EBOOK Mongols:A Very Short Introduction

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Mongols carved out the largest        land-based empire in world history, stretching from Korea to Russia in the north and        from China to Syria in the south, and unleashing an unprecedented level of violence.          But as Morris Rossabi reveals in this Very Short Introduction, within two        generations of their bloody conquests, the Mongols evolved from conquerors and        predators to wise rulers who devised policies to foster the economies of the lands        they had subjugated. By adopting political and economic institutions familiar to the        local populations and recruiting native officials, they won over many of their        non-Mongol subjects. In addition, Mongol nobles were ardent patrons of art and        culture, supporting the production of Chinese porcelains and textiles, Iranian tiles        and illustrated manuscripts, and Russian metalwork. Perhaps most important, the        peace imposed by the Mongols on much of Asia and their promotion of trade resulted        in considerable interaction among merchants, scientists, artists, and missionaries        of different ethnic groups--including Europeans. Modern Eurasian and perhaps global        history starts with the Mongol empire.