Chapter 3 Nomadic Empires

Q.1. Why was trade Significant to the Mongols?  

Ans :- Trade was significant to the Mongols because : 

( i ) Some of the Mongols were pastoralists while others were hunter- gatherers Unlike the Turks they did not take to farming. So to obtain farm products they had to depend upon trade. 

( ii ) The Mongols namodised in steppes of central Asian is tract of land of the modern state of Mongolia There were extreme of temperatures in the entire region horse long waters followed by brief, dry summers. Agriculture was possible only in the pastoral regions during short parts of the year, but since they did not take to agriculture, they had to obtain agriculture products through trade. 

( iii ) Scant resources the steppe tends drave the Mongols and other Ludaleo central Asian nomads to trade and barter with their sedentary iw esi neighbour china. 

( iv )Trade was mutually beneficial to both the Mongols and their donin Chinese neighbour. Mongols exchanged their horses, fars and game steppe for agricultural produce and iron utensils from China. 

Q.2. Why did Genghis Khan feel the need to fragment the Mongol tribes into new social and military groupings?

Ans :- Genghis Khan felt the need to fragment the Mongol trees, alter the old steppe social order by integrating different lineages and military grouping because 

( i ) He wanted to control and discipline his nomadie lords 

( ii ) He wonted to make them into a fighting machine with a destructive power, and insure success of his furniture campaign. 

( iii ) He wanted complete commitment forestall any possibility of revolt or threat to his authority by replacing rights of old chieftains derived from being clan chieftains by the new aristocracy which derived its status from its progenitor, Genghis khans. 

( iv ) Wanted to appreciate and publicly acclaim some of those individual who had served him with loyalty through grave adversity for many years. 

( v ) Include within his confederacy groups like the Turkic Ulghurs who had accepted his authority willingly and accommodate, defeated people like the kerrits. 

Q.3. How do later Mongol reflection in the yasa bring out the uneasy relationship they had with the memory of Genghis Khan?

Ans :- The Yasa the code of law that Genghis Khan was supposed to have promulgated, as per the few details that are available concerned administrative regulations the organization of hunt, the army. and the postal system-traditions of the different Mongol tribes. By the middle of the 13th century the Mongols emerged as a unified people and just created the largest empire the world had ever seen. They rule over very sophisticated urban societies with their respective histories, cultures and laws. Although the Mongols dominated the region politically they were a numerical minority moreover, Genghis Khan had condemned the people of Bukhara in the “Yesa” and called them sinners. This created a lot of hardship for the Successors. Keeping in mind the memory of Genghis khan led to uneasy relations. 

The later Mongols could neither apply the harsh rules of Genghis Khan on their subjects as they themselves get sedentarised nor could they condemn the harsh rules of their ancestor this led to uneasy relations. 

By referring to “Yasa” as Genghis Khans code of law; the Mongols tried to over come their uneasiness by laying claim to a law giver like moses and solomon. 

Moreover, the yasa served to cohere the Mongol people around a body of shared beliefs it acknowledged their affinity to Genghis khan and his descendents and gave them the confidence to retain their identity and impose their law on defeated subjects, vital is the construction of a Mongol universal dominion. 

Q.4. If history relies upon written records produced by city based literates, nomadic society with always receive a hostile representation would you agree in its this Sen statement? Does it explain the reason why Persian chronicles produced such inflated figures of companies resulting from Mongol campaigns? 

Ans :- There is substantial truth is the above statement because, since di the normal Societies for example, the Mongols produced little literature of their own and were instead written about by literati from foreign cultural milieus who were ignorant and biased about nomadic life the only image that appear of Genghis Khan in our imagination are those of a conqueror the destroyer of cities, and tell an individual who was responsible for the death of thousands of people “They came, they limited the walls, they burnt, they slew, ba they plundered and they departed. 

Yet, it must be noted for Mongols Genghis Khan was the greatest Lan leader of all time fashioned a grand trans continental empire, restored trade routes, and markets that attracted distant travelers like Marlo Polo. The sheer size of Mongol dominion, the diverse body of people and faith that it embraced, and the ideologies models that it provided for later regions seen to be just wiped under by persian chronicles today in independent Mongolia Genghis Khan has appeared as income figure of the Mongol people. 

ANSWER IN SHORT ESSAY

Q.5. Keeping the nomadic element of the Mongol and Bedouin societies in mind how in your opinion, did their respective historical experiences differ? What explanations would you suggest account for these differences? 

Ans :-  Nomads are quite essential wonderers, organized in family assemblies with a relatively undifferentiated economic life and rudimentary systems of political organization. But both the Arab of nomads of Arabian peninsula and the Mongol nomadic groups of central Asia established vast empires. 

The Mongols they sought to assert an china Iran and Eastern aid Europe. Increasing contact with other countries led to sedentarisation of these nomadic societies, transforming their aait traditional and political ways and laying foundations of stable military system and governance. 

Unlike Bedouin Arabs the Mongols brought to spirituality with alt them. They were tolerant of all religious, and never let their personal beliefs and steppe way of life dictate public policy. 

It was the Mongol policy to build on local traditions once they had subjected an area. Their was a multiethnic, multilingual, Multi religious region that did not feel threatened by its pluralistic constitution. 

Though by the century all four Mongol empire had converted to AIslam the main ideology of their states was Mongolism which is glorified the imperial and Military might of the Mongols and 2ut dreamed world conquest, The whole state was run on military se lines. The monarch was commander in chief,. The capital was where ever the Khan and his army happened to be encamped. There were two chief political objectives, hegemony and perpetuation of the rling dynasty, which justify any cruelty. There was a continuation of militarisation of society that had occurred in the final years of the Abbasid caliphate. Their political structures were enduring as they influenced later Mughol empire.

Q.6. How does the following account enlarge upon character of the park Mongolica created by the Mongols by the middle of the thirteenth century? 

Ans :- The above account well depicts the character of for Mongolia created by the Mongols in 13 th Century. 

( i ) It becomes clear from the incident of louis IX of France sending Mark Williams of fabricate as an ambassador to the Mongol emperor Mongole that the Mongols were liberal in their religious obiw beliefs, never let their personal beliefs dictate public policy and maintained cordial relations with their neighbour. 

( ii ) The meeting of Rubric with a woman from Lorraine, in the service of one of the princes wives reflects, the Mongols recruited people of all ethnic group and religious. 

( iii ) The fact that at the court festivals the Nestorian priests were admitted first with their religion followed by Muslim clergy and Buddhists and Taoist monks are pointers to the multiethnic, Multilingual, Multireligious, regime that did not feel threatened by its pluralistic constitution. The Mongol empire embraced diverse body of people and faiths, an alertly unusual ideology for its time yes, it need be noted despite the fact that the empire eventually altered in its different milieus, the inspiration of the founder remained a powerful force. The Mongols provided ideological models for later regimes like the Mughals of India to follow, Timur another Monads who aspired to universal domination when he bo declared his independent sovereignty it was as the son-in law of the Genghis Khans family. 

Today after decades of soviet control of the country of Mongolia en is recreating is identity and has seized upon Genghis Khan as an iconic figure to mobilize memories a great post and forging of national identity.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Q.1. Discuss how Genghis Khan’s world systematically erases the old tribal identities of different groups who joined his confederacy? 

Ans :- Genghis Khan world to systematically erase the old tribal identities . 

( i ) Genghis Khan stopped the practice of insistence of clan and tribes within the decimal units of the army . 

( ii ) The divided the old tribal groupings and distributed their numbers in to new military units.

( iii ) Any individual who tried to move from this allotted groups without permission received harsh punishment . 

( iv ) The largest unit of soldiers -10,000 included fragmented groups people from a variety of different tribes and clans instead of tribes and clan identities the units had new identity derived from its progenitor . 

( v ) Ranking did not preserve the rights of old chieftains the new aristocracy derived its status from a close relationship with the great khans of the Mongols . 

( vi ) The composition of the army was no longer of a relatively small undifferentiated body but included heterogeneous mass of people groups like Turkish olghurs who had accepted his authority and defeated people like bereits . 

( vii ) Administrators were included from conquered societies . 

( viii ) Their was a multiethnic , multilingual , multireligious regions and it provided ideological models for later regimes like the Mughals . 

Q.2 . Write a short note on the courier system developed by Mongols . 

Ans :- ( i ) The courier System was called ” Yam ” 

( ii ) It was an important factor in enabling Mongols administer their note empire as it connected and enabled communication with the far flung areas of the empire across continental landmass . 

( iii ) Under the system tresh mounts and despatch riders were placed in out posts at regular distances.  

(iv) Genghis Khan fashioned the courier System, which was later refined after his death.  

( v ) To maintain the system a special tax called qub car tax was levied on Mongol nomads.  

Q.3.  Give two important changes after Genghis Khan Support them with examples.  

Ans :- Two important changes after Genghis Kahn :- 

( i ) Genghis Khan had envisaged that his sons would rule the empire collectively.  The “celus” thus did not originally mean any fixed territories but after him by mid 13th century the sense of common patrimony shared by all brothers was gradually replaced by individual dynastic each ruling their separate “Ulus a term which now carried the sense of a  example, defendants of josh formed the golden horde and ruled the Russian steppes, to descendents of toluy – formed the yuan and II Khavid dynasties and came to rule both china and Iran. 

( ii ) There was increasing pressure to sendentarise.  

( a ) in 1230 after the successful war against chin dynasty in North China there was a strong pressure group within the Mongol leadership that advocated massacre of all peasantry and the conversion of their fields in to posture lands, But in 1270 when south china was for  annexed after defeat of sung dynasty.Kublai Khan grandson of to Genghis Khan appeared in 1924 as the protector of the peasants and the cities. 

( b ) In 1290 the Mongol rule  of grons Ghazan Khan descendant of Genghis Khan’s son Today warned family members and other generals to avoid pillaging the peasantry as it did not lead to a stable prosperous realm.  

Q.4. Briefly discuss the factors responsible for the decline of the Mengol Empire.  

Ans :- Awong the factors responsible for the decline of the Mongol Empire in the late 14th century were.

( i ) The gradual separation of the descendents of Genghis Khan in to separate lineage groups and alternatives in post family concordance . 

( ii ) Competition amongst cousin clans as presented by the Tomyid branch . 

( iii ) The pressure to sedentarise in the new areas of Mongol domicile and contradiction between nomadic and sedentary elements . 

( iv ) Failure of conquered people to feel a sense of affinity with their new nomadic masters . 

( v ) During campaigns in the first half or the 13th century cities were destroyed , agricultural lands laid waste , trade and handicrafts production disrupted . Thousands of people were killed and even more enslaved . 

Q.5 . Genghis Khan’s military achievements were largely a result of his ability to innovate and transform different aspects of steppe came out into extremely effective military strategies . 

Ans :-  ‘The military achievements or Genghis Khan were astonishing and largely a result of his ability to innovate and steepe combat.

( i ) The horse riding skills of the Mongols and turks were streamlined to provide speed and mobility to the army . 

( ii ) Rapid shooting skills of the archers while on horse back were perfected during hunting expeditions which doubled as field maneuvers . 

( iii ) The tradition of steppe cavalry to travel light , knowledge of terrain and the weather was used to carry out campaigns in the depth of to winter 

( iv ) Frozen rivers were used as highways to enemy cities and camps . 

( v ) Nomads conventional inability against fortified encampments were overcome by Genghis Khan’s learning and putting to use siege engines and depth bombardment techniques . Engineers were instructed to prepare light portable equipment with devastating effect so as not to hinder mobility and speed of the army .