LANDS FROM THE MONGOL EMPIRE

AN ONGOING PROJECT, LANDSFROMTHEMONGOLEMPIRE PRESENTS A COMPILATION OF VISUAL STORIES THAT CONNECT THE LAND, CULTURE AND PEOPLE OF EURASIA. FOLLOW THE HISTORICAL LEGACY OF GENGHIS KHAN

Therecent exhibition Lands Fromthemongolempire presented a compilation of visual stories that connect the land, culture and people of Eurasia that were linked by the former Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan, the ruler who united the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. His campaigns were often brutal. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.

Instrumental in conquering large swaths of territory across the region, Genghis Khan brought the Silk Road under collective political control, which increased trade between the East and West. His empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Japan by his death in 1227.

It was expanded further under his successors, as Mongol armies made their way into Persia, eventually taking control of all of China in 1279, and then pushing into Russia and eastern Europe. This was the Mongol Empire at the height of its power, stretching from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

The vast territories were subsequently fragmented into four khanates: The Great Khan Khanate, which included China and Mongolia; the Chagatai Khanate, which consisted of Central Asia, the Il-khanate, which covered Persia, and the Golden Horde, which included Russia and Siberia.

The unification of China under Kublai Khan was an unprecedented period for the Mongols, whereby the great khan became the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. Trade flourished along the Silk Road, and Marco Polo travelled