nearby rival trade cities. At the time you're arriving, Ghazan Khan has just become the new ruler of the Ilkhanate. While his predecessor officially named Tabriz the capital of the Ilkhanate, Ghazan will be the one to make sure Tabriz looks the part, launching new public works projects.
The Ilkhanate was another site of interaction between the East and West, particularly because the Mongols established the Ilkhanate in the wake of the Crusades. To European rulers and to the pope, the Mongols presented a potential ally against the Muslims in the Holy Land. The kings of France in particular exchanged letters with the khans of the Ilkhanate, hoping to gain an ally against their mutual enemy—the Mamluks—who had taken advantage of the chaos in the region to establish the Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt and Syria. Despite the exchanges of letters and gifts, an alliance never materialized, and the Mamluks joined the exclusive club of states that managed to fend off Mongol invasions (they also liberated Palestine and Syria from both the Mongols and the Crusaders).
It was Hülegü Khan who led an army into the Middle East and defeated the last of the Abbasid Caliphate, sacking Baghdad in 1258. In its place, the Mongols established the Ilkhanate across present day Iran (Persia) and much of the Middle East and Near East (including present day Turkey). Several Mongol rulers converted to Islam and used the existing Persian bureaucratic structure (and Persian officials) to help administer and govern the region. They also promoted intellectual exchanges between the Middle East and China. For example, Chinese astronomers and scholars were brought to study in an observatory in Maragheh. Sufism—a sect of Islamic mysticism that emphasizes meditation and ritual to achieve a direct, personal experience with God—also played a role in Islamicizing many Mongols.
The region has been a bit slow to recover from the Mongol conquests, especially since the Ilkhanate continued to find itself in conflict with the Mamluks to the west and the Golden Horde to the north. But the Ilkhanate and its capital (Tabriz) still sit at the crossroads of trade, and by the time you arrive, prosperity has returned. But while Baghdad was the cultural and economic center of the Abbasid Caliphate, Tabriz now eclipses all other Ilkhanid cities and serves as the administrative center of the empire.
A 1298 letter from Arghun Khan to Philip IV of France
A 1298 letter from Arghun Khan to Philip IV of France
A 1305 letter from Ilkhan Öljaitü to King Philip IV of France, suggesting military collaboration
A 1305 letter from Ilkhan Öljaitü to King Philip IV of France, suggesting military collaboration
A Persian miniature of Tabriz under Ghazan Khan
Ghazan studying the Quran, painted by his vizier Rashid al-Din
Mongol hand cannon
The Dome of Soltaniyeh, which displays Ilkhanid architecture that influenced later Persian architecture as well as the Florence Cathedral in Italy
This is actually Marco Polo's second time in Tabriz—he first stopped here on his way to Kublai Khan's court. He tells you that Tabriz is "a great city surrounded by beautiful and pleasant gardens. It is excellently situated so the goods brought to here coming from many regions. Latin merchants specially Genevis [merchants from the Italian city-state Genoa] go there to buy the goods that come from foreign lands."
But when Polo last visited Tabriz, it had not been under the rule of the reformer Ghazan Khan. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) for the princess Kököchin, her intended husband Arghun Khan had died by the time you arrive in Tabriz, so instead she marries Ghazan. He's a true renaissance man, speaking multiple languages and taking great interest in the arts and sciences. In order to make Tabriz a worthy capital city, he's launched a building campaign not only of new walls, but also public buildings, hospitals, and caravanserais to serve Silk Road travelers like you and Polo. On a tour of the city, Ghazan shows you the schools and observatory he has built, where he invites scholars from across Persia and Asia (he also recruits Chinese physicians to serve in his court). A student of science and astronomy, Ghazan shows you several of his own astronomical innovations that he feels might be of interest back in Europe. He is pleased to see Europeans, as Crusader forces have recently joined him in expeditions against the Mamluks. He even shows you a hand cannon used in some raids in Syria.
Ghazan has also converted to Islam, making it the Ilkhanates official religion, and—in keeping with the Mongol Yassa (legal code)—he practices religious tolerance and punishes those who destroy temples, synagogues, or churches. Muslim and Persian arts and architecture (especially elaborate mosques and Sufi shrines) flourished. Ilkhanid manuscripts included illustrations of representations of the prophet Muhammad otherwise not seen in Muslim art, suggesting influence from Christian artwork (in Islam, Muhammad and other prophets are not supposed to be pictured in any way). Ghazan seemed to want to restore Persia and perhaps rectify the destruction and devastation of the Mongol invasions. While the Mongols had adopted the Uighur script for official use in record keeping, Persian has also become a lingua franca (official language) of the Mongol Empire, and Persian culture and art flourished through Ilkhan patronage of the arts.
An interior section of the Bazaar of Tabriz
An example of double-entry bookkeeping, with debits on the left and credits on the right
A gold coin of Ghazan's reign
Ilkhanid ceramic earthenware
Marco Polo is most excited to show you the Bazaar of Tabriz, which he claims is the one of the richest trading centers in the world. Its location plus Ghazan's construction of caravanserai (roadside inns for travelers and trade caravans) and improvements to the Yam system (the Mongol postal relay stations across the empire) makes it easy to import the best goods from India, China, and the Mediterranean. You could walk for hours through its many sections, picking from the best rugs, silks, spices, pearls, and other handicraft goods. Ghazan's attempts to revive agriculture and maintain good relations with the Yuan Dynasty also means new crops from East Asia are available at the bazaar. Improved contact and travel between China and the Middle East has also introduced new designs and decorative trends, especially on Persian ceramics modeled after Chinese porcelain.
As in other parts of the Mongol Empire, the Ilkhans use a variety of taxes for revenue. In the Ilkhanate, there is actually a progressive tax system: the rich pay about 7 times more than the poor. And Ghazan's new system of standardized coins (dinars) has improved and simplified commerce. Naturally, Marco Polo is most intrigued by the use of double-entry accounting (adapted from Abbasid accounting techniques), which allows merchants to keep track of credits and debits.
You're just about to use some dinars to purchase an ornate Persian rug when Marco Polo runs into a fellow merchant from Genoa. During Polo's absence, the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa had signed trade agreements with the Ilkhanate. These agreements, plus the Mongols' typically favorable policies toward Christians, means Europeans are now found throughout Tabriz and other parts of the Ilkhanate. This Genoese merchant tells Polo that there is a Genoese colony in the Black Sea port of Caffa (also spelled Kaffa), which is part of the Golden Horde. Polo convinces you to change your travel itinerary to head to the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai, so you can then make your way to Caffa and into the Mediterranean by way of the Black Sea. Click the button below to continue your journey to the lands of the Golden Horde (present day Russia).
A ship flying the flag of the Ilkhanate sailing the Indian Ocean, depicted in the Catalan Atlas
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