Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-07T09:22:04.124Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Making the East: Chinggisid World Orders

The Empire of Genghis Khan and Its Successor Khanates (Thirteenth–Fourteenth Centuries)

from Part I - Cihannüma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2022

Ayşe Zarakol
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

This chapter argues that the empire of Genghis Khan made 'Asia' and/or 'the East'. Genghis Khan not only politically unified most of Asia in the thirteenth century but also changed the conception of sovereignty throughout the continent by disseminating, through his own example, the norm of the political ruler as the exclusive supreme authority, legitimised by world domination. This chapter gives an overview of the rise and decline of the Chinggisid world order (as constructed by the Mongol world empire and later maintained by the successor khanates: Yuan, Chaggataid, Ilkhanate, Jochid/Golden Horde). At its peak this world order covered most of Asia, from present-day China in the East to present-day Russia in the North and the present-day Middle East in the West. However, even the areas offically out of the reach of the Mongols (e.g. the Indian subcontinent) were very much influenced by them. This chapter also introduces institutions associated with the Chinggissid sovereignty norm – such as tanistry and astronomy/astrology – that will be traced to subsequent world orders. It also speculates about the possible causes for the decline of this world order, including the plague.

Type
Chapter
Information
Before the West
The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders
, pp. 47 - 88
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×