What Role Did The Mongols Play In The Development Of Asian Empires

When discussing Asian history, countries or empires such as China and India are frequently mentioned. China and India are indeed important in Asian history, but a giant player, who played an irreplaceable role in the development of Asia, is missing. It is the Mongols. The Mongols established large secular states, increased the scale of trades, and promoted religion coexistence that accelerated the development and integration of regions in the Asia’s Circulatory System.

Before Genghis Khan, the great Mongolian leader, established the Mongol Empire in 1196, the land in Asia was separated into small states. The expansion of the Mongol Empire, mostly towards the south, was driven by the desire of obtaining greater variety of goods (Weatherford:

Before the Mongols began their domination in Asia in the thirteenth century, trades were common in many parts of Asia. The Silk Route, for example, was an essential trade route between China and the Mediterranean since the second century. Goods such as silk, tea, and spices were exported from China, while commodities like fine cottons, gold, and silver were imported to China from the Mediterranean through the Silk Route (Mair: 34). Although the Mongols imposed limited Mongolian culture and customs in conquered land and adapted local culture, they were still committed to their commercial and communicational ideology. The system of shares, or khubi, which entitled each member of the Golden Family to “a share of the wealth of each part of the empire,” encouraged the exchange of people along the trade routes and across the continent (Weatherford: 221). For example, the wealth in Persia and Iraq under the control of Hulegu was shared with Khubilai Khan, who was dominating China, because Khubilai owned properties there. Commodities such as jewels, pearls and textiles were sent to China, while skilled people such as Persian translators and doctors were also sent to Khubilai Khan (Weatherford:

Instead, they allowed multiple religions to exist and practice on the same land. The Mongols did not have any religion of their own to impose upon their new fellow civilians. They simply respected and honored the Blue Sky, treating it as the ultimate source of solutions to questions and the ultimate destination of their souls (Weatherford: 13). Instead of following the same religion, the Mongols valued completely following their rules regardless of the religion practiced as loyal. Over the years of their ruling, the Mongols did not favor any religion over the other in court. During their campaigns of invading Europe, the Mongols heavily relied on Rubruck, an envoy with a Christian background, to communicate with the leaders of European kingdoms. Although Rubruck acted as an important bridge between the Mongols and the European leaders, Mongke, the Mongolian leader in the campaigns, was not interested in Rubruck’s religious background, but the diplomatic and commercial value he possessed (Weatherford: 175). With the advanced development in their trading networks, especially the large scale of trades under their rules, the Mongols supported the monks of missionary religions to travel across the empire along with the merchants. For example, Muslim mosques were built along trade routes in the thirteenth century by Muslim merchants (Alphers: 57).