History - The Mongols - China in the West Flashcards
What was the Silk Road
Over 2000 years ago, goods and ideas already travelled to and fro along the Silk Road, which stretched from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. In ancient Rome, silks from China, spices and perfumes from other parts of Asia, were sold. Some other ideas like building and decoration also spread from the eastern Mediterranean to northern China.
Why was there no trade for some time?
In the 7th and 8th centuries AD, the Arab armies conquered a large amount of land. They did not let people travel along the Silk Road so that that trade and the exchange of ideas between eastern Asia and the West died down.
Who were the Mongols
Many tribes of wild people, called the Mongols, had lived to the north of China for hundreds of years. They wandered with their tents and flocks of sheep and goats over hundreds of miles of poor grasslands. They were very fierce and cruel soldiers who fought on horseback with powerful bows. They moved fast enough to beat almost any ordinary army of foot soldiers.
Who was Genghis Khan
In 1206 all of the Mongol tribes came together under one leader who called himself Genghis Khan. In a few years he had captured all of the land from northern China to the Black Sea. His generals wanted to kill all the people and destroy all the towns they had captured. But a Chinese general who had joined Genghis Khan out a small tax on everyone instead. Henghis Khan put a small tax on land, salt, iron and everything that was sold.
Who was Kublai Khan? Name some things he liked to do
Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan became emperor in 1260 and made his capital at Beijing. He conquered Southern China and set up the Yuan Dynasty. His empire was so big it took him two years to travel from one side to another.
1. Kublai Khan very much admired scholars
2. He encouraged missionaries of different religions to come to his kingdom. Only a few Christian priests came but Kublai brought in many Buddhist monks from Tibet.
3. He encouraged writing, painting and science in China, and had a great observatory built in Beijing
4. Most of all he liked to meet people from different countries, and encouraged merchants from the West to come again to China along the Silk Road
- so Goods and ideas began to pass from Europe and Asia once more
