Mongols Flashcards

293068613	Golden Horde	-in Russia -led by Ghenghis Khan's grandson, Batu, who converted to Islam and annonuced his intention to avenge the last caliph... 1st conflict between Mongol domains -attacked and dismembered the Il-Khans -after their defeat of the Kieven Rus, they made their capital at the mouth of the Volga -ruled from afar using Russian princes (Prince Alexander Nevskii of Novgorod) -goal: to extract as much tax revenue as possible from their subject	0
293068614	Il-Khan	-under Russia and to the left of the Jagadai -relations between Buddhists/shamanist Mongols and their Muslim subjects= tense b/c the Mongols had murdered the last Abbasid caliph and b/c Mongol religious beliefs and customs were contrary to those of Islam (slaughtered animals.. didn't kill by draining the blood like Muslims) -goal: to collect as much tax revenue as possible (through a tax farming system) -short term= tax farming able to deliver large amounts of grain, cash, and silk -long term= overtaxation that led to increases in the price of grain, a shrinking tax base, and by 1295 a severe economic crisis (attempts to end the crisis and introduction of paper money failed until1349) -decline: Mongol nobles fighting w/ each other for diminishing resources and the Golden Horde attacked them	1
293068615	Jagadai	-in Central Asia -built as the Il-Khans and Golden Horde declined in the 14th cent by Timur -supported notable Muslim historians	2
293068616	Yuan	-founded by Khubilai Khan -understood and practiced Chinese traditions of gov -capital: Bejing, southern capital: Shangdu -captured Southern Song -Annam and Champa(Vietnam): forced to pay tribute -innovations in gov: tax farming, the use of Western Asian Muslims as officials, hierarchical system of legally defined status groups defined in terms of race and function -Confucians had a relatively weak role -status of doctors and merchants elevated -China's cities and ports prospered, trade recovered, merchants flourished (led Chinese gentry to move into cities where pop entertainment, vernacular literature, and the Mandarin dialect of Chinese developed) -rural areas: cotton growing, spinning, weaving -encouraged the construction of irrigation systems -farmers generally overtaxed and brutalized, dams and dikes neglected -during this period, China's population declined as much as 40% (w/ the Yangzi Valley seeing an increase -Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols and established the Ming Empire	3
293068617	ability to conquer vast territories	-superior horsemanship -better bows -technique of following a volley of arrows w/ a deadly cavalry charge -their ability to learn new military techniques -ability to adopt new military technology -incorporate non-Mongol soldiers into their armies -reputation for slaughtering all those who wouldn't surrender -ability to take advantage of rivalries among their enemies	4
293085271	accomplishments	-astronomy -calender making -prediction of eclipses -use of epicycles to explain the movement of the moon around the earth -invention of more precise astronomical instruments -collection of astronomical data from all parts of the Islamic World and China for predicting eclipses w/ greater accuracy -adopted the Indian numerical system -devised the method for indicating decimal fractions -calculated the value of pi more precisely	5