Genghis Khan

What does the term barbarian mean? In the dictionary the term barbarian mean’s a member of a community or tribe not belonging to one of the great ancient civilizations or an uncultured brutish. To me barbarian is a term referring to a person who is a savage, uncivilized kind almost like a Viking type of person someone who doesn’t play by the rules. That is what many people called Genghis Kahn or “Tmujin” his actual name a barbarian or a brutal pagan he was also depicted as a savage who destroyed civilization, but he wasn’t a barbarian at all he was the inventor of a lot of great and magnificent things and that is what Jack Weatherford is trying to tell us in his depiction of Genghis Khan. Weatherford is trying to tell us that the Mongols were the leaders of the European age of Discovery.

“This great Khan is the mightiest man, whether in respects of subjects or of a territory or treasures” (pg195) and he is a mighty man, Genghis Kahn and his descendants brought piece to fighting tribes and inhabited the trade route between Europe and eastern china known as the Fabled Silk Road. The Silk Road is an economic superhighway which connected the exchange of goods not only between Asian and Europe, but also with Africa, by “taking the disjointed and languorous trading towns along the Silk Route and organized them into history’s largest free-trade zone” (introduction xix). The opulence created from the trade route along the Silk Road has led to the development of civilizations in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In addition to silk They traded gold, silver, joules, “furniture, paper fans, porcelain bowls, metal armor, bronze knives, or whatever the Mongol eye fancied” (pg.100) but Genghis Khan knew that his control of trade and all of this newfo...

... middle of paper ...

... of roads to support trade, first international postal system, believed in diplomatic immunity for ambassadors and envoys, and lastly the first widespread use of paper money.

After reading this book I have come to the conclusion that Genghis Khan wasn’t really a barbarian at all but the leader of the European age of discovery all of these things that Genghis Khan did and created are still used today in politics and international relations. Weatherford has given me an insight to Genghis Khan and the Mongols that I never knew before I know can say that I will never look at the term barbarian the same again.

Works Cited

Dictionary, G. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2014, from Google: https://www.google.com/#q=what+does+the+word+barbarian+mean

Weatherford, J. (2004). Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Crown Publishing Group. Retrieved April 6, 2014