Relations between China and Europe across Eurasia : pre-modern perspectives

Abstract

The ability to discover more about history from a global perspective had always been a dream of mine since back in primary school. Local history had been part of my studies for several years, however like many other historians I felt the need to discover more global history in order to get a wider knowledge of distant civilisations. Being one of the first history student to get an opportunity to write my dissertation on global history had motivated me throughout this degree to do more research. Global history is a complex course which along the years gave me a widespread knowledge of the histories around the globe. Choosing global history as my degree was not an easy decision since it required hours of research on civilisations which I have never studied before. During these last few years I started focusing my studies on Asia and the Far East. Global history had paved the way for my research on the Orient The study units about Chinese history quickly grabbed my attention. Taking two of the study units on China have inspired me to write my dissertation on Chinese history. However, by making more research on Central Asia, the Far East and the Silk Road I have decided to write my dissertation on the Mongols. The Mongol empire was one of the largest empires in Asia and also in the known World. This dissertation on the interaction of civilisations during the Mongol era gave me two visions in my studies. Firstly, it helped me to move away from the euro-centric view and concern myself more on the global view of the World. Secondly, the Mongols gave me the opportunity to talk about China during the Yuan dynasty and its relations with the Europeans. Therefore, this dissertation contains a complex view of the Far East in the pre-modern era. Through this thesis I have also gained knowledge on the Mongol and Chinese languages along with information on Central Asia during the Silk Road’s climax. This dissertation also guides us towards the first interaction of the Europeans with the Mongols, Central Asian tribes and China. These relations have paved the way towards the great convergence making Eurasia inter-connected, well ready to the first phase of globalization.