Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/774

Rh 746 MONGOLS numbers were slain, among whom was Galdan s wife, and many thousands surrendered themselves to the victors. Galdan, with his son, daughter, and a few followers, fled westward and escaped ; and thus collapsed a power which had threatened at one time to overshadow the whole of Cen tral Asia. For a time Galdan still maintained a semblance of resistance to his powerful enemy, and death overtook him while yet in the field against the Chinese. The news -of his death was received with great rejoicings at Peking. The emperor held a special service of thanksgiving to Heaven for the deliverance vouchsafed, and ordered that the ashes of his enemy, whose body had been burned, should be brought to the capital and there scattered to the four winds. The fear which had been thus inspired was no idle terror. Galdan was a man to be feared. The conqueror of Samarkand, Bokhara, Urgenj, Kashgar, Kami, and twelve hundred other towns, might well be considered a formidable foe, and Heaven a merciful deliverer in ridding Asia of so restless and dangerous a chieftain. But though Galdan was dead the Chinese did not enjoy that complete immunity from war at the hand of his suc cessor that they had looked for. Tse-wang Arabtan was, however, but the shadow of his brother and predecessor, and a dispute which arose with the Russians during his reign weakened his power in other directions. Little Bok hara was said to be rich in gold mines, and therefore be came a coveted region in the eyes of the Russians. Under the vigorous administration of Peter the Great an expedi tion was despatched to force a passage into the desired province. To oppose this invasion the Kalmuks assembled in force, and after a protracted and undecided engagement the Russians were glad to agree to retire down the Irtish and to give up all further advance. To Tse-wang Arabtan succeeded Amursama owing to the support he received from the Chinese emperor K een- lung, who nominated him khan of the Kalmuks and chief of Sungaria. But, though to the ear these titles were as high-sounding as those of his predecessors, in reality the power they represented was curtailed by the presence of Chinese commissioners, in whose hands rested the real authority. The galling weight of this state of dependence drove Amursama before long into revolt. He dispersed the Chinese garrisons stationed in Hi, killed the .generals, and advanced his own forces as far as Palikun on the river Hi. To punish this revolt, K een-lung sent a large force into the rebellious province. As on the previous occa sion, the Chinese were everywhere victorious, and Amursama fled into Siberia, where he died of smallpox after a short illness. The Chinese demanded his body, but the Russians refused to give it up, though they allowed the Chinese commissioners to identify it. On the death of Amursama, K een-lung determined to abolish the khanate, and in place of it he nominated four Hans to rule over the Sungars, the Torgod, the Khoshod, and the Dorbod. But this divided authority proved quite as unmanageable as that which had been wielded by the khan, and the new rulers soon at tempted to throw off the yoke imposed upon them from Peking. Again a Chinese army marched into Hi, and this time a severe measure of repression was meted out to the rebels and their sympathizers. A general massacre of the Kalmuks was ordered, and was faithfully carried out. The province which had been as a fruitful field was utterly wrecked, and the place of the Sungars was taken by exiled criminals from China. But while China was thus absorbing the Mongols within her reach, Russia was gathering within her borders those with whom she came into contact. Among these were the Buriats, who occupied a large territory on both sides of the Baikal Lake. As usual in such cases, disputes arose out of disturbances on the frontier, and were ended by the Buriats and the neighbouring Mongol tribes becom ing one and all tributary to Russia. Of the Mongol tribes who became entirely subject toTh..&amp;gt; Russia the principal are those of the Crimea, of Kasan, and Golde of Astrakhan ; of these the Tatars of Kasan are the truest 1Ior k representatives of the Golden Horde or Kipchaks, who originally formed the subjects of Batu and Orda. Batu, whose victorious campaign in Russia has already been sketched, was finally awarded as his fief the vast steppes which stretch from the Carpathian Mountains to the Balkash Lake. Over these vast plains the Mongols followed their flocks and herds, while the more settled among them established themselves along the banks of the rivers which flow through that region. Batu himself fixed his head quarters on the Volga, and there set up his Golden Tent from which the horde acquired the name of the Golden Horde. In 1255 Batu died and was succeeded by his brother Bereke Khan. During the reign of this sovereign the exactions which were demanded from the Russian Christians by the Mongols aroused the Christian world against the barbarian conquerors, and at the command of Pope Alexander IV. a general crusade was preached against them. But though the rage of the Christians was great, they lacked that united energy which might have availed them against their enemies ; and, while they were yet breathing out denuncia tions, a Tatar host, led by Nogai and Tulabagha, appeared in Poland. After a rapid and triumphant march, the in vaders took and destroyed Cracow, and from thence ad vanced as far as Bythom in Oppeln, from which point they eventually retired, carrying with them a crowd of Christian slaves. From this time the Mongols became for a season an important factor in European politics. They corresponded and treated with the European sovereigns, and intermarried with royal families. Hulagu, the famous general, married a daughter of Michael Palaeologus ; Toktu Khan took as his wife Maria, the daughter of Andronicus II. ; and to Nogai Michael betrothed his daughter Irene. But Bereke s in fluence extended beyond Europe into Egypt, from which country, as well as from Constantinople, he secured the services of artisans to build him dwellings of a more substantial nature than that of his Golden Tent. But his widely extending intercourse with foreign nations brought in its train a consequence which tended fatally to under mine the existence of the horde. His conversion to Islam introduced a strongly disintegrating influence into the com munity, and with it were sown the seeds of its final dis ruption. Bereke was succeeded on his death in 1265 by his grandson Mangu Timur, who throughout his reign was con stantly engaged in hostilities with the Russians and his other European neighbours. The Genoese alone found under his patronage a means of advancing their possessions. For some time these people had held large colonies in southern Russia, and in the Crimea had divided the trade with the Venetians. By the support of Mangu Timur these last were driven out of the field, and the Genoese were left in the enjoyment of a monopoly of the commerce. The reigns of the khans who succeeded Mangu Timur were no less stormy than his had been ; but even in these troublous times the influences which surrounded the Mongols led them onward in the path of civilization. Toktu, the next khan but one to Mangu Timur, is the first Mongol ruler whom we hear of as having struck coins. Those issued during his reign bear the mint marks of Sarai, New Sarai, Bulgar, Ukek, Kharezm, Krim, Jullad, and Madjarui, and vary in date from 1291 to 1312. The adoption of Islam by the rulers of the Golden Horde had as one result the drawing closer of the relations of the Mongols with Constantinople and Egypt. Embassies passed between the three courts, and so important was the alliance with the Mongols deemed by the sultan Nasir,