The Mongol Empire After Genghis Khan: Governance, Trade and Legacy

Genghis Khan died in 1227. His empire did not die with him. It kept growing, and it also began to split. This lesson shows how the Mongols ruled, how they traded, and why the empire broke into four parts.

Think of three questions as you read. How did one man’s family hold so much land? What did the Mongols build to keep it together? And why did it fall apart anyway?

1How did Genghis Khan end old tribal loyalties?

Steppe tribes had fought each other for centuries. Genghis Khan wanted one people with one loyalty. So he rebuilt his army from the ground up.

He used the decimal system. Soldiers were grouped in tens, hundreds and thousands, with larger units above them. Men from different tribes were mixed in each unit. Old clan ties lost their power.

He also rewarded loyal followers, even some of low birth. Status now came from service to the khan, not from old clan rank.

• Army built on the decimal system: tens, hundreds, thousands.
• Tribes mixed inside each unit.
• Rank came from loyal service to the khan.

2How was the empire shared among his sons?

Genghis Khan had four sons by his chief wife Börte. They were Jochi, Chaghatai, Ögedei and Tolui. Each prince got a share of the empire, called an ulus.

Jochi’s family held the western steppes. Chaghatai’s family held lands in Central Asia, around Transoxiana. Ögedei was named successor as Great Khan. Tolui, the youngest, kept the Mongol homeland.

After Genghis Khan died in 1227, Tolui acted as regent. Ögedei was formally elected at a kurultai in 1229. The Mongols built the city of Karakorum as their capital in 1235.

Big decisions were not taken by one man alone. Princes and chiefs met in kurultais. They chose each new Great Khan there.

• Four sons: Jochi, Chaghatai, Ögedei, Tolui.
• Each got an ulus, a share of the empire.
• Ögedei elected 1229. Capital Karakorum from 1235.
• Great Khans were chosen at a kurultai.

3What was the yam?

The empire was huge. News had to travel fast. The Mongols solved this with the yam.

The yam was a chain of relay stations. Riders reached a station, handed over the message, and rested. A fresh rider carried it on. Stations stood about 32 to 64 kilometres apart.

Ögedei paid special attention to the system. Messengers could cover 200 to 300 kilometres in a day. Anyone with a paiza, a metal tablet of authority, could stop for fresh horses and food. Merchants and travellers also used the system.

• Yam: relay stations for fast messages.
• Riders covered 200-300 km a day.
• The paiza gave the holder the right to use stations.

4What was the Pax Mongolica?

Once the wars settled, a huge area came under Mongol rule. Europe and China were linked in a way not seen before.

Historians call this period the Pax Mongolica, the “Mongol peace”. Merchants could travel across Asia more safely. The Mongols also cut local tolls and taxes on trade. They fixed a standard system of weights and measures.

Foreign merchants came east. Marco Polo is the best-known example. Religious leaders, teachers and doctors were often exempt from tax.

• Pax Mongolica: safer trade across Eurasia.
• Local tolls cut. Weights and measures standardised.
• Peace ended with the Black Death and the khanates’ collapse.

5How did raiders turn into rulers?

Mongols were herders. Now they ruled farmers and cities. This was a new job. They had to learn it.

They hired people who already knew how. Yelü Chucai, a Khitan scholar, served at Ögedei’s court in Karakorum. Khitan and Muslim officials ran many tasks.

Later rulers also fixed taxes. Möngke ordered an empire-wide census in 1252. He turned irregular contributions into a fixed poll tax.

In Iran, war had ruined many qanats, the underground canals that carry water. Ghazan Khan and his minister Rashid al-Din later took steps to revive them.

• Mongols used local officials to rule farmers.
• Möngke: census 1252, fixed poll tax.
• Ghazan worked to revive qanats in Iran.

6What were the four successor khanates?

After Möngke died in 1259, two brothers were elected Great Khan at rival councils. They were Kublai and Ariq Böke. Their Toluid Civil War lasted from 1260 to 1264. Kublai won. But he never regained control over the whole empire.

The empire split into four main parts.

• Yuan in China: from Toluy’s line. Kublai proclaimed it in 1271. It lasted until 1368.
• Il-Khanate in Iran: from Toluy’s line too. Founded by Hülegü. Ghazan became Muslim in 1295. The last Il-Khan died in 1335.
• Golden Horde on the Russian steppes: from Jochi’s line. Berke and Özbeg were Muslim. Moscow shook off its rule in 1480.
• Chaghatai Khanate in Central Asia: from Chaghatai’s line. It lost Transoxiana to Timur from 1363.

The Black Death made things worse. It started in Mongol lands and spread west along trade routes. It cut trade and killed millions.

7What did the Mongols leave behind?

The Mongols had a law code called the Yasa, or Yassa. It grew up through Genghis Khan’s reign. It was a mostly oral code. Later writers called it his law.

Timur is the famous heir to this legacy. He took power in Transoxiana by about 1370. But he was not a Genghisid. So he did not call himself khan. He took the title güregen, meaning royal son-in-law, through a marriage tie to a Genghisid princess.

Timur’s great-great-great-grandson Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India. That is how the Mongol story reaches Delhi.

• Yasa: oral law code of the Mongols.
• Timur used güregen, not khan.
• Babur, a Timurid, founded the Mughal Empire.

8What are the exam traps?

• Yuan and Il-Khanate both came from Tolui. The Golden Horde came from Jochi.
• Timur is often called a Genghisid. He was not. He used güregen.
• The decimal system’s largest unit is the tuman, 10,000 men.
• Pax Mongolica means safer trade. It does not mean no wars.