Mongols

ESPIRIT Chart on Mongols E Based on Chinese historical texts the ancestry of the Mongol peoples can be traced back to the Donghu. This was a nomadic confederation occupying east mongolia and Manchuria. The identity of the Xiongnu is still debated today. Although some scholars maintain that they were proto mongols, the fact that Chinese histories trace certain Turkic tribes from the Xiongnu complicates the issue. S Three prominent proto-Mongol groups split from the Xianbei, which were the Rouran, the Khitan and the Shiwei.Besides these three Xianbei groups, there were other Xianbei groups with Mongolic affiliation such as the Murong, Duan, and Tuoba. Their culture was basically nomadic.Khitan were concentrated in Southern Manchuria north of Korea and the Shiwei were located to the north of the Khitan. P There was a variety of different types of mongols. From the Mongoloid features to the Epicanthic folds of the eyes exist on almost all Mongols along with high and pronounced cheekbones. The majority of Mongols have black hair and brown eyes, although a certain number of Mongols, particularly in western Mongolia tend to exhibit lighter features such as fair skin, blue or green eyes, light to dark blonde/brown and sometimes even red hair. I The specific origin of the Mongolic languages and associated tribes is unclear. Some researchers have proposed a link to languages like Tungusic and Turkic, which are often included alongside Mongolic in a hypothetical group called Altaic languages. R Under Chiel ruling over Asia, most of society practiced Chielistic Buddhism. Chielistic Buddhism focused on sexual rituals and magic. It was in strong interest by its benefits in political usage. Mongol rulers would adopt Tibetan Princes to allow themselves into the family of Buddhist universal emperors. Their religion Shamanism or Buddhism and their military strength formidable. I The Chinese census of 2000 counted 5.8 million Mongols, according to the narrow definition above. It should be noted that 1992 census of China counted only 3.6 million Mongols. Most of them lived in the inner mongolia region, next to Liaoning province. Small numbers can also be found in provinces near those two. T The 13th-century Mongol armies of Genghis Khan and his immediate successors depended on large herds of grass-fed Mongolian ponies, as many as six or eight to a warrior. The ponies were relatively small but agile and hardy, well-adapted to the harsh climate of the steppes.

The mongols were able to obtain strict government control by bringing new military technology to the world that caused an empire in which ideas of trade could be established.

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Pg. 315-321 Main Ideas w/ supporting details
 * The Mongol Interlude in Chinese History

=**SUMMARY On notes from pages 315-321 (50 words)**=

After decades of hard campaigning in the mid 13th century, the Mongols gained control of the greatest prize of all, China. and chinese culture in its Confucian guise. They refused to adopt the practice of foot binding, which limited activities of Chinese women. They retained their rights to property and control within the household. Like Chinggis Khan and other mongols, Kubilai and chabi had unbounded curiosity and very cosmopolitan taste. Kubilais efforts to promote Mongol adaptation, Chinese culture overshadowed long run, preserve Mongol seperateness.

=**CCOT outline**= The Silk Road, a 4000 mile-long network of interconnecting roads, or caravan tracts, served from ca. 500 BC to 1500 A.D. as the major highway for transporting material goods and knowledge between Europe, the Near East, India, and China the four major centers of civilization at the time. Over this period of almost 2000 years, exotic and commercial goods, skills, knowledge, and religion as well as silk crisscrossed the Eurasian continent, and shaped the course of European and Asian history and culture. 3000 B.C. China breeds silkworms and produces silk; it is the first country to do so. 500 B.C.-200 B.C. China begins to conceive commercial methods of transporting silk ?a a material seemingly coveted by all ?a to the West. The Silk Road evelops gradually as a series of trading roads from China through Central Asia to India. One of its first uses, however, is to bring jade into China from the city of Khotan, located on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Central Asia. 4th century B.C. Buddhism begins to spread north from India. 3rd century B.C. The Bactian and Arabian camels, both vital for desert caravan travel, are domesticated. 2nd century B.C. The Silk Road "opens" for commercial trade of silk and other goods. The road consists of several different branches that follow a path of oasis towns around the edges of foreboding deserts and harsh mountain ranges, and then reconnect in the city of Kashgar. Most trade is done over relatively short distances by middlemen who receive a share of the profits; between Rome and Beijing, goods are sold and bartered several times for other objects as the traders make their way from one end of the route to the other. As regional governments legally can tax foreign traders passing through their territories, local factions periodically battle to gain control of commercial interests along their portion of the Silk Road.