The Mongolians were pastoral and tribal people, who were broken up into disunified tribes. This was the case even at annual migrations. The only common factor they shared was religion. Mongol’s religion consisted of praying to a sky god that ruled over nature deities. The above changed under the leadership of Timuchin, who was the son of a poor noble in one of the tribes. He unified the tribes and after doing so was elected Genghis Khan, or “Universal Ruler”. Timuchin expanded the land Mongolians inhabited by conquering large armies with his smaller army of one hundred and twenty thousand men. As a result, the Mongolian Empire has become one of the largest empires in human history in terms of geographical expanse. The empire expanded west to east from Portland to Siberia, and extended north to south from Moscow to the Arabian Peninsula and Siberia to …show more content…
Mongols refused to learn Chinese language so consequently there was a disruption in communication. Especially when Chinese officials were selected under examination, and communication between upper and lower levels of government was done through translators. While Kublai and his sons were highly successful emperors, later emperors became powerless. Yuan became known as the shortest lived of major dynasties lasting only from 1264 to 1368, a mere hundred years. The Yuan was overthrown by a peasant, Chu Yuan-chang, who led a rebel army again the Yuan in 1368. Therefore, Chu was able to declare himself the founder of a new dynasty, the Ming, because Beijing Khans lost legitimacy with Mongols in Mongolia, and Chinese regarded them as bandits, not a legitimate dynasty. Subsequently, Mongols were confined to their original homeland until