Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet, and 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 of people—military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire 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 and illustrate 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 springboard for discussing themes such as military expansion, cross-cultural contacts, migration, conversion, gender, diplomacy, transregional 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.

Michal Biran teaches Inner Asian, Chinese, and Islamic history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
 
Jonathan Brack teaches Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
 
Francesca Fiaschetti teaches Inner and East Asian History at the University of Vienna.
 

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments 
Notes on Dates and Transliterations

Introduction 
Michal Biran, Jonathan Brack, and Francesca Fiaschetti

Part One. Generals
1. Guo Kan: Military Exchanges between China and the Middle East
Florence Hodous

2. Baiju: The Mongol Conqueror at the Crossfire of Dynastic Struggle
Sara Nur Yildiz

3. Qutulun: The Warrior Princess of Mongol Central Asia
Michal Biran

4. Yang Tingbi: Mongol Expansion along the Maritime Silk Roads
Masaki Mukai and Francesca Fiaschetti


5. Sayf al-Din Qipchaq al-Mans.uri: Defection and Ethnicity between Mongols and Mamluks
Amir Mazor

6. Tuqtuqa and His Descendants: Cross-Regional Mobility and Political Intrigue in the Mongol Yuan Army
Vered Shurany

Part Two. Merchants
7. Ja?far Khwaja: Sayyid, Merchant, Spy, and Military Commander of Chinggis Khan
Yihao Qiu

8. Diplomacy, Black Sea Trade, and the Mission of Baldwin of Hainaut 
John Giebfried

9. Jamal al-Din al-T. ibi: The Iraqi Trader Who Traversed Asia
Matanya Gill

10. Taydula: A Golden Horde Queen and Patron of Christian Merchants
Szilvia Kovács

Part Three. Intellectuals
11. Rashid al-Din: Buddhism in Iran and the Mongol Silk Roads 
Jonathan Brack

12. Fu Mengzhi: “The Sage of Cathay” in Mongol Iran and Astral Sciences along the Silk Roads
Yoichi Isahaya

13. ?Isa Kelemechi: A Translator Turned Envoy between Asia and Europe
Hodong Kim

14. Padshah Khatun: An Example of Architectural, Religious, and Literary Patronage in Ilkhanid Iran
Bruno De Nicola

15. Islamic Learning on the Silk Roads: The Career of Jalal al-Din al-Akhawi
Or Amir

Glossary 
Chronology
List of Contributors
Index