Includes bibliographical references and index.

Guo Kan: military exchanges between China and the Middle East / Florence Hodous -- Baiju: the Mongol conqueror at the crossfire of dynastic struggle / Sara Nur Yıldız -- Qutulun: the warrior princess of Mongol Central Asia / Michal Biran -- Yang Tingbi: Mongol expansion along the maritime silk roads / Masaki Mukai and Francesca Fiaschetti -- Sayf al-Dīn Qipchaq al-Manṣūrī: defection and ethnicity between Mongols and Mamluks / Amir Mazor -- Tuqtuqa and his descendants: cross-regional mobility and political intrigue in the Mongol Yuan army / Vered Shurany -- Ja'far Khwāja: Sayyid, merchant, spy and military commander of Chinggis Khan / Qiu Yihao -- Diplomacy, black sea trade and the mission of Baldwin of Hainaut / John Giebfried -- Jamāl al-Dīn al-Ṭībī: the Iraqi trader who traversed Asia / Matanya Gill -- Taydula: a Golden Horde queen and patron of Christian merchants / Szilvia Kovács -- Rashīd al-Dīn: Buddhism in Iran and the Mongol silk roads / Jonathan Brack -- Fu Mengzhi: "the sage of Cathay" in Mongol Iran and astral sciences along the silk roads / Yoichi Isahaya -- 'īsa Kelemechi: a translator turned envoy between Asia and Europe / Kim Hodong And Wonhee Cho -- Pādshāh Khatun: an example of architectural, religious, and literary patronage in Ilkhanid Iran / Bruno De Nicola -- Islamic learning on the silk roads: the career of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Akhawī / Or Amir.

"During the 13th and 14th centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary, Iraq to Tibet, Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups-military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals-from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire pulled from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations. Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire's impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West, as well as for illustrating the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads. Features and Benefits: Synthesizes historical information from Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Latin sources that are otherwise inaccessible to English-speaking audiences. Presents in an accessible manner individual life stories that serve as a spring board for discussing themes such as military expansion, cross cultural contacts, migration, conversion, gender, diplomacy, trans-regional commercial networks and more. Each chapter includes a bibliography to assist students and instructors seeking to further explore the individuals and topics discussed. Informative maps, images, and tables throughout the volume supplement each biography"-- Provided by publisher.