historian recorded the coming of the Mongol "hordes," they were depicted as.
the scourge of Islam, devils bent on the destruction of Christianity,.
persecutors of the Buddhists, or defilers of the Confucian traditions of.
China. Though they were indeed fierce fighters and capable of terrible acts of.
retribution against those who dared to defy them, the Mongols' conquests.
brought much more than death and devastation.
.
At the peak of their power, the domains of the Mongol khans, or rulers,.
made up a vast realm in which once-hostile peoples lived together in peace and.
virtually all religions were tolerated. From the Khanate of Persia in the west.
to the empire of the fabled Kubilai Khan in the east, the law code first.
promulgated by Chinggis Khan ordered human interaction. The result was an.
important new stage in international contact. From eastern Europe to southern.
China, merchants and travelers could move across the well-policed Mongol.
domains without fear for their lives or property. The great swath of Mongol.
territory that covered or connected most of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
served as a bridge between the civilizations of the Eastern Hemisphere. The.
caravans and embassies that crossed the Mongol lands transmitted new foods,.
inventions, and ideas from one civilized pool to the others and from civilized.
pools to the nomadic peoples who served as intermediaries. Like the Islamic.
expansion that preceded it, the Mongol explosion did much to lay the.
foundations for more human interaction on a global scale, extending and.
intensifying the world network that had been building since the classical age.
.
This section will explore the sources of the Mongol drive for a world.
empire and the course of Mongol expansion. Particular attention will be given.
to the nomadic basis of the Mongol war machine and the long-standing patterns.
of nomadic-sedentary interaction that shaped the character, direction, and.