Title: The Conquerors of Asia: Who Were the Mongols? | History Hit
Headings: The Conquerors of Asia: Who Were the Mongols?
The Conquerors of Asia: Who Were the Mongols?
Léonie Chao-Fong
The founding of the Mongol Empire
The Mongol army
Expansion and conquest
After Genghis Khan
The legacy of the Mongols

Content: 13th century painting of Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty in China (Credit: Araniko / Artdaily). The most powerful khanate was the Mongol Yuan dynasty in China (1271-1368), established by Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan (1260–1294). The empire broke apart in the 14th century, when the four khanates all succumbed to destructive dynastic disputes and the armies of their rivals. By becoming part of the sedentary societies they had previously conquered, the Mongols lost not only their cultural identity but also their military prowess. The legacy of the Mongols
The Mongols’ greatest legacy on world culture was to make the first serious connections between the East and West. Previously the Chinese and Europeans had viewed each other’s lands as a semi-mythical place of monsters. The vast Mongol Empire stretched across one-fifth of the globe, across which the Silk Routes paved the way for communication, trade and knowledge. British Museum Curator St John Simpson talks about the Sasanian empire, the Silk Road and new archaeological evidence for trade and movement across the frontiers of Late Antiquity. Watch Now
As missionaries, merchants and travellers like Marco Polo (1254-1324) freely crossed to Asia, contact increased and ideas and religions were spread.