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Mongolian Empire
MDuring the 11th-12th centuries, the Mongol tribes
came into history under the names Whole Mongolia,
Tatar, Kerait, Jalair. These neighboring tribes
had their own rulers and were constantly fighting
with each other. At this time of intertribal struggle,
a Mongol chieftain called Temujin gathered various
tribes under his leadership, named his state "Mongolia",
and became known as "Chinggis Khaan",
meaning 'Universal King'. The “Genghis Khan” imprinted
in the memory of the west bears little relation
to the Chinggis Khaan revered by Mongolians. The
spelling is not the only difference; to Europeans
the name epitomizes mercilessness and warmongering;
to the Mongolians, it embodies strength, unity,
law and order.
The difficult process of establishing the Mongolian
State was described in the famous Mongolian document
"Nuuts Tovchoo" (Secret History of the
Mongols). In the 13th century Mongolia was one
of the most powerful states in the world. All
major world trade and political relations went
through the capital of Mongolia of that time,
Karakorum (Khar Khorin, which is situated in the
present territory of Mongolia), and the flow of
ambassadors from France, sons of Georgian and
Armenian sovereigns, Russian princes, and Chinese
officials was unceasing. After having established
the state, following the custom of the ancient
nomads, Chinggis Khaan undertook campaigns against
the neighboring states. As a result of the wars
undertaken by Chinggis Khaan and his successors
with the purpose of "conquering the whole
world" Mongolia became a powerful empire,
extending from the East China Sea to Western Europe,
covering vast areas of Europe and Asia.
Chinggis' grandson, Kublai Khaan (1216-94), completed
the subjugation of China, and becoming the emperor
of China's Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Kublai soon
realized, though, that the Mongol empire had reached
the limits of its expansion. Instead of looking
for more wars to fight, he concentrated on keeping
the vast empire together. This was the height
of the Mongols' glory: the empire stretched from
Korea to Hungary and as far south as Vietnam,
making it the largest empire the world has ever
known.
The wars waged by the Mongols resulted in the
dispersal of the Mongolian tribes, a considerable
reduction in the size of the Mongolian population,
and the destruction of cities and villages in
the conquered countries. However, these wars precipitated
the process of unification of various Asian and
European tribes, and drew East and West nearer
together, something that had never been done before.
After the death of the last Mongolian Emperor
Monkh, the Mongol Empire broke up into the Golden
Horde of Batu Khan (Chinggis Khaan's grandson),
inhabiting the Russian Kipchak steppe; the Kingdom
of Tsagadai (Chinggis Khaan's son), who had conquered
East Turkistan and modern Uzbekistan, and the
Yuan State of Kublai Khaan, which included the
Mongolian and Chinese territories.
After Kublai Khaan's death in 1294, the Mongols
became increasingly dependent on the people they
ruled. They were deeply resented as an elite,
privileged class exempt from taxation, and the
empire became ridden with factions vying for power.
The Mongols were expelled from Beijing by the
first emperor of the Ming dynasty in the mid 14th
century. The collapse of the Yuan dynasty caused
over 60,000 Mongols to return to Mongolia. Their
unity dissolved and frequent clan warfare and
a long period of decline followed.
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