Dear Journal,
I
am writing because I am skeptical of this journey I am about to embark on. I
come from a line of travelers. In fact, my father and uncle are
currently on their own trade adventure, probably roaming somewhere around
Constantinople. However, he left us for his first journey when I was about 6
years old, and has just recently returned for the first time since then, so I
can’t say we are close. My mother died when I was young, and consequently I was
raised by some relatives. Just a year and a half ago, I was reacquainted with the
man I call my father, even though he was hardly around while I was growing
up. My uncle returned with him, and he is a most interesting man, I will tell
you that much.
My father told me they had been working for Kublai Khan. Apparently
they had been persuaded to journey to Beijing, the new capital of Khans Empire,
because Kublai Khan had never met a Latin and wished to. He told me that he plans to continue his work with Khan, and this time I am going with him. However, I am afraid of the man Genghis Khan was,and am afraid of his successor. For I have heard horror stories, that he and his relatives have managed to wipe out 40,000,000 people, and I am only
one man. It would not take much for a ruthless killer to succeed in killing
me. Most of the world refers to them as “barbarians”, meaning that they were
savages and evil people who lived beyond the reach of civilization. From what I hear,
they are capable of massacring whole cities at a time. And in such cruel ways
as well! There is a rumor that the killers must bring back an ear off of the
victim just to prove it! One of the most gruesome stories that I have also
heard is that the Mongols take the fat of the humans that they kill, melt
it, light it on fire, and then catapult it into houses of their enemies. Apparently the fire is almost
impossible to put out. How horrid! Surely he would be kind to a young traveler who means no harm?
Dear Journal,
Since I have now experienced a life under rule of Kublai Khan, I have determined that he
is most certainly NOT as horrible as I imagined him before I ventured to his land. He was kind to me, as well as my father and uncle. In fact, he even favored me, and was very
impressed with my knowledge of four different languages, which made me
qualified to serve him with special missions and such. On these trips, I got to
see firsthand the wonders of China, Burma, and India. With Khan's protection
and authority, I was able to roam anywhere I pleased inside the Mongol empire,
and I was even allowed access to some of his personal homes, and we were made
honored guests. And his capital city, why it was the greatest palace I have
ever seen. There was a dining hall that was so grand I wouldn't have been able
to have even imagined had i not seen it myself. Lined with gold and silver, the
hall was so magnificent and big that six thousand people in the least could fit
inside. This city was so advanced it was hard to wrap my mind around it. For
one, their communication system was so organized that a message could reach in one
day what would usually take ten days. I have decided the Khans are geniuses. They
didn't even need to use gold and silver coins. Paper money, can you imagine,
was used in place of coins. For instance, with this paper, anything could be
purchased. And it was light too, as if i was carrying around feathers. The
canals that the family built have been able to connect china in communication
and trade which is making the whole land prosper. Transportation and trade made
simple by these brilliant leaders who rule with dignity and purpose, I am sadly
writing of what I miss, for we had to leave because we feared the death of
Kublai Khan and the loss of his protection. Alas, I will dream of this city and
hope of return for the rest of my life.
Views on the Mongols
Having studied the Mongols, I have learned that there are many different views on their actions and ways. Some views portray the Mongols as cruel and barbaric slayers of whole populations, yet the other view is that they were a somewhat peaceful dynasty, devoted to trade, expansion, and the bettering of their community. For one, the Khans were the first rulers to unify China in over 300 years. In many ways, this empire was much like the Persian Empire. Before the Mongol empire was united by Genghis Khan, the mongol people roamed in many separate clans. The main things that brought them together was conquest and their clever leader Khan. The Persian empire was the same, hardly recognized by the rest of the world until Cyrus the Great unified them by leading an army and conquering neighboring lands. Also, the Mongol empire was united through foreign trade which prospered under Khans rule and brought in good income. Items were brought in by way of either canals that had been made by Khans order or by passages such as the Silk Road. Under Darius’ rule of the Persians, the land was connected through excellent routes and roads that made communication and trade excel. HE also used standard coins which simplified trade and overall kept the empire united. Through research, I have found that conquest and expansion are the main unifying forces for these two separate empires. However, the Mongols might have had some controversial views on how to reach unification. Slaughtering of whole populations is not usually the answer, but conquests had to be completed in order for the dynasty to survive. Such contrasting views on the Mongols have been put in place because the empire was both barbaric as well as supportive to trade and expansion and such. Perhaps this is because these views are not contrasting, but overlapping. Maybe we will never know who exactly the Mongol people were.
works cited
- Jackson, Peter. "Marco Polo and His 'Travels'" JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3107293>.
- Hudson, G. F. "Marco Polo." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1791579>.
- Martin, H. Desmond. "The Mongol Army." JSTOR. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25221891>.
- “Marco Polo.” 2014. The History Channel website. Jan 13 2014, 10:11 http://www.history.com/topics/marco-polo.
- Clarke, Humphrey. "How Bad Were the Mongols ?" Quodlibeta. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. <http://bedejournal.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-bad-were-mongols.html>.
- Atwood, Christopher Pratt. Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2004. Print.
7. "Marco Polo and His Travels." Marco Polo and His Travels. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.silk-road.com/artl/marcopolo.shtml>.
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