Ruta Malsky
11-26-11
Pd 6
The Positive and Negative effects of Mongol Practice and Belief The Mongol empire was the world’s largest empire. The Mongol’s practices and beliefs had both positive and negative effects. The large Mongolian empire promoted communication and diversity; however, despite this positive effect, the Mongolian empire housed the deaths of many innocent people. In addition to this, the Mongol empire fostered various religions, but enforced the same practices on everyone, no matter what religion they may follow; this brought order amongst the Mongolian empire. The Mongolian empire was, and still is to this day, the largest empire known to man (Doc 1). Under the Mongolians, communication was immensely improved
The Mongolian empire adopted many religions, and out of these religions the most dominant were Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism (Doc 9). Despite the diversity in religion, every person, no matter what their religion, was obligated to follow the same principles. The following are some principles the people living under the Mongolians had to follow: not to get drunk more than three times per month, not to commit adultery, not to commit theft, and to be respectful and sharing towards one another (Doc 10). Also men could marry as many wives as they could keep; however, they had to make sure they did not marry their mother(s), sister(s), or daughter(s) (Doc 10). Women, who were wives, were to make sure that whenever their husband was to leave the house, to go hunting or to fight in a war, that they maintained the household (Doc 10). By everyone following these principles order was maintained throughout the Mongolian empire. Robbers and thieves were not found throughout the Mongol empire; therefore, houses and carts, in which people stored their wealth, did not have locks or bolts (Doc 7). An additional document that would be helpful would be a diary of a mediocre Mongol citizen. Many of the provided documents are from high Mongolian officials or Persians, which could be biased. Knowing the life of an ordinary Mongolian citizen would paint a better picture of how Mongolian life was. It