#11 - Marie Favereau - The Tech & Innovation History of the Mongol Empire: How the Horde Changed the World

Founded by the infamous Genghis Khan in 1206, the Mongol Empire created the 2nd largest kingdom in the history of the planet.

What's less well known is that Mongol rule ushered in a plethora of technological innovation and development that shaped the formative years in trade & science infrastructure of a land mass spanning all the way to the East from Korea, through China, Central Asia, Russia, Persia and to even Eastern Europe parts like Crimea and modern day Ukraine.

In an attempt to excavate and summarise the lasting impact the Mongol innovation, technology and governance had on the world, Empasco Partner Waheed Rahman (@iwaheedo) sits with historian and Financial Times best-selling author, Marie Favereau. Marie is an Associate Professor of History at Paris Nanterre University. She has been a member of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study, and a research associate at the University of Oxford for the major project Nomadic Empires. Her books
include The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World (https://www.amazon.com/Horde-How-Mongols-Changed-World/dp/0674244214) and the Mamluk Sultanate (published in French) and the graphic novel Genghis Khan.

In the episode we cover:

-the reason for the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th & 14th CE.
-long-term innovation view that the Mongols took in terms of funding projects
-the strategies they took to set up the agricultural production and taxation systems throughout the kingdom
-how they built and sustained the system for continuous innovation processes in areas such as astronomy, agriculture, maths, medicine, trade, botany, etc.
-Early forms of democracy in the Mongol empires

- The reasons for the downfall of the Mongol empire

Follow our host Waheed Rahman (@iwaheedo) for more updates on tech, civilizational growth, progress studies, and emerging markets.

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players, you should be able to click the timestamp for the episode.

(00:00) - Intro

(06:10) - Marie's background & inspiration for writing a book on Mongol innovation and tech history

(08:05) - Who were the Mongols?

(11:08) - What is the "Horde"?

(13:33) - Were the Mongols just people who ravaged and conquered land through coercion and fear-mongering?

(20:10) - What Military technology did the Mongols use?

(27:38) - Mongol innovation,tech,governanace history

(39:36) - Mongol economics

(42:39) - Mongol system of wealth distribution

(43:28) - How did the Mongols manage the Silk Road?

(45:52) - About the creation of the largest integrated market in Pre-modern history

(47:43) - How did the Mongols set up the infrastructure and economy of the cities within the empire?

(52:40) - What was the Mongols' foreign policy to attract new trade and develop connections?

(59:23) - The Mongol land law

(61:25) - How did taxation help with the agricultural production?

(62:30) - What led to the downfall of the Mongol Empire?

(65:26) - Mongol Governance   We used the world's most advanced AI 'DALL·E 2' by @OpenAI to generate the episode cover art. Special thanks to Pamir Sevincel (@PamirSevincel)

We made this episode a special listening experience btw.
 
Mongolian throat singing & classical instruments used:
 
Yoochin- hammered dulcimer of varying strings struck using two bamboo hammers
 
Khuuchir- two- or four-stringed instrument with a small sound box