HIST 2710 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Nomadic Empire, Pastoralism, Pax Mongolica
Document Summary
Nomadic empires in eastern asia: the silk road. Sedentary (means people who sat/settled down ) societies vs nomadic societies. Agriculture or pastoralism precipitation monsoons. Wealth herds vs land; nomads need to plant foods too. Rights grazing routes vs landholding (secure routes for grazing, or fight them off) Mobility frequent moves, horses, light handicrafts vs. settled lifestyle heavier handicrafts. Government tribal confederation (agreed to obey a common leader for certain things, but. Shelter yurts vs houses, portability vs permanence still remain mostly autonomous) vs centralized bureaucratic government. Charismatic leader? (strong personality that attracts people to follow them) &/or climate change on the steppes? (nomads would raid farmers to get their crops due to droughts in inner asia making it difficult to secure food for their herds) &/or unified empire in china, target for blackmail : each time a new nomadic empire rose, a newly unified empire also arose in. How durable? (how durable were the nomadic empires?)
