1. Nomad’s Last Stand
How the hunter-gatherers lead to the
integration of a continent.
And then vanish

2. SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A
NOMAD?
Especially in Central Asia?

3. Moo? Neigh? Baaa?
• Herding animals is the option—sheep/goats
and a hardy pony…
• No major rivers, so arid conditions
• Use every part of the animal…
• Limited pottery, leather working, iron
weapons and tools.

4. Turks come first
• Came into Persia, Anatolia and India
• Lived on the borders of the Abbasid Empire
for a while, then began to move in, serving in
the Abbasid army.
• Tughril Beg first to be crowned sultan;
nominally in charge of the Abbasids.
• Turks then migrate into Anatolia and start
kicking the Byzantines around.

5. Turks in India
• Mahmoud of Ghazi leads Turks out of
Afghanistan and into India.
• Eventually forms the Sultanate of Dehli.
• Military skill again makes the difference as the
Turks end up taking control of northern India.
• IN ALL CASES, THE TURKS CONQUER, SETTLE,
AND LARGELY ACCLIMATE TO LOCAL
CULTURAL NORMS. The exception is India,
where they introduce Islam.

6. Then the Mongols
• Temujin unifies Mongol tribes and proclaimed
“Genghis Khan” Universal Ruler.
• Forms his army; about 100,000, organized on
a decimal system, highly disciplined, adaptive
cavalry.
• Attacks Turkish people in Tibet, Persia,
northern China and Central Asia and wins all
the time.

7. The Mongol Empires

8. Leaves it to his family
• Chagatai gets Central Asia, Persia goes to
Hulagu (the Ilkhanate), Batu forms the Golden
Horde, and ultimately Kubilai takes the
Khanate of the Great Khan: China and
Mongolia…
• IN ALL CASES, MONGOLS
CONQUER, SETTLE, AND ACCLIMATE TO LOCAL
CULTURAL NORMS.

9. PaxMongolica
• The Mongols create a period of peace and unity
on the Eurasian continent.
– Travel and communication encouraged
– Trade flourishes; direct contact made
– Some civil conflict (Mongol on Mongol violence) but
no major warfare
– Diplomatic ties established
– Missionary work
– Resettlement of people, especially the
literate, educated and the skilled

10. Mongol rule ends
• Il-khanate goes broke, government devolves
to local levels, gone by 1353
• Yuan Dynasty’s paper money doesn’t work,
and imperial system collapses in 1368.
• Golden Horde hangs on in Russia until 1502
• Epidemic diseases spread, especially bubonic
plague; origin unknown but speculation places
it in Central Asia. Goes to China, then
Southwest Asia then Europe.

11. Nomads last gasp, East Side
• Tamerlane in Persia (Timur the lame)
• Is a Turk, steps into the power vacuum in 1370.
• Expands into modern day Iran, Iraq, and central
Asia up to the Hindu Kush.
• Was a conqueror, not a governor. Planned to
invade China, but died before he could start.
• Sons and grandsons bicker and fight, but maintain
control until 1405. Descendants found the
Mughal Dynasty of India.

12. Nomads last gasp, West side
• Osman, a Turkish leader, carves out a kingdom in
Northern Anatolia.
• He operates at the expense of the Byzantine
Empire, and is very successful.
• Followers are called Osmanlis or Ottomans.
• Cross the Dardanelles to Gallipoli, and begin to
challenge the Byzantines in the Balkans
• 1453 Sultan Mehmed II sacks Constantinople.
• By 1480, Byzantine Empire is no more, and
Ottoman Empire is in its place.

13. Exit stage left…
AND NOMADS ARE DONE AND
GONE FROM THE WORLD STAGE.