How the Mongol Empire Conquered Topography - Report Example

First Dr. So-and-So History 999: November 11, 2006 How the Mongol Empire Conquered Topography Topography shapes civilization. It restrains people behind borders, prevents them from forging new frontiers, or conversely, encourages growth and is the impetus for economic boom through the exploitation of natural resources. World History illustrates that a civilization's potential lies in its topography. A complex portrait of this relationship - civilization and topography - is seen in premodern East Asia within the Mongol tribes and the necessary endeavors they took to foster success of an Empire despite terrains which restrain opportunity. Early Mongol tribesman crossed similar lands as those within the political boundaries of present day Mongolia. That is to say, the people living within this landlocked area have historically been bestowed with a choice of inhabiting three biomes: Desert, Mountains, or cold Taga. As these are similarly difficult to settle in and survive, the Mongols led nomadic patterns along the steppe - those mid-areas at the cusp of Mountain plateaus, off the lines of parched expanses. This steppe of the Gobi desert can be characterized as rocky lands covered in layers of sand. The Mongol civilization developed as one of the world's first nomadic groups, cradled between mountain and desert. But here is where also developed one of Asia's most powerful empires. The contradiction is intriguing. What would nomadic tribes endlessly wandering undulating terrain have to do with the powerful Mongol Empire, which under the rule of Genghis Khan, moved armies across huge expanses of terrain, despite difficult topography, to conquer adjacent civilizations to the east and west Many maintain that was precisely the work of Genghis Khan and his closest successors, including Kublai Khan. Indeed, the height of the Mongols really only lasted from the 13th to the 14th century. Other factors pertaining to how the Mongols dealt with their geography come into play, for example, the methods they used for centuries to move across terrain, climate patterns, and population density. For centuries Mongols were known as pastoralists and nomads. Mongol tribes appeared around 500 BC, already carrying their proportion of horses.1 They wandered, while in nearby lands of China, people were beginning their Imperial Era as early as 220 BC.2 On the steppe, the Mongols herded cattle along Gobi oases, seldom traveling in clans larger than one or two families.3 In comparison to the frozen Mongol development, civilization boomed quite effortlessly south of the steppe. Within the fertile river basins of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, China's multiple units successfully accommodated a mixed economy of commerce, farming, handicrafts and pastoralism. Internal competition also allowed science and technology as well as literature and art to thrive on the East Asian Mainland. This was known as "a hundred flowers blossoming" (baijia zhengming, literally "a grand song contest with one hundred contenders").4 But meanwhile in nomadic ambling across a rocky desert, trudging through shifting sands, the Mongols carried out their civilization, seemingly without a trace. For hundreds of years, up to 600-800 A.D., the Mongols had still left little evidence of their cultural existence, in terms of pottery or cultivation, and settled in not a single village.5 It has been said that Genghis Khan made the Moguls a strong empire by first unifying the Mongolian tribes. Previously known as Tem Jin, then "Granted the title Genghis Khan, he reorganized the Mongolian military and established the civil laws of his empire. His reforms included breaking tribal armies, implementing a meritocracy, developing a cavalry and a code of written laws".6 The interesting aspect of this quotation is in the explication of tribal activities. By converting many tribes into a single unified people, and then extinguishing individual clan ties, Genghis Khan ensured that the Mongols would become an empire by removing all means through which the people could revert to their nomadic tribes. By cutting these possibilities, the Mongols had no choice but to play their cards at settlements, wars, and similar other actions of advanced civilizations. "Map of Asia" "Heaven has appointed me to rule all the nations, for hitherto there has been no order upon the steppes." --Genghis Khan (The Mongol Empire). Cavalry is said to have been the Mongol army's major strength, the reason for defeat of armies with much more numerous soldiers, such as the Ming dynasty of Northeast China and the Song Empire to the south in 1279.7 More importantly, cavalry was the evidence of the Moguls' centuries of skillfulness and fortitude across difficult terrain. Neither the extreme climate - even in summer the temperature can plummet to freezing overnight -- nor the harsh environment is conducive to agriculture. The peoples who inhabited this region had, therefore, to depend on animal husbandry for their survival. Camels, yaks, sheep, and goats were herded, but it was the horse that was most fundamental to their livelihood, providing transport for the herders as they moved their livestock from one pasture to another. This nomadic existence bred peerless horsemanship unmatched by the peoples of the sedentary civilizations with whom the nomads came into contact.8 While art and literature flourished in China, Mongol tribesmen were still making pictographs in cave dwellings. As agriculture grew in the Yellow River Basin, the Mongol nomads followed cattle, trading horses from time to time. For centuries, the people's potential had lain dormant. But when the Khans united the tribes and organized armies, the Mongols' expertise in moving large herds of animals, gained through centuries of hard work, undoubtedly perfected the cavalry. Leagues of men skillfully maneuvered teams of agile horses over steep slopes and undulating sands. For civilizations unaccustomed to trekking across those impassable terrains, it would have seemed like the Mongol Calvary were dancing into battle, floating above troupes of horses. "Regarding their methods of warfare, they were the most sophisticated in their day [] Any unbiased observer will also perceive that the Mongols won their victories by stratagem, adaptability, understanding and mobility rather than brute force."9 This may be true, but to be equal, it should be remembered that foreign undertakings were not new for the Mongols. Although they were a nomadic people, they were practiced and swooping in to raid for goods, as they rarely had goods of their own.10 "Mongol Empire" The only difficulty in admitting the grandeur of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth and fourteenth century is the question of "why". The Khan rulers may have done well organizing military groups, and those military groups may have carried the equestrian training of their ethnic group's blood. But to amplify the picture in questions for analysis, neighboring civilizations should have been accustomed to raids by nomadic groups. "That pattern can be partially explained by the peculiarities of a nomad economy, which is characterized by its lack of ability to accumulate economic/material surpluses."11 Some historians and biographers have claimed that the impetus for organized raiding and expansion into eastern and western territories is due completely to the enterprise and cleverness of Genghis Khan (1167-1227).12 But there is another interesting outlook that will pull into the debate more interpretations of geography: namely climate. Some have suggested that due to thirteenth century drought in Asia and increased lack of vegetation among the steppe. Mongols brought their herds further into neighboring lands for the good of the livestock as well as for their individual livelihoods. However, this does not explain the Mongols' swords or ships; the Khans ruled the Mongol dynasty by organizing it into military factions that were able to conquer and cause fear in many people. By the late 13th century, Mongol fleets attempted to overtake peoples as far away as Japan (1293) and Java (1274).13 Neither does it explain how in such a relatively short time, the Mongol Empire, "At its greatest extent, it stretched from Korea to Hungary and from Russia to Persia" (Land). Although it is sensible that for lack of food, the Mongols left their native territories, the sum of that analysis does not seem entirely logical. Merriam Webster defines 'famine' or 'drought' as 'prolonged or chronic shortage or lack of something'; it does not say 'Drought: forward motion to economic advancement'. It is simple enough to explain that the Mongol Empire was exactly what it was, a huge expanse of territory, for the truth that the Mongols were incredibly skilled horsemen. The Mongol Empire, at its height, flourished for military agility, for its armies to reach 'beyond those mountains' or 'across the steppe' or 'to the sea'. It was not legendary for a profusion of art or written language styles or innovative techniques of terracing rice fields. The Silk Road was located within Mongol territory at the height of the empire, linking China, Iran, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean in the exchange of goods.14 But within its borders were hardly known, and still are not known, any engaging metropolises or nexuses of economic or society. Not to downplay its greatness, it should be acknowledged that the Mongol Empire was powerful almost exclusively for its ability to maneuver over great expanses of open and non-populous terrain: west across mountains to Russian plains and forests of Eastern Europe, south and east into plains and deserts. Although under the leadership of Kublai Khan, in 1276 the Mongol forces reached Hanzhou, the Song dynasty's coastal capital. The throne was surrendered to spare the life of its six-year-old emperor.15 This is a prime illustration of how the Mongols were hardly known as invasive rulers, but expansive ones, a trait they were entirely worthy of holding. The Mongol Empire reached a climax in the middle 1300s, and "After that time the original homeland of the Mongols was controlled once again by small tribal leaders that were neither strong or effective."16 When clan classification reappeared, the Mongols lost their cohesiveness, and largely returned to their pastoral and nomadic patterns. The history of the Mongol people is illuminated by consideration of their geography. This people's land has been entirely landlocked, separated from rich societies cultivating art as well as crops. The Mongols were herders and gatherers, not because they missed out on the wheel of cultural evolution, but because their geography doesn't provide a lot of opportunity for anything to flourish. The birth of agriculture is often the impetus for cultural growth, as fewer laborers are needed and individuals are able to specialize in trades. As intense cultivation was not possible on the steppe, Mongols remained in clans and tribes where a few families could maintain for themselves. It was the conglomeration of tribes which, despite the economic stability or settlements of civilization, made the Mongol Empire possible. The Gobi desert didn't descend into the ocean; neither did the mountain systems which cradled the Mongols crumble and convert into tillable plains. Rather, it was the way in which the Mongols maneuvered despite their topography, which heeded the onset of the height of its empire, strong enough to claim all the lands they'd crossed, for a time. Works Cited Deng, Kent. "Economic History of Premodern China," EH.Net Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert Whaples. Last Updated: November 8, 2004. EH.Net. Accessed November 9, 2006. http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/deng.china. 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Retrieved November 9, 2006 from ColdSiberia.org. http://www.coldsiberia.org/webdoc6.htm. Watson, William. Cultural Frontiers in Ancient East Asia. Chicago: Adline Publishing Company, 1971. Yeng, Mok Kwai. "Great Steppe Empires of Asia." China History Info (2006). Retrieved November 9, 2006 from ChinaHistoryInfo.com. http://www.chinahistoryinfo.com/index.phpid=3,0,0,1,0,0. Read More