Pax Mongolica
The term is used to describe the eased communication and commerce that the unified administration helped to create and the period of relative peace that followed the Mongols' vast and violent conquests.
The end of the Pax Mongolica was marked by the disintegration of the khanates and the outbreak of the Black Death in Asia which spread along trade routes to much of the world in the mid-14th century.
This decimal system organisation of Genghis Khan's strong military would prove very effective in conquering, by persuasion or force, the many tribes of the central Asian steppe, but it would also strengthen Mongol society as a whole.
[9] There were many significant developments in economy (especially trade and public finance), military, medicine, agriculture, cuisine, astronomy, printing, geography, and historiography, which were not limited to Eurasia but also included North Africa.
[10] The new Mongol empire amalgamated the once isolated civilizations into a new continental system, and re-established the Silk Road as a dominant method of transportation.
The unification of Eurasia under the Mongols greatly diminished the number of competing tribute gatherers throughout the trade network and assured greater safety and security in travel.
[12] Indian muslins, cottons, pearls, and precious stones were sold in Europe, as well as weapons, carpets, and leather goods from Iran.
[15] For example, John of Montecorvino, archbishop of Beijing founded Roman Catholic missions in India and China and also translated the New Testament into the Mongolian language.
Rudimentary banking systems were established, and money changing and credit extension were common, resulting in large amounts of merchant wealth.
[19] Mongolia's central geographical position on the Asian continent was an important reason why it was able to play such a large role in the trade system.
[17] Complex local systems of taxation and extortion that were prevalent before Mongol rule were abolished to ensure the smooth flow of merchants and trade through the empire.
[17] The Mongol army was also used to reshape and streamline the flow of trade through the continent by destroying cities on the less-important or more inaccessible routes.
[23] Moreover, Mongol elites formed trade partnerships with merchants from Central and Western Asia and Europe, including Chinese and Marco Polo's family.
[25] Theft and animal rustling were outlawed, and the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan even established a massive lost-and-found system.
[26] Harsh penalties including a retribution of nine times the original value of stolen goods helped deter theft on Mongol roads.
[26] The Yassa did allow for flexibility and it usually adapted, absorbed, or built upon legal systems in remote parts of the empire, thus maintaining a level of openness to various societies and ensuring peace and stability.
[30] The Mongols established the Yam (Mongolian: Өртөө, Örtöö, checkpoint), the first system of communication that connected the Far East and the West.
As a result of the relatively lucid communication and ease of movement, the Mongols were able to govern their vast empire effectively, thereby ensuring political and economic stability.
[20] The decline of Pax Mongolica was a result of a number of factors: incompetent and rivaling leaders, corruption, revolts, decadence, factional struggles, assassinations, external attacks, and disease.
In Rus', the Mongols (known as the Golden Horde), gradually lost power and territory due to intolerance specifically geared towards different religions.
This led to Yuan emperors separating themselves from their subjects in order to stress their Mongol identity and to reject their Chinese culture.
[34] Historian William H. McNeill has noted that the plague was transferred from ground rodents living in southern Chinese and Burmese Himalayan foothills to Mongol soldiers when they invaded the area in 1252.
[35] In 1331 the plague was noted in China,[35] and from East Asia it was carried west along the trade routes by merchants and Mongol soldiers who were able to so freely and quickly travel across the continent during the Pax Mongolica.
Plague-infected fleas hitched rides in the manes of horses, on the hair of camels, or on black rats that nestled in cargoes or in saddlebags.
[37] Demographically weakened, the Mongols were not able to exert their rule over remote domains in their empire, which began to revolt once the plague broke out.
