The Mongol army is by this time exhausted by ten years of continuous campaigning against Western Xia and Jin.

Therefore, Chinggis sends only two tumen under a brilliant young general, Jebe, against Kuchlug.

An internal revolt is incited by Mongol agents; then Jebe overruns the country.

Kuchlug's forces are defeated west of Kashgar; he is captured and executed, and Karakhitai is annexed.

By 1218 the Mongol state extends as far west as Lake Balkash and adjoins Khwarezm, a Muslim state that reaches to the Caspian Sea in the west and to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea in the south.

The governor of an eastern province of Khwarezm mistreats several Mongol emissaries in 1218.

Chinggis retaliates with a force of more than two hundred thousand troops, and Khwarezm is eradicated by 1220.

A detachment of about twenty-five thousand Mongol cavalry, as part of the Khwarezmian campaign, have crossed the Caucasus Mountains, have skirted the Caspian Sea, and have briefly invaded Europe.

Central Asia (1108 – 1251 CE): Khwarazmian Rise, Karakhanid Decline, and Mongol Conquest

Geographic and Environmental Context

Central Asia includes the Syr Darya and Amu Darya basins (Transoxiana), Khwarazm, the Ferghana Valley, the Merv oasis and Kopet Dag piedmont, the Kazakh steppe to the Aral–Caspian lowlands, and the Tian Shan–Pamir margins.

• The oasis belts of Bukhara, Samarkand, Khwarazm (Urgench), and Merv anchored dense settlement and irrigation systems.

• The Kazakh steppe supported nomadic confederations of Kipchaks and later Mongols.

• The Tian Shan and Pamir mountains framed caravan routes linking the Tarim Basin with Transoxiana.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• The Medieval Warm Period favored pastoral productivity on the steppe and sustained agriculture in irrigated oases.

• Variability in river flow from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya affected irrigation, requiring constant maintenance.

• Pastoralists and oasis farmers relied on exchange to balance environmental uncertainty.

Societies and Political Developments

• Karakhanids (10th–12th centuries): Fragmented into western and eastern branches; power waned after the early 12th century.

• Khwārazm-Shahs: Rose from Seljuk-appointed governors to powerful rulers. By the early 13th century, the Anushteginid dynasty expanded Khwarazm into an empire spanning Transoxiana, Khurasan, and Iran.

• Seljuks: Still influential in Persia and Khurasan early in this period, but their authority in Central Asia eroded.

• Kara-Khitai (Western Liao, 1124–1218): A Khitan successor state from Manchuria, they dominated much of Central Asia until overthrown by Khwarazm and Mongols.

• Mongol Conquest: From 1219–1221, Chinggis Khan’s armies devastated Central Asia, sacking Bukhara, Samarkand, Merv, and Nishapur, toppling the Khwarazm-Shahs. By 1251, Central Asia was reorganized under Mongol rule as part of the empire’s Chagatai Ulus.

Economy and Trade

• Oasis agriculture: wheat, barley, cotton, fruits, and melons formed the basis of settled economies.

• Pastoral economies of Kipchak and other steppe nomads supplied horses, livestock, and military manpower.

• Silk Road trade flourished: caravans carried silks, spices, ceramics, and precious metals between China, Persia, and the Mediterranean.

• Khwarazm’s position at the Oxus delta made it a commercial hub for east-west and north-south trade.

• The Mongol invasions disrupted but later reorganized Silk Road networks under imperial oversight.

Subsistence and Technology

• Qanats and irrigation canals sustained oasis farming; cotton production expanded.

• Brick and glazed tile architecture flourished in mosques, madrasas, and caravanserais.

• Seljuk and Khwarazmian military relied on cavalry, bows, and heavy armor, while Mongols introduced highly disciplined cavalry organization.

• Nomads used felt tents (yurts), portable and adapted to steppe life.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• The Silk Road through Samarkand, Bukhara, and Kashgar remained the key east-west artery.

• Steppe corridors linked Kipchak and Mongol nomads with Eastern Europe, Persia, and China.

• The Oxus and Syr Darya valleys integrated highland, steppe, and desert zones.

• Pilgrimage and intellectual networks tied Central Asia to Khurasan, Persia, and the Islamic world.

Belief and Symbolism

• Islam (Sunni, Hanafi) was the dominant religion in the oases, supported by mosques, madrasas, and Sufi orders (Yasawiyya, Kubrawiyya).

• Sufism spread widely, with shrines and saints reinforcing Islam in both urban and rural areas.

• Steppe nomads practiced shamanistic traditions, though Islam spread gradually among Kipchaks.

• Mongol rulers at first remained shamanists, but tolerated diverse religions in their conquered territories.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Agricultural and pastoral symbiosis created resilience in the face of climatic fluctuation.

• Trade wealth underpinned Khwarazmian prosperity but also made oases vulnerable to invasion.

• Religious institutions and Sufi orders preserved community identity during political upheavals.

• The Mongol conquest devastated cities but later re-established order under imperial trade systems.

Long-Term Significance

By 1251 CE, Central Asia had been reshaped by the rise and fall of Khwarazm and the Mongol conquest. Once a hub of flourishing Islamic culture and Silk Road commerce, the region was now integrated into the Mongol Empire, under the Chagatai Ulus. The blending of Islamic scholarship, nomadic traditions, and imperial reorganization made Central Asia pivotal to Eurasian connectivity in the 13th century.

The Kara-Khanids, who accept Islam and the authority of the Arab Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad during their dominant period, are conquered in the 1130s by the Karakitai, a Turkic confederation from northern China.

An independent state of Khwarazm along the Oxus River breaks away from the weakening Kara-Khitai in the mid-twelfth century, but the bulk of the Kara-Khitai state lasts until the invasion of Genghis Khan in 1219-21.

The Near and Middle East (1108 – 1251 CE): Ayyubid Ascendancy and the Maritime–Steppe Crossroads

Between 1108 and 1251 CE, the Near and Middle East thrived as the crossroads of empires, faiths, and trade. From the Nile Valley and Ayyubid Syria to the Persian plateau and the Gulf, this was an age of hydraulic renewal, urban magnificence, and maritime expansion.
The Seljuk world fragmented, giving rise to local dynasties; the Ayyubids reunited Egypt and Syria under Sunni orthodoxy; the Crusader states persisted along the Mediterranean edge; and in the east, Persianate emirates and Omani ports turned trade winds into wealth.
As the Mongol storm gathered beyond the Oxus, the region balanced between consolidation and vulnerability—its cities luminous, its frontiers restless, and its sea-lanes alive with global exchange.

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Geographic and Environmental Context

This broad region stretched from the Nile to the Zagros Mountains, encompassing:

• The Tigris–Euphrates basin and Iranian plateau, where Seljuk and later Khwarazmian rule gave way to Mongol pressure.

• The Syrian plains and Cilician uplands, where Ayyubid, Crusader, and Armenian forces vied for mastery.

• The Caucasus, peaking under Queen Tamar’s Georgian realm, before Mongol intrusion.

• The Hejaz and Yemen, hubs of pilgrimage and Red Sea commerce.

• The Persian Gulf, whose ports—from Hormuz to Bahrain—channeled Indian Ocean trade.

• The Arabian Sea and Dhofar coast, where frankincense, pearls, and horses connected Arabia to India and Africa.
  Together these lands formed an immense corridor linking the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and the Indian Ocean.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

The Medieval Warm Period provided relative climatic stability.
Rain-fed agriculture in Syria and Mesopotamia supported recovery after earlier droughts, while the Nile’s floods, though erratic, stabilized under Ayyubid hydraulic reform.
On the Iranian plateau, moderate rains supported cotton and sugar cultivation; steppe droughts occasionally pushed Turkmen tribes into Anatolia and Azerbaijan.
Along the Gulf and Arabian coasts, monsoon rhythms governed both frankincense production and maritime navigation.
This climatic equilibrium underpinned the agrarian base of empires and the steady flow of Indian Ocean trade.

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Political and Cultural Developments

Ayyubid Egypt and Syria (1171–1250):
Founded by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn (Saladin) after the fall of the Fatimids, the Ayyubid dynasty reestablished Sunni rule across Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz.
Cairo flourished as the empire’s capital and a beacon of Islamic learning, centered on al-Azhar and new madrasas.
Damascus and Aleppo prospered under Ayyubid princes, their citadels and markets rebuilt after Crusader wars.
Saladin’s victories, culminating in Ḥaṭṭīn (1187), reshaped the Crusader world, yet truces and trade persisted through Tyre and Cyprus.

Crusader and Byzantine Frontiers:
After the Third Crusade, Tyre became the chief Latin port in the Levant, exporting glass, textiles, and Syrian grain.
In the Aegean, Byzantium’s Komnenian revival ended with the sack of Constantinople (1204), dividing the region among the Empire of Nicaea, the Latin principalities, and the Seljuks of Rum in Anatolia.
By 1251, Nicaea controlled the Ionian and Carian coasts, while Cilician Armenia, a Crusader ally, anchored the northeastern Mediterranean.

Iran and Mesopotamia:
The Great Seljuk Empire fragmented, leaving a patchwork of dynasties—Khwarazmians, Atabegs, and Zengids—across Iran and Iraq.
These states fostered trade and culture but succumbed in the 1220s–1230s to the Mongol advance.
Urban life in Tabriz, Rayy, and Baghdad reached high sophistication, supported by caravan trade and Persianate arts.
Sufi brotherhoods spread spiritual authority, softening the sectarian divides left by earlier conflicts.

Caucasus and the Iranian North:
The Christian kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia enjoyed a cultural zenith under Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213), their art and architecture blending Byzantine and Persian influences.
The Mongols’ westward thrust would soon eclipse these mountain states, but in this age they bridged Christian, Islamic, and steppe worlds.

Southeast Arabia and the Gulf:
In Oman and eastern Yemen, the Sulayhid and later Ayyubid influence fostered prosperity through trade.
Dhofar’s frankincense groves supplied global demand, while ports such as Qalhat, Suḥar, and Hormuz linked the Gulf with India and Africa.
Socotra, at the Arabian Sea’s nexus, hosted mixed Christian, Muslim, and local communities, serving as a vital provisioning and resupply point for monsoon shipping.

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Economy and Trade

The Near and Middle East in this period was the keystone of Eurasian commerce:

• Agriculture: The Tigris–Euphrates and Nile valleys produced grain, flax, sugar, and dates; Iranian cotton and silk enriched export markets.

• Crafts and industries: Damascus steel, Mosul textiles, and Tabriz ceramics were prized globally.

• Caravan routes: Tabriz ⇄ Rayy ⇄ Baghdad ⇄ Aleppo carried silks, spices, and books.

• Maritime trade: Indian pepper, Chinese porcelain, and East African ivory reached Hormuz and Aden, thence to Cairo via the Red Sea or overland through Basra.

• Pearls and horses were exported from the Gulf; frankincense, ambergris, and dates from Arabia; glassware, paper, and sugar from Syria and Egypt.

• Cyprus and Tyre mediated between Muslim and Latin worlds, exporting Mediterranean wine and timber in return for eastern luxuries.

This dense network of caravan and sea routes integrated the region into both the Indian Ocean and Silk Road economies.

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Subsistence, Technology, and Urban Life

• Hydraulic systems: Ayyubid engineers dredged Nile canals, built new barrages, and extended Yemen’s terraced irrigation.

• Architecture: Cairo’s citadel and madrasas, Aleppo’s fortifications, and Hormuz’s early port defenses reflect Ayyubid and Persian ingenuity.

• Shipbuilding: Omani and Yemeni shipwrights refined sewn-plank dhows; Syrian and Nicaean fleets used lateen-rigged galleys for trade and war.

• Crafts: Metalwork, bookbinding, and textile arts reached new sophistication; paper mills multiplied across Syria and Iran.

• Science and learning: Scholars like al-Qifti and Ibn al-Nafis contributed to medicine and philosophy; Sufi orders expanded literacy beyond courts.

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Belief and Symbolism

Religion was both unifying and plural:

• Sunni Islam reasserted dominance under the Ayyubids, who patronized scholars and Sufis.

• Shi‘i communities endured in the Gulf, Bahrain, and southern Iran.

• Ibāḍī Oman preserved a distinctive Islamic school emphasizing communal autonomy.

• Christianity persisted in Coptic Egypt, Nubia, Armenia, and Georgia, while Latin and Greek rites coexisted uneasily in Crusader Cyprus and Tyre.

• Judaism remained vibrant in Cairo and Baghdad, tied to long-distance finance.
  Across faiths, pilgrimage and devotion sustained exchange: Hajj caravans across the Hejaz, monastic journeys in Armenia and Georgia, and Sufi circuits from Khurasan to Damascus.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Hydraulic reconstruction in Egypt restored agrarian surplus.

• Maritime redundancy—through Tyre, Cyprus, Aden, and Hormuz—ensured trade continued despite Crusades and shifting powers.

• Cultural pluralism and flexible governance stabilized multiethnic societies.

• Desert and mountain autonomy (Bedouin and Kurdish) provided safety valves against imperial overreach.

• Monsoon rhythms tied the Gulf and Red Sea to the Indian Ocean’s stable seasonal exchange, buffering inland volatility.

These systems gave the Near and Middle East unusual resilience, allowing prosperity even amid political fragmentation.

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Long-Term Significance

By 1251 CE, the Near and Middle East was an interconnected lattice of cities, faiths, and markets:

• Cairo was the intellectual and commercial heart of the Islamic world.

• Damascus and Aleppo linked Egypt and Mesopotamia through Ayyubid unity.

• Hormuz, Qalhat, and Dhofar commanded Indian Ocean trade.

• Tyre and Cyprus balanced Crusader and Ayyubid economies.

• Armenia, Georgia, and Nicaea stood as cultural highlands between Islam and Christendom.
  The region’s syncretic architecture, shared scholarship, and overlapping networks of caravan and sea laid the foundations for the Mongol–Mamluk–Ilkhanid realignments that would redefine Eurasia in the later 13th century.

Middle East (1108 – 1251 CE): Ayyubid Syria, Jalayirid Precursors, and Island Hormuz

Geographic and Environmental Context

The Middle East includes Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, eastern Jordan, most of Turkey’s central and eastern uplands (including Cilicia), eastern Saudi Arabia, northern Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, northeastern Cyprus, and all but southernmost Lebanon.

• Anchors: the Tigris–Euphrates basin, the Iranian plateau with Azerbaijan–Tabriz, the Caucasus (Armenia–Georgia–Azerbaijan), the Cilician uplands and Syrian plains, the Persian Gulf rim (Hormuz, al-Ahsa, Bahrain, Oman), and northeastern Cyprus as a crusader–Mamluk frontier node.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Stable monsoons sustained Gulf–Indian trade; Nile variability affects the Near East, not this region; steppe droughts shook Anatolian–Caucasian margins.

Societies and Political Developments

• Ilkhanate precursors: late Seljuk fragmentation in Iran paved the way for Mongol entry (1220s–30s).

• Ayyubids controlled Syria (and Egypt—outside our region) from 1171 onward, with Damascus/Aleppo as provincial capitals.

• Caucasus: Armenia and Georgia oscillated between independence and Mongol pressure; Georgia’s strength peaked under Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213) (Caucasus is in this region).

• Eastern Anatolia/Cilicia: Cilician Armenia flourished as a crusader ally; Turkmen emirates multiplied in the uplands.

• Eastern Arabia–Gulf & Oman: Hormuz migrated to its island base (c. 1301) later, but in this age it was already consolidating; Nabhani Oman and Uyunids in al-Ahsa controlled pearls and ports.

• Northeastern Cyprus (Lusignans from 1192) developed as a crusader logistics and trade node.

• Lebanon (north/coastal)—Tripoli and Beirut engaged in crusader–Ayyubid–merchant circuits (southernmost strip excluded).

Economy and Trade

• Caravan cities: Tabriz–Rayy–Hamadan–Baghdad; Aleppo/Damascus as Syrian hinges.

• Gulf traffic: horses, pearls, dates; Indian pepper and textiles via Hormuz/Qalhat/Suḥar up to Basra and overland to Syria/Iran.

• Agrarian cores: Tigris–Euphrates cereals/dates; Iranian cotton, silk, sugar; Syrian grain/fruit.

Subsistence and Technology

• Hydraulics: canals and qanāt systems; Ayyubid citadels and madrasas; Persianate crafts and book arts.

Movement Corridors

• Tabriz–Baghdad–Syria; Caucasus passes; Cilicia–Aleppo; Gulf monsoon lanes Oman–Hormuz–Basra.

Belief and Symbolism

• Sunni Ayyubid legitimacy in Syria; Christian Armenia–Georgia cultural zeniths; Sufi networks expanding; Ibāḍī Oman and Shi‘i pockets in the Gulf.

Long-Term Significance

By 1251, pre-Ilkhanid Iran–Iraq and Ayyubid Syria formed a contested but connected corridor; Cilician Armenia and northeastern Cyprus anchored crusader frontiers; Hormuz and Omani ports organized Gulf commerce—structures the Mongol conquests would soon reorder.

Nine Seljuk sultans rule Baghdad between 1118 and 1194; only one dies a natural death.

The atabegs, who initially had been majordomos for the Seljuks, begin to assert themselves.

Several found local dynasties.

An atabeg originates the Zengid Dynasty (1127-1222), with its seat at Mosul.

The Zengids are instrumental in encouraging Muslims to oppose the invasions of the Christian Crusaders.

Toghril (1177-94), the last Seljuk sultan of Iraq, is killed by the leader of a Turkish dynasty, the Khwarezm shahs, who live south of the Aral Sea.

Before his successor can establish Khwarezm rule in Iraq, however, Baghdad will be overrun by the Mongol horde.

A powerful Mongol leader named Temujin brings together a majority of the Mongol tribes in the early years of the thirteenth century and leads them on a devastating sweep through China.

He changes his name at about this time to Genghis Khan, meaning "World Conqueror."

He turns his force of seven hundred thousand west in 1219 and quickly devastates Bokhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Merv, and Neyshabur (in present-day Iran), where he slaughters every living thing.

Pillaging and burning cities along the way, Genghis Khan reaches western Azerbaijan in Iran
before his death in 1227.

The Kara-Khitans rule from their capital at Balasagun (in today's Kyrgyzstan), directly controlling the central region of the empire.

The rest of their empire consists of highly autonomous vassalized states, primarily Khwarezm, the Karluks, the Kara-Khoja Kingdom of the Uyghurs, the Qanglï, and the Western, Eastern, and Fergana Kara-Khanids.

The late-arriving Naimans have also become vassals.

The Khitan rulers adopt many administrative elements from the Liao Dynasty, including the use of Confucian administration and imperial trappings.

The empire also adopts the title of Gurkhan (universal Khan).

The Khitans use the Chinese calendar, maintain Chinese imperial and administrative titles, give its emperors reign names, use Chinese-style coins, and send imperial seals to its vassals.

Although most of its administrative titles are derived from Chinese, the empire also adopts local administrative titles, such as tayangyu (Turkic) and vizier.

The Khitans maintain their old customs, even in Central Asia.

They remain nomads, adhere to their traditional dress, and maintain the religious practices followed by the Liao Dynasty Khitans.

The ruling elite tries to maintain the traditional marriages between the Yelü king clan and the Xiao queen clan, and are highly reluctant to allow their princesses to marry outsiders.

The Kara-Khitai Khitans follow a mix of Buddhism and traditional Khitan religion, which includes fire worship and tribal customs, such as the tradition of sacrificing a gray ox with a white horse.

In an innovation unique to the Kara-Khitai, the Khitans pay their soldiers a salary.

The empire rules over a diverse population that is quite different from its rulers.

The majority of the population is sedentary, although the population suddenly becomes more nomadic during the end of the empire, due to the influx of Naimans.

The majority of their subjects are Muslims, although a significant minority practices Buddhism and Nestorianism.

Although Chinese and Khitan are the primary languages of administration, the empire also administers in Persian and Uyghur.

The Kara-Khitan Khanate had not destroyed the Karakhanid dynasty.

Instead, the Khitans had stayed at Semirech'e with their headquarters near Balasaghun, and allowed some of the Karakhanids to rule as vassals in Samarkand and Kashgar, with the Karakhanids acting as their tax-collectors and administrators on Muslim sedentary populations (the same practice will be adopted by the Golden Horde on the Russian Steppes).

The Kara-Khitans are Buddhists and shamanists ruling over largely Muslim Karakhanids, although they are considered fair-minded rulers whose reign is marked by religious tolerance.

Islamic religious life has continued uninterrupted and Islamic authority has been preserved, while Kashgar is a Nestorian metropolitan see and Christian gravestones in the Chu valley appear beginning this period.

The population of Samarkand stages a revolt in 1212 against the Khwarezmians, a revolt that Uttman supports, and massacres them.

The Khwarezm-Shah returns, recaptures Samarkand and executes Uthman.

He demands the submission of all leading Karakhanids, and finally extinguishes the Western Karakhanid state.

Iltutmish, preoccupied with subjugating Hindu chiefs in India, waits for his rivals to come to him.

One of these dissident slave-generals, Elduz, is driven from Ghazni by the forces of the Shah of Khwarezm into the Punjab, where he lays claim to the throne of Delhi as the heir to Muhammad of Ghor.

Iltutmish refuses, stating, “the dominion of the world is enjoyed by the one who possesses the greatest strength.

The principle of hereditary succession is not extinct but long ago destiny abolished this custom.”