Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/797

MONGOL DYNASTIES. 719 MONGOLIA. fell into the hands of the ruthless Tanu'ilanc or Tiunir (q-V. ), who made Samarkand the capital of liis empire. The tliird division of the empire of Uenj;liis Khan, the Km|)ire of Kiptehak (((.v.), or the tiokieu Uonle. was assigned to liatu. a grandson of Genghis by his eldest son -lujy. In 1237 a vast Mongol horde entered Kussia (q.v. ), and after carr3'ing destruction through that eoiuiti'v with tire and sword and forcing the princes to do homage, pressed into Poland and German}', and on the field known as the Wahl- statt, near Liegnitz, in Silesia, defeated an army of Poles, Silesians, and Teutonic Knights in April, 1241, suffering such heavy losses, however, as to be compelled to retreat. In the same year another army under Batu Khan over- whelmed the Hungarians under their King, Bela IV. In 1242 Batu Khan was recalled to Asia by the news of the death of Ogotai. As long as the House of Batu continued the Kiptehak Mongols or Tatars held Russia in vassalage, and kept Eastern Europe in constant terror. They met their first defeat at the hands of the Russians in 1380: but their strength was most seriously undermined by the new Tatar invasion under Timur (q.v.) in 1380. The em- pire dissolved into the separate khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and the Crimea. In 1480 the Russians emancipated themselves from the over- lordship of the Mongols. The khans of the Crimea became va.ssals of the Turkish sultans in 1475. Kazan was conquered by Ivan the Ter- rible of Russia in 1552, and Astrakhan in 1554. The fourth division included Persia, Georgia, Armenia, Khorasan. and part of Asia Jlinor. In 1253 ilangu, the fourth Great Kluui, a grand- son of Genghis, sent his brother Hulaku to gov- ern this part of the empire and to complete the con- quest begun by Genghis. Hulaku crossed the Oxus. destroyed the sect of the Assa.ssins (q.v.), took Bagdad, and put an end to the Abbas- side caliphate (1258). He reduced Persia to complete subjection, and added Mosul, Mesopo- tamia, Syria, and a large part of Asia Minor to the Jlongol conquests. He became the founder of a dynasty known as the Ilkhans, which ruled over Persia till 1335. His religion was the' pure theism of his house, and he was broadly tolerant toward both Christian and Jfoslem. His wife was a Christian. He established his capital at Maraghah,.in Azer- baijan, and there maintained a court where science and the arts were liberally cultivated. Hulaku assumed independent sovereignty upon the death of Jlangu Khan. He died in 1205. and was succeeded by his son Abaka. whose ability and virtues excelled those of his father. He had the advantage of being able to treat the country as an organizer rather than as a conqueror. The son of a Christian mother, he married a daughter of the Greek Emperor, Michael Pa- l.Tologus, and is thought to have been himself a f'hristian. He was a devoted patron of learning. His reign was for the most part peaceful: but he expelled from his realms a Tatar army, de- feating the invaders near Herat. He died in 1282. Abaka Khan was succeeded by his brother, baptized under the Christian name of Nicholas (Mongol Nikudan). who became a Mohammedan and persecuted the Christians and Mongols until he was warned to desist by his powerful uncle, Kublai Khan. When he apostatized he took the name of Ahmed. He was put to death in 128-4 by Argun, the son of Alnika, who then ascended the throne. He followed the liberal and pro- Christian traditions of liis father and grand- lather. He ojx'neil diplomatic relations with Eu- rope, whither he sent a (jenocse, Uuscarelli, as liis agent. He projKjsed to make an alliance with the Pope, EnglantI, and Prance against the Mo- hammedan power. Marco Polo, the famous Vene- tian traveler, conducted a Mongol bride from the Court of Kublai to Argun, but the latter died before their arrival, in 1291. His successor, Kai Katu, died in 1294, and the direct succes- sion was restored liy Ghazan Khan, the son of Argun. He waged a successful war with the Egyptian Sultan, and continued the friendly in- tercourse with Europe which his father had begun. In his later years he adopted Mohamme- danism. He was a patron of literature, like his predecessors, and caused a history of the Mon- gols to be written by one of the scholars at liis Court. He made many improvements, es- jjecially in the administration of justice, and built roads and established post routes. He died in 1303. His brotlicr and successor, Mo- hammed Kudah Bundah, made Es-Sultaniyeh his capital, attached himself to the Moslem sect of Ali, and died in 131(i, The son of the last prince, Abu Said, was a mere child, and the common experience of absolute monarchies, a struggle for power between leading chiefs, fol- lowed his accession, and introduced the seeds of weakness into the Mongol Dominion. .Juban, who was successful in this rivalry, married the young Khan's sister; but when Abu Said became of age he showed the spirit of his race, and defeated and killed his aspiring vassal in 1327. His death in 1335 was the practical end of the Mon- gol monarchy in Persia. His successors until 1344 were mere puppets in the hands of ambi- tious chiefs, and anarchy made easy the eon- guests of Timur. Timur was likewise of ilongol origin, and akin to the family of Gen- ghis. The Jlogul ( or Mongol ) dynasty in India (q.v.) was founded by one of his descendants, Baber, in 1520. Consult: Howarth, Uisloiii of the Mongols (4 vols.. London, lS7(;-88): Jlark- ham, History of Persia (London, 1874) ; Yule, Cathaji and the Way Thither (London, 1866) ; Hammer-Purgstall, Oeschichte der polde-nen Horde (Pest, 1840) : id., (lesvhichle der Jlrhane (Darmstadt, 1842). MONGO'LIA. The land of the Mongols: a Chinese colonial possession, which stretches through Central Asia from Eastern Turkestan, Sungaria, and the Altai ilountains on the west, to Manchuria on the east, and northward from China proper to the four Siberian provinces of Tomsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, and Transbaikalia. The term is sometimes stretched to include Sun- ^'aria on the west, where nuiny Mongols dwell, and Koko-nor. which lies north of Tibet, but is separated from ilongolia proper by the Chinese Province of Kansu. The area is estimated at about 1,300,000 square miles. Physical Featukes. Three physically dis- tinct regions are recognizable : ( 1 ) A central elevated plateau known :is the Desert of Gobi, 2500 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea. .500 miles or more in breadth, and extending from southwest to northeast for 1000 miles. It may be descril)ed as an almost treeless stony or gravel- ly plain, diversified by ranges of low barren hills