Class 11 History - Themes in World History - Chapter Nomadic Empires NCERT Solutions | Why did Genghis Khan feel the need to fr

Why was trade so significant to the Mongols?

How do later Mongol reflections on the yasa bring out the uneasy relationship they had with the memory of Genghis Khan.

How does the following account enlarge upon the character of the Pax Mongolica created by the Mongols by the middle of the thirteenth century? The Franciscan monk, William of Rubruck, was sent by Louis IX of France on an embassy to the great Khan Mongke’s court. He reached Karakorum, the capital of Mongke, in 1254 and came upon a woman from Lorraine (in France) called Paquette, who had been brought from Hungary and was in the service of one of the prince’s wives who was a Nestorian Christian. At the court he came across a Parisian goldsmith named Guillaume Boucher, ‘whose brother dwelt on the Grand Pont in Paris’. This man was first employed by the Queen Sorghaqtani and then by Mongke’s younger brother. Rubruck found that at the great court festivals the Nestorian priests were admitted first, with their regalia, to bless the Grand Khan’s cup, and were followed by the Muslim clergy and Buddhist and Taoist monks.

Keeping the nomadic element of the Mongol and Bedouin societies in mind, how, in your opinion, did their respective historical experiences differ? What explanations would you suggest account for these differences?

‘If history relies upon written records produced by city-based literati, nomadic societies will always receive a hostile representation.’ Would you agree with this statement? Does it explain the reason why Persian chronicles produced such inflated figures of casualties resulting from Mongol campaigns?

Look at the diagram showing the positive feedback mechanism on page 13. Can you list the inputs that went into tool making? What were the processes that were strengthened by tool making?

Why do we say that it was not natural fertility and high levels of food production that were the causes of early urbanisation?

What were the features of the lives of the Bedouins in the early seventh century?

Describe two features of early feudal society in France.

Which elements of Greek and Roman culture were revived in the 14th and 15th centuries ?

Compare the civilization of the Aztecs with that of the Mesopotamians.

How did Britain’s involvement in wars from 1793 to 1815 affect British industries?

Comment on any points of difference between the native peoples of South and North America.

What were the major developments before the Meiji restoration that made it possible for Japan to modernise rapidly?

Humans and mammals such as monkeys and apes have certain similarities in behaviour and anatomy. This indicates that humans possibly evolved from apes. List these resemblances in two columns under the headings of (a) behaviour and (b) anatomy. Are there any differences that you think are noteworthy?

Why would the early temple have been much like a house?

What is meant by the term ‘Abbasid revolution’?

What was the function of medieval monasteries?

How did the Qing dynasty try and meet the challenge posed by the Western powers?

Do you think that Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China were successful in liberating China and laying the basis for its current success?

Imagine an encounter in California in about 1880 between four people: a former African slave, a Chinese labourer, a German who had come out in the Gold Rush, and a native of the Hopi tribe, and narrate their conversation.

What were the effects of the Crusades on Europe and Asia?

What were the features of the lives of the Bedouins in the early seventh century?

How satisfactory is a museum gallery display in explaining the culture of a people? Give examples from your own experience of a museum.

Discuss the extent to which (a) hunting and (b) constructing shelters would have been facilitated by the use of language. What other modes of communication could have been used for these activities?