Notes from "Big History" Chapter 10 on "One Afro-Eurasia" 1000-1500 CE: Agrarian civilizations controlled only 15% of the world in 1000 CE. The rest was the territory of “barbarians” The Rise and Spread of the Mongols: Not all negative: they incorporated (modern) ideas/values like religious tolerance, diplomatic immunity, free trade, international paper currency Very few sources, other than The Secret History of the Mongols, written soon after Genghis Khan’s death, p. 170 (A) An animal-based society (cows, horses, goats, sheep, camels), p. 170 Need to “trade or raid” for iron (stirrups, bridles), p. 170 The story of Genghis Khan’s 13C upbringing and rise to power, p. 171 Religious tolerance, pp. 171-172 Army = loyalty to unit rather than tribe, leadership by merit, p. 172 Historiography: GK encouraged horror stories to facilitate conquest, p. 172 Succession crisis last for 10 years after GK’s son’s death, with his daughter-in-law ruling as regent in the meanwhile until grandson Kublai Khan was selected, p. 172-173 Unification = increased trade, ease of travel, p. 173 Connections disease. In 13-14C, China lost ½ its population and Europe ¼ from Black Death, which led to the Mongol’s decline, pp. 174-175 Mongols, then Ming, in China: Kublai Khan’s establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in China, 1294-1368, p. 176 Yuan Dynasty: Beijing capital, demotion of Confucians, rise of merchants, new technologies, p. 176 Ming Dynasty: distaste for all things foreign, revival of Confucian exams, population growth, beginnings of the Forbidden City, Zheng He’s super fleets, p. 177 China withdraws to focus on internal rebuilding and recovery from losses suffered under the Mongols, p. 177-178 Mongols and afterwards in the Islamic World: Arguments that Islamic civilization was the “world’s most creative and dynamic civilization from 1000-1500 CE” p. 178 o Doubled in size: + India, Africa, Eastern Europe, SE Asia o Elite Persianized-Turkic court culture (Suleyman) o Hub of an expansive commercial network Arts & Sciences, p. 178 Agricultural exchange was “the most dramatic” before the Columbian Exchange, p. 178 (B) Mongols sacked Baghdad, converted to Islam in the late 13 th century, p. 179 Ibn-Battuta, p. 180 Rise of Islamic trading city-states along the eastern coast of Africa, p. 180 Spread of Islam throughout Africa, as “African leaders grew rich exporting slaves, gold, and salt.” P. 180 Islam = the rise of slave trade, p. 181 (C) Area Controlled by . . . Mongols 25 million km 2 7-8C Islamic Empires 10 million km 2 Han Dynasty China 6 million km 2 Roman Empire 4 million km 2 Inca 2 million km 2