Is Mongolia the most influential country in the history of the world? 

On its surface, this seems like a difficult argument to make. With strong contenders like African origins of civilization, the rise and fall of European imperial powers, the rebirth of art and science that diminished the hold of religion, or even the nuclear arms race and its brinkmanship that quite literally landed a human on the moon, Mongolia might seem like a forgotten, frozen grassland that could never have played a significant role.

But don’t argue that with the Mongolians. They have a map to make their case.

During our visit to Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar, we learned a great deal about the legendary leader Genghis Khan and the vast empire he created. It is, in truth, the largest empire the world has ever known in terms of territory. Stretching from the modern Koreas in the east to Poland and Romania in the west, it encompassed all of present-day China and Iran and included much of modern Russia and Turkey.

The Mongol Empire was a whopping six times larger than the Roman Empire. So, yeah, a point for the Mongols on size alone.

But the real impact on history was not based on conquest. Instead, it was based on the threat of conquest. 

China built a wall. And, when that proved ineffective against the Mongols, the Chinese treated with and accepted terms from the grandson of Genghis, Kublai Khan, who established himself as emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. This led to exchanges of ideas and cultures that are still shaping modern day China which, in turn, is shaping the current political, cultural, and economic landscape.

Interestingly enough, every attempt the Mongols made to invade Japan was unsuccessful, largely due to a series of typhoons that destroyed the Mongol ships, giving life to the myth of the kamikaze, or “divine wind”, that would always protect the island nation. Japan would never forget those attempted invasions by the Mongol-established Yuan Dynasty, however. And the two countries have maintained a fraught relationship ever since.

In India, the Mongol invasions were thwarted after several failed attempts, but the effort left India fragmented and weakened. The descendants of Genghis successfully conquered most of northern India in the early 16th century and established the Mughal Dynasty (notice the similar name there) that lasted for nearly 200 years, giving us iconic architecture like the Taj Mahal and expanding notions like religious tolerance and early federalism. 

It’s also significant to note that the decline of the Moghul Empire coincided with the rise of imperial ambitions by the British. When the centrally-administered Moghuls couldn’t maintain their hold on India, the Brits swooped in to exploit a weakened system. As early as the 1600s, India provided Great Britain with the natural resources and capital to establish colonies throughout the world. Colonies like Massachusetts Bay, Barbados, and Australia.

So, it could be argued that the Mongols essentially created a power vacuum in India that enabled and funded the British Empire at its height. Which indirectly led to the early founding of the United States.

In medieval Europe, entire kingdoms were displaced by the looming threat of the Mongol’s westward expansion. Central Europeans fled west and south, creating conflict with those people already living there. Hungarians, Romanians, and Poles moved into present-day Germany and the Balkan states, stressing an already fragmented society that was essentially at war with itself.

Although the Mongols never actually conquered Europe, they forced groups with ethnic, ideological, and religious differences to inhabit the same space. Pressure eventually explodes. Then you get events like World War I and its direct descendants, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan.

From there, it’s easy to identify the origins of the crisis in Palestine, the ongoing conflict in Kashmir, and the tug-of-war between East and West for ideological dominance.

What I’m getting at is this: When it comes to world travel, you have to open yourself to histories and perspectives that may not fit within the confines of your previous knowledge. You must first listen. Then, hopefully, learn. And allow that experience become yet another authentic data point in your understanding of the world.

Is Mongolia the most influential country in the history of the world?

Maybe.