Warm, Wet Climate Likely Helped Genghis Khan Conquer the World

[xchrom]

http://www.livescience.com/44025-warm-climate-mongol-invasion.html

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Many Mongolians live as herders, like their ancestors. But changing climate may deprive them of their livelihood.
Credit: Kevin Krajick/Earth Institute, Columbia University

A generous stretch of warm, wet weather may have fueled Genghis Khan's wave of expansion through Asia and the Middle East in the 1200s, new research confirms.

The findings, first reported in 2012, have now been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By using data from tree rings of Siberian pines, researchers found an unusually warm and wet period between A.D. 1211 and 1225, corresponding with Genghis Khan's horse-driven invasion. The Mongol Empire eventually spanned from what is today Korea to eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The unusual wetness in a typically arid region would have lead to carpets of greenery, perfect food for the half-dozen or more horses kept by every Mongol warrior.

"It must have created the ideal conditions for a charismatic leader to emerge out of the chaos, develop an army and concentrate power," study researcher Amy Hessl, who studies tree rings at West Virginia University, said in a statement. "Where it's arid, unusual moisture creates unusual plant productivity, and that translates into horsepower. Genghis was literally able to ride that wave." [Top 10 Ways Weather Changed History)


***continuing drought spells trouble for inner asia

[JimDandy]

1. That's an interesting connection. n/t

[Demeter]

2. followed 100 years later by the Black Death

I think I have a topic for the Weekend...

[xchrom]

3. i'm inspirational! if a tad over dressed

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Well, the weather didn't cooperate when his grandson tried to conquer Japan ...

(Yeah, I know, climate not weather.)

[xchrom]

5. a moment of weather related disappointment. nt