Mongols

Top Documentary Films: The Barbarian Mongols

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• published: 06 Jul 2015
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Top Documentary Films: The Barbarian Mongols The Mongols have always been nomads, though they have always cultivated plants. They moved every season with their camps and livestock, from one pasture to another. In the 13th century, the Mongols together with the Turks captured Eastern and Central Anatolia. The Mongols were brilliant governors so there was a period of peace in the region. Anatolia famous as Asia Minor was described as one of the few places on Earth, with people who have decent clothes and meals. Ibn Battutah, the great Arab traveler lived in the region when the Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire. Anatolia became a center of trading in metal, leather, silk, wool, corn, fur, timber and slaves. Ibm Battutah lived in the court of Turkish princes and he was their religious teacher. One of the Turkish rulers, Sutlan Orkhan asked Ibn Battuta to put down traditions of the Prophet. From Anatolia Battuta crossed the Black Sea and made his way to Kaffa, where there lived Christian merchants from Genoa. In the middle of the night he heard church bells ringing. It was a devilish form of sacrilege, for the Muslim Ibn Battita. From the mosque, he started chanting the Qur'an and called for prayer. Locals stopped him, because he could provoke religious tension. Ibn Battuta went to the capital of the Mongols known as the Golden Horde. He took possession of three wagons and joined a caravan to Kipchak. When he met Ozbeg Khan, the Mongol ruler of Kipchak, he was seated in a huge golden yurt on a silver throne surrounded by his four wives. Ibn was surprised that men and women in Mongolia enjoyed similar respect. The wives had lands and sometimes were asked for important administrative issues. When the most popular khatun entered the tent, the khan went to her, welcomed her, escorted her to her place and did not sit until she was seated. The khatuns did not wear veils. One of them was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor. Her marriage was arranged in order to improve the relationships between the Christians and the Mongols. This princess got the permition to return to Constantinople and give birth to her heir in her home palace. Ibn Battuta asked and received permission to go with her. When she entered her country, the princess changed her behaviour. She didn't pray, she drank wine and ate pork. Eventually she stayed with her father. Ibn Battuta went sightseeing. He didn't enter the church Hagia Sophia, because visitors must prostrate before the cross. With winter he returned to the steppe. His clothes were so many that he had to be helped when he mounted a horse. Ibn Battutah's book sheds light on many aspects of the social, cultural and political history of the Muslim world. The claim of Ibn Battutah to be "the traveler of Islam" is well selected: he met at least 60 rulers and a much greater number of viziers, governors. In his book he mentions more than 2000 people. He left to posterity a true picture of himself and his times.