1204–1280), ruled territories conquered in Persia, the Caucasus, Russia, and Turkey. From the original seat of Mongol power, Ögödei Khan ruled as Universal Khan and brought more of China under his control. Genghis Khan’s sons took over the Mongol Empire after his death in 1227. The code gave preference to nomadic peoples such as the Mongols over settled groups, such as the Chinese, in its realm. Dissent and disobedience were dealt with severely, and entire towns would suffer if the seeds of a rebellion were discovered. The word yassa meant “order” or “decree,” and the code was rife with capital crimes (crimes punishable by death), such as failing to obey orders from one’s superior. Years earlier, Genghis Khan had ordered a secret set of laws, called the Yassa, to be written down. Obedience and loyalty were crucial elements of control for such a vast empire. By 1300 the empire had been divided into four khanates of Central Asia, Persia, China, and Russia, each of which was headed by a powerful khan. All conquered territories paid onerous tribute (obligatory payment to a government or sovereign), but religious freedom was guaranteed if the tribute was uninterrupted. The highest offices of government were meted out by the khan according to merit, not inheritance. Conquered territories were administered by the baskak, a military governor responsible for collecting tribute and quelling dissent. The khan was assisted by a prime minister-who had to be an ethnic Mongol-called the beqlare-beq (prince of princes), and several ministers of government known as viziers (burden-bearers). All of them except Genghis Khan and the son who succeeded him, Ögödei Khan (1185–1241), were elected by the Kurultai, who served as a consultative body for the ruler. The Mongol Empire was ruled with absolute authority by the khans. From there, he expanded into northern China and then westward, and his heirs led their armies all the way into Europe. In 1206, at a Kurultai (assembly of chiefs), he was proclaimed Universal Ruler, or Genghis Khan, of the Mongol Empire. ![]() ![]() He and his growing army had subdued a number of the perpetually warring Mongol tribes into a confederation by 1190, and then moved on to conquer the Turkic-speaking peoples in Central Asia. The son of a tribal chief whose family’s status dropped precipitously when his father was poisoned by a rival clan, Temüjin emerged as a fierce military leader as a young man. Genghis Khan was the title taken up by a Mongol named Temüjin, who came from a nomadic Tatar tribe in the Onon River region in Mongolia. His sons inherited a realm that evolved into five separate divisions, with names taken from the directions of the compass-the Blue (East) Horde, the Black (North) Horde, the Red (South) Horde, the White (West) Horde, and the Golden Horde that remained the center of the empire. 1162–1227) in 1206, it was a formidable military power and maintained internal control by a system of draconian laws that demanded strict obedience and loyalty. The vast territory of the Mongol Empire was the world’s largest contiguous land domain, and at its peak it stretched from Japan to Hungary and covered twelve million square miles.
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