Continuity/ Change over Time Essay. Dominating throughout almost the whole region of Eurasia, the Mongols influenced their territories on all levels.

        A huge part of the cultural and political aspects of the Mongolian Empire stayed the same throughout its rule. The process of trade and political rule were some of the continuities. The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 700 to 1200 helped in bringing political stability and re-establishing the Silk Road trade. With rare exceptions such as Marco Polo or Christian missionaries such as William of Rubruck, few Europeans traveled the entire length of the Silk Road prior to the Mongol rule. Quite a number of merchants did not make it through the Silk Road because of bandit groups or lack of needed materials. Thus traders moved products much like a bucket brigade, with luxury goods being traded from one middleman to another, from China to the West, and resulting in high prices for the goods. For instance, Chinese medical bamboo species were worth more than family’s monthly income in Persia. However, with the Mongols in power, trade through the Silk Road became much safer and more feasible. To achieve this, Mongols established merchant associations, known as Ortogh. Merchants traveled in groups of 70 to 100 men on each mission, scaring away the bandits and having all the necessary supplies (including camels, horses, and so on) for a lengthy period of time. Thus the Mongols specifically promoted the caravan trade over long distances and encouraged cultural diffusion that came with it. Ortogh associations became a cultural part of the Mangolian Empire, lasting as long as the Empire itself, and beyond.  Politically, the Mongols were always bad in running a large, civilized, country or territory. They significantly lacked organization. The Khans were great leaders but unfortunately only in the military sense of term. Genghis Khan had been a pastoral nomad his entire life. When he became a ruler of a thriving empire he had no idea about how to run things and probably didn’t realize the importance of strong government. The future Khans also created a mess in the government. In China, the Mongols didn't trust the Chinese, so they got a lot of foreign peoples to come and do the governing. They also dismantled the Chinese traditional Confucian way of government. In Persia, the Mongols took the highest positions of government, but still gave the lower government positions to Persians. In general, the Mongols in Persia didn't care what their subjects did as long as they maintained order and delivered taxes. The chances are that if the Mongols stayed in Persia for even longer, they would have transformed Persian culture completely. If this was the case, Persia would have stayed in its dark ages for much longer, slowly losing its ability to govern itself. However, the Mongolian Empire was never strong and centralized politically, and this state of government led to its ultimate demise.

        The Mongol Empire had more continuities than changes for various reasons. The Ortogh merchant associations lasted because they were simply very beneficial, and as we know good ideas tend to stay. As the Mongols got out of their original habitats, they got to see the beauty of the world. No doubt that many of them gave up on expanding and decided to settle in more progressive civilizations. Perhaps this is the reason why Mongols failed to produce a huge change – they got busy with their own lives. The Mongols never built a centralized government because they lacked significant experience. They always lived in Nomadic tribes and had no idea of what it meant to rule over a vast territory. It is interesting to notice that once Russia was completely under the Mongolian rule, depending on in its every aspect of life. Nowadays, however, the situation literally flipped around. Mongolia is extremely poor and undeveloped, while Russia is one of the world’s leading countries. Now Mongolia has to ask Russia for help, such as lower gas prices, and the reason for all this is that the Mongols didn’t learn how to govern themselves throughout all these years.