Empires, Colonialism, Imperialism, Decolonization, and Globalization 600 CE to 1450 - AP World History: Modern

It is essentially impossible to define the world’s largest empire – the historical definition of “large” can have various meanings, from population size to geographic extent to level of political control and/or societal consolidation. However, it is possible to determine the world’s largest continuous empire (aka side-by-side, with all territories in physical proximity to each other). This honor belongs to the Mongol Empire, first created under the infamous auspices of Genghis Khan. Beginning with Genghis Khan’s assumption of leadership in 1206, the Mongol Empire continually expanded its borders through warfare, eventually stretching all the way across Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan and southward across the Indian subcontinent and into modern-day Iran.

Clovis and Charlemagne were important rulers in the Frankish Empire. Clovis I founded the Frankish Empire in 496 CE and Charlemagne the Great extended the territory of the Frankish Empire and formed what is known as the Carolingian Empire in the ninth century.

The Uyan Dynasty (also called the Yuan Dynasty) was founded by the Mongolian warlord Kublai Khan in 1271. Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan, and he inherited a large swathe of Genghis’ massive territorial conquests. Kublai Khan established his capital at Beijing and proceeded to conquer and unify the rest of (what was at the time) China.

Mali's time as a hegemonic power in West Africa was relatively short lived and their fall from grace coincided with the rise of the Songhai Empire. The Songhai Empire was centered around its capital in Gao. The height of the Songhai Empire was the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The most famous rulers of Songhai were Askia and Sunni Ali.

Muscovites worked as tribute collectors for the Mongols, which increased their wealth and power. Mongolians killed the Abbasid caliph in 1258, defeated the Song, promoted religious tolerance, and did not end serfdom.

Zheng He was the admiral in charge of leading several large expeditions of Ming dynasty 'treasure fleets' throughout the Indian Ocean and East Asian coasts during the 15th century. His journeys helped to establish in the minds of many contacted peoples the might of Imperial China, while confirming for many Chinese bureaucrats the power of the Ming dynasty.

The Golden Horde was a division of the mighty Mongol Empire of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The Golden Horde, led by Batu Khan, conquered Russia and much of Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe and administered at least some parts of these territories from the mid-thirteenth century until the late fifteenth century.

The great typhoons that twice destroyed the Mongol navy were called Kamikaze by the Japanese, meaning divine winds.

Kamehameha was a Hawaiian king who successfully defended Hawaii independence from European colonial expansion; his name has become synonymous with special powers in Japanese comic books, but he had nothing to do with the failed Mongol invasions of Japan.

El Nino is an aquatic phenomenon comprised of warming Pacific Ocean temperatures that has nothing to do with the defeat of the Mongol invasion force.

The Trade Winds are a longstanding pattern of wind that the early European colonial powers, especially Spain and Portugal, used in their naval campaigns; the trade winds had nothing to do with the Mongol's defeat in Japan.

The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg had nothing to do with the Mongol invasion of Japan. The "miracle" occurred after Prussia had been defeated by a combined Austrian-Russian attack; rather than follow up their victory, the Austrians and Russians withdrew, saving Prussia for the time being.

The Mongols were unable to conquer the interior of Vietnam because the dense jungle made it nearly impossible for Mongol cavalry to operate effectively.

The Mongols were able to conquer Afghanistan by destroying the Afghan irrigation system, turning much of the once fertile country into barren wasteland and depriving the Afghan resistance of irrigation tunnels used to transport fighters and weapons.

After heavy fighting, the Mongols conquered China and proclaimed the Yuan dynasty.

The Mongols were able to conquer much of the Arab world by using ingenious siege tactics against large cities.

The Mongols were able to conquer and destroy much of modern Russia, including Moscow.

Viking colonization of Russia was so successful that hundreds of years later Russian royalty was still descendant from the original invaders.

The Vikings never colonized China; it was too far for them to travel, and most likely too well defended for them to successful conquer even if they'd tried.

The Vikings never reached Japan, let alone attempted to colonize it.

Unlike in Russia, Viking settlements in North America were not successful and died out relatively quickly.

Afghanistan is a landlocked country whereas the Vikings were seaborne raiders and colonists; conquering Afghanistan would have been nearly impossible for them even if they'd tried.

The Visigoth kingdom on the Iberian peninsula was conquered by a Muslim force of Arabs, Berbers, and other Africans who sailed from North Africa to Gibraltar.

Communism would not come to exist for over another thousand years, and though the Spanish civil war of the 20th century featured Communists, they eventually lost to fascist forces.

Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain during the early 19th century, over a millennia after Visigoth culture ceased to exist, and although his invasion was very bloody, it was not very successful.

The British navy did conduct operations in Spain, capturing Gibraltar, but this was in the early 18th century and against the Spanish government, not the Visigoth kingdom.

The Spanish-American war was fought at the very end of the 19th century in the Pacific and Caribbean; at no point did any of the Iberian peninsula become a battlefield.

Genghis Khan is one of the most influential figures in human history. He rose to power in Mongol society and united the Mongol tribes in the twelfth century, before leading them on a widespread conquest of Eurasia. He was indeed the grandfather of Kublai Khan (who presided over the Mongol Empire at the height of its territorial reach). He also, famously, employed a meritocratic approach to appointments and rewarded talented individuals over those with good family connections.

The Treaty of Verdun was signed in 843 CE. It divided the Carolingian Empire and the conquests of Charlemagne into three kingdoms, each to be ruled by one of Charlemagne’s sons. The Holy Roman Empire emerged from one of the kingdoms established by the Treaty of Verdun.

Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan (the founder of the Mongol Empire). He presided over the Mongol Empire at the height of its territorial reach and established the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1271 CE. He did not, however, lead the Golden Horde and the Mongol conquest of Russia - that honor belongs to Batu Khan.

The Inca Empire was founded in modern-day Peru, with the Kingdom of Cusco, by Pachacuti in the fifteenth century.

The Mayan civilization emerged in Mesoamerica during the classical period of American history. They are renowned for their art and architecture and their mastery, for the time period, of astronomy and the motion of celestial objects. The decline of the Mayan civilization began in the ninth century C.E., but it is not known what exactly caused the downfall. The Mayan people continued to live in small communities until eventually eradicated or assimilated during the Spanish conquest of Latin America.

Genghis Khan, who ruled the Mongolian Empire from 1206-1227, controlled the largest, 33 million square kilometers, contagious land area in human history. After uniting the many nomadic tribes of northern Asia, he began expansion westward — eventually making it to the European plateau. Widely considered genocidal, he also brought the silk road under one commander and widespread cross-cultural communication across the Asian continent.

Charlemagne, with the approval and blessing of the Pope, united the majority of Western Europe under a single empire called the Carolingian Empire. After the fall of Rome he was the first ruler to accomplish this task and the lands and boundaries he established laid the groundwork for the modern states of France and Germany.

Under Timur, various Turkic tribes expanded through Central Asia, beginning in the 1360s. The Timurid Empire eventually covered most of the Middle East, including the Fertile Crescent, Persia (Iraq), and parts of modern-day India and Russia.