In the opposite direction, Europeans sent silver, fine cloth, horses, linen, and other goods to the near and far East. Increasing trade and commerce meant that the respective nations and societies increased their exposure to new goods and markets, thus increasing the GDP of each nation or society that was involved in the trade system.
Along with land trade routes, a Maritime Silk Road contributed to the flow of goods and establishment of a Pax Mongolica. As technology and navigation progressed, these routes developed into a high-seas route into the Indian Ocean. Along with tangible goods, people, techniques, information, and ideas moved lucidly across the Eurasian landmass for the first time. Long-distance trade brought new methods of doing business from the Far East to Europe; bills of exchange, deposit banking, and insurance were introduced to Europe during the Pax Mongolica.
Bills of exchange made it significantly easier to travel long distances because a traveler would not be burdened by the weight of metal coins. One of the more notable applications of printing technology in China was the chao , the paper money of the Yuan, made from the bark of mulberry trees.
The Yuan government first used woodblocks to print paper money, but switched to bronze plates in The Mongols experimented with establishing the Chinese-style paper monetary system in Mongol-controlled territories outside of China. The Il-khanate government issued paper money in , but public distrust of the exotic new currency doomed the experiment. Foreign observers took note of Yuan printing technology. His authority established united measure based on sukhe or silver ingot; however, the Mongols allowed their foreign subjects to mint coins in the denominations and weight they traditionally used.
The Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan issued paper money backed by silver, and again banknotes supplemented by cash and copper cash. But the forest nations of Siberia and Manchuria still paid their taxes in goods or commodities to the Mongols; c hao was used only within the Yuan dynasty.
Chagatai Khan Kebek renewed the coinage backed by silver reserves and created a unified monetary system throughout the realm. Yuan dynasty money: Yuan dynasty banknote, the chao, with its printing plate After years of internal struggle, famine, and diminishing territorial control, the Yuan dynasty was defeated by the rising Ming dynasty in The final years of the Yuan dynasty were marked by struggle, famine, and bitterness among the populace.
Gradually, they lost influence in China as well. The reigns of the later Yuan emperors were short and marked by intrigues and rivalries. Uninterested in administration, they were separated from both the army and the populace, and China was torn by dissension and unrest.
Outlaws ravaged the country without interference from the weakening Yuan armies. In , the Red Turban Rebellion started and grew into a nationwide uprising. After trying to regain Khanbaliq, an effort that failed, he died in Yingchang located in present-day Inner Mongolia in Yingchang was seized by the Ming shortly after his death.
The Yuan court fled northwards. Mongolia became the final home of the Yuan Dynasty clans. Mongolians kept trying to recapture the empire but they failed. They eventually allied with the Manchus, and Mongolians became officials in the Qing Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed the Yuan palaces. He established a new dynasty called the Ming Dynasty.
Beijing tours : Beijing then called Dadu —'Big Capital' was the capital of the Yuan Dynasty and has continued to be China's capital for most of the following years. Discover the enduring charm of the 'big capital' with China Highlights. Silk Road tours : Their control of the Silk Road's northern land route to Central Asia gave the Mongols a major source of income and manpower. It is still a popular travel route for sightseeing. We offer a number of packages that highlight the sights along the historic land route.
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More details can be found in our privacy policy. Home Chinese Culture China History. Genghis Khan's statue. The Genghis Khan Mausoleum. The Yuan Dynasty came from Mongolia. The Silk Road was a part of the Mongol and Yuan empires. Related Articles. The Southern and Northern Dynasties. Guan Yu. The Southern Song Dynasty Map. Travel with Confidence. Recommended Tours. China Museum Tours. We are here to help you Create Your Trip. That same year, the Mongols had captured the northern China capital city of Yen-ching modern-day Beijing , forcing the royal family to flee south.
Kublai was reportedly adept in Mongolian traditions, having successfully brought down an antelope by the age of nine. When Kublai was 17 years old, his father died. In , Ogodei granted Kublai a fiefdom of some 10, households in the Hopei Hebei province.
Initially, Kublai did not rule the area directly and instead left his Mongol agents in charge, but they imposed such high taxes that many farmers abandoned their homes to settle in areas not under Mongol rule. When Kublai found out what was occurring in his lands, he replaced his Mongol retainers and tax merchants with Chinese officials, who helped restore the economy.
By the late s, those who had fled were returning and the region became stable. By the early s, Kublai had amassed numerous advisors from a range of philosophies and ethnic groups, including Turkish officials, Nestorian Christian Shiban, Mongol military men and Central Asian Muslims. He relied heavily on Chinese advisors, and in had learned about Chinese Buddhism from the monk Hai-yun, who would become a close friend of his.
Ogodei Khan died in He sent their brother Hulegu west to pacify the Islamic states and lands and focused his attention on conquering Southern China. Kublai spent more than a year preparing for his first military campaign, which lasted three years, and by the end of he had conquered Yunnan. His new northern capital would later be named Shang-tu Upper Capital, in contrast to Chung-tu, or Central Capital, the contemporary name for Beijing.
After a hasty audit, they uncovered what they claimed to be numerous breaches of the law and began to violently purge the administration of high-ranking Chinese officials. Monkge — facing both a religious conflict between Buddhist and Daoists and a need for allies in conquering the Song Dynasty in Southern China — made peace with Kublai.
Kublai held a debate in his new capital in He ultimately declared the Daoists the losers of the debate and punished their leaders by forcefully converting them and their temples to Buddhism and destroying texts. Mongke launched his campaign against the Song Dynasty and instructed his youngest brother Arik Boke to protect the Mongol capital of Karakorum. Arik Boke gathered troops and held an assembly called a kuriltai in Karakorum, where he was named the Great Khan.
It was a welcomed relief for Kublai Khan who never lost his fascination with the hunt. By , the high Point of Kublai Khan's rule, he had established himself as an intellectual as well as a warrior. He enjoyed the company of scholars and intellectuals, men of wit. With them he worked out a new script.
In his court there was much drama, and Buddhism and Taoism less anti-foreign than Confucianism thrived. He saw wisdom in taxing people rather then killing them. He knew the importance of fair laws rather than trying to bribe people, because he realized that there is only enough money to satisfy a few, even with the few, there is no end to their greed, so it is better to have justice.
He was tolerant of various religious groups. In order to impress on his fellow Mongols that he was indeed ruler of the world, he encouraged diplomats and traders like Marco Polo from the Far West to kowtow in his presence! But after , Kublai Khan's rule began to weaken, and his loss of power fits the familiar pattern of the disintegration of an empire. For one thing, in part to demonstrate that he really did rule the world, he launched two very costly and unsuccessful attacks on Japan.
He had hoped a victory against Japan would bolster his image as a successful world conqueror, not a Chinese bureaucrat, and give him legitimacy as the Great Khan. The 25, men he sent against Japan in were defeated, in large part, by a typhoon.
He tried again in , this time sending , men, supported by additional Korean troops. As far as the Japanese were concerned, their gods protected them again by sending another divine wind, Kami kazi, which again destroyed the Mongol fleet. The l defeat broke his image of invincibility, andwhen he tried to re-establish it by campaigns into Southeast Asia, he failed there as well.
The Japanese offensive proved very costly financially and to pay for it, he over-taxed the people, one of the most critical reasons for a government's demise. The peasants suffered under the burden of increased taxes. There was widespread inflation because the government also printed a great deal of paper money.
To offset the inflation, Kublai Khan ordered the currency devaluated 5 to 1. Supporting his northern capital required extending the Grand Canal, and the people resented the corvee demanded of them to build the mile extension, completed in Economic problems made Kublai Khan less tolerant.
He became increasingly distrustful of the merchants, many of whom were Muslim, and in the late 's he began to issue anti-Muslim legislation such as forbidding circumcision or slaughtering animals in the Muslimfashion.
This persecution continued until l At the same time, he was increasingly supportive of Buddhists which led some of the Buddhist priests to take advantage of their positions.
Although Kublai Khan tried to rule as a sage emperor, the Mongols did not adjust to Chinese ways. Ideologically and culturally the Mongols resisted assimilation and legally tried to stay isolated from the Chinese. They thought Confucianism was anti-foreign, too dense had too many social restrictions. The Chinese intellectuals turned away from Buddhism although many Mongols liked it, so Buddhism did not bring them closer to the Chinese, either. Towards the end, Kublai Klan reinstituted the exam and let Chinese serve in lower level government position, perhaps to try and make the people happier, but the Mongols were always foreigners in Chinese eyes.
The Mongol rule became increasingly less stable after when Kublai Khan died and succession became a problem. In the period between there were eight emperors; two were assassinated and all died young. Without an accepted rule of succession, the death of an emperor caused violent conflict among the different would-be rulers. At the very time when the empire needed strong central control to stay in power, the Mongols wasted their efforts battling over succession.
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