Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia

de Michal Biran, Jonathan Brack, Francesca Fiaschetti

"During the 13th and 14th centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary, Iraq to Tibet, Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups-military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals-from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire pulled from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations. Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire's impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West, as well as for illustrating the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads. Features and Benefits: Synthesizes historical information from Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Latin sources that are otherwise inaccessible to English-speaking audiences. Presents in an accessible manner individual life stories that serve as a spring board for discussing themes such as military expansion, cross cultural contacts, migration, conversion, gender, diplomacy, trans-regional commercial networks and more. Each chapter includes a bibliography to assist students and instructors seeking to further explore the individuals and topics discussed. Informative maps, images, and tables throughout the volume supplement each biography"--