6. Seasonal Capitals with Permanent Buildings in the Mongol  Empire

Masuya, Tomoko

doi:10.1163/9789004257009_008

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Dry climatic conditions from the 1180s to the early 13th century coincided with extreme political instability in Mongolia, characterized by continuous warfare, the deterioration of established hierarchies, and a remaking of the political order that accompanied the rise of Chinggis Khan (22)(23)(24). Although the historical reasons for the worsening of the relations among the aristocratic groups ruling Mongolia have been attributed to social and political events, based on the Secret History of the Mongols (23,24), actual historical evidence is extremely scarce.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the historical reasons for the worsening of the relations among the aristocratic groups ruling Mongolia have been attributed to social and political events, based on the Secret History of the Mongols (23,24), actual historical evidence is extremely scarce. Regardless of the causes that set in motion initial conflicts, it can be surmised that the worsening dry conditions reconstructed for the end of the 12th century would have been an important contributing factor in the collapse of the established order and emergence of a centralized leadership under Chinggis Khan.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pluvials, droughts, the Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia

Pederson

Hessl

Nachin

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

262

130

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Although many studies have associated the demise of complex societies with deteriorating climate, few have investigated the connection between an ameliorating environment, surplus resources, energy, and the rise of empires. The 13th-century Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in world history. Although drought has been proposed as one factor that spurred these conquests, no high-resolution moisture data are available during the rapid development of the Mongol Empire. Here we present a 1,112-y tree-ring reconstruction of warm-season water balance derived from Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica) trees in central Mongolia. Our reconstruction accounts for 56% of the variability in the regional water balance and is significantly correlated with steppe productivity across central Mongolia. In combination with a gridded temperature reconstruction, our results indicate that the regional climate during the conquests of Chinggis Khan's (Genghis Khan's) 13th-century Mongol Empire was warm and persistently wet. This period, characterized by 15 consecutive years of aboveaverage moisture in central Mongolia and coinciding with the rise of Chinggis Khan, is unprecedented over the last 1,112 y. We propose that these climate conditions promoted high grassland productivity and favored the formation of Mongol political and military power. Tree-ring and meteorological data also suggest that the early 21st-century drought in central Mongolia was the hottest drought in the last 1,112 y, consistent with projections of warming over Inner Asia. Future warming may overwhelm increases in precipitation leading to similar heat droughts, with potentially severe consequences for modern Mongolia.paleoclimate | dendrochronology | human ecology | Anthropocene | coupled human natural systems

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pluvials, droughts, the Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia

Pederson

Hessl

Nachin

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

262

130

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Juyong Gate

Cho¹

2022

Archives of Asian Art

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In 1345 the Mongol ruling house of the Yuan (1271–1368) built Juyong Gate along China's Great Wall. The gate stood on a road connecting the empire's twin capitals, Dadu and Shangdu. Those two cities possessed vastly different built environments. Dadu, the emperor's winter residence, evoked the tradition of Chinese imperial-city building. It provided the ruler with wooden and stone buildings laid out on an orthogonal grid. Shangdu, the emperor's summer residence, delivered a space for grassland containing pastures, where the ruler could set up collapsible tents filled with wall hangings. In other words, the seasonal movement between the two capitals entailed a shift in the habit of seeing and visual representation. To reflect that shift, Juyong Gate's passageway was carved with imagery that could simultaneously belong to the two visual worlds: planar reliefs that could be perceived as both stone carvings and wall hangings. Juyong Gate thus became a site where two major visual systems in constant negotiation in the Mongols' China could come together and coexist as one.

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