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WY5V8181
HR
Before the Mongols came to control the majority of Asia, the Song
Dynasty and various religious Arab and Persian rulers were developing
technological prominence (credit, gunpowder, seafaring) and had control
over their regions because of prosperous centralized government. The
Mongols, however, had superior military tactics, and were able to seize
large parts of these empires. But despite their ability to take over
these regions, bureaucratic control wasn't well-suited to their culture,
especially after Kublai Khan's death where a single central controller
couldn't exist. The khanates instead used local religious infrastructure
and continued to develop technology within the regions they ruled
because local rulers (usually religious in nature because states were
often closely tied to religion, especially in the Islamic world) wanted
to retain their power and the Mongols were such a small group that they
could not entirely supplant a bureaucracy even if they wanted to.
Religious leaders tried to preserve their own power as can be seen
in document 2. A Buddhist monk is pushing the message that the Mongol
empire should preserve religious organization for rational and
bureaucratic reasons (order that the people already follow, and arguing
that it would not interfere with Mongol rule). The intended audience is
the Khan and the wider Mongol court, so this message is likely pandering
to their sense of importance and power over China, but the parts about
the religious organization retaining power are certainly believed by
this monk. Especially because Khubilai Khan is a Buddhist himself, this
monk believes that he has a good chance at retaining most of his power
as long as he remains in the good grace of the Mongols. Document 3 also
shows the Sufi sheikh (a religious ruler) has worked to convert the
ruler to his faith. Religious leaders attempting to convert rulers is,
historically, not uncommon, but the Mongols are particularly pliant to
these advances because the Mongols do not have an established religion
because they were originally a nomadic group and so do not have as
strong of power structures.
The Mongols are also uncommonly tolerant rulers. Because the roots of
their power lie with Kubilai Khan's enhancement of the Silk Road in his
early years, preservation of intergroup trade is easiest when the people
controlling it are mostly neutral to the religion and ethnicity of
merchants because then more merchants are likely to participate. But,
after his death, the Khanates although still trying to retain the
strength of the road began to infight between themselves---which
eventually befell the empire. So, during these years, alliances with
local ethnic groups was especially important. In the Yuan dynasty,
Mongol leaders took ethnic female companions as can be seen in Document
5. In order to garner support of the local groups, the Yuan dynasty
used this silk tapestry in religious ceremonies because it represented
their alliance to the local powers---which was expected to be returned
in favour. Document 4 shows this same pattern of native religious
advantage. The Persian Khanate Ilkhanid ruler married to a Nestorian
Christian because, although she didn't hold specific hierarchical power
over this land, the alliance with the Nestorian Christians is valuable
mostly in the preservation of peace.
Technological growth was the earliest way that the Khans were affected
by local change and culture. Khans brought together scholars and artists
for their own gain; the development of new technology would further
their control over the Silk Road and the prosperity of the lands they
controlled. These technologies were also used directly by the Mongols,
as is seen in Document 1. At this time, the Mongols were an illiterate
people interested in developing a bureaucratic system because they
had conquered much land but had no way to profit from it because no tax
system was in place. The Mongols needed to reuse an existing writing
system to further the strength of their empire, which projected into
cultural changes. The Mongols gradually stopped being a nomadic people
and their core strength (military dominance) faded out, their being
closer to these native peoples because the reuse of native culture
was the easiest way to control an area. But this eventually meant that
the Mongol empire was essentially the same as the preexisting empire
because they used the same tax and writing system, were just as divided
as before, and began to face new challenges which it was difficult
for the Mongols to handle.
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