The Road to Successful Empire Building: The Mongol and Spanish Empire

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Geography played a big role in history and made each empire unique in its own way. Geography had positive and negative effects when it comes to location, access to resources, and trade. For the Spanish and Mongol Empires, geography played a role in state formation as well as affected their strategies of rule. Considering that the Mongol Empire began in the 11th century and the Spanish Empire in the 15th century, the affects that geography had were significantly different regarding their state formation and forms of ruling, however, there were some slight similarities in the process of building up their empires. Both the Mongol and Spanish Empires were similar in that they used trade as a mechanism for expansion and connection, however, they differed in that the Mongol Empire focused on conquering territory throughout the Afroeurasian landmass while the Spanish Empire devoted its attention to overseas territory. The Mongol and Spanish Empires had some similarities when considering their road to successful empire building. Trade was very important for both the Mongols and Spanish Empires. Because geography restricted access to resources, trade was the ideal mechanism to overt that problem. Both empires flourished because of trade networks that they created. The Mongols and Spanish Empires relied heavily on trade in order to gain access to resources that they did not have in their own locations. The Mongol Empire valued and encouraged trade because of their lack of resources. The Silk Roads were the primary trade network that was linked to the Mongol Empire. Trade was important to the Mongols because they were able tax it. Secure trade routes were a result of the Mongols which allowed for cities to flourish and prosper with the spre... ... middle of paper ... ...ire was centered in the New World. Conquistadors conquered the native people oft the Americas and forced them to work for them. There were designated territorial boundaries which created new colonies for the Spanish to rule over. The Spanish forced the natives in the colonies to work in the mines Geography has the power to affect the way an empire forms and how it rules. Both the Mongol and Spanish Empires changed because of their geography. Trade was both a driving force behind the Mongol and Spanish Empires, but the Mongols were centered in Afroeurasia while the Spanish expanded overseas. The Mongol and Spanish empires were both limited geographically before their expansion because of their individual locations and lack of resources. Both empires were driven by the desire to increase their power and that affected their state formation and their ways of ruling.

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