Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia

More about the book

During the 13th and 14th centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs created the largest contiguous empire in history, stretching from Korea to Hungary and beyond. The Mongol Empire, ruling over two-thirds of the Old World, facilitated the movement of people, ideas, and objects across vast geographical and cultural boundaries. This work highlights the stories of three key groups—military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—drawing from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages. The annotated biographies provide valuable insights into a transformative period marked by rapid change. Whether read together or separately, these accounts serve as an excellent foundation for discussions on the Mongol Empire's influence on China, the Muslim world, and the West, as well as the scale and creativity of cross-cultural exchanges along the Silk Roads. The text synthesizes historical information from Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Latin sources, making it accessible to English-speaking audiences. It presents individual life stories that facilitate discussions on themes such as military expansion, cross-cultural contacts, migration, conversion, gender, diplomacy, and trans-regional commerce. Each chapter includes a bibliography for further exploration, complemented by informative maps, images, and tables that enhance the biographies.