蒙古源流

源出室韦

蒙古之名，最早见于唐代。时在狃越河（即今洮儿河）以北，西至俱轮泊（今呼伦湖）周围，东至那河（今嫩江），北至黑龙江的地域内，分布著许多许多被统称为「室韦」的大小部落。这些部落中有一大部称为蒙兀室韦，居于今大兴安岭以北、额尔古纳河下游以南。13世纪蒙古人自己的传说把自己的祖居地仍称为「额尔古纳昆」，与古代史专记载相印合。南宋初洪皓《松漠记闻》首次指出：「盲骨子，《契丹事迹》谓之朦古国，即唐之蒙兀部。」

室韦诸部，本以渔猎为业。至唐末始越大兴安岭至其西草原，渐习游牧。随部落分衍，所占地盘逐渐扩大，有一部渐至三河之源的不儿肯山（即肯特山），成吉思汗所属之乞颜（Kiyat）部即属此部分。

苍狼白鹿

根据《蒙古秘史》，苍狼白鹿生下了蒙古人先祖巴塔赤罕，传至十一代，有子二人传到第十一代，有兄弟二人，兄都蛙锁豁儿有四子，迁移出去成为朵儿边部（Dorben，意为四）；弟朵奔篾儿干娶豁里秃马惕部女子阿阑豁阿为妻，生二子，其后裔各成一部。朵奔死后，阿阑豁阿感天光而孕，又生三子，长不忽合塔吉，后裔为合答斤部（名见《金史》，作合底忻），次不合秃撒勒只，后裔为撒勒只兀惕部（名见《金史》，作山只昆，元代又译散只兀，珊竹）；幼子孛端察儿，后裔为孛儿只斤部，从这一支又分衍出约二十个氏族或部落。孛端察儿就是成吉思汗的十世祖，《元史·宗室世系表》称为「始祖」。

阿兰豁阿感天光所生三子之后裔称为「尼伦蒙古」，即蒙古的尼伦部，其他则称迭列斤蒙古。前者为蒙古人中高贵者，其中当然以黄金家族最为高贵，而后者则为一般蒙古人。这两部分人是为蒙古的正源。

蒙古帝国前草原上生活的其他几个其他部落是：克烈部、汪古部、乃蛮部、塔塔儿部、蔑儿乞部等。

• 克烈部：是辽、金生活在蒙古高原突厥部族。九世纪中叶随黠戛斯南下的谦河地区部落，是回鹘汗国灭亡以后留居本土的遗民，辽金时期的突厥部族。任何有关蒙古人起源的传说也与克烈无关。其居地在土拉河黑林、鄂尔浑河与克鲁仑河之间。亦或译作克列夷、怯烈、怯里亦、客列亦惕、凯烈等。《辽史》称之为「阻卜」或「北阻卜」，亦作「达旦。

• 汪古部：古代文献记载一般把汪古部记为沙陀突厥的后裔。

蒙兀王国

在辽代，蒙古各部为契丹皇朝大辽的臣民，受辽朝直接统治。1125年，金灭辽，并大举南下，攻克北宋都城汴京，掳徽、钦二帝（参见靖康之耻）；然后继续挥兵南下，直捣临安。南方战事紧急，金军虽然捷报频传，却也无暇北顾。于是蒙古草原上的孛儿只斤部落酋长合不勒趁机脱离辽朝自立，拓土开疆，威势日盛，附近各族于是在1127年推举他为蒙古部长，遂称「合不勒汗」。

不久，金太宗完颜晟宣召他入朝，席间合不勒汗酒醉失态，冒犯龙颜，自此便与金廷构隙（实际上，金廷一直为蒙古势力崛起感到不安）。合不勒汗回国后，金使前来诱他投降，他一怒杀死来使，整兵抗金。适逢金太宗逝世，熙宗即位。合不勒汗起兵连寇金边，陆续攻取了金朝的西平、河北等二十七团寨。金朝既而又遣名将兀术（完颜宗弼）出征蒙古，两年未分胜负，于1148年与合不勒汗议和，割二十七团寨，岁给衣食，并册封合不勒为「蒙兀国王」。

合不勒死后，王位传于堂弟俺巴孩。金国由于内部虚弱，急切地想要削弱蒙古人的力量，遂决定在蒙古与塔塔儿（可能并非今日之「塔塔尔族」）两部落之间构隙。时塔塔儿部落的一个巫医疗死蒙兀部落一亲眷，被俺巴孩族人斩首。塔塔儿人兴兵复仇，战败，遂佯装乞和，藉机掳走了俺巴孩父子数人。为发泄怨气，塔塔儿人竟将俺巴孩钉在木驴上游街，最后俺巴孩惨死。两族从此结下恩怨（一说「巫医事件」发生在合不勒汗时期，后俺巴孩即位，与合不勒的一个儿子一起带女儿去塔塔儿部联姻，结果途中被捕，被送交金廷，被金廷钉死于木驴）。

俺巴孩汗死之前，曾遗命其子合达安为其：「今后以我为戒，你们将五个指甲磨尽，便坏了十个指头，也与我每报仇。」。其继任者忽图剌汗（合不勒汗第四子），与合达安发起复仇战争。战争中忽图剌汗之侄也速该崭露头角，击败了塔塔儿人。他的妻子诃额仑在战斗中生下了一个孩子，此时正好俘获一个叫帖木真兀格的敌方将领。为了纪念这次的胜利，也速该为这个孩子取名为铁木真，即后来的成吉思汗。

1170年，也速该死于一场宴会，蒙兀王国遂分崩离析。也速该之子铁木真也逃亡。

成吉思汗时期

1206年（金章宗泰和六年，宋宁宗开禧二年）春天，铁木真获得尊号「成吉思汗」，建国于漠北，国号「大蒙古国」。

蒙古人是塔塔尔、泰赤乌、蔑儿乞、乃蛮、克烈、汪古部、以尼伦和迭列斤两大部落组成的蒙兀王国人的后代，12世纪初期之后，蒙古各部逐渐迁徙到蒙古高原，10世纪到12世纪，蒙古高原先后被于辽朝（契丹）统治和有时臣服于金朝，至1200年左右，随著金朝的逐渐衰落及蒙古势力的逐渐强盛，蒙古不再向金朝进贡，1206年，铁木真统一蒙古各部，在斡难河（今鄂嫩河）源头召开库里尔台大会，即蒙古大汗位，号「成吉思汗」，国号「大蒙古国」（Yeqe Mongɣul Ulus）。

Flag_of_the_Mongol_Empire_2.svg|蒙古帝国的旗帜

Flag_of_the_Mongol_Empire.svg|另外一个蒙古帝国的旗帜

成吉思汗还颁布了大扎撒，作为蒙古帝国的成文法典，是世界上最早的宪法性文件。蒙古帝国的组织是十户、百户、千户、万户、十个万户组成一旗，十旗组成一路，十路组成一州，十州一国。

1205年、1207年、1209年—1210年，铁木真率军三次征伐西夏，迫西夏国王李安全臣服，后在1211年—1213年、1214年—1219年再次派遣一支蒙古军队征伐西夏。

1211年八月，蒙古帝国倾国之力的九万军队进攻金朝并在野狐岭战役击溃金兵之后，在隔年倾国之力兵分三路攻入金朝内地，并在1213年—1214年迅速攻占了当时金朝的河北西路（真定府、大名府）、河东北路（大同府、太原府）、河东南路（平阳府）、河北东路（宣德府、河间府、彰德府）、山东西路（济南府）、山东东路（益都府）、北京路（大定府）、东京路（锦州府、辽阳府），占领后进行了屠杀（投降归顺的除外）；其馀的州府县亦均被攻占，并在1213年和1214年两次率军围困金中都（今北京市）。混乱中，金朝皇帝卫绍王完颜永济在1213年被杀，新立的皇帝金宣宗于1214年由于从霸州运送救援粮饷到中都的军队在河间府被蒙军截击，宣宗觉得中都不保了，于是宣布迁都开封，木华黎统帅的蒙古军最终于1215年5月31日攻占金朝旧都中都城。成吉思汗在此得到契丹人谋士耶律楚材的归顺。后来耶律楚材成为蒙古帝国的税务官和宰相。

1218年，蒙古为了要消除敌人屈出律（时为西辽最后一任实际统治者），于是派遣哲别出兵二万征灭被屈出律篡位的以伊犁河流域河谷伊塞克湖的纳伦河河畔的虎思斡耳朵（今托克马克）为首都的西辽政权。

1217年，由于花剌子模沙朝边境城市讹答剌的城主海儿汗亦纳勒术私自扣留并处决了铁木真的大蒙古国派遣去十馀人的商队，当时正在东亚进行蒙古金朝战争的铁木真原本不计划徵发侵灭花剌子模沙朝，于是铁木真再次派遣了以一个正使和两个副使组成的使节团再次前去花剌子模沙朝要求当时的沙阿阿拉乌丁·摩诃末调查此事和惩罚凶手海儿汗亦纳勒术，但是这一次由于当时花剌子模沙朝的沙阿阿拉乌丁·摩诃末的母亲—康里人—图儿干合敦在旧都玉龙杰赤令立朝廷，企图干预国政，并且海儿汗亦纳勒术是图儿干合敦的侄子，所以沙阿阿拉乌丁·摩诃末也无法管制，于是海尔汗亦纳勒术再次自作主张，处决了这一次铁木真再次派遣去的以一个正使和两个副使组成的使节团的两个副使以外的所有成员，并烧掉了副使的胡须，于是铁木真决定暂缓东亚的蒙古金朝战争，故成吉思汗在1217年筹备多时之后，亲自统率十万大军在1219年底—1221年期间征伐侵灭花剌子模（蒙古征服花剌子模）（今中亚河中地区、阿富汗一带），攻占四十个主要城池。

花剌子模沙阿阿拉乌丁·摩诃末在1220年被惊吓而逃至里海东岸的孤岛病死。1220年铁木真派遣手下两员大将哲别和速不台统帅25000人的蒙古军从撒马尔罕州出发，继续向西进军，攻占了诸如：克里米亚苏达克城〔今乌克兰克里米亚苏达克〕、奥可斯、木鹿、苏萨、纳西切万、比特利斯、阿尔吉斯、蔑剌合、迪亚巴克尔、埃尔比勒地区、刚加、尼西比斯地区、阿尼、卡尔斯城、锡瓦斯、额尔哲鲁木城、埃尔津詹、托卡特、开塞利城、起剌特、阿米德、保加尔人的卡马突厥国、蔑怯思城赞瞻、剌夷〔今德黑兰之南）、蔑剌合、图斯、可疾云、西模娘〔今伊朗德黑兰省塞姆南）、沙马哈、屠杀，投降归顺的除外，和进攻当时高加索的亚美尼亚王国、格鲁吉亚王国、阿塞拜疆王国、罗姆苏丹国（1221年－1222年）、之后哲别和速不台统帅的25000人的蒙军折转北向逾越太和岭（今天叫做高加索山）的打耳班关隘，进攻当时的钦察人和保加尔人的卡马突厥国、并在迦勒斯河战役打败基辅大公统帅的军队，之后继续向西进攻，沿著今乌克兰（当时这里还不完全属于基辅罗斯的疆土）一路杀掠到克里米亚半岛，之后在此杀掠之后继续向西折转进军到今乌克兰西部的德涅斯特河，但是由于无法渡河，于是折转东返，东北向进军围攻基辅罗斯的政治中心基辅，但未能攻陷，之后继续东北向进军，并相继渡过德涅斯特河和顿河，于1223年9月征伐当时的伏尔加河中上游河谷的伏尔加保加利亚王国，在此杀掠之后，相继渡过伏尔加河和乌拉尔河，于后于1223年向东返与当时于1222年从印度河河谷率领蒙古军主力撤军北返，并北向经过当时的旁遮普、阿拉霍西亚、德兰吉亚那、逾越兴都库什山脉、巴克特里亚之后渡过阿姆河并且穿越锡尔河和阿姆河之间的中亚河中地区（马尔基安娜、索格狄亚那）于来到锡尔河河谷，于1223年在此汇合，并再次召开了一次觐见大典，当时有很多西方国家都派遣使者来于蒙古帝国交好，包括神圣罗马帝国的教宗使者，之后于1224年的夏天来到额敏河和裕勒都斯河河谷，1225年的夏天回到蒙古帝国本土斡难河河源一带和哈拉和林一带（参见蒙古征服花剌子模）。

1225年，成吉思汗再次率军征伐西夏，但是于1227年八月病死于六盘山，之后九月蒙古军攻陷都城中兴府，西夏末代国王李睍投降。此时，蒙古帝国包括今蒙古高原、今中国黄土高原、葱岭、满洲平原、华北平原、中亚河中地区、阿塞拜疆以东的大伊朗大部。

另一方面蒙古人继续征伐金朝，木华黎统帅的蒙古军在1218年攻占太原府和平阳府、1220年攻占济南府和益都府、1221年再次攻占了濮州、陕北保安和鄜州、1222年攻占长安、1223年攻占了宝鸡、凤翔和蒲州，1230年攻占了蒲中、潼关。

1231年，蒙古军从关中地区进攻南宋的汉中，然后顺著汉水流域而下，再折转北向进攻金朝的河南地区，另一支蒙古军则渡过黄河南下，1232年金军在三峰山之战惨败，金哀宗逃到蔡州，蒙古和南宋联合进攻金朝，最终蒙宋联军在1234年3月9日攻陷蔡州，金朝彻底灭亡。

成吉思汗之后的扩张

成吉思汗遗属由窝阔台继承大汗位，先由幼子拖雷监国，后在1229年最终召开库利尔台大会推举窝阔台继位。拖雷汗时代（1227年－1229年）加强对金朝的征伐。1229年，窝阔台继任大汗，1231年征伐高丽王朝，1233年消灭东真国，1234年3月9日攻灭金朝。随后再次西征；1236年打败钦察突厥部落，1238年2月占领莫斯科，1240年12月6日占领基辅；之后兵分两路入侵波兰、立陶宛、摩拉维亚与匈牙利王国、保加利亚第二帝国、奥地利、原南斯拉夫大部分地区，大败神圣罗马帝国联军，前锋进军到波兹南、维也纳近郊和亚得里亚海的东海岸（即威尼斯共和国的达尔马提亚），欧洲为之震惊。正当此时，窝阔台逝世（1241年12月），远征军于是东还。

后来拔都于1242年在伏尔加河下游的萨莱城正式建立蒙古钦察汗国（又称金帐汗国或术赤汗国）。期间由绰马儿罕、拜住、野里知吉带、阔里吉思、阿尔浑八剌统帅的蒙古军逐渐征伐和屠杀蹂躏亚美尼亚王国、格鲁吉亚王国、科尼亚克苏丹国和大部分小亚细亚。1246年8月24日，贵由在窝阔台的王后支持下继位。拔都与贵由在长子西征以后不和，贵由在远征拔都途中病死，拔都本有资格承继汗位，但他无意即位，另举拖雷的长子蒙哥为大汗。1251年，蒙哥继位。1253年派遣忽必烈取道西康南下灭大理国。蒙哥命旭烈兀西征（旭烈兀西征1256年—1259年）；1258年，占领阿拉伯帝国首都巴格达，灭阿拔斯王朝。1260年，占领马木留克王朝首都大马士革。这时，蒙哥在攻打南宋四川时，在合州城下战死，军队于是北还。

欧洲

成吉思汗死后其子窝阔台继任蒙古大汗。1236年蒙古大军开始进攻钦察和基辅罗斯；灭保加尔人的卡马突厥国并摧毁其都城；攻占：蔑怯思城、里亚赞、科罗姆纳、莫斯科（1238年2月）、苏兹达尔、弗拉基米尔城、雅罗斯拉夫城、特维尔城、切尔尼戈夫、乞瓦基辅（1240年12月6日）、加利奇国、赫梅尔尼克、桑多梅日城、克拉科夫城、奥拉迪亚、琼纳德、佩斯城、科托尔等二十几个城市。1240年12月6日成吉思汗的孙子拔都攻占基辅。1241年拔都率部入侵波兰王国、立陶宛、摩拉维亚公国、保加利亚、匈牙利王国的达尔马提亚和原南斯拉夫地区的拉什卡，直至在奥地利大公国的维也纳近郊受阻于奥地利、波西米亚王国联军。波兰和匈牙利的溃败以及因神圣罗马帝国辖下的诸侯国被蒙古人洗劫（摩拉维亚、奥地利和波希米亚），收到并无视了拔都的招降书的神圣罗马帝国皇帝腓特烈二世认为蒙古下一个目标就是自己，于是开始调军备战并同时联络英格兰王国及法兰西王国求助。1242年春天窝阔台的死讯传来，拔都和各支蒙古军统帅班师回朝。这是蒙古大军所到最西的地方。

中东

窝阔台死后经过乃马真脱列哥那称制、贵由汗和斡兀立海迷失的一共十年统治；1251年7月，成吉思汗的小儿子拖雷的儿子蒙哥继位。1256年蒙哥派其弟旭烈兀西征。期间蒙古军多次大举征伐高丽国；1258年，西征军攻占并洗劫了阿拔斯王朝首都巴格达，此战役致使智慧之家被毁，大量宝贵文献被扔进河中。1259年旭烈兀征叙利亚阿尤布王朝，1260年攻占大马士革和阿勒颇。当年蒙哥在进攻南宋的四川时战死（详见钓鱼城之战）。旭烈兀回师争位，之后留下的由怯的不花统帅的2万蒙古军队在今以色列的加利利的阿音札鲁特战役败于马木留克王朝，标志著蒙古帝国未能扩展到非洲。

东亚

窝阔台时，1229年至1234年，蒙古灭金朝。1231年蒙古进攻高丽王国，并迅速攻占除开最南端外的全部高丽王国领土，高丽王室退守汉城城外的海域附近的江华岛，之后，高丽国分为主战派和主和派，并且已经臣服于蒙古帝国；但是当时半岛上的高丽三别抄义军一直抵抗到1275年才臣服。窝阔台灭金之后，兵分三路大举入侵南宋（窝阔台攻宋之战），另一路征伐高丽国；但窝阔台于1241年12月去世，蒙古军撤军，之后所占疆土为南宋军队收复。后来经历乃马真脱列哥那、贵由汗、斡兀立海迷失的统治，期间对南宋的攻打限于边境的侵袭战争；到1251年蒙哥汗即位，才开始再次大幅扩张。在旭烈兀西征的同时，蒙哥于1258年率三路大军征伐南宋。1259年7月27日蒙哥在四川合州的钓鱼城久攻不下，在一次战斗中中流矢受伤，不久就不治身亡了。正在进攻鄂州的蒙哥的弟弟忽必烈和从安南入侵南宋的兀良哈台军遂北返，忽必烈在开平自称大汗。在战胜也自称大汗的弟弟阿里不哥之后，1267年忽必烈开始营建大都，1285年建成。1271年改国号为大元，蒙古文称为「大元大蒙古国」，是为元朝的开始。1264年至1279年，经过对南宋的多年征战，元军终于灭宋。至1275年高丽已臣服于元朝，成为其属国。

蒙古曾于1257年征伐越南陈朝北部地区。灭宋之后，元朝军队又分别于1284年－1285年和1287年－1288年两度攻打越南北部的陈朝和南部的占城（又称占婆）。陈朝与其宿敌占城联合击退了入侵军。1277年元军开始进攻今缅甸北部的蒲甘王国；直到1287年元军才攻入蒲甘王国首都，之后在1303年又撤出该地区。元军于1292年至1293年对爪哇岛发动的海上远征也失利。

1274年和1281年，忽必烈两次派军征伐日本（文永之役、弘安之役），但均以失败告终。一般认为台风是造成失败的最大原因。

帝国分裂

蒙哥于1259年去世后，其弟忽必烈与阿里不哥争夺汗位（1260年－1264年）。忽必烈听闻蒙哥汗死讯时尚在鄂州一带与南宋作战，后听说留守蒙古本土的阿里不哥准备集会称汗，立即与南宋议和之后北返回到开平（今内蒙古多伦县），于1260年5月在以东道诸王塔察儿为首的蒙古宗王及汉人儒臣的支持下抢先集会称汗。阿里不哥闻讯后，在阿速台、玉龙答失、海都等宗王的支持下于同年6月在当时的蒙古帝国首都哈拉和林召开「忽里勒台」大会，即大汗位。由于忽必烈长期居住在中原，任用汉人，推行汉法，改变蒙古人的游牧传统，引起很多蒙古王公贵族的不满，故多数西道诸王当时均支持阿里不哥。为了争取宗王势力的支持，忽必烈默认术赤后王别儿哥、察合台后王阿鲁忽及八剌、六弟旭烈兀对各自封地的实质统治权（但名义上西北四大汗国依然属于大蒙古国大汗的藩国）。忽必烈与阿里不哥随即展开历时四年的汗位争夺战争。与此同时，别儿哥与旭烈兀等亦在高加索地区大打出手。这一系列战争标志著帝国走向分裂。

忽必烈直到1264年才最终战胜阿里不哥，随后迁都大都（今北京），以上都为陪都。然而，支持阿里不哥的窝阔台汗国拒绝归附忽必烈而实际上独立。蒙古察合台汗国被忽必烈、阿里不哥、窝阔台汗国等势力多次争夺，后与窝阔台汗国的海都结盟对抗忽必烈。这两个汗国位于今塔里木盆地、准噶尔盆地、中亚河中地区一带、钦察汗国为术赤之长子拔都在1242年正式建立，位于现在的东欧平原、南俄的北高加索、和锡尔河以北的中亚的一部分，基辅罗斯诸公国为其扶植的弗拉基米尔大公遥控的藩属国。伊儿汗国为旭烈兀在1256年正式建立，包括大伊朗等地。钦察汗国在忽必烈与阿里不哥争夺汗位时已实际上独立，仅伊儿汗国承认忽必烈的大汗位，但在忽必烈去世后也独立。造成蒙古帝国实际上的分裂。

1271年忽必烈在其领地内改国号为「大元」，建立元朝，蒙古文则称为「大元国」（Dai Ön Ulus）或「大元大蒙古国」（Dai Ön Yeqe Mongɣul Ulus）。然而在此同时钦察汗国、察合台汗国、窝阔台汗国、伊儿汗国先后各自为政，拒绝承认忽必烈为大蒙古国大汗，直到1303年元成宗与蒙古诸王意识到，黄金家族的内战是在破坏大蒙古国的基业，最终于达成和解，约定四大汗国名义上重新承认元朝皇帝为大蒙古国大汗，彼此间设驿路、开关塞恢复往来。元朝名义上保留术赤汗和伊儿汗原本在河东路、河南等处领地，每年颁给岁赐。伊儿汗国作为附属元朝的藩国，其君主即位仍需元朝皇帝遣使册封，颁发「王府定国理民之寳」、「真命皇帝和顺万夷之寳」等汉文印玺。此后钦察汗国的数位君主，如脱脱（肃宁王）、月即伯等也得到了元朝皇帝的正式册封。

后蒙古时代

东亚

从元成宗开始，政治就开始走向下坡。到元惠宗中后期政事已日渐混乱。1351年，刘福通率白莲教教众和被征挖黄河河道的河工起事，组织红巾军对抗元军，开始了红巾军起义（参见元代民变）。1368年，汉人朱元璋灭亡元朝，建立明朝，八月攻占大都，把蒙古势力赶回长城以北，回到蒙古高原的蒙古政权继续延用大元国号，史称北元，至1388年去大元国号（一说或1402年去大元国号），而结束后衍生为鞑靼和瓦剌。

随著元朝败退至蒙古高原，原本作为元朝藩国的高丽国王，因为与元朝皇室关系密切而派兵反明，结果被亲明的大将李成桂回师灭亡，建立亲明的朝鲜王朝，成为明朝的重要藩国。

中亚和欧洲

窝阔台汗国的领地在1309年被察合台汗国和元朝瓜分。

察合台汗国在1369年分裂，而伊儿汗国在1357年灭亡，最终均在1388年被又一个蒙古人建立的帖木儿帝国征服。帖木儿是西察合台汗国的中亚河中地区的渴石地区的蒙古贵族巴鲁剌思氏的后裔，由于东察合台汗国后王黑的儿火者公主（铁木真的直系后裔）被其纳为妻妾，他宣称自己是蒙古黄金家族后裔，又被称为驸马帖木儿。他在1369年自立为苏丹，发动七次征伐东察合台汗国的战争后，迫使察合台汗国臣服，和在1381年—1387年征服在1357年灭亡后的蒙古伊儿汗国的衍生的几个小汗国（卡尔提德王朝、丘拜尼王朝、莫扎法尔王朝、黑羊王朝、白羊王朝、札剌亦儿王朝），1391年和1394—1395年征伐钦察汗国脱脱迷失，征伐印度德里苏丹国，攻陷德里、西面击败当时如日中天的鄂图曼帝国苏丹巴耶塞特一世（安卡拉战役）和埃及马木留克王朝。帖木儿帝国的疆土，鼎盛时东起印度德里和费尔干纳盆地，西至小亚细亚，北自咸海和锡尔河河谷，南达波斯湾。1404年帖木儿率领20万军队进攻中国明朝，结果在1405年进军途中病死。帖木儿死后，其帝国分裂，1506年被突厥的乌兹别克部落昔班尼灭亡。帖木儿帝国不是蒙古帝国的一部分，但是属于后蒙古人势力，其疆土大多在原蒙古帝国的地方。帖木儿帝国灭亡后，帖木儿的后裔巴布尔于1526年征伐印度德里苏丹国，建立莫卧儿王朝，自称印度斯坦王，名义上存在至1857年，18世纪疆域大幅减少，最终被大英帝国征服。

钦察汗国到1480年或1502年分裂，克里米亚汗国存在到1783年，而阿斯特拉罕汗国、喀山汗国、西伯利亚汗国均最终在16世纪中被俄罗斯帝国全部占领。

对后世的影响

正面的看法

蒙古帝国在鼎盛时期统治从东亚到中亚、西亚、东欧的前所未有的巨大帝国。蒙古帝国的建立加速了东西方的文化、技术交流，促进了多民族的文化交流。整个丝绸之路第一次也是唯一一次被只有一个帝国控制，这使得东西方的商贸往来比其他分裂时期要容易得多。

负面的看法与相关异议

成吉思汗曾梦想「让青天之下皆成蒙古人之牧场」。很多古代文献都记载，在蒙古的扩张过程中，无数的古代文明遭到毁灭，无数城市被摧毁，根据R. J. Rummel估计，在蒙古帝国的入侵下有3000万人被杀。在蒙古帝国对西方的扩张过程中有2,000万人被屠杀；整个亚洲的人口分布亦发生重大变化。David Nicole 在The Mongol Warlords中说，「恐怖和大规模灭绝反对者是蒙古人屡试不爽的战术」。伊斯兰世界的东半部经历了恐怖的死亡与毁灭。从1219年到1260年，由于大屠杀和饥荒，波斯的总人口从1200万下降到110万。在中亚河中地区和大呼罗珊，自希腊—巴克特利亚王国时期建立的水利灌溉系统被彻底毁灭，同时也伴随著无数良田荒芜和成为沙漠；在西亚，自阿卡德帝国和古巴比伦时期建立的水利灌溉系统被彻底毁坏，大量良田荒芜。据统计，西亚地区的耕地面积至今未恢复到蒙古人入侵之前的60%。中亚、西亚及东欧至少七十多个城市遭到蒙古军屠城，有的城市甚至被多次屠城，给当地人民造成巨大灾难和痛苦记忆。历史学家估计匈牙利王国（1241年—1242年）当时200万人口中的一半死于蒙古入侵。基辅罗斯几乎所有的城市均被摧毁，投降者作为奴隶，大部分因繁重的劳役很快死去，战俘则加入蒙古军队继续西征。其人口同样有大约一半死于蒙古入侵。此外，Colin McEvedy的《世界人口史地图集》（1978）估计俄国欧洲部分的人口从入侵前的750万下降到700万。中国地区的人口在蒙古入侵的七十年间明显下降。在蒙古入侵以前（1200年），中国（包括金朝、西夏、南宋、大理国）人口约有1亿4千4百万，甚至更多，而到1278年（1279年完全占领）只有7,000万人。但学术界今天对此也有不同看法，认为人口数量的剧烈下降同样有人口统计的不完善和大规模遗漏或者蒙古军队带来的传染病的原因。

然而蒙元史学家杰克·威泽弗德（Jack Weatherford）指出成吉思汗允许民众自由地传播有关他或蒙古人的最坏的和最难以令人置信的传闻，当时成吉思汗意识到，传播恐怖的最好方式不是通过士兵的行为，而是通过文人的笔。蒙古人操纵宣传的机器并且经常夸大战争中的死亡人数，意图散播恐惧。他亦指出：「尽管蒙古军队实行的是一种前所未有的杀戮，并几乎是将死亡当作一种政策，而且可以肯定的是，他们还将死亡当作是制造恐怖的一种思考方式，但他们却以一种影响重大而又令人吃惊的方式，脱离了那个时代的普通惯例。蒙古人并不实施严刑拷打、毁伤肢体或使人残废。在那个时代，战争通常是以一种恐怖的形态来进行的，而且同时代的其他统治者，通过公开拷打或骇人听闻的断肢毁体方式，使用原始而又野蛮的策略，向民众灌输恐怖和惊悸……从中国到欧洲，文明世界的统治者和宗教领袖都依凭这些骇人听闻的手段，通过恐怖来统治自己的民众，通过惊骇来打击敌人的信心。」；「与同时代文明军队的恐怖行为相比较，蒙古人并不是通过凶猛而又残忍的行为来引起恐怖的，而是由于他们快速而又有效的征服，以及他们似乎完全轻视富人和有权势者的生命而引起恐怖。」；「与传播的恐怖传闻相比较，起初向蒙古人投降的那些城市，得到了宽大而又仁慈的对待，于是那些城市居民就天真地怀疑起蒙古人的能力。投降之后，很多城市起初都忠顺地服从，而一旦蒙古人离开他们的国家，他们就马上反叛。由于蒙古人仅留下少数几位官员进行管理，而且又没有驻扎小部队留守城市，居民们误以为蒙古人的撤退是虚弱的表现，并且想当然地以为蒙古主力部队将再也不会原路返回。对于这些城市，蒙古人是毫不留情的；他们迅速返回叛乱的地方，并彻底地摧毁它们。一个被彻底毁灭的城市是无法再次叛乱的。」

蒙古帝国和黑死病

通常认为，1346年，在蒙古钦察汗国军队进攻黑海港口城市卡法（又译克法，现乌克兰城市费奥多西亚）时，用抛石机将患鼠疫而死的人的尸体抛进城内，这是西方社会有纪录以来第一次细菌战。鼠疫原产中亚，其携带者是土拨鼠。在蒙古帝国之前鼠疫曾多次传入中国，所以虽然中国也曾发生过地区性鼠疫传染，但中医在与鼠疫的反覆斗争中逐渐累积起经验，而欧洲人则在此之前从未接触过鼠疫。在卡法的一个热那亚商人将带病的跳蚤无意间带到意大利的热那亚共和国，于是鼠疫在欧洲广泛传播，最终在1348年—1349年造成2,000万人死亡，成为令人闻之色变的「黑死病」，因为鼠疫患者皮下淤血、全身发黑而死。

也有一种说法认为鼠疫是丝绸之路上的商人把病菌带到中东，然后又传播到欧洲的。

1348年至1349年的黑死病使得当时欧洲丧失了三分之一的人口，对人的关心的人文主义随之觉醒。欧洲人文主义文学的第一部代表作《十日谈》就是薄伽丘在黑死病泛滥最猖獗的时期写成的，描述1348年发生在意大利的可怕瘟疫。欧洲就此迎来了文艺复兴的曙光。

对各国的影响

• 蒙古帝国横跨东、中、西亚和东欧巨大的疆域。在蒙古帝国衰败之后，前蒙古钦察汗国属国的莫斯科公国崛起并占领了原属于钦察汗国的相当一部分土地，成为后来著名的俄罗斯帝国。莫斯科公国统治者在蒙古钦察汗国时代曾长期把持了当时蒙古人遥控罗斯诸国的弗拉基米尔大公的位置，并代表蒙古进行收税，进而抬头，因为蒙古人很少视察他们占领的疆土。今天，世界上最大的国家俄罗斯大部分领土是当年的蒙古帝国的一部分。另一位欧亚主义哲学家特鲁别茨科伊在他的经典著作〈论俄罗斯文化中的图兰成份〉指出俄罗斯帝国在消灭喀山与阿斯特拉罕后才成为强国。

• 中世纪伊斯兰教中的激进教派阿萨辛派因为行刺蒙哥汗而与蒙古帝国交恶，最后被深受景教影响的旭烈兀灭亡,结束了该教派以暗杀进行恐怖统治的时代。

• 在欧洲，由于蒙古铁骑连下数十城，占领多个国家，欧洲君主十分恐慌。后来在19世纪有了「黄祸」一说，一些说法认为泛指所有东亚黄种人带来的威胁时，常回溯用于13—14世纪的蒙古帝国时期。

• 在日本，为了对付蒙古军入侵而进行的全国范围的改编使得其经济和军事都处于重压之下，并且整个国家的资源使用已经到了极限。元军入侵也使得日本幕府找到了继续统治国家的藉口而不将权力交给天皇。他们之后一段时间继续加强九州的防务，那里的许多军事设施很多年后还有效。由于战后受货币经济影响，幕府无法恩赏抗元官兵，加剧了国内矛盾。最终后醍醐天皇灭了镰仓幕府。

• 在朝鲜半岛，高丽王朝在蒙古帝国军队屡次大举征伐后，归顺于蒙古，成为附庸国之一。蒙古人建立的元朝被汉人朱元璋灭亡后， 汉人脱离蒙古人统治，建立了新的王朝──明朝。忠于蒙古的高丽国王无法接受，遂派出将军李成桂征伐明帝国。但是亲近明帝国的李成桂从鸭绿江附近举师回朝，兵变推翻高丽国，建立亲明的朝鲜王朝。

其他影响

• 有学者发现，在蒙古、中亚附近，多达8%的男性人类是成吉思汗的直系后代，全球有至少1,800万这样的男子。

蒙元与中原王朝

元朝统治者在《元典章》中的《建国号诏》中向外宣称大元是继承于三皇五帝秦汉隋唐的新王朝。

从古籍中可见元朝统治者多次称大元为「中国」：

至元二十七年，帝怒，欲再发兵，丞相完泽、平章不忽木言：「蛮夷小邦，不足以劳中国。张立道尝再使安南有功，今复使往，宜无不奉命。」

元仁宗延佑元年，右丞相铁木迭儿奏：「蒙陛下怜臣，复擢为首相，依阿不言，诚负圣眷。比闻内侍隔越奏旨者衆，倘非禁止，致治实难。请敕诸司，自今中书政务，毋辄干预。又往时富民，往诸蕃商贩，率获厚利，商者益衆；中国物轻，蕃货反重。今请以江浙右丞曹立领其事，发舟十纲，给牒以往，归则徵税如制；私往者，没其货。」

元惠宗至元元年，徐世隆奏：「陛下帝中国，当行中国事。事之大者，首惟祭祀，祭必有庙。」从之。

至元二年有日本僧告其国遣人刺探国事者。铁木儿塔识曰：「刺探在敌国固有之，今六合一家，何以刺探为。设果有之，正可令睹中国之盛，归告其主，使知向化。」

「诸下海使臣及舶商，辄以中国生口、宝货、戎器、马匹遗外番者，从廉访司察之。」

注释

Name

The Mongol Empire referred to itself as yeke Mongγol ulus ( 'nation of the great Mongols' or the 'great Mongol nation') in Mongol or kür uluγ ulus ( the 'whole great nation') in Turkic.

After the 1260 to 1264 succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke, Kublai's power became limited to the eastern part of the empire, centred on China. Kublai officially issued an imperial edict on 18 December 1271 to name his realm Great Yuan (Dai Yuan, or Dai Ön Ulus) and to establish the Yuan dynasty. Some sources give the full Mongolian name as Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus.

History

Pre-empire context

The area around Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China had been controlled by the Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty and attempted to gain control over former Liao territory in Mongolia. In the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul Khan, great-grandfather of Genghis Khan.

The Mongolian plateau was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations (khanlig): Keraites, Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Mergid, and Tatar. The Jin emperors, following a policy of divide and rule, encouraged disputes among the tribes, especially between the Tatars and the Mongols, in order to keep the nomadic tribes distracted by their own battles and thereby away from the Jin. Khabul's successor was Ambaghai Khan, who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143.

In 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, opening a long period of active hostilities. The Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161.

During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the usually cold, parched steppes of Central Asia enjoyed their mildest, wettest conditions in more than a millennium. It is thought that this resulted in a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock, which significantly enhanced Mongol military strength.

Rise of Genghis Khan

Known during his childhood as Temüjin, Genghis Khan was a son of a Mongol chieftain. As a young man he rose very rapidly by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. The most powerful Mongol leader at the time was Kurtait; he was given the Chinese title "Wang", which means King. Temujin went to war against Kurtait (now Wang Khan). After Temujin defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan. He then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin. The term Mongol came to be used to refer to all Mongolic speaking tribes under the control of Genghis Khan. His most powerful allies were his father's friend, Khereid chieftain Toghrul, and Temujin's childhood anda (i.e. blood brother) Jamukha of the Jadran clan. With their help, Temujin defeated the Merkit tribe, rescued his wife Börte, and went on to defeat the Naimans and the Tatars.

Temujin forbade looting of his enemies without permission, and he implemented a policy of sharing spoils with his warriors and their families instead of giving it all to the aristocrats. These policies brought him into conflict with his uncles, who were also legitimate heirs to the throne; they regarded Temujin not as a leader but as an insolent usurper. This dissatisfaction spread to his generals and other associates, and some Mongols who had previously been allies broke their allegiance. War ensued, and Temujin and the forces still loyal to him prevailed, defeating the remaining rival tribes between 1203 and 1205 and bringing them under his sway. In 1206, Temujin was crowned as the khagan (Emperor) of the Yekhe Mongol Ulus (Great Mongol State) at a Kurultai (general assembly/council). It was there that he assumed the title of Genghis Khan (universal leader) instead of one of the old tribal titles such as Gur Khan or Tayang Khan, marking the start of the Mongol Empire.

Early organization

Genghis Khan introduced many innovative ways of organizing his army: for example dividing it into decimal subsections of arbans (10 soldiers), zuuns (100), Mingghans (1000), and tumens (10,000). The Kheshig, the imperial guard, was founded and divided into day (khorchin torghuds) and night (khevtuul) guards. Genghis rewarded those who had been loyal to him and placed them in high positions, as heads of army units and households, even though many of them came from very low-ranking clans.

Compared to the units he gave to his loyal companions, those assigned to his own family members were relatively few. He proclaimed a new code of law of the empire, Ikh Zasag or Yassa; later he expanded it to cover much of the everyday life and political affairs of the nomads. He forbade the selling of women, theft, fighting among the Mongols, and the hunting of animals during the breeding season.

He appointed his adopted brother Shigi-Khuthugh as supreme judge (jarughachi), ordering him to keep records of the empire. In addition to laws regarding family, food, and the army, Genghis also decreed religious freedom and supported domestic and international trade. He exempted the poor and the clergy from taxation. He also encouraged literacy, adopting the Uyghur script, which would form the Uyghur-Mongolian script of the empire, and he ordered the Uyghur Tatatunga, who had previously served the khan of Naimans, to instruct his sons.

Push into Central Asia

Genghis quickly came into conflict with the Jin dynasty of the Jurchens and the Western Xia of the Tanguts in northern China. He also had to deal with two other powers, Tibet and Qara Khitai. Then, he moved towards the west, gaining claim to parts of Russia, Ukraine, and whole countries in Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other countries.

Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, making the Mongol Empire the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with the Mongol aristocracy, constituted the ruling class.

Religious policies

Prior to the three western khanates' adoption of Islam, Genghis Khan and a number of his Yuan successors placed restrictions on religious practices they saw as alien. Muslims, including Hui, and Jews, were collectively referred to as Huihui. Muslims were forbidden from Halal or Zabiha butchering, while Jews were similarly forbidden from Kashrut or Shehita butchering. Referring to the conquered subjects as "our slaves," Genghis Khan demanded they no longer be able to refuse food or drink, and imposed restrictions on slaughter. Muslims had to slaughter sheep in secret.

Among all the subject alien peoples only the Hui-hui say "we do not eat Mongol food". Qa』an replied: "By the aid of heaven we have pacified you; you are our slaves. Yet you do not eat our food or drink. How can this be right?" He thereupon made them eat. "If you slaughter sheep, you will be considered guilty of a crime." He issued a regulation to that effect ... 1279/1280 under Qubilai all the Muslims say: 「if someone else slaughters animal we do not eat". Because the poor people are upset by this, from now on, Musuluman Muslim Huihui and Zhuhu Jewish Huihui, no matter who kills animal will eat it and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves, and cease the rite of circumcision.

Genghis Khan arranged for the Chinese Taoist master Qiu Chuji to visit him in Afghanistan, and also gave his subjects the right to religious freedom, despite his own shamanistic beliefs.

Death of Genghis Khan and expansion under Ögedei (1227–1241)

Genghis Khan died on 18 August 1227, by which time the Mongol Empire ruled from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea, an empire twice the size of the Roman Empire or the Muslim Caliphate at their height. Genghis named his third son, the charismatic Ögedei, as his heir. According to Mongol tradition, Genghis Khan was buried in a secret location. The regency was originally held by Ögedei's younger brother Tolui until Ögedei's formal election at the kurultai in 1229.

Among his first actions Ögedei sent troops to subjugate the Bashkirs, Bulgars, and other nations in the Kipchak-controlled steppes. In the east, Ögedei's armies re-established Mongol authority in Manchuria, crushing the Eastern Xia regime and the Water Tatars. In 1230, the great khan personally led his army in the campaign against the Jin dynasty of China. Ögedei's general Subutai captured the capital of Emperor Wanyan Shouxu in the siege of Kaifeng in 1232. The Jin dynasty collapsed in 1234 when the Mongols captured Caizhou, the town to which Wanyan Shouxu had fled. In 1234, three armies commanded by Ögedei's sons Kochu and Koten and the Tangut general Chagan invaded southern China. With the assistance of the Song dynasty the Mongols finished off the Jin in 1234.

Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin. Two Han Chinese leaders, Shi Tianze, Liu Heima (刘黑马, Liu Ni), and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army. Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan. Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols. There were four Han Tumens and three Khitan Tumens, with each Tumen consisting of 10,000 troops. The Yuan dynasty created a Han army 汉军 from Jin defectors, and another of ex-Song troops called the Newly Submitted Army 新附军.

In the West Ögedei's general Chormaqan destroyed Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, the last shah of the Khwarizmian Empire. The small kingdoms in southern Persia voluntarily accepted Mongol supremacy. In East Asia, there were a number of Mongolian campaigns into Goryeo Korea, but Ögedei's attempt to annex the Korean Peninsula met with little success. Gojong, the king of Goryeo, surrendered but later revolted and massacred Mongol darughachis (overseers); he then moved his imperial court from Gaeseong to Ganghwa Island.

Invasions of Kievan Rus and central China

Meanwhile, in an offensive action against the Song dynasty, Mongol armies captured Siyang-yang, the Yangtze and Sichuan, but did not secure their control over the conquered areas. The Song generals were able to recapture Siyang-yang from the Mongols in 1239. After the sudden death of Ögedei's son Kochu in Chinese territory the Mongols withdrew from southern China, although Kochu's brother Prince Koten invaded Tibet immediately after their withdrawal.

Batu Khan, another grandson of Genghis Khan, overran the territories of the Bulgars, the Alans, the Kypchaks, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Chuvash, and other nations of the southern Russian steppe. By 1237 the Mongols were encroaching upon Ryazan, the first Kievan Rus' principality they were to attack. After a three-day siege involving fierce fighting, the Mongols captured the city and massacred its inhabitants. They then proceeded to destroy the army of the Grand Principality of Vladimir at the Battle of the Sit River.

The Mongols captured the Alania capital Maghas in 1238. By 1240, all Kievan Rus' had fallen to the Asian invaders except for a few northern cities. Mongol troops under Chormaqan in Persia connecting his invasion of Transcaucasia with the invasion of Batu and Subutai, forced the Georgian and Armenian nobles to surrender as well.

Giovanni de Plano Carpini, the pope's envoy to the Mongol great khan, travelled through Kiev in February 1246 and wrote:

Despite the military successes, strife continued within the Mongol ranks. Batu's relations with Güyük, Ögedei's eldest son, and Büri, the beloved grandson of Chagatai Khan, remained tense and worsened during Batu's victory banquet in southern Kievan Rus'. Nevertheless, Güyük and Buri could not do anything to harm Batu's position as long as his uncle Ögedei was still alive. Ögedei continued with offensives into the Indian subcontinent, temporarily investing Uchch, Lahore, and Multan of the Delhi Sultanate and stationing a Mongol overseer in Kashmir, though the invasions into India eventually failed and were forced to retreat. In northeastern Asia, Ögedei agreed to end the conflict with Goryeo by making it a client state and sent Mongolian princesses to wed Goryeo princes. He then reinforced his kheshig with the Koreans through both diplomacy and military force.

Push into central Europe

The advance into Europe continued with Mongol invasions of Poland and Hungary. When the western flank of the Mongols plundered Polish cities, a European alliance among the Poles, the Moravians, and the Christian military orders of the Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights and the Templars assembled sufficient forces to halt, although briefly, the Mongol advance at Legnica. The Hungarian army, their Croatian allies and the Templar Knights were beaten by the Mongols at the banks of the Sajo River on 11 April 1241.

Before Batu's forces could continue on to Vienna and northern Albania, news of Ögedei's death in December 1241 brought a halt to the invasion. As was customary in Mongol military tradition, all princes of Genghis's line had to attend the kurultai to elect a successor. Batu and his western Mongol army withdrew from Central Europe the next year. Today researchers doubt that Ögedei's death was the sole reason for the Mongols withdrawal. Batu didn't return to Mongolia, so a new Khan wasn't elected until 1246. Climatic and environmental factors, as well as the strong fortifications and castles of Europe, played an important role in the Mongol's decision to withdraw.

Post-Ögedei power struggles (1241–1251)

Following the Great Khan Ögedei's death in 1241, and before the next kurultai, Ögedei's widow Töregene took over the empire. She persecuted her husband's Khitan and Muslim officials and gave high positions to her own allies. She built palaces, cathedrals, and social structures on an imperial scale, supporting religion and education. She was able to win over most Mongol aristocrats to support Ögedei's son Güyük. But Batu, ruler of the Golden Horde, refused to come to the kurultai, claiming that he was ill and that the Mongolian climate was too harsh for him. The resulting stalemate lasted more than four years and further destabilized the unity of the empire.

When Genghis Khan's youngest brother Temüge threatened to seize the throne, Güyük came to Karakorum to try to secure his position. Batu eventually agreed to send his brothers and generals to the kurultai convened by Töregene in 1246. Güyük by this time was ill and alcoholic, but his campaigns in Manchuria and Europe gave him the kind of stature necessary for a great khan. He was duly elected at a ceremony attended by Mongols and foreign dignitaries from both within and without the empire — leaders of vassal nations, representatives from Rome, and other entities who came to the kurultai to show their respects and conduct diplomacy.

Güyük took steps to reduce corruption, announcing that he would continue the policies of his father Ögedei, not those of Töregene. He punished Töregene's supporters, except for governor Arghun the Elder. He also replaced young Qara Hülëgü, the khan of the Chagatai Khanate, with his favorite cousin Yesü Möngke, to assert his newly conferred powers. He restored his father's officials to their former positions and was surrounded by Uyghur, Naiman and Central Asian officials, favoring Han Chinese commanders who had helped his father conquer Northern China. He continued military operations in Korea, advanced into Song China in the south, and into Iraq in the west, and ordered an empire-wide census. Güyük also divided the Sultanate of Rum between Izz-ad-Din Kaykawus and Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan, though Kaykawus disagreed with this decision.

Not all parts of the empire respected Güyük's election. The Hashshashins, former Mongol allies whose Grand Master Hasan Jalalud-Din had offered his submission to Genghis Khan in 1221, angered Güyük by refusing to submit. Instead he murdered the Mongol generals in Persia. Güyük appointed his best friend's father Eljigidei as chief commander of the troops in Persia and gave them the task of both reducing the strongholds of the Nizari Ismailis and conquering the Abbasids at the center of the Islamic world, Iran and Iraq.

Death of Güyük (1248)

In 1248, Güyük raised more troops and suddenly marched westward from the Mongol capital of Karakorum. The reasoning was unclear. Some sources wrote that he sought to recuperate at his personal estate, Emyl; others suggested that he might have been moving to join Eljigidei to conduct a full-scale conquest of the Middle East, or possibly to make a surprise attack on his rival cousin Batu Khan in Russia.

Suspicious of Güyük's motives, Sorghaghtani Beki, the widow of Genghis's son Tolui, secretly warned her nephew Batu of Güyük's approach. Batu had himself been traveling eastward at the time, possibly to pay homage, or perhaps with other plans in mind. Before the forces of Batu and Güyük met, Güyük, sick and worn out by travel, died en route at Qum-Senggir (Hong-siang-yi-eulh) in Xinjiang, possibly a victim of poison.

Güyük's widow Oghul Qaimish stepped forward to take control of the empire, but she lacked the skills of her mother-in-law Töregene, and her young sons Khoja and Naku and other princes challenged her authority. To decide on a new great khan, Batu called a kurultai on his own territory in 1250. As it was far from the Mongolian heartland, members of the Ögedeid and Chagataid families refused to attend. The kurultai offered the throne to Batu, but he rejected it, claiming he had no interest in the position. Batu instead nominated Möngke, a grandson of Genghis from his son Tolui's lineage. Möngke was leading a Mongol army in Russia, the northern Caucasus and Hungary. The pro-Tolui faction supported Batu's choice, and Möngke was elected; though given the kurultai's limited attendance and location, it was of questionable validity.

Batu sent Möngke, under the protection of his brothers, Berke and Tukhtemur, and his son Sartaq to assemble a more formal kurultai at Kodoe Aral in the heartland. The supporters of Möngke repeatedly invited Oghul Qaimish and the other major Ögedeid and Chagataid princes to attend the kurultai, but they refused each time. The Ögedeid and Chagataid princes refused to accept a descendant of Genghis's son Tolui as leader, demanding that only descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei could be great khan.

Rule of Möngke Khan (1251–1259)

When Möngke's mother Sorghaghtani and their cousin Berke organized a second kurultai on 1 July 1251, the assembled throng proclaimed Möngke great khan of the Mongol Empire. This marked a major shift in the leadership of the empire, transferring power from the descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei to the descendants of Genghis's son Tolui. The decision was acknowledged by a few of the Ögedeid and Chagataid princes, such as Möngke's cousin Kadan and the deposed khan Qara Hülëgü, but one of the other legitimate heirs, Ögedei's grandson Shiremun, sought to topple Möngke.

Shiremun moved with his own forces toward the emperor's nomadic palace with a plan for an armed attack, but Möngke was alerted by his falconer of the plan. Möngke ordered an investigation of the plot, which led to a series of major trials all across the empire. Many members of the Mongol elite were found guilty and put to death, with estimates ranging from 77 to 300, though princes of Genghis's royal line were often exiled rather than executed.

Möngke confiscated the estates of the Ögedeid and the Chagatai families and shared the western part of the empire with his ally Batu Khan. After the bloody purge, Möngke ordered a general amnesty for prisoners and captives, but thereafter the power of the great khan's throne remained firmly with the descendants of Tolui.

Administrative reforms

Möngke was a serious man who followed the laws of his ancestors and avoided alcoholism. He was tolerant of outside religions and artistic styles, leading to the building of foreign merchants' quarters, Buddhist monasteries, mosques, and Christian churches in the Mongol capital. As construction projects continued, Karakorum was adorned with Chinese, European, and Persian architecture. One famous example was a large silver tree with cleverly designed pipes that dispensed various drinks. The tree, topped by a triumphant angel, was crafted by Guillaume Boucher, a Parisian goldsmith.

Although he had a strong Chinese contingent, Möngke relied heavily on Muslim and Mongol administrators and launched a series of economic reforms to make government expenses more predictable. His court limited government spending and prohibited nobles and troops from abusing civilians or issuing edicts without authorization. He commuted the contribution system to a fixed poll tax which was collected by imperial agents and forwarded to units in need. His court also tried to lighten the tax burden on commoners by reducing tax rates. He also centralized control of monetary affairs and reinforced the guards at the postal relays. Möngke ordered an empire-wide census in 1252 that took several years to complete and was not finished until Novgorod in the far northwest was counted in 1258.

In another move to consolidate his power, Möngke assigned his brothers Hulagu and Kublai to rule Persia and Mongol-held China respectively. In the southern part of the empire he continued his predecessors' struggle against the Song dynasty. In order to outflank the Song from three directions, Möngke dispatched Mongol armies under his brother Kublai to Yunnan, and under his uncle Iyeku to subdue Korea and pressure the Song from that direction as well.

Kublai conquered the Dali Kingdom in 1253 after the Dali King Duan Xingzhi defected to the Mongols and helped them conquer the rest of Yunnan. Möngke's general Qoridai stabilized his control over Tibet, inducing leading monasteries to submit to Mongol rule. Subutai's son Uryankhadai reduced the neighboring peoples of Yunnan to submission and went to war with the kingdom of Đại Việt under the Trần dynasty in northern Vietnam in 1258, but they had to draw back. The Mongol Empire tried to invade Đại Việt again in 1285 and 1287 but were defeated both times.

New invasions of the Middle East and Southern China

After stabilizing the empire's finances, Möngke once again sought to expand its borders. At kurultais in Karakorum in 1253 and 1258 he approved new invasions of the Middle East and south China. Möngke put Hulagu in overall charge of military and civil affairs in Persia, and appointed Chagataids and Jochids to join Hulagu's army.

The Muslims from Qazvin denounced the menace of the Nizari Ismailis, a well-known sect of Shiites. The Mongol Naiman commander Kitbuqa began to assault several Ismaili fortresses in 1253, before Hulagu advanced in 1256. Ismaili Grand Master Rukn al-Din Khurshah surrendered in 1257 and was executed. All of the Ismaili strongholds in Persia were destroyed by Hulagu's army in 1257, except for Girdkuh which held out until 1271.

The center of the Islamic Empire at the time was Baghdad, which had held power for 500 years but was suffering internal divisions. When its caliph al-Mustasim refused to submit to the Mongols, Baghdad was besieged and captured by the Mongols in 1258 and subjected to a merciless sack, an event considered as one of the most catastrophic events in the history of Islam, and sometimes compared to the rupture of the Kaaba. With the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, Hulagu had an open route to Syria and moved against the other Muslim powers in the region.

His army advanced toward Ayyubid-ruled Syria, capturing small local states en route. The sultan Al-Nasir Yusuf of the Ayyubids refused to show himself before Hulagu; however, he had accepted Mongol supremacy two decades earlier. When Hulagu headed further west, the Armenians from Cilicia, the Seljuks from Rum and the Christian realms of Antioch and Tripoli submitted to Mongol authority, joining them in their assault against the Muslims. While some cities surrendered without resisting, others, such as Mayafarriqin fought back; their populations were massacred and the cities were sacked.

Death of Möngke Khan (1259)

Meanwhile, in the northwestern portion of the empire, Batu's successor and younger brother Berke sent punitive expeditions to Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. Dissension began brewing between the northwestern and southwestern sections of the Mongol Empire as Batu suspected that Hulagu's invasion of Western Asia would result in the elimination of Batu's own dominance there.

In the southern part of the empire, Möngke Khan himself led his army did not complete the conquest of China. Military operations were generally successful, but prolonged, so the forces did not withdraw to the north as was customary when the weather turned hot. Disease ravaged the Mongol forces with bloody epidemics, and Möngke died there on 11 August 1259. This event began a new chapter in the history of the Mongols, as again a decision needed to be made on a new great khan. Mongol armies across the empire withdrew from their campaigns to convene a new kurultai.

Disunity

Dispute over succession

Möngke's brother Hulagu broke off his successful military advance into Syria, withdrawing the bulk of his forces to Mughan and leaving only a small contingent under his general Kitbuqa. The opposing forces in the region, the Christian Crusaders and Muslim Mamluks, both recognizing that the Mongols were the greater threat, took advantage of the weakened state of the Mongol army and engaged in an unusual passive truce with each other.

In 1260, the Mamluks advanced from Egypt, being allowed to camp and resupply near the Christian stronghold of Acre, and engaged Kitbuqa's forces just north of Galilee at the Battle of Ain Jalut. The Mongols were defeated, and Kitbuqa executed. This pivotal battle marked the western limit for Mongol expansion in the Middle East, and the Mongols were never again able to make serious military advances farther than Syria.

In a separate part of the empire, Kublai Khan, another brother of Hulagu and Möngke, heard of the great khan's death at the Huai River in China. Rather than returning to the capital, he continued his advance into the Wuchang area of China, near the Yangtze River. Their younger brother Ariqboke took advantage of the absence of Hulagu and Kublai, and used his position at the capital to win the title of great khan for himself, with representatives of all the family branches proclaiming him as the leader at the kurultai in Karakorum. When Kublai learned of this, he summoned his own kurultai at Kaiping, and nearly all the senior princes and great noyans in North China and Manchuria supported his own candidacy over that of Ariqboke.

Mongolian Civil War

Battles ensued between the armies of Kublai and those of his brother Ariqboke, which included forces still loyal to Möngke's previous administration. Kublai's army easily eliminated Ariqboke's supporters and seized control of the civil administration in southern Mongolia. Further challenges took place from their cousins, the Chagataids. Kublai sent Abishka, a Chagataid prince loyal to him, to take charge of Chagatai's realm. But Ariqboke captured and then executed Abishka, having his own man Alghu crowned there instead. Kublai's new administration blockaded Ariqboke in Mongolia to cut off food supplies, causing a famine. Karakorum fell quickly to Kublai, but Ariqboke rallied and re-took the capital in 1261.

In southwestern Ilkhanate, Hulagu was loyal to his brother Kublai, but clashes with their cousin Berke, the ruler of the Golden Horde, began in 1262. The suspicious deaths of Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, unequal distribution of war booty, and Hulagu's massacres of Muslims increased the anger of Berke, who considered supporting a rebellion of the Georgian Kingdom against Hulagu's rule in 1259–1260. Berke also forged an alliance with the Egyptian Mamluks against Hulagu and supported Kublai's rival claimant, Ariqboke.

Hulagu died on 8 February 1264. Berke sought to take advantage and invade Hulagu's realm, but he died along the way, and a few months later Alghu Khan of the Chagatai Khanate died as well. Kublai named Hulagu's son Abaqa as new Ilkhan, and nominated Batu's grandson Möngke Temür to lead the Golden Horde. Abaqa sought foreign alliances, such as attempting to form a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Egyptian Mamluks. Ariqboqe surrendered to Kublai at Shangdu on 21 August 1264.

Campaigns of Kublai Khan (1264–1294)

In the south, after the fall of Xiangyang in 1273, the Mongols sought the final conquest of the Song dynasty in South China. In 1271, Kublai renamed the new Mongol regime in China as the Yuan dynasty and sought to sinicize his image as Emperor of China to win the control of the Chinese people. Kublai moved his headquarters to Khanbaliq, the genesis for what later became the modern city of Beijing. His establishment of a capital there was a controversial move to many Mongols who accused him of being too closely tied to Chinese culture.

The Mongols were eventually successful in their campaigns against (Song) China, and the Chinese Song imperial family surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, making the Mongols the first non-Chinese people to conquer all of China. Kublai used his base to build a powerful empire, creating an academy, offices, trade ports and canals, and sponsoring arts and science. Mongol records list 20,166 public schools created during his reign.

After achieving actual or nominal dominion over much of Eurasia and successfully conquering China, Kublai pursued further expansion. His invasions of Burma and Sakhalin were costly, and his attempted invasions of Đại Việt (northern Vietnam) and Champa (southern Vietnam) ended in devastating defeat, but secured vassal statuses of those countries. The Mongol armies were repeatedly beaten in Đại Việt and were crushed at the Battle of Bạch Đằng (1288).

Nogai and Konchi, the khan of the White Horde, established friendly relations with the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate. Political disagreement among contending branches of the family over the office of great khan continued, but the economic and commercial success of the Mongol Empire continued despite the squabbling.

Disintegration into competing entities

Major changes occurred in the Mongol Empire in the late 1200s. Kublai Khan, after having conquered all of China and established the Yuan dynasty, died in 1294. He was succeeded by his grandson Temür Khan, who continued Kublai's policies. At the same time the Toluid Civil War, along with the Berke–Hulagu war and the subsequent Kaidu–Kublai war, greatly weakened the authority of the great khan over the entirety of the Mongol Empire and the empire fractured into autonomous khanates, the Yuan dynasty and the three western khanates: the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate. Only the Ilkhanate remained loyal to the Yuan court but endured its own power struggle, in part because of a dispute with the growing Islamic factions within the southwestern part of the empire.

After the death of Kaidu, the Chatagai ruler Duwa initiated a peace proposal and persuaded the Ögedeids to submit to Temür Khan. In 1304, all of the khanates approved a peace treaty and accepted Yuan emperor Temür's supremacy. This established the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty over the western khanates, which was to last for several decades. This supremacy was based on weaker foundations than that of the earlier Khagans and each of the four khanates continued to develop separately and function as independent states.

Nearly a century of conquest and civil war was followed by relative stability, the Pax Mongolica, and international trade and cultural exchanges flourished between Asia and Europe. Communication between the Yuan dynasty in China and the Ilkhanate in Persia further encouraged trade and commerce between east and west. Patterns of Yuan royal textiles could be found on the opposite side of the empire adorning Armenian decorations; trees and vegetables were transplanted across the empire; and technological innovations spread from Mongol dominions toward the West. Pope John XXII was presented a memorandum from the eastern church describing the Pax Mongolica: "... Khagan is one of the greatest monarchs and all lords of the state, e.g., the king of Almaligh (Chagatai Khanate), emperor Abu Said and Uzbek Khan, are his subjects, saluting his holiness to pay their respects." However, while the four khanates continued to interact with one another well into the 14th century, they did so as sovereign states and never again pooled their resources in a cooperative military endeavor.

Development of the khanates

In spite of his conflicts with Kaidu and Duwa, Yuan emperor Temür established a tributary relationship with the war-like Shan people after his series of military operations against Thailand from 1297 to 1303. This was to mark the end of the southern expansion of the Mongols.

When Ghazan took the throne of the Ilkhanate in 1295, he formally accepted Islam as his own religion, marking a turning point in Mongol history after which Mongol Persia became more and more Islamic. Despite this, Ghazan continued to strengthen ties with Temür Khan and the Yuan dynasty in the east. It was politically useful to advertise the great khan's authority in the Ilkhanate, because the Golden Horde in Russia had long made claims on nearby Georgia. Within four years, Ghazan began sending tribute to the Yuan court and appealing to other khans to accept Temür Khan as their overlord. He oversaw an extensive program of cultural and scientific interaction between the Ilkhanate and the Yuan dynasty in the following decades.

Ghazan's faith may have been Islamic, but he continued his ancestors' war with the Egyptian Mamluks, and consulted with his old Mongolian advisers in his native tongue. He defeated the Mamluk army at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, but he was only briefly able to occupy Syria, due to distracting raids from the Chagatai Khanate under its de facto ruler Kaidu, who was at war with both the Ilkhans and the Yuan dynasty.

Struggling for influence within the Golden Horde, Kaidu sponsored his own candidate Kobeleg against Bayan (r. 1299–1304), the khan of the White Horde. Bayan, after receiving military support from the Mongols in Russia, requested assistance from both Temür Khan and the Ilkhanate to organize a unified attack against Kaidu's forces. Temür was amenable and attacked Kaidu a year later. After a bloody battle with Temür's armies near the Zawkhan River in 1301, Kaidu died and was succeeded by Duwa.

Duwa was challenged by Kaidu's son Chapar, but with the assistance of Temür, Duwa defeated the Ögedeids. Tokhta of the Golden Horde, also seeking a general peace, sent 20,000 men to buttress the Yuan frontier. Tokhta died in 1312, though, and was succeeded by Ozbeg (r. 1313–41), who seized the throne of the Golden Horde and persecuted non-Muslim Mongols. The Yuan's influence on the Horde was largely reversed and border clashes between Mongol states resumed. Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan's envoys backed Tokhta's son against Ozbeg.

In the Chagatai Khanate, Esen Buqa I (r. 1309–1318) was enthroned as khan after suppressing a sudden rebellion by Ögedei's descendants and driving Chapar into exile. The Yuan and Ilkhanid armies eventually attacked the Chagatai Khanate. Recognising the potential economic benefits and the Genghisid legacy, Ozbeg reopened friendly relations with the Yuan in 1326. He strengthened ties with the Muslim world as well, building mosques and other elaborate structures such as baths. By the second decade of the 14th century, Mongol invasions had further decreased. In 1323, Abu Said Khan (r. 1316–35) of the Ilkhanate signed a peace treaty with Egypt. At his request, the Yuan court awarded his custodian Chupan the title of commander-in-chief of all Mongol khanates, but Chupan died in late 1327.

Civil war erupted in the Yuan dynasty in 1328–29. After the death of Yesün Temür in 1328, Tugh Temür became the new leader in Khanbaliq, while Yesün Temür's son Ragibagh succeeded to the throne in Shangdu, leading to the civil war known as the War of the Two Capitals. Tugh Temür defeated Ragibagh, but the Chagatai khan Eljigidey (r. 1326–29) supported Kusala, elder brother of Tugh Temür, as great khan. He invaded with a commanding force, and Tugh Temür abdicated. Kusala was elected khan on 30 August 1329. Kusala was then poisoned by a Kypchak commander under Tugh Temür, who returned to power.

Tugh Temür (1304–32) was knowledgeable about Chinese language and history and was also a creditable poet, calligrapher, and painter. In order to be accepted by other khanates as the sovereign of the Mongol world, he sent Genghisid princes and descendants of notable Mongol generals to the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhan Abu Said, and Ozbeg. In response to the emissaries, they all agreed to send tribute each year. Furthermore, Tugh Temür gave lavish presents and an imperial seal to Eljigidey to mollify his anger.

Relict states of the Mongol Empire

With the death of Ilkhan Abu Said Bahatur in 1335, Mongol rule faltered and Persia fell into political anarchy. A year later his successor was killed by an Oirat governor, and the Ilkhanate was divided between the Suldus, the Jalayir, Qasarid Togha Temür (d. 1353), and Persian warlords. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Georgians pushed the Mongols out of their territory, and the Uyghur commander Eretna established an independent state (Eretnids) in Anatolia in 1336. Following the downfall of their Mongol masters, the loyal vassal, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, received escalating threats from the Mamluks and were eventually overrun in 1375.

Along with the dissolution of the Ilkhanate in Persia, Mongol rulers in China and the Chagatai Khanate were also in turmoil. The plague known as the Black Death, which started in the Mongol dominions and spread to Europe, added to the confusion. Disease devastated all the khanates, cutting off commercial ties and killing millions. Plague may have taken 50 million lives in Europe alone in the 14th century.

As the power of the Mongols declined, chaos erupted throughout the empire as non-Mongol leaders expanded their own influence. The Golden Horde lost all of its western dominions (including modern Belarus and Ukraine) to Poland and Lithuania between 1342 and 1369. Muslim and non-Muslim princes in the Chagatai Khanate warred with each other from 1331 to 1343, and the Chagatai Khanate disintegrated when non-Genghisid warlords set up their own puppet khans in Transoxiana and Moghulistan. Janibeg Khan (r. 1342–1357) briefly reasserted Jochid dominance over the Chaghataids. Demanding submission from an offshoot of the Ilkhanate in Azerbaijan, he boasted that "today three uluses are under my control".

However, rival families of the Jochids began fighting for the throne of the Golden Horde after the assassination of his successor Berdibek Khan in 1359. The last Yuan ruler Toghan Temür (r. 1333–70) was powerless to regulate those troubles, a sign that the empire had nearly reached its end. His court's unbacked currency had entered a hyperinflationary spiral and the Han-Chinese people revolted due to the Yuan's harsh impositions. In the 1350s, Gongmin of Goryeo successfully pushed Mongolian garrisons back and exterminated the family of Toghan Temür Khan's empress while Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen managed to eliminate the Mongol influence in Tibet.

Increasingly isolated from their subjects, the Mongols quickly lost most of China to the rebellious Ming forces and in 1368 fled to their heartland in Mongolia. After the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty the Golden Horde lost touch with Mongolia and China, while the two main parts of the Chagatai Khanate were defeated by Timur (Tamerlane) (1336–1405), who founded the Timurid Empire. However, remnants of the Chagatai Khanate survived; the last Chagataid state to survive was the Yarkent Khanate, until its defeat by the Oirat Dzungar Khanate in the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr in 1680. The Golden Horde broke into smaller Turkic-hordes that declined steadily in power over four centuries. Among them, the khanate's shadow, the Great Horde, survived until 1502, when one of its successors, the Crimean Khanate, sacked Sarai. The Crimean Khanate lasted until 1783, whereas khanates such as the Khanate of Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate lasted even longer.

Military organization

The number of troops mustered by the Mongols is the subject of some scholarly debate, but was at least 105,000 in 1206. The Mongol military organization was simple but effective, based on the decimal system. The army was built up from squads of ten men each, arbans (10 people), zuuns (100), Mingghans (1000), and tumens (10,000).

The Mongols were most famous for their horse archers, but troops armed with lances were equally skilled, and the Mongols recruited other military specialists from the lands they conquered. With experienced Chinese engineers and a bombardier corps which was expert at building trebuchets, catapults and other machines, the Mongols could lay siege to fortified positions, sometimes building machinery on the spot using available local resources.

Forces under the command of the Mongol Empire were trained, organized, and equipped for mobility and speed. Mongol soldiers were more lightly armored than many of the armies they faced but were able to make up for it with maneuverability. Each Mongol warrior would usually travel with multiple horses, allowing him to quickly switch to a fresh mount as needed. In addition, soldiers of the Mongol army functioned independently of supply lines, considerably speeding up army movement. Skillful use of couriers enabled the leaders of these armies to maintain contact with each other.

Discipline was inculcated during a nerge (traditional hunt), as reported by Juvayni. These hunts were distinctive from hunts in other cultures, being the equivalent to small unit actions. Mongol forces would spread out in a line, surround an entire region, and then drive all of the game within that area together. The goal was to let none of the animals escape and to slaughter them all.

Another advantage of the Mongols was their ability to traverse large distances, even in unusually cold winters; for instance, frozen rivers led them like highways to large urban centers on their banks. The Mongols were adept at river-work, crossing the river Sajó in spring flood conditions with thirty thousand cavalry soldiers in a single night during the Battle of Mohi (April 1241) to defeat the Hungarian king Béla IV. Similarly, in the attack against the Muslim Khwarezmshah a flotilla of barges was used to prevent escape on the river.

Traditionally known for their prowess with ground forces, the Mongols rarely used naval power. In the 1260s and 1270s they used seapower while conquering the Song dynasty of China, though their attempts to mount seaborne campaigns against Japan were unsuccessful. Around the Eastern Mediterranean, their campaigns were almost exclusively land-based, with the seas controlled by the Crusader and Mamluk forces.

All military campaigns were preceded by careful planning, reconnaissance, and the gathering of sensitive information relating to enemy territories and forces. The success, organization, and mobility of the Mongol armies permitted them to fight on several fronts at once. All adult males up to the age of 60 were eligible for conscription into the army, a source of honor in their tribal warrior tradition.

Society

Law and governance

The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law devised by Genghis, called Yassa, meaning "order" or "decree". A particular canon of this code was that those of rank shared much the same hardship as the common man. It also imposed severe penalties, e.g., the death penalty if one mounted soldier following another did not pick up something dropped from the mount in front. Penalties were also decreed for rape and to some extent for murder. Any resistance to Mongol rule was met with massive collective punishment. Cities were destroyed and their inhabitants slaughtered if they defied Mongol orders. Under Yassa, chiefs and generals were selected based on merit. The empire was governed by a non-democratic, parliamentary-style central assembly, called kurultai, in which the Mongol chiefs met with the great khan to discuss domestic and foreign policies. Kurultais were also convened for the selection of each new great khan.

Genghis Khan also created a national seal, encouraged the use of a written alphabet in Mongolia, and exempted teachers, lawyers, and artists from taxes.

The Mongols imported Central Asian Muslims to serve as administrators in China and sent Han Chinese and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, thus using foreigners to curtail the power of the local peoples of both lands. The Mongols were tolerant of other religions, and rarely persecuted people on religious grounds. This was associated with their culture and progressive thought. Some historians of the 20th century thought this was a good military strategy: when Genghis was at war with Sultan Muhammad of Khwarezm, other Islamic leaders did not join the fight, as it was seen as a non-holy war between two individual powers.

Religions

At the time of Genghis Khan, virtually every religion had found Mongol converts, from Buddhism to Christianity, from Manichaeism to Islam. To avoid strife, Genghis Khan set up an institution that ensured complete religious freedom, though he himself was a shamanist. Under his administration, all religious leaders were exempt from taxation and from public service.

Initially there were few formal places of worship because of the nomadic lifestyle. However, under Ögedei (1186–1241), several building projects were undertaken in the Mongol capital. Along with palaces, Ögedei built houses of worship for the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and Taoist followers. The dominant religions at that time were Shamanism, Tengrism, and Buddhism, although Ögedei's wife was a Nestorian Christian.

Eventually, each of the successor states adopted the dominant religion of the local populations: the Chinese-Mongolian Yuan dynasty in the East (originally the great khan's domain) embraced Buddhism and Shamanism, while the three Western khanates adopted Islam.

Arts and literature

The oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language is The Secret History of the Mongols, which was written for the royal family some time after Genghis Khan's death in 1227. It is the most significant native account of Genghis's life and genealogy, covering his origins and childhood through to the establishment of the Mongol Empire and the reign of his son, Ögedei.

Another classic from the empire is the Jami' al-tawarikh, or "Universal History". It was commissioned in the early 14th century by the Ilkhan Abaqa Khan as a way of documenting the entire world's history, to help establish the Mongols' own cultural legacy.

Mongol scribes in the 14th century used a mixture of resin and vegetable pigments as a primitive form of correction fluid; this is arguably its first known usage.

The Mongols also appreciated the visual arts, though their taste in portraiture was strictly focused on portraits of their horses, rather than of people.

Science

The Mongol Empire saw some significant developments in science due to the patronage of the Khans. Roger Bacon attributed the success of the Mongols as world conquerors principally to their devotion to mathematics. Astronomy was one branch of science that the Khans took a personal interest in. According to the Yuanshi, Ögedei Khan twice ordered the armillary sphere of Zhongdu to be repaired (in 1233 and 1236) and also ordered in 1234 the revision and adoption of the Damingli calendar. He built a Confucian temple for Yelü Chucai in Karakorum around 1236 where Yelü Chucai created and regulated a calendar on the Chinese model. Möngke Khan was noted by Rashid al-Din as having solved some of the difficult problems of Euclidean geometry on his own and written to his brother Hulagu Khan to send him the astronomer Tusi. Möngke Khan's desire to have Tusi build him an observatory in Karakorum did not reach fruition as the Khan died on campaign in southern China. Hulagu Khan instead gave Tusi a grant to build the Maragheh Observatory in Persia in 1259 and ordered him to prepare astronomical tables for him in 12 years, despite Tusi asking for 30 years. Tusi successfully produced the Ilkhanic Tables in 12 years, produced a revised edition of Euclid's elements and taught the innovative mathematical device called the Tusi couple. The Maragheh Observatory held around 400,000 books salvaged by Tusi from the siege of Baghdad and other cities. Chinese astronomers brought by Hulagu Khan worked there as well.

Kublai Khan built a number of large observatories in China and his libraries included the Wu-hu-lie-ti (Euclid) brought by Muslim mathematicians. Zhu Shijie and Guo Shoujing were notable mathematicians in Mongol-ruled China. The Mongol physician Hu Sihui described the importance of a healthy diet in a 1330 medical treatise.

Ghazan Khan, able to understand four languages including Latin, built the Tabriz Observatory in 1295. The Byzantine Greek astronomer Gregory Choniades studied there under Ajall Shams al-Din Omar who had worked at Maragheh under Tusi. Chioniades played an important role in transmitting several innovations from the Islamic world to Europe. These include the introduction of the universal latitude-independent astrolabe to Europe and a Greek description of the Tusi-couple, which would later have an influence on Copernican heliocentrism. Choniades also translated several Zij treatises into Greek, including the Persian Zij-i Ilkhani by al-Tusi and the Maragheh observatory. The Byzantine-Mongol alliance and the fact that the Empire of Trebizond was an Ilkhanate vassal facilitated Choniades' movements between Constantinople, Trebizond and Tabriz. Prince Radna, the Mongol viceroy of Tibet based in Gansu province, patronized the Samarkandi astronomer al-Sanjufini. The Arabic astronomical handbook dedicated by al-Sanjufini to Prince Radna, a descendant of Kublai Khan, was completed in 1363. It is notable for having Middle Mongolian glosses on its margins.

Mail system

The Mongol Empire had an ingenious and efficient mail system for the time, often referred to by scholars as the Yam. It had lavishly furnished and well-guarded relay posts known as örtöö set up throughout the Empire. A messenger would typically travel from one station to the next, either receiving a fresh, rested horse, or relaying the mail to the next rider to ensure the speediest possible delivery. The Mongol riders regularly covered per day, better than the fastest record set by the Pony Express some 600 years later. The relay stations had attached households to service them. Anyone with a paiza was allowed to stop there for re-mounts and specified rations, while those carrying military identities used the Yam even without a paiza. Many merchants, messengers, and travelers from China, the Middle East, and Europe used the system. When the great khan died in Karakorum, news reached the Mongol forces under Batu Khan in Central Europe within 4–6 weeks thanks to the Yam.

Genghis and his successor Ögedei built a wide system of roads, one of which carved through the Altai mountains. After his enthronement, Ögedei further expanded the road system, ordering the Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde to link up roads in western parts of the Mongol Empire.

Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty, built special relays for high officials, as well as ordinary relays, that had hostels. During Kublai's reign, the Yuan communication system consisted of some 1,400 postal stations, which used 50,000 horses, 8,400 oxen, 6,700 mules, 4,000 carts, and 6,000 boats.

In Manchuria and southern Siberia, the Mongols still used dogsled relays for the Yam. In the Ilkhanate, Ghazan restored the declining relay system in the Middle East on a restricted scale. He constructed some hostels and decreed that only imperial envoys could receive a stipend. The Jochids of the Golden Horde financed their relay system by a special Yam tax.

Silk Road

The Mongols had a history of supporting merchants and trade. Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign merchants early in his career, even before uniting the Mongols. Merchants provided information about neighboring cultures, served as diplomats and official traders for the Mongols, and were essential for many goods, since the Mongols produced little of their own.

Mongol government and elites provided capital for merchants and sent them far afield, in an ortoq (merchant partner) arrangement. In Mongol times, the contractual features of a Mongol-ortoq partnership closely resembled that of qirad and commenda arrangements, however, Mongol investors were not constrained using uncoined precious metals and tradable goods for partnership investments and primarily financed money-lending and trade activities. Moreover, Mongol elites formed trade partnerships with merchants from Italian cities, including Marco Polo』s family. As the empire grew, any merchants or ambassadors with proper documentation and authorization received protection and sanctuary as they traveled through Mongol realms. Well-traveled and relatively well-maintained roads linked lands from the Mediterranean basin to China, greatly increasing overland trade and resulting in some dramatic stories of those who travelled through what would become known as the Silk Road.

Western explorer Marco Polo traveled east along the Silk Road, and the Chinese Mongol monk Rabban Bar Sauma made a comparably epic journey along the route, venturing from his home of Khanbaliq (Beijing) as far as Europe. European missionaries, such as William of Rubruck, also traveled to the Mongol court to convert believers to their cause, or went as papal envoys to correspond with Mongol rulers in an attempt to secure a Franco-Mongol alliance. It was rare, however, for anyone to journey the full length of Silk Road. Instead, merchants moved products like a bucket brigade, goods being traded from one middleman to another, moving from China all the way to the West; the goods moved over such long distances fetched extravagant prices.

After Genghis, the merchant partner business continued to flourish under his successors Ögedei and Güyük. Merchants brought clothing, food, information, and other provisions to the imperial palaces, and in return the great khans gave the merchants tax exemptions and allowed them to use the official relay stations of the Mongol Empire. Merchants also served as tax farmers in China, Russia and Iran. If the merchants were attacked by bandits, losses were made up from the imperial treasury.

Policies changed under the Great Khan Möngke. Because of money laundering and overtaxing, he attempted to limit abuses and sent imperial investigators to supervise the ortoq businesses. He decreed that all merchants must pay commercial and property taxes, and he paid off all drafts drawn by high-ranking Mongol elites from the merchants. This policy continued under the Yuan dynasty.

The fall of the Mongol Empire in the 14th century led to the collapse of the political, cultural, and economic unity along the Silk Road. Turkic tribes seized the western end of the route from the Byzantine Empire, sowing the seeds of a Turkic culture that would later crystallize into the Ottoman Empire under the Sunni faith. In the East, the Han Chinese overthrew the Yuan dynasty in 1368, launching their own Ming dynasty and pursuing a policy of economic isolationism.

Legacy

The Mongol Empire — at its height of the largest contiguous empire in history — had a lasting impact, unifying large regions. Some of these (such as eastern and western Russia, and the western parts of China) remain unified today. Mongols might have been assimilated into local populations after the fall of the empire, and some of their descendants adopted local religions; for example, the eastern khanate largely adopted Buddhism, and the three western khanates adopted Islam, largely under Sufi influence.

According to some interpretations, Genghis Khan's conquests caused wholesale destruction on an unprecedented scale in certain geographic regions, leading to changes in the demographics of Asia.

The non-military achievements of the Mongol Empire include the introduction of a writing system, a Mongol alphabet based on the characters of the Uyghur language, which is still used in Mongolia today.

Some of the other long-term consequences of the Mongol Empire include:

• Moscow rose to prominence while it was still under the rule of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, some time after Russian rulers were accorded the status of tax collectors for the Mongols. The fact that the Russians collected tribute and taxes for the Mongols meant that the Mongols themselves rarely visited the lands which they owned. The Russians eventually gained military power, and their ruler Ivan III completely overthrew the Mongols and formed the Russian Tsardom. After the Great stand on the Ugra river proved that the Mongols were vulnerable, the Grand Duchy of Moscow gained independence.

• Europe's knowledge of the known world was immensely expanded by the information which was brought back to it by ambassadors and merchants. When Columbus sailed in 1492, his mission was to reach Cathay, the land of the Grand Khan in China, and give him a letter from the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

• Some studies indicate that the Black Death which devastated Europe in the late 1340s may have traveled from China to Europe along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire. In 1347, the Genoese possessor of Caffa, a great trade emporium on the Crimean Peninsula, came under siege by an army of Mongol warriors under the command of Janibeg. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army was reportedly withering from disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a biological weapon. The corpses were catapulted over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants. The Genoese traders fled, transferring the plague via their ships into the south of Europe, from where it rapidly spread. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75–200 million with up to 50 million deaths in Europe alone.

• Western researcher R. J. Rummel estimated that 30 million people were killed by the Mongol Empire. Other researchers estimate that as many as 80 million people were killed, with 50 million deaths being the middle ground. The population of China fell by half during fifty years of Mongol rule. Before the Mongol invasion, the territories of the Chinese dynasties reportedly had approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported that China's total population was roughly 60 million. While it is tempting to attribute this major decline in China's population solely to Mongol ferocity, today scholars have mixed opinions about this subject. Scholars such as Frederick W. Mote argue that the wide drop in numbers reflects an administrative failure to keep records rather than a de facto decrease, while others such as Timothy Brook argue that the Mongols reduced much of the south Chinese population, and very debatably the Han Chinese population, to an invisible status through cancellation of the right to passports and denial of the right to direct land ownership. This meant that the Chinese had to depend on and be cared for chiefly by Mongols and Tartars, which also involved recruitment into the Mongol army. Other historians such as William McNeill and David O. Morgan argue that the bubonic plague was the main factor behind China's demographic decline during this period.

• The Islamic world was subjected to massive changes as a result of the Mongol invasions. The population of the Iranian plateau suffered from widespread disease and famine, resulting in the death of up to three-quarters of its population, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Historian Steven Ward estimates that Iran's population did not reach its pre-Mongol levels again until the mid-20th century.

• David Nicole states in The Mongol Warlords, "terror and mass extermination of anyone opposing them was a well tested Mongol tactic." About half of the Russian population may have died during the invasion. However, Colin McEvedy in Atlas of World Population History, 1978 estimates the population of Russia-in-Europe dropped from 7.5 million prior to the invasion to 7 million afterward. Historians estimate that up to half of Hungary's two million population were victims of the Mongol invasion. Historian Andrea Peto says that Rogerius, an eyewitness, said that "the Mongols killed everybody regardless of gender or age" and "the Mongols especially 'found pleasure' in humiliating women."

• One of the more successful tactics employed by the Mongols was to wipe out urban populations that refused to surrender. During the Mongol invasion of Rus', almost all major cities were destroyed. If they chose to submit, the people were generally spared, though this was not guaranteed. For example, the city of Hamadan in modern-day Iran was destroyed and every man, woman, and child executed by Mongol general Subadai, after surrendering to him but failing to have enough provisions for his Mongol scouting force. Several days after the initial razing of the city, Subadai sent a force back to the burning ruins and the site of the massacre to kill any inhabitants of the city who had been away at the time of the initial slaughter and had returned in the meantime. Mongolian armies made use of local peoples and their soldiers, often incorporating them into their armies. Prisoners of war sometimes were given the choice between death and becoming part of the Mongol army to aid in future conquests. Due to the brutal methods employed to subdue their subjects, Mongols maintained long lasting resentment from those they conquered. This resentment towards the Mongol rule has been highlighted as a cause for the empire's rapid fracturing. In addition to intimidation tactics, the rapid expansion of the empire was facilitated by military hardiness (especially during bitterly cold winters), military skill, meritocracy, and discipline.

• The Crimean Khanate and other descendants, such as the Mughal royal family of South Asia, are descended from Genghis Khan: Babur's mother was a descendant, whereas his father was directly descended from Timur (Tamerlane). The word "Mughol" is a Persian word for Mongol.

• The Kalmyks were the last Mongol nomads to penetrate European territory, having migrated to Europe from Central Asia at the turn of the 17th century. In the winter of 1770–1771, approximately 200,000 Kalmyks began the journey from their pastures on the left bank of the Volga River to Dzungaria, through the territories of their Kazakh and Kyrgyz enemies. After several months of travel, only one-third of the original group reached Dzungaria in northwest China.

• Some Turko-Mongol Khanates lasted into recent centuries: The Crimean Khanate lasted until 1783; the Khanate of Bukhara lasted until 1920; the Kazakh Khanate lasted until 1847; the Khanate of Kokand lasted until 1876; and the Khanate of Khiva survived as a Russian protectorate until 1917.