FSS-IGPA Guest Lecture: Mongols
Speaker： Prof. Christopher PAIK, Associate Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Science, NYU Abu Dhabi
Date：16 Mar 2026 (Mon)
Time：10:00 – 11:30
Venue： E21B-G002
Language: English
Abstract: Prior to the rise of the West and European seaborne empires, the world witnessed another empire’s meteoric rise in the thirteenth century: the Mongols. At its apex, the Central Asian empire stretched its territories across Eurasia to form the largest contiguous land empire in history. What were the Empire’s immediate and long-term impacts on the conquered and the neighboring regions? In this paper, we map out the geographic extent to which the Mongols spread their territories, using historical climatic anomalies as exogenous contingencies that could drive their expansion and help us to identify regions under Mongol occupation. Next, we investigate the Empire’s subsequent impact on local development. Our main findings suggest that the Mongols’ territorial consolidation encouraged urbanization by providing a safe overland passage for traders, but their conquests and urbicides across Eurasia also negatively impacted local development subsequently.
