Mongols

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Mongols

• Genghis Khan conquered the other tribes
• Expanded his Empire until he died in 1227
• Successors continued to expand
• Power struggles after his son Ogedei died cause
  empire to split apart
• - Different descendents all claimed legitimacy
• - Four separate Khanates
• - Really four separate Empires

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Adaptation of Culture

• Mongols had very little history of scholarship
  or high culture
• - No art
• - No literature
• - No scientific knowledge
• Adopted the cultures of their subject peoples
• - IlKhanate converted to Islam
• - Great Khanate imitated Song Culture

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Yuan Dynasty

• Formed by Kublai Khan and was also termed the
• Empire of the Great Khan
• - Proclaimed after he conquered the Song
• Kublai Khan claimed the mandate of heaven
• Genghis Khan entered retroactively as the
  founder (called Taizu)

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Yuan Dynasty

• Used Chinese style bureaucracy and built a
  palace
• Much technology and scholarship from the Tang
  and Song Continued to develop
• European traveler Marco Polo wrote about his
  visit
• Other Mongols came to see the Yuan as too
  Chinese
• Political intrigue weakened government
• Driven out by rebellions