Part One
TRANSOXANIA AND KHURASAN
(G. A. Pugachenkova)

Part Two
SOUTHERN CENTRAL ASIA
(A. H. Dani)

Part Three
EASTERN CENTRAL ASIA
(Liu Yingsheng)

Towns appeared very early in Mongolia. In the T’ang period, the Uighur Kaghanate built its capital of Ordu Balk, and in the Liao period, there was a settlement at Kemkemjek; but the most important period for urbanization in this area was the Mongol–Yan period, when Mongolia was the heartland of a world empire (see Volume IV, Part One, Chapter 12).

KARAKORUM

Karakorum was situated outside the main urban settlement of the Inner Khanghai province of Mongolia, i.e. the town of Khar Khorin. This place had been the summer pasture of the Kerait (Kereyit) tribe and there had been a Buddhist temple in the Liao period. In the time of Chinggis Khan (d. 1227), an ordu (military camp) was established near Karakorum, inhabited by his womenfolk. At that time, there were thousands of gers (felt tents) and carts. gedey ordered the building of a palace called Wan An and of residences of princes and ministers, temples and storehouses on the eastern bank of the Orkhon river.

The project was organized by a Chinese official, Liu Ming, and the Wan An palace was finished the following year.

According to the travel narrative of William of Rubruck, Wan An had three doors on the south side. Inside the palace were two rows of pillars, and at the northern end was the exalted seat of the emperor with two stairways leading up to the seat. On the right-hand side of the emperor were the seats of the princes, and on the left side were the seats of the queens and imperial concubines. Outside the palace, before the middle door, there was a large silver tree, at the foot of which were four silver lions each with a pipe, and all giving forth white mare’s milk. Inside the trunk, four pipes led up to the top of the tree; the ends of the pipes were bent downwards, and over each of them was a gilded serpent whose tail twined round the trunk of the tree. These pipes poured out different drinks.

In Rubruck’s estimation, Karakorum was as big as Saint-Denis in France. There were two districts in the town, one inhabited by Chinese merchants and craftsmen and the other by Saracens (i.e. Muslims). There were twelve temples belonging to different peoples, two mosques and one Nestorian church. The city wall had four gates. At the east gate, millet and other types of grain were sold; at the west, sheep and goats; at the south, oxen and carts; and at the north, horses. The building of Karakorum continued until Mngke Kaghan’s reign (1251-9). In a place 35 km north of Karakorum, a town called Sahurin and the Gegen Kaghan palace were built on the orders of gedey (1229–41); and more than 15 km south of Karakorum, Tuzqu town and another palace were also built on his orders.

Excavations have shown that the Wan An palace was situated at the south-western corner of Karakorum and that it had a wall around it about 1 km long. The base walls of the palace are 3 m high, 80 m long and 55 m wide. There were 9 lines of pillars from south to north and 8 lines from east to west, in all, 72 pillars. The central hall measures 2,475 m and was built in Chinese style. The length of the city walls was about 6 km. There was a main street running from east to west and another from south to north, and along these streets were residences of officials, temples, houses and workshops.

CHINQAI

This was the political and economic centre of western Mongolia in the Yan period, and the only town which was more important than Karakorum. It was built by captured Chinese craftsmen on the orders of Chingay, the great secretary of Chinggis Khan; hence the town was named ‘Chinqai Town’ after him. Those Chinese artisans built the city walls and storehouses and established military settlements and workshops. Chinqai was near the Altai mountains, and later played an important role in the war with the rebellious princes of the north-west. The soldiers of the Yan garrison there were mainly Kpchak Trks. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Yan court made it the centre of a local administrative unit. The grain produced each year by the military farms amounted to more than 100 tons. The site of Chinqai has not yet been found, but it must be somewhere in the north of the Zun Khairkhan mountains, which are situated in the east of Khovd province of modern Mongolia.

KEMKEMJEK

This was situated in the north-west of the Mongolian plateau, north of the Tangly mountains, where the terrain and climate were suitable for agriculture; urbanization began to develop at least from the Liao period, so that in Kara Khitay times, Kemkemjek was one of the most important places in the country. In the time of Chinggis Khan, Kemkemjek, belonged to the wife of Tolui, his fourth son. At that time, the population comprised several thousand families, most of whom were Mongols (or presumably Turkish) Muslims. The Chinese there were mainly craftsmen who had been transferred from inland China at the beginning of the establishment of Mongol rule, and they were forced to work in the state workshops. These Chinese were skilled in metalworking, so that Kemkemjek became a important centre for the production of agricultural tools and weapons, as ell as silk. Russian archaeologists have found the site of an ancient town called Den Terek dating back to the thirteenth century, in which the ruins of houses, old weapon and agricultural tools have been found, probably the site of Ilan town in this same region. But with the decline of the Yan dynasty, Kemkemjek gradually lost importance.