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.

Under Mongol rule and the Pax Mongolica, Song China became part of the much wider world of the Mongol Empire. Although it was split into four khanates in 1260, Qubilai consolidated control over Goryeo and Dali and, where conquest failed (as in Dai Viet, Kamakura Japan, and Java), pursued diplomatic and commercial relationships, especially on the Indian subcontinent. Mongol rule integrated China into an overland global economy parallel to the maritime one in the South Seas and the Indian Ocean. Ceramic production under the Mongols played a major role in maritime trade, while the blue-and-white porcelain seen in the Yuan exemplifies contact across Eurasia. Textile production likewise stimulated commerce and contact across Eurasia. Silk production long antedated this era, but patterns and designs produced under the Mongols exhibit Central Asian influences, as silk from China made its way westward as far as the Mediterranean and beyond. The Mongol era dietary, A Soup for the Qan, illustrates Eurasian interconnections visible through the lenses of food and medicine. Along with steppe shamanism, the Mongols favored Tibetan Buddhism, but they also implemented policies of official toleration toward recognized faiths (including Eastern Syriac and Roman Catholic Christianity), creating one of the most ecumenical societies in world history.

Shrine and cult survived the Mongols. The saint cult blossomed politically and financially under the Ilkhanids and Kartids. Qutb al-Din Muhammad Jami, and his son, Shihab al-Din Ismaʿil, were the first accumulators of wealth and power. Qutb al-Din had opaque connections to a wealthy Indian benefactor, and hosted Shams al-Din Muhammad Kart, instituting a bond between the families. Shihab al-Din married a son to a Kartid princess, and accepted a Kart king (malik) as his acolyte, thereby garnering tangible and intangible benefits for shrine and cult. The apogee of the shrine’s affluence and influence was under the Timurids.