Mongol Empire Preview

Make observations and educated guesses by looking at primary and

secondary sources.

Mongolian Geography

Steppe and Yurt

Nomadic Culture

Mongolian Khanates

The Silk Road: Commodity Exchange

Horse/Nomadic Culture

The Eight Chestnut Horses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3MSNY7xIo4

What sounds are emphasized and what do they represent?

Lyrics:

“The sun-shaped manes fly as wings,

The moon-shaped tails wave behind,

The chestnut horses shook the world scene,

And created history on this earth.

The golden hooves beat the soil,

Their strong voices awoke Asia,

Making known the horses’ might,

Earning much fame to our name – my chestnut horses”

… “These chestnut horses are a treasure o us,

A valuable gift of nature. Like a peaceful song

That sounds everywhere, so is the true image of the

Mongolian horse worshipped by my nation.”

“Legend has it that he came into the world clutching a large blood clot in his right wrist, a sure sign that he would grow up and become a great and

successful warrior.”

Kublai Khan:

“Though the end of Kublia’s reign was clouded by military and personal disappointments, his singular success in reuniting China would alone have guaranteed his position as one of the greatest figures in world history.”

Fall of Bagdad c. 1258

Kublai’s last conquest

http://mongolschinaandthesilkroad.blogspot.com/search/label/Mongols

“Historians say the first Chinese attempt to invade Japan in 1274 ended in disaster.Having initially engaged a numerically superior Japanese samurai force at the Battle of Bun'ei in First Battle of Hakata Bay, the Chinese retreated to their fleet of 300 ships and some 500 smaller craft after just one day of battle on land. A typhoon destroyed a third of the fleet that night and the remnants limped back to port in Korea which was then a vassal state of China.Seven years later, Kublai Khan amassed an impressive armada of 4,400 ships carrying 40,000 Korean, Mongol and Chinese troops in a bid to finally subjugate Japan. The Japanese, convinced of a second invasion, had spent the intervening years building strategic seawalls which made it difficult for the Chinese to land.Unable to gain a beachhead after initially taking the island of Iki and Tsushima, the fleet was decimated by a two-day typhoon that hit the Tsushima Straits.It is believed about 80% of the fleet was destroyed and the Khan's troops either drowned at sea or slaughtered on the beaches by samurai.”

CNN News (Japan)