Mongols living within the Mongol Empire (1206–1368) maintained their own culture, not necessarily reflective of the majority population of the historical Mongolian empire, as most of the non-Mongol peoples inside it were allowed to continue their own social customs. The Mongol class largely lead separate lives, although over time there was a considerable cultural influence, especially in Persia and China.

Some Mongols tended to make the transition from a nomadic way of life, based in yurt tents and herding livestock, to living in cities as the imposed rulers of a local population backed up by the Mongol army. But where possible they tended to retain their habits and customs, especially in matters to do with the family. They were given lavish grants of land and sometimes other sources of revenue.

Administration

Mongol governments would regularly appoint regional administrators from disparate places in the empire to rule other areas, sending Han Chinese and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, and importing Central Asians to serve as administrators in China. This strategy was meant to curtail power of the local peoples of dominated lands.

Food and cuisine

There are two different groups of food, "red foods", which make up much of the diet during the winter, and "white foods", which make up much of the diet during the summer.Charles Bawden. Mongolian-English Dictionary "White foods" are usually dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, and "airag" or lightly fermented mare's milk. Milk was also rarely drunk fresh. "Red foods" are usually meat products though meat was also hunted from wild game such as rabbits, deer, wild boar, squirrels, and marmots during the summer.

Winter meat was usually from sheep and less commonly horses. Ice fishing also occurred. Meat was preserved by cutting the meat into strips and then letting it dry by the sun and the wind, freezing, jerking, and smoking, or less commonly eaten fresh.Allsen, Thomas T. Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. 128-129 During the winter sheep were the only domestic animal slaughtered, and horses were occasionally slaughtered for ceremonies.Amitai-Preiss, Reuven, and David O. Morgan, eds. The Mongol Empire and its Legacy. Leiden: Brill, 1999. 200-222 Meat was boiled and flavored by wild garlic or onions.

Animals were slaughtered in a specific way. The animal was laid on its back and restrained. A knife would be used to cut the chest open and the aorta squeezed, which killed the animal while retaining the blood within the animal's carcass. Blood was an important ingredient that was used fresh, for broths, and for sausages.

Vegetables were generally limited to wild varieties or those acquired through trade or tribute. Grain was made into porridge or dough fried in fat.

Meal etiquette during large gatherings and ceremonies involved a meat meal cut up into small pieces. Guests were served their meat on skewers and the host determined the order of serving. People of different social classes were assigned to different parts of the meat and it was the responsibility of the "Baluchis" to know who was in each social class. The meat was eaten with fingers and the grease was wiped on the ground or clothing.

The most commonly imported fare was liquor, the most popular of which were Chinese rice wine and Turkestani grape wine. Genghis Khan was first presented with grape wine in 1204 where he dismissed it as dangerously strong. Drunkenness was common at festivals and gatherings. Singing and dancing were also common after the consumption of alcohol. Due to Turkestani and Middle Eastern influences, noodles started to appear in Mongol food. Spices such as cardamom and other food such as chickpeas and fenugreek seeds also became part of the diet due to these external influences.

In the Mongolian Empire the office of ba’urchi, generally translated as “cook,” or sometimes as “steward” or “commissary,” had a closeness to the ruler and his right to act on his behalf. Cooks were officers in the imperial guard (keshig), one formation of which, the night guard (kebte’ül), oversaw the provision and preparation of drink and food (undan ide’en) during the reigns of Chinggis Qan and Ögödei; in addition to their titular duties these officers often held active military commands. Some high-ranking officials, such as Bolad, Bolad's father, and Rashīd al-Dīn began as cooks.

In 1246, when Friar Carpini attended Güyüg's enthronment, the only food mentioned was salted and unsalted meat in broth. However, less than a decade later, when Rubruck arrived in Qara Worum, there were more foods such as millet with butter, boiled dough, sour milk, unleavened bread, cooking oil, wine, mead, vinegar, and dried nuts and fruits including almonds, grapes, and dried plums.

Economy of the Mongol Empire

Money

Paper money was authorized in 1227. It was backed by precious metals and silk.Weatherford, pp. 175-176 The Mongols used Chinese silver ingot as unified money of public account while circulating paper money in China and coins in the western areas of the empire such as Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate. Under Ögedei Khan the Mongol government issued paper currency backed by silk reserves and founded a department that was responsible for destroying old notes.A.P. Martinez, The use of Mint-output data in Historical research on the Western appanages, p.87-100 In 1253, Möngke established a Department of Monetary affairs to control the issuance of paper money to eliminate the overissue of the currency by Mongol and non-Mongol nobles since the reign of Great Khan Ögedei. His authority established a united measure based on sukhe or silver ingot, however, the Mongols allowed their foreign subjects to mint coins in the denominations and use the weight they traditionally used. During the reigns of Ögedei, Güyük, and Möngke, Mongol coinage increased with gold and silver coinage in Central Asia and copper and silver coins in Caucasus, Iran, and southern Russia.

The Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan issued paper money backed by silver, and again banknotes supplemented by cash and copper cash. Marco Polo wrote that the money was made of mulberry bark. The standardization of paper currency allowed the Yuan court to monetize taxes and reduce the carrying costs of taxes on goods as did the policy of Möngke Khan. But the forest nations of Siberia and Manchuria still paid their taxes on goods or commodities to the Mongols.The history of Yuan dynasty and Spuler Golden Horde Jiaochao was used only within the Yuan dynasty, and even Ilkhan Rinchindorj Gaykhatu, who was supportive of the Yuan leadership in other ways, failed to adopt the monetary experiment in his Middle East realm in 1294. As did the khanates of the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate minted their coins in gold, silver, and copper.Bruce G. Lippard The Mongols and Byzantium Ghazan's fiscal reforms enabled the inauguration of a unified bimetallic currency in the Ilkhanate.A. P. Martinez The use of Mint-output data in Historical research on the Western appanages, p.120-126 Chagatai Khan Kebek renewed the coinage backed by silver reserves and created a unified monetary system through the realm.

Mongol government and elites invested in commercial enterprises using metal coins, paper money, gold and silver ingots, and tradable wares for partnership investments and primarily financed money-lending and trade activities. A paper money investment was not possible in the western Mongol empire.

Trade routes The Mongols had a strong history of supporting merchants and trade. Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign merchants early in his career, even before uniting the Mongols. Merchants provided him with information about neighboring cultures, served as diplomats and official traders for the Mongols, and were essential for many needed goods since the Mongols produced little of their own. Mongols sometimes provided capital for merchants, and sent them far afield, in an auto (merchant partner) arrangement. As the Empire grew, any merchants or ambassadors with proper documentation and authorization, received protection and sanctuary as they traveled through Mongol realms. Well-traveled and relatively well-maintained roads linked lands from the Mediterranean basin to China, greatly increasing overland trade, resulting in some dramatic stories of those who traveled what became known as the Silk Road. One of the best-known travelers from West to East was Marco Polo, and a comparable journey from East to West was that of the Chinese Mongol monk Rabban Bar Sauma, who traveled from his home of Khanbaliq (Beijing) as far as Europe. Missionaries such as William of Rubruck also traveled to the Mongol court, on missions of conversion, or as papal envoys, carrying correspondence between the Pope and the Mongols as attempts were made to form a Franco-Mongol alliance. It was rare though for anyone to travel the entire length of the Silk Road. Instead, traders moved products much like a bucket brigade, with luxury goods being traded from one middleman to another, from China to the West, resulting in extravagant prices for the trade goods.

After Genghis, the merchant partner business continued to flourish under his successors Ögedei and Güyük. Merchants brought clothing, food, and other provisions to the imperial palaces, and in return, the Great Khans gave the merchant's tax exemptions and allowed them to use the official relay stations of the Mongol Empire. Merchants also served as tax farmers in China, Russia, and Iran. If the merchants were attacked by bandits, losses were made up from the imperial treasury.

Policies changed under the Great Khan Möngke. Because of money laundering and overtaxing, he attempted to limit abuses and sent imperial investigators to supervise the auto businesses. He decreed all merchants must pay commercial and property taxes, and he paid off all drafts drawn by high-ranking Mongol elites from the merchants. This policy continued in the Yuan dynasty. Möngke-Temür granted the Genoese and the Venetians exclusive rights to hold Caffa and Azov in 1267. The Golden Horde permitted German merchants to trade in all of its territories including Russian principalities in the 1270s. The Mongols developed the concepts of liability in relation to investments and loans in Mongol–ortoq partnerships, promoting trade and investment to facilitate the commercial integration of the Mongol Empire. In Mongol times, the contractual features of a Mongol-ortoq partnership closely resembled that of qirad and commenda arrangements.

The fall of the Mongol Empire led to the collapse of the political unity along the Silk Road. Also falling victim were the cultural and economic aspects of its unity. Turkic tribes seized the western end of the Silk Road from the decaying Byzantine Empire, and sowed the seeds of a Turkic culture that would later crystallize into the Ottoman Empire under the Sunni faith. Turkic–Mongol military bands in Iran, after some years of chaos were united under the Safavid tribe, under whom the modern Iranian nation took shape under the Shiite faith. Meanwhile, Mongol princes in Central Asia were content with Sunni orthodoxy with decentralized princedoms of the Chagatai, Timurid and Uzbek houses. In the Kypchak–Tatar zone, Mongol khanates all but crumbled under the assaults of the Black Death and the rising power of Muscovy. In the East, the native Chinese overthrew the Yuan dynasty in 1368, launching their own Ming dynasty and pursuing a policy of economic isolationism.Guoli Liu-Chinese foreign policy in transition, p.364