EmpirEs in thE middlE AgEs The Mongol Empire Edited by Carolyn Britannica Educational Publishing in Association With ROSEN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES DeCarlo
INTRODUCTION The traditional homeland of the Central Asian people known as the Mongols is a vast highland region called the Mongolian Plateau which is now divided politically into the independent country of Mongolia historically called Outer Mongolia and an autonomous region of China Inner Mongolia The Mongols share a common language and a tradition of following a nomadic way of life herding livestock They also share a most remarkable remarkable history The Mongol Empire which began in the early thirteenth century CE Horses graze on the steppes in the southern region of the Gobi a desert straddling the China-Mongolia border The Altai Mountains can be seen in the distance beyond the desert’s western reaches 4
was formed when various various nomadic Mongol tribes came together in a single nation and it expanded to become one of the greatest continental continental empires of all time A woman cares for her goats outside a tent-like dwelling known as a yurt in part of the Gobi Desert A traditional lifestyle in Mongolia today is not so different from what it would have been during the Mongol Empire Over many centuries centuries including the period of the Mongol Empire the social structure and culture of the Mongols Mongols showed very little change Traditional Mongol Mongol society was based on the family the clan and the tribe with clan names derived from those of common male ancestors ancestors As clans merged the tribal name was taken from that of the strongest clan In the tribe weaker clans retained their own headmen and livestock but were subordinate to the strongest clan In periods of tribal unity khans Mongol monarchs assigned commanders commanders to territories from which troops and revenues were gathered Mongol history alternated between periods of tribal conflict and tribal consolidation Among the tribes that held power in Mongolia were the Xiongnu a confederated empire that warred with the young Chinese state for centuries before 5 IntroductIon
