Chapter 3 — Nomadic Empires

The Mongols were a diverse people linked by language to the Tatars, Khitan, Manchus, and Turkic tribes. Some were pastoralists who herded horses, sheep, and camels in the Central Asian steppes; others were hunter-gatherers in the Siberian forests. They lived in tents (gers) and moved between seasonal pasture lands.

Genghis Khan was born Temujin around 1162 near the Onon river in the north of present-day Mongolia. He was the son of Yesugei, chieftain of the Kiyat, a group related to the Borjigid clan.

The title Genghis Khan means 'Oceanic Khan' or 'Universal Ruler'. It was conferred on Temujin at the quriltai (assembly of Mongol chieftains) in 1206 when he was proclaimed the Great Khan of the Mongols (Qa'an).

Through the 1180s–1190s Temujin built alliances, defeated rivals including the Tatars, Kereyits, and his former ally Jamuqa. The final defeat of the Naiman people and Jamuqa in 1206 left him dominant in steppe politics, and a quriltai that year formally proclaimed him Genghis Khan.

The army was organised in decimal units: divisions of 10s, 100s, 1,000s, and notionally 10,000 soldiers (tuman). Genghis Khan broke up old tribal groupings and distributed members into new mixed units. Individuals who moved without permission faced harsh punishment. Army units served under his four sons and specially chosen captains called noyan.

The quriltai was an assembly of Mongol chieftains where all major decisions — campaigns, distribution of plunder, pasture lands, and succession — were collectively taken. It was at the quriltai of 1206 that Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan.

The yam was a rapid courier system in which fresh mounts and despatch riders were placed at regularly spaced outposts across the empire. Mongol nomads paid a tenth of their herd (qubcur tax) to maintain it. Its speed and reliability surprised travellers and allowed the Great Khans to monitor events at the farthest corners of their realm.

The yasa (originally yasaq, meaning 'law', 'decree', or 'order') was the claimed law code of Genghis Khan, said to have been promulgated at the quriltai of 1206. By the mid-thirteenth century it was used as a sacred legal code to unify Mongol identity, distinguish them from sedentary subjects, and legitimise their rule — giving them a 'lawgiver' comparable to Moses or Solomon.

The Pax Mongolica ('Mongol Peace') refers to the period of stability following the conquests when Europe and China were territorially linked. Trade along the Silk Route reached its peak; travellers received a pass (paiza/gerege) for safe conduct, and traders paid the baj tax, both acknowledging Mongol authority.

The empire was divided into four ulus among his sons. Over time these became separate dynasties: the Toluyids formed the Yuan dynasty in China and the Il-Khanid state in Iran; the Jochids became the Golden Horde in the Russian steppes; the Chaghataids ruled Transoxiana (Turkistan). By 1260, with the accession of Qubilai Khan, the realm had fragmented into independent lineages.

Since the Mongols produced little literature themselves, sources come from chronicles, travelogues, and documents by city-based writers from Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Turkish, and Muslim backgrounds. The most crucial sources are in Chinese, Mongolian, Persian, and Arabic. Key texts include the Secret History of the Mongols and Marco Polo's accounts. Russian scholars from the eighteenth century onward produced important research, including scholars such as Boris Vladimirtsov and Vasily Bartold.

Genghis Khan reorganised the tribes to erase old clan identities and prevent rival loyalties. By distributing members of different clans and tribes into new decimal units, he created a force loyal to him rather than to traditional chieftains, and provided a new common identity derived from the Great Khan himself.

Genghis Khan assigned governance of conquered territories to his four sons as ulus (originally not fixed territories). Jochi received the Russian steppes, Chaghatai got the Transoxianian steppe, Ogodei was designated successor as Great Khan and established his capital at Karakorum, and Toluy received the ancestral Mongol lands. Military contingents (tama) of each prince were placed in every ulus to underline collective rule.

The Mongol Khans belonged to a variety of faiths — Shaman, Buddhist, Christian, and eventually Islam — but never let personal beliefs dictate public policy. They recruited administrators and armed contingents from all ethnic groups and religions, creating a multi-ethnic, multilingual, multi-religious regime.

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