The Mongol Transformation: From the Steppe to Eurasian Empire

This paper discusses the rise of the Mongol Empire in its Inner Asian context, looking for evolutionary versus revolutionary features of the Mongol imperial enterprise. It then assesses the Mongol impact on Eurasia from three angles: the Mongol contributions to Eurasian integration; their impact on the Eurasian geo-political balance; and the long-term impact of their statecraft on the different regions over which they ruled. What event or occurrence has been more notable than the beginning of the government of Chinggis Khan, that it should be considered a new era? (Rashìd al-Dìn)2 The Mongol conquests have been defined as the last chapter of the Eurasian transformations of the tenth-thirteenth centuries. Yet with the same, or even better, justification they can also be regarded as the first chapter of a new era, perhaps the early-modern one.3 Certainly the impact of the Mongol period was strongly felt in the post-thirteenth century world as well. Before addressing the issue of Mongol legacy on Eurasia, however, I will analyze the Inner Asian background of the Medieval 10,1-3_f14_338-361 11/5/04 8:04 PM Page 339 Downloaded from Brill.com03/14/2019 11:47:37PM via free access