28.4 Central and northern asia: a.d. 1301 to 1400

Central and northern asia

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The old Kipchak area (Turkistan to South Russia) and most of Siberia fell in this century to the last tornado of nomadism – Timurlane

In the meantime, the Chinese Ming armies had gained complete control of Inner Mongolia by 1370 and then they pushed the Mongols out of Manchuria and Outer Mongolia beyond Karakorum, almost to Lake Baikal and northwest to Hami, in modern Sinkiang province, opening the gateway to central Asia. In western Asia (and eastern Russia) the Mongols were not driven out but became assimilated into the numerically superior Turkish-speaking warrior population. Subordination to the Great Khan in Peking ceased to have even ritual significance.

NOTE: Insert Map 42. Asia c1300 and The Empires of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane

It has been mentioned several times in this outline that the Mongol horsemen brought plague-infected rodents or at least carried the disease organism from India into the Eurasian steppe. In this 14th century the bacillus became endemic among burrowing rodents in the steppe and the nomad populations became exposed to a lethal infection of a kind never known before. Radical depopulation and even abandonment of some excellent pasture land was the result. (Ref. 279 )

Tibet remained quite isolated, but Chinese influence began to be evident in their paintings, side by side with Indian characteristics. It was in this century that Tibet evolved the theocracy which persisted into the 20th century, centering the religious and administrative power in one person, whose succession was assured by the people's belief in reincarnation. The name "Dalai Lama" was not used, however, until the 16th century. (Ref. 12 , 19 , 228 )

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