WORKING WITH EVIDENCE

Perspectives on the Mongols

How did the Mongols understand themselves and the enormous empire they had created? How did the peoples who were forcibly incorporated within that empire or threatened by it view the Mongols? What did outsiders who encountered the Mongols notice about their ways of living? In studying the Mongol phenomenon, historians use documents that reflect both the Mongols’ perception of themselves and the perspectives of others. The first two documents derive from Mongol sources, while the final three represent views from Persian, Russian, and European observers.

Sorting through these various perceptions of the Mongols raises questions about the kinds of understandings—or misunderstandings—that arise as culturally different peoples meet, especially under conditions of conquest. These documents also require reflection on the relative usefulness of sources that come from the Mongols themselves as well as those that derive from the victims of Mongol aggression.