Mongol People - Kublai Khan - Essay Example

 Mongol People Mongol people are commonly known as Mongolian and are of the Asian origin. Mongol people are a group of tribes who met together at the banks of the Onon River. The Mongol people are a pastoral ethnic group who originated from the Bajkal Lake. They settled in the grasslands of western Mongolia. The tribe was unified by Temujin to form the new Mongol. The Mongol people consist of five groups, namely: the Kazakh, Dorvod, Bayad, and Buriad (AllAboutHistory.org). Social stratification The social structure of the Mongolians is divided into different hierarchies that are family, tribes, and clans. The social stratification is usually based on the size of the herd. The social structure of the Mongol community was based on social mobility. As years passed on the stratification of the Mongol people changed from the basis of size to classification based on social equality (News.sciencemag.org). Customs and habits The Mongol people mostly live in small eight feet high rounded huts commonly known as yurts with an opening at the top of the roof. The opening was strategically placed at the top of the yurt to provide protection against cold and wind. Mongol people are horse riders and they practice horsemanship as a habit. The pastoralist communities of the Mongol groups depend on their livestock for food. The farming groups of the Mongol people prefer to eat farm products such as grains. The Mongols have settled in mud houses in the banks of Onon River. They also use wood to make their houses. The Mongol people are welcoming to people that visit their area. They can welcome any person to their huts for a night and give them a happy send-off with lots of goods (News.sciencemag.org). Culture The culture of the Mongol allows them to marry off their daughters to other clans and the parents were the ones to arrange for the marriage. The parents always ask for gifts before the wedding and during the wedding, the Buddhist seek heavenly protection by reading the scripture (Newworldencyclopedia.org). The Mongolians are also singing communities who like to sing echoing songs. The Mongol people also practice dancing. The saber, Ordos and Andai dances are famous around the world. The Mongol people are governed by their imperial court of dynasty. The rulers inflict punishment on the wrong doers. The punishment was through possession of the herds of the wrong doer and the repossession of the lands they own.The Mongol people are also good at writing and translation skills. Most of the grammar books, dictionaries and translated history books about Mongolia were done by the Mongol people themselves (Newworldencyclopedia.org). Religion Mongolians main religion is Lamaism, the yellow sect of the Buddhism. Shamanism was the earlier main religion, but recently Lamaism is considered their main religion because it pushed the male Mongols to be monks than the warriors in earlier periods. During the period of conversion to Lamaism, every family is supposed to provide one son to be raised to be a lama (Newworldencyclopedia.org). Medicine and health care Mongols have been using acupuncture, massages, and herbal medicine to treat most of the diseases among their people. The introduction of adequate health care resources was challenging to the Mongol communities due to their economic status during the post socialist era (China.org.cn). Kublai Khan Kublai Khan was born in the year 1912 in Mongolia in the country of china. Kublai Khan was the fourth son of Tule and a grandson of the founder of the Mongol empire. He is said to be the strongest, brave and the most intelligent emperor of all the emperors in the history of China. Kublai Khan used to accompany his father Tule to the battlefields and acquired skills in fighting. At the age of 12 years, Kublai had already become an equestrian. Kublai Khan lost his father at the age of 17 years and his big brother had to succeed his father because he was too young to take control of the emperors (Faculty.washington.edu). The administration of Kublai Khan Kublai Khan adopted the divide and rule tactics to rule over the Mongol people. Khan was conversant with the different religions and he allowed his people to follow the religion of their choice. During his reign, Kublai re-organized his government into three branches. One branch was used to put an eye on the major officials in his term, the second branch was used to supervise the military of the emperor, and the third branch was used to oversee the affairs of the civilians of Mongolia. After the reorganization, Kublai constructed a new capital city for his Empire in China in the year 1267 called Ta-tu meaning the great city (Faculty.washington.edu). Kublai khan fought the Sung dynasty and overpowered it in the year 1278. This led to Khan increasing his dynasty across two continents. Kublai ensured that the Mongols were in high numbers in his dynasty in order to keep the Chinese population low. Due to Kublai’s involvement in trade, art, and science, he introduced the use of paper note in the whole of his empire. In the transport sector, Khan introduced sea transport and inland river canals to ease the transportation of the farm products from the highlands areas where they were grown to other parts of the empire (China.org.cn). Kublai Khan had some negative traits of leadership. For instance, Khan demanded gifts and rewards from the states within his empire and failure to comply led to him launching attacks on the state. The attacks on other states led to the weakening of Khan’s dynasty as his army killed in the wars (News.sciencemag.org). In conclusion, the Mongol people are well established in a landlocked country and are currently doing well. Kublai khan’s reign lasted for 34 years and he is regarded as the second best Mongol ruler after his grandfather Genghis. Despite some negative traits in his leadership, Kublai Khan was a good ruler of the big empire and brought modernization to the Mongol people. Work Cited AllAboutHistory.org. 'Mongol Empire'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015. China.org.cn. 'The Mongolian Ethnic Group'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015. Faculty.washington.edu. 'The Mongol Empire: A Brief Chronology'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015. History-world.org. 'Mongols. A History of the Mongols (Monguls)'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015. News.sciencemag.org. 'Kublai Khan Was a Notorious Polluter'. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015. Newworldencyclopedia.org. 'Mongol Empire - New World Encyclopedia'. 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