Chapter 3: Nomadic Empires | Class 11 History Notes

Nomadic Empires Class 11 History Notes: Nomadic Empires, popularly known as big empires, were created by groups of people who moved from place to place rather than staying in one spot. One famous example is the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, who built a vast empire across Europe and Asia between the 1200s and 1300s.

The Mongols’ successful empire attracted many travelers from different backgrounds, such as Buddhists, Confucians, Christians, Turks, and Muslims. We have learned about the Nomadian empire from the various writings by city people, such as travelers and historians. However, these city writers often didn’t understand nomadic life very well and sometimes wrote wrong things because of their biases. The article will discuss the Nomadic Empires class 11 History notes in detail.

Chapter 3: Nomadic Empires | Class 11 History Notes

Creator of Nomadic Empire

Genghis Khan was known to be the creator of the Nomadic Empire. He was born in 1162 as Temujin, and his father was murdered when he was young. With help from allies like Jamuqa and Tughril Khan, he defeated powerful tribes. Genghis Khan made significant changes during his rule and is celebrated as a national hero in Mongol history.

The Mongols were nomadic tribes from Central Asia. They were split into groups that often fought each other. Their society favoured men, and having a son was seen as a sign of prosperity. Genghis Khan arranged his troops based on an ancient system using ten units. The most important part of the Mongolian government was the army. The army was very disciplined, and no one could question the king’s authority.

In history, settled societies often viewed nomads as uncivilized barbarians. The term “barbarian” comes from the Greek word “Barbaros,” meaning a non-Greek person whose language sounded strange, like random noise.

Social and Political Background

The Mongols constituted a diverse population, sharing linguistic similarities with neighboring groups such as the Tatars, Khitan, and Manchus to the east, and the Turkic tribes to the west. While some Mongols were pastoralists, raising horses, sheep, cattle, goats, and camels in the vast steppes of Central Asia, others were hunter-gatherers residing in the Siberian forests. The region experienced extreme temperature variations, with harsh winters and brief summers, limiting agricultural activities to certain periods. Despite this, the Mongols did not engage significantly in farming, and their economies, whether pastoral or hunting-gathering, could not support dense settlements or urban centers.

Ethnic and linguistic ties bound the Mongol society together, but scarce resources led to a division of society into patrilineal lineages, with wealthier families exerting more influence due to their larger herds and pasture lands. Natural calamities, such as harsh winters or droughts, often led to conflicts over resources and predatory raids for livestock. While occasional alliances were formed among lineages for defensive purposes, they were generally short-lived.

Genghis Khan’s confederation of Mongol and Turkish tribes was notable for its size and durability, unlike previous confederacies led by leaders like Attila. The Mongol political system, established by Genghis Khan, proved stable enough to counter larger armies and administer agrarian economies and urban settlements in regions far removed from their traditional habitat.

Despite the differences in social and political organization between nomadic and agrarian societies, they engaged in trade and barter, with nomads exchanging horses, furs, and game for agricultural produce and goods from sedentary neighbors like China. Commerce was mutually beneficial but occasionally fraught with tension, leading to military pressure and conflicts. These frontier wars often dislocated agriculture and plundered cities, impacting settled societies more severely than nomadic ones.

Throughout history, China experienced significant disruptions from nomadic incursions, prompting the construction of defensive structures like the Great Wall. Nomadic raids on agrarian societies in northern China left a lasting impact, shaping the region’s defensive strategies and infrastructure.

Career of Genghis Khan

• Genghis Khan was a great ruler; his talent for inventing new tactics from steppe warfare techniques was the main reason for his remarkable success in battles. The points below describe his achievements.
• Genghis Khan organized the army strictly; he smartly blended tribal skills with military structure,
• Mongol and Turk horse-riding skills provided speed and mobility.
• Regular hunting programs improved archery skills and enhanced the chances of victory.
• Training and preparation involved traveling light and quickly and utilizing knowledge of the terrain.
• Campaigns were conducted even in harsh winters, using frozen rivers as pathways to enemy territories.
• The importance of siege warfare was recognized, leading to the development of light, portable equipment for effective attacks.

Timeline of Genghis Khan

Year	Event
c. 1167	Birth of Temujin
1160s-70s	Years spent in slavery and struggle
1180s-90s	Period of alliance formation
1203-27	Expansion and triumph
1206	Temujin proclaimed Genghis Khan, ‘Universal Ruler’ of the Mongols
1227	Death of Genghis Khan
1227-60	Rule of the three Great Khans and continued Mongol unity
1227-41	Ogodei, son of Genghis Khan
1246-49	Guyuk, son of Ogodei
1251-60	Mongke, son of Genghis Khan’s youngest son, Toluy
1236-42	Campaigns in Russia, Hungary, Poland and Austria under Batu
1253-55	Beginning of fresh campaigns in Iran and China under Mongke
1258	Capture of Baghdad and the end of the Abbasid caliphate
	Establishment of the Il-Khanid state of Iran under Hulegu
1260	Accession of Qubilai Khan as Grand Khan in Peking
	Conflict amongst descendants of Genghis Khan; fragmentation of Mongol realm
1257-67	Reign of Berke, son of Batu
1295-1304	Reign of Il-Khanid ruler Ghazan Khan in Iran
1368	End of Yuan dynasty in China
1370-1405	Rule of Timur, a Barlas Turk who claimed Genghis Khanid descent
	Establishes a steppe empire that assimilates part of the dominions of Toluy, Chaghatai, and Jochi
1495-1530	Zahiruddin Babur succeeds to Timurid territory of Ferghana and Samarqand
	Establishes the Mughal empire in India
1500	Capture of Transoxiana by Shaybani Khan
1759	Manchus of China conquer Mongolia
1921	Republic of Mongolia formulated

Political Organisation Under Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan allowed his four sons to rule over the newly conquered lands: Jochi, Chaghatai, Ogodei, and Toluy. These territories were called the four ulus, which refers to specific or fixed lands.

The points below specify the political organization under Genghis Khan:

• Genghis Khan conquered much land and wanted his sons to rule together.
• Jochi got Russian lands, with borders that moved depending on where his horses went.
• Chaghatai got lands near his brother, close to the Pamir mountains.
• Ogodei became the Great Khan and made Karakorum his capital.
• Toluy got the original Mongolian lands.
• Each son had military groups from other sons in their territory to show they were a team.
• Important decisions were made together at meetings where everyone had a say

Trade and Communication systems under Genghis Khan

Knowing the details of the communication system and trade under Genghis Khan is very interesting. The detailed information is listed below:

• Genghis Khan had a fast mail system called yam that connected faraway places in his empire.
• Mongol nomads gave some animals to support this mail system. They did this because it helped them in many ways.
• After Genghis Khan’s wars, Europe and China were connected through Mongolia. Trade and travel along the Silk Route became busy under the Mongols, but the route still went up to Mongolia.
• The Mongols gave travelers safe passes to keep communication and travel easy. Traders paid a baj tax to show they accepted the Mongol ruler’s authority.
• Some Mongol leaders wanted to kill all farmers and turn their fields into pastures. But by the 1270s, Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, protected the farmers and cities.

Military Organisation by the Mongols

Genghis Khan changed the old way of organizing soldiers into groups of 10s, 100s, 1,000s, and 10,000s. He split the old groups and put their members into new army units. No one could leave their assigned group without permission. If they did, they got punished.

Among the Mongols, all the solid and grown-up men had weapons. When needed, they formed the army. These military units had to follow Genghis Khan’s four sons and exceptional leaders called noyans. A group of loyal followers had also been with Genghis Khan through tough times. They became important in the new kingdom, too.

Mongols After Genghis Khan

After Genghis Khan died in 1227, his descendants began to rule. Instead of collective rule, each brother wanted power for themselves. This led to separate dynasties ruling different areas. The consequences after the death of Genghis Khan are described in the points below:

• Some of Genghis Khan’s descendants formed the Yuan and Il-Khanid dynasties in China and Iran.
• Others, like the descendants of Jochi, ruled the Russian steppes in the Golden Horde. Chaghatai’s successors ruled parts of Central Asia and Turkistan.
• Nomadic traditions continued in Central Asia and Russia for a long time, but the descendants of Genghis Khan started to separate into different family groups. This happened because they competed with each other.
• The Toluyid branch, especially, was good at telling their side of the story in history because they controlled Iran and China and had many scholars.

Situating Genghis Khan and Mongols in World History

When Genghis Khan is remembered today, the prevailing images often depict him as a conqueror, responsible for the destruction of cities and the deaths of thousands. Many residents of towns in China, Iran, and eastern Europe during the thirteenth century viewed the Mongol hordes with fear and disdain. However, for the Mongols themselves, Genghis Khan was revered as the greatest leader of all time. He unified the Mongol people, ending internal tribal conflicts and freeing them from Chinese exploitation. Under his leadership, the Mongols experienced prosperity and established a vast transcontinental empire. Genghis Khan’s policies also revitalized trade routes and markets, attracting distant travelers like Marco Polo.

Beyond the perspective of the defeated sedentary peoples, it’s essential to consider the immense size and diversity of the Mongol dominion in the thirteenth century. Despite the varied faiths practiced among the Mongol Khans themselves, they did not allow their personal beliefs to influence public policy. The Mongol rulers embraced a multi-ethnic, multilingual, and multi-religious regime, recruiting administrators and armed contingents from diverse ethnic groups and religions. This pluralistic approach was uncommon for the time and has only recently been studied by historians who recognize the Mongols’ influence on later regimes, such as the Mughals of India.

The nature of the available documentation on the Mongols makes it challenging to fully grasp the inspiration behind the confederation of fragmented groups into a unified empire. However, the legacy of Genghis Khan remained a potent force, influencing subsequent monarchs like Timur, who hesitated to declare himself monarch until he could claim descent from Genghis Khan. Even today, Mongolia, after decades of Soviet control, is redefining its identity as an independent nation. Genghis Khan is now celebrated as a national hero, revered for his achievements, and his memory is mobilized to forge a strong national identity for Mongolia’s future.

Conclusion

Genghis Khan was a prominent leader of the Mongols. He made them stop fighting and brought them wealth by reopening trade routes. Even though Mongol leaders followed different religions, they didn’t let that affect how they ruled. Nowadays, Mongolia is finding its identity again, and Genghis Khan is a big part of that. Other rulers, like the Mughals and Timur, looked up to the Mongols, but some faced problems if they weren’t related to Genghis Khan.

FAQs Regarding Nomadic Empires | Class 11 History Notes

What was the last Nomadic Country?

Mongolia’s Steppe is home to one of the last surviving nomadic cultures.

What was the main occupation of nomads?

The main occupations of nomads are salt traders, conjurers, ayurvedic healers, Fortune tellers, snake charmers, tattooists, basketmakers, and many more.

When was Genghis Khan born?

The founder of the nomadic empire, Genghis Khan, was born in 1162 CE.

Who defeated the Mongols?

The Mamluks defeated the Mongols back to Iran and solidified the western Mongol Border.

What are the three types of Nomads?

The three types are Nomadic hunters, Pastoral nomads, and Trader nomads.