‘Climate change’ drove rise of Genghis Khan EMMA REYNOLDS THE AUSTRALIAN MARCH 11, 2014 A SPELL of mild weather in central Mongolia eight centuries ago may have propelled the rise of Genghis Khan, researchers say. A study of tree rings spanning 11 centuries has shown that the conqueror took power during a very dry period and rapidly expanded his Mongol empire in Asia in the rare temperate years that followed. Severe drought from 1180 to 1190 was followed by sustained rainfall and mild temperatures between 1211 to 1225, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In fact, this was the wettest period in the region during the last millennium. “The transition from extreme drought to extreme moisture right then strongly suggests that climate played a role in human events,” said study co-author Amy Hessl, a tree-ring scientist at West Virginia University. “It wasnt the only thing, but it must have created the ideal conditions for a charismatic leader to emerge out of the chaos, develop an army and concentrate power.” The change in climate provided resources not usually seen in the area, with armies and their horses able to feed off the fertile land, the paper reveals. For the oldest samples, Hessl and lead author Neil Pederson, from Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, focused on a clutch of Siberian pines emerging from cracks in the Khangai Mountains, some of which were more than 1100 years old. “The researchers have provided valuable information about a period of great significance,” said Tom Baerwald, a program director for the National Science Foundation, which funded the research. “The results also provide insights into the complex interactions of climate, vegetation and human activity in semi-arid regions today.” The scientists believe that human-caused warming may have exacerbated the current drought in central Mongolia, similar to the drought that coincided with Genghis Khan’s early rise to power. “If future warming overwhelms increased precipitation, episodic ‘heat droughts’ and their social, economic and political consequences will likely become more common in Mongolia and Inner Asia,” says to the paper. Genghis Khan died in 1227, but his descendants ruled most of what became modern Korea, China, Russia, eastern Europe, southeast Asia, India and the Middle East.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 05:45:38 +0000
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