Now I’ve taken notes on the Song dynasty of China, yeah? Yeah. BUT TODAY WE’RE TAKING ABOUT KHANS AND MONGOLS.
A lot of people know about Genghis Khan. In the late 1100s, when Genghis was about 13, he became chief of his tribe. Now something about the tribes of Mongolia is that hey were nomads. They’d follow herds of animals, moving when they did. Their diet was mainly meat and dairy, which means BIG STRONG MUSCLES YAH. So soon Genghis’ rule spread to other tribes. Soon, he became known as “Ruler of People in Felt Huts.” Because they lived in felt huts. GETTIN’ CREATIVE GUYS.
Genghis was a big military leader. He pulled the tribes together to make an army. They were feared for their siege attacks. Now siege attack weren’t really fair. They’d fill up moats with sand bags, and they had big towers to push up against the wall and climb.
When they went through the desert, they brought two horses. Now I think that’s pretty dumb, considering you now have two mouths to feed. But I guess if yours dies you’d have a spare.
He was horrific. He was Terrible. And he established the first set of laws for the Mongols, called the Yassa. And then he went on a conquering spree, which led him to have one of the largest empires in all of history.
Uhmyeah.
Soon he had most of China, he moved through the Middle-East, and he sent some of his sent to capture some soldiers from southern Russia. Eventually, he had about 2/3 of the known world. Woahdood.
So eventually, he died.
So he left his empire to his four sons. However, they weren’t really as horrific, terrifying, bloodthirsty and merciless as their wonderful father. So things were pretty shaky. ENTER Kublai. Kublai was the grandson of Genghis, and you could tell it. He was just like his granddaddy, big though strong bloodthirsty merciless etc. etc. By 1279, he had all of China. So with the Song Dynastay destroyed and humiliated, Kublai started the Yuan dynasty. He also added Burma and Cambodia to his rule. He tried to get Japan, but he was defeated by the samurai. HE-YAAAH~
but now Kublai pretty much had everything from the Yellow Sea to the very borders of Europe. So he had a lot of cultures in one big area. He was interested in all the religions. So he got a lot of people from a lot of religions to come to his courts. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Confusciousesesness people, all were with him.
So art and science were big things. Now Kublai wanted some more Christians in his empire, so he invited a lot of Franciscans and Dominicans over for tea. But the most famous guest he had at his big party was a little Italian merchant named...
MARCO! POLO!
But we’ll have a whole lesson- I MEAN NOTES on MARCO! POLO!
MARC POLO!
MARCO! POLO!
MARCO! POLO!
MARCO! POLO!
MARCO POLO!
*cough*
Well you see, eventually the Mongols kinda weakened.... The Chinese started taking back -SPOILERS-
But that’s another lesson.
SOHMMANTI-CLIMATIC.
Marco!!!!!!!
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