What was the largest empire in the history of mankind?

Nope…not the RomansClose..but not Alexander’s Greek Hellenistic

EmpirePersians….nahNot the Mughals…or the Ottomons…No, Not the Aztecs…

Mongols

• By total area: British Empire (1922), 33.7 million square km spread all over the world

• By contiguous (unbroken) area: Mongol Empire (ca 1300), 33.0 million sq. km

• By% of world population: Persian Empire (ca. 480 BC), 44%

• By % of world GDP: USA (1945) 33%

Matching

• 1. Ghengiz Khan A. Golden Age that Zheng He was living in

• 2. Kublai Khan B. Marco Polo visited me in Beijing

• 3. Zhu Yuanzhang C. United the various Mongol Tribes

• 4. Ming Dynasty D. Age of Mongol rule in China

• 5. Yuan Dynasty E. Peasant leader of revolt that pushed Mongols back beyond the Great Wall

Matching

• 1. Ghengiz Khan A. Golden Age that Zheng He was living in

• 2. Kublai Khan B. Marco Polo visited me in Beijing

• 3. Zhu Yuanzhang C. United the various Mongol Tribes

• 4. Ming Dynasty D. Age of Mongol rule in China

• 5. Yuan Dynasty E. Peasant leader of revolt that pushed Mongols back beyond the Great Wall

Skilled horsemen

• Expert warriors on horseback

Rival Mongol clans fought each other

____________________

Genghiz Khan

• The chieftain that united all the Mongol clans

The Golden Horde

Forced conquered people to pay

TRIBUTE!

?

Walled cities• Mongols had a

problem getting inside the walled cities of China

• Incorporated canons in his arsenal

Territories

• Mongols took northern China, Russia, and Muslim lands

Pax Mongolia

• What does PAX mean?

• Protected the road across Eurasia

• Cultural diffusion

Kublai Khan

• Genghiz Khan’s grandson• Took over the Song dynasty

You with us? What are the 6 Chinese dynasties you

learned this year? Did you read? Describe the dynasty

created by Kublai Khan- What is the next Dynasty that claims the

“mandate of heaven” after Kublai Khan dies?

Who is one famous person that comes out of the Ming dynasty?

Yuan Dynasty

• Mongol dynasty• Only allowed Mongols

in the military and government

Marco Polo

• Visits China during Kublai Khan’s rule

Ming Dynasty

• The Yuan Dynasty is overthrown by the Ming dynasty– Chinese dynasty– Restored the civil

service test, and

Confucian Ideals

Zheng He

• 1405• 62 large ships &

hundreds of smaller ships

• 25,000 sailors• Prime directive: to

promote trade and collect tribute

South East Asia

• S.E. Asia • India• Red Sea• Persian

Gulf

Zheng He dies

• 1433• Ming outlaws sea-

ship building– Why?

Why?

• High cost & little return

• Ethnocentrism

60 years later…..

• Christopher Columbus sails from Spain