Nomadic Empires and Eurasian Integration

Chapter 11 Nomadic Empires and Eurasian Integration

Nomadic Environment & Economy • Not enough rain for large-scale agriculture • Humans can’t survive on grasses and shrubs • Drove herds and flocks where there is grass • Followed migratory cycles • Lived in tents (yurts) • Dense populations only at oases • Some craft production • Had to trade • Led caravan routes across central Asia

Nomadic Society • Nobles and Commoners • Clans and tribes looked after their own affairs • During wartime, nobles had absolute authority • Social classes were fluid; there was movement up and down • Women engaged in most of the same tasks as men in terms of raising the herd, riding, and fighting. • Women could remarry and initiate divorce.

Nomadic Religion • Polytheistic, Shamans • Attracted to religions they encountered through trade • Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Judaism • Usually top-down conversion • Many converted to Islam in the 10th century and their migration spread Islam

Nomadic Military Organization • Khan=ruler • Massive military power due to cavalry • Great mobility, well-organized • Able to conquer others easily if unified • “fictive kinship”

Nomadic Innovations • Horse harnesses • Saddles with iron stirrups • Small compound bow • Various forms of armor • New kinds of swords

Xiongnu • Mongolian steppes, north of China • Modun was leader (210-174 BCE) • Unified his people as “one family” • Extracted tribute from Han China

Arabs • Bedouins • Arabian peninsula • Camel saddle allowed them to fight from camel • Spread Islam

Turkish Empires (Persia) • Mid-eighth to mid-ninth centuries, lived on borders of the Abbasid realm • By mid-tenth century, Seljuk Turks in Abbasid army and living in realm • By mid-eleventh century, Seljuks overshadowed Abbasid caliphs; caliphs were figureheads and power was held by Turkish sultans

Turkish Empires (Anatolia) • Turks began migrating there by 11th century • Battle of Manzikert victory allowed Turks to take over most of Anatolia • Many people converted to Islam

Turkish Empires (India) • Mahmud of Ghazni led Ghaznavid Turks of Afghanistan into northern India • First they came to plunder, but then they took political power • Mahmud of Ghazni was a zealous foe of Hinduism and Buddhism • By 13th century, the Sultanate of Delhi controlled all of northern India

Africa • Sanhaja Berber pastoralists in western Sahara • IbnYasin led reform of Islamic practices • Created Almoravid Empire, mid-11th century • Prosperous from gold trade • Marrakesh, capital • Overrun by other Berbers, by mid-12th century

Chinggis Khan and the Making of the Mongol Empire • High steppe lands of eastern central Asia • Kin groups organized into families, clans, and tribes; difficult to organize into a large-scale, united society • Temujin: unifier, father forged alliances but was poisoned by rivals, poverty and capture, worked alliances with “diplomacy”, in 1206 became Chinggis Khan.

Broke up tribes and forced men to join new military units not based on tribal affiliation • Officials chosen by merit and loyalty • Capital and palace at Karakorum (Har Horin) • Mongol population only about 1 million, army only about 125,000 at most • Equestrian skills, bows and arrows, fast traveling, slaughtered those who resisted

In 1211, Mongols invaded northern China under the Jurchen (Song Dynasty) • In 1219, Mongols conquered Afghanistan and Persia after shah refused to open trade relations, destroyed cities, massacred people • Chinggis Khan ruled through his military but didn’t set up an administration to control the conquered land.

Mongol Empires after Chinggis Khan • Realm divided into four regional empires after his death • The Great Khans of China: Khubilai worked to improve welfare of subjects, promoted Buddhism and other religions, built roads, extended Mongol rule to all of China, Yuan dynasty 1279-1368, did not extend rule any farther, did not allow intermarriage of Mongols and Chinese, ended Confucian examination system, some Mongols adopted Lamaist Buddhism

The Golden Horde of Russia: did not occupy Russia but demanded tribute from them until the mid-15th century when the princes of Moscow refused • The Ilkhanate of Persia: Hulegu (Khubilai’s brother) toppled the Abbasid empire, Mongols allowed Persians to run government except for the highest positions, adopted Persian culture especially Islam

The Khanate of Jagadai (Chaghatai) in central Asia: ruled by son of Chinggis Khan, thrived until the 18th century

Mongols and Eurasian Integration • Courier network • Census, taxation • Volume of trade through central Asia increased, as merchants could travel safelyacross the entire Eurasian landmass (Silk Roads) • Diplomatic embassies • Missionaries sent out by Islam (Sufis), Lamaist Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity and Roman Catholic Church---tolerance • Moved skilled artisans, craftsmen and educated people around in their realm; took censuses • Other conquered people forced to labor.

Decline of Mongols in Persia and China • In Persia: excessive spending, overexploitation of the peasants, failed attempt to introduce paper money, fighting amongst Mongol leadership, no heir, rule ended after 1335 • In China: inflation, infighting, bubonic plague, rebellion of the Chinese, by 1368 the Mongols fled

Tamerlane the Whirlwind • Tamerlane: Turkish conqueror, Timur the lame, modeled himself after Chinggis Khan, first extended authority throughout khanate of Chagatai, then Persia and Afghanistan, then Caucasus Mountains and India, conqueror not an administrator, died in 1405 • His empire turned into the Mughal, Safavid and Ottoman empires.

Foundation of Ottoman Empire • Osman: created a small state in north-west Anatolia and declared independence in 1299 • Followers were Ottomans • By the 1380s the Ottomans had a strong foothold on the Balkan Peninsula • In 1453, they captured the Byzantine capital of Constantinople and made it their capital called Istanbul

Nomadic Empires and Eurasian Integration