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6 - Mongol Imperial Institutions

from Volume I Part 2 - Thematic Histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

By
Hodong Kim
Edited by
Michal Biran  and
Hodong Kim
Michal Biran
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hodong Kim
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
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Summary

This chapter deals with various political, military, and social institutions that were rooted in the Mongols’ steppe tradition, which pre-dated the founding of their world empire. These institutions, which were continuously developed and modified by regional Chinggisid polities, also impacted post-Mongol empires. The chapter explains the formation and the transformation of the key concept of ulus (people, nation), and analyzes the composition and the maintenance of the ordo (mobile court) which was the geopolitical center of the ulus. It also analyzes military institutions, including decimal units, e.g., mingghan (chiliarchy) and tümen (myriarchy); the royal guards (keshig) and the garrisons (tamma); the main civil officials, such as the darughachi (governor) and jarghuchi (judge); and the postal system (jam). These topics only partially represent the wide variety of Mongol imperial institutions that still await extensive research, yet they offer a glimpse of how the Mongols ruled the world.

Keywords

Mongol imperial institutionsulusordodarugha(chi)jarghuchijamkeshigtamma(chi)
Type
Chapter
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The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire , pp. 399 - 443
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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