How Did the Mongols Affect Europe and Asia?
The most important effects that the Mongols had on Europe and Asia were increasing the flow of goods and knowledge between the two regions, the unification of present day Russia and the introduction of new diseases. For example, knowledge of gun-making traveled from Asia to Europe during Mongol rule.
Under Mongol rule, neighboring countries that had previously been uncooperative with one another entered into a state of “pax mongolica.”.This term is used to describe the peace that existed between neighboring countries during Mongols’ rule. This peace allowed for previous trade routes between Europe and Asia, formally known as the Silk Road, to be reopened. Monks, missionaries and scientists also travelled along this road. This helped to further facilitate the exchange of ideas and knowledge that previously would have been impossible. Diseases also travelled along these new trade routes. The bubonic plague originated on the fleas of rodents that lived in the mountains of eastern Central Asia. The plague traveled with the Mongols to Europe where it was responsible for wiping out nearly one-third of the population in the 1300s. Finally, the unification of Russia was brought about in 1480 when the people of the region banded together to throw out the Mongol occupants. The region had been an assortment of city-states prior to the Mongol occupation.
