The first part of Chapter 12

2. Plan for Today:
• Begin Chapter 12
• The Turks and the Mongols
• India Overview
• Next Time
• Finish Chapter 12
• SE Asia, Sea Trade, and the
Pacific
• Essay Outlining Exercise

3. The Turks

5. Turkic
Peoples
Today

6. Nomadic Peoples
• Moved at least twice a year
• Couldn’t farm (little rain, few rivers)
• Herded animals
• Horses, Sheep, Goats, Camels
• Traded these animals and furs for agricultural products
• When trading was tough, they used their horses for raids
• Did not produce many artifacts, only small amounts of pottery,
leather goods, and some iron
• Organized by clans/tribes

7. Central Asian Nomads
• Xiongnu (remember them?)
• They (and their descendants) end up coming across the Steppe into Europe
and into Northern India
• Called the Huns
• Seljuk Turks
• Move into the Caliphate area of Persia/the Middle East
• Convert to Islam, take control of the Abbasid Caliphate (1055-1118)
• After Abbasid resurgence only the Seljuk groups in present day Turkey remain
free, the largest being the Sultanate of Rum
• Mongols
• Expand out from present day Mongolia beginning in 1206
• Use similar tactics and pathways across Asia and Europe

8. Central Asian Peoples: Religion
• Shamanism
• Buddhism (from extensive trade with India and later Tibet and China)
• Nestorian Christianity (missionaries)
• An old form that was considered heretical, and not part of either Catholic or Orthodox
branches
• Islam (increasingly after the 10th century) due to trade with the Caliphate

9. The Mongols – A Recap
• Crash Course Overview
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szxPar0BcMo&list=PLBDA2E52F
B1EF80C9&index=18&t=290s
• Map of the Spread of Mongol Territory
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_NPgMMazF4

10. Chinggis Khan and more (a timeline)
• Born in 1162 in the North/Northeast part of present day Mongolia
• 1171 – His father is poisoned, because he is young, he is not accepted
as the leader of his tribe
• 1178 – Marries his first wife, Borte, unifying his tribe with another
• His wife is then kidnapped
• He, and his allies, get her back (this was his first military victory)
• 1186 – Selected as a Khan of the Mongols (not THE khan, yet)
• 1206 – After beating or allying with a number of other tribes, elected
the Great Khan, given the title of Chinggis (Genghis)
• Begins the conquest of northwestern China
• Allies the Mongols with the Uighurs (another Turkic group)

11. Chinggis Khan and more (a timeline)
• 1210 – After conquering the Xia and northwestern China, begins
assault on the Jin Dynasty
• 1215 – Defeats the Jin Dynasty, taking control of northern China, after
besieging Beijing
• 1220 – Simultaneously conquers Central Asia from other Turkic
groups, and the Khwarezmid Empire (Persia and the Caucuses)
• 1223-1224 – A splinter group was sent to the Crimea and then Kievan
Rus (present day Ukraine), fights in small skirmishes
• Mongol armies returned east in 1225 because the Xia were revolting
• In 1227, Chinggis dies during the fight against the Xia, Ogedei (one of
his sons) elected the next Great Khan

12. Chinggis Khan and more (a timeline)
• After the death of Chinggis Khan, the Mongols continue expanding…
• Europe (1240s)
• Spread through present day Russia, returns to Kievan Rus’, conquers them
• Make it all the way to the Danube River and to Eastern Poland, where they are halted
• Western Asia
• Continues to push into Caliphate territory only being stopped by the Egyptian Mamluks
(a warrior class of former slaves that had essentially taken control of Egypt, the Levant,
and Syria) (1260)
• Eastern Asia
• Continue to press into Southern China, controlled by the Song Dynasty
• Take Korea
• Attempted to sail to Japan and Indonesia
• …But were fragmented into four main successor states, that kept ties
for a while, at least.

13. • While the Mongols could
be very violent if resisted,
their rule was mostly
focused on taxation,
especially in Europe and
Western Asia
• With a number of Mongol
leaders accepting various
religions (Islam in Persia,
Buddhism in China, etc.)
Religious tolerance was
practiced in many parts of
the empire, with some
notable exceptions

14. The Mongol World
• What were some of the developments that occur across Eurasia
because of the Mongols?
• What are some of the long-lasting positive effects?
• The Mongol advance was stopped by European kingdoms that
banded together in Central Europe and Poland, they were
stopped by the Mamluks in the Middle East, they were defeated
(mostly by sailing and the weather) when they tried to enter
Japan and Indonesia. The last area that saw significant resistance
was in Northwestern India, which is where we will head next.

15. India from 300-1400
• The last time we talked about the Indian Sub-continent it was in regards to
the Mauryan Empire (but that ended in 185 BCE)
• The next real empire in India would not occur until 320 CE, around 500
years later
• The Gupta Empire, 320-480 CE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KrFLUkauxE
• After the Huns invade in 450 CE, the Gupta Empire declines rapidly and
fragments, there was no major power in India from then until 1206 CE,
when a Turkish General would take over land in Northern India and create
the Delhi Sultanate, which is chiefly known for repelling numerous Mongol
attacks.
• Life on most of the Indian Subcontinent was governed by local customs,
and in coastal areas, the massive sea trade network throughout the Indian
Ocean, which we will talk about next time.

16. Final Thoughts
• Take out a sheet of paper.
• What was the greatest legacy of the Mongol Empire?
• For next time – Finish Chapter 12
• See you on Thursday!