THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · High Middle Ages

On the Eve of Genghis

The world in 1200

In 1200 the world does not yet know the name Genghis Khan, but on the Mongolian steppe a chief named Temüjin is defeating his rivals; in six years he will be proclaimed ruler of all the Mongols. China is divided between the Southern Song, a wealthy commercial empire ruling from Hangzhou, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the north.

In the Islamic world, the Khwarazm-shah Muhammad II has just inherited a growing empire in Iran and Central Asia, the Ghurids are conquering northern India, and Saladin's brother al-Adil has made himself master of the Ayyubid lands in Egypt and Syria. Western Europe is booming: towns, trade, universities and Gothic cathedrals are spreading, and Pope Innocent III is the most powerful pope of the Middle Ages. A new crusade is being planned that will, in 1204, sack Christian Constantinople. In Cambodia, Jayavarman VII is building Angkor Thom, and in the Andes a small tribe called the Inca is settling near Cusco.

Open the map in 1200

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

In the Limpopo valley, the rulers of K2 will move onto Mapungubwe Hill around 1220, founding a kingdom that lasts until about 1300, when power shifts north to Great Zimbabwe, whose stone enclosures are beginning to rise. Swahili city-states such as Kilwa control the gold trade along the East African coast. Malagasy chiefdoms rule Madagascar, and Khoisan herders and foragers hold the southwest.

Northern Africa

The Almohad Caliphate under Muhammad al-Nasir rules Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Muslim Spain from Marrakesh. The Ayyubid sultan al-Adil, brother of Saladin, takes control of Egypt in 1200, and Christian Makuria still rules Nubia. In Ethiopia the Zagwe king Lalibela is carving rock churches, while in West Africa the old empire of Ghana has collapsed, the Sosso king Sumanguru is rising, Kanem dominates Lake Chad, and Ife produces its famous bronze and terracotta heads.

Europe

The Holy Roman Empire is contested between Philip of Swabia and Otto IV, while Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) asserts papal power over kings. Philip II Augustus of France is about to seize Normandy from King John (r. 1199–1216), who rules the Angevin Empire of England and western France. The Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos is weak, Rus is split into principalities such as Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod and Galicia-Volhynia, and in Spain the kingdoms of Castile, León, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal face the Almohads.

Middle East & South Asia

The Ayyubids rule Egypt, Syria and Yemen; crusaders hold a strip of coast around Acre; the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum rules central Anatolia; and Queen Tamar rules Georgia at its golden age. The Abbasid caliph al-Nasir has revived the caliphate's power in Iraq, and the Khwarazmian Empire is expanding across Iran. In India, the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor, through his general Qutb al-Din Aibak, has conquered the Ganges plain since the Second Battle of Tarain (1192), while the Cholas, Hoysalas, Yadavas and other kingdoms rule the south.

Northern & Central Asia

The Khwarazmian Empire, under Muhammad II, who succeeds his father Tekish in 1200, rules Khwarazm and is expanding into Iran and Transoxiana. The Kara Khitai, a Khitan dynasty that fled the Jurchens, rule much of Central Asia from Balasagun. The Cumans (Kipchaks) dominate the western steppe, and the Volga Bulgars trade along the Volga.

East Asia

The Southern Song dynasty rules southern China from Lin'an (Hangzhou) under Emperor Ningzong, while the Jurchen Jin dynasty, under Emperor Zhangzong, rules northern China from Zhongdu (Beijing). The Tangut Western Xia rules the northwest, and in Mongolia Temüjin is uniting the tribes. Korea's Goryeo kings are puppets of the military dictator Choe Chung-heon, and in Japan the Kamakura shogunate, founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo (d. 1199), now shares power with the imperial court in Kyoto.

Southeast Asia

The Khmer Empire is at its greatest extent under Jayavarman VII (r. 1181–c. 1218), who builds Angkor Thom and the Bayon and has conquered Champa. Pagan rules Burma under Narapatisithu and is filled with thousands of temples. Đại Việt is ruled by the Lý dynasty, Srivijaya is declining, and the Kediri kingdom rules eastern Java.

Northern North America

The Thule people are beginning a rapid migration east from Alaska and within a century will reach Greenland, where they meet the Norse settlers. The Dorset culture still holds the eastern Arctic, but not for long. Athabaskan, Algonquian, Innu and Beothuk peoples live in the subarctic forests.

Southern North America

Cahokia is past its peak, but Mississippian chiefdoms flourish across the Southeast. Chaco Canyon has been abandoned after a drought, and Ancestral Puebloans now build cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. Tula has fallen (c. 1150), and central Mexico is divided among city-states as Chichimec peoples, including the Mexica (Aztecs), migrate south; in Yucatán, Mayapan is about to become the leading city.

Northern South America

The Chimú kingdom rules Peru's north coast from Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the Americas. Following Tiwanaku's collapse, Aymara kingdoms rule the Titicaca basin, and the Inca, a small group led by legendary founder Manco Capac, are settling in the Cusco valley (c. 1200). The Muisca rule the Colombian highlands.

Southern Cone

Diaguita farmers live in northwest Argentina, Mapuche ancestors in central Chile, and Guarani farmers in Paraguay and southern Brazil. Hunter-gatherers roam the pampas and Patagonia, and canoe peoples live in Tierra del Fuego.

Australasia & Oceania

Aboriginal Australians live across the continent. Polynesians are spreading rapidly from Tahiti and the Society Islands to Hawaii and Rapa Nui (Easter Island) around this time, and the Tu'i Tonga rule a maritime chiefdom from Tonga. New Zealand will be settled within the next century.

Events

  1. Saladin defeats the crusaders at Hattin and takes Jerusalem
  2. Muhammad of Ghor wins the Second Battle of Tarain
  3. Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes shogun
  4. Innocent III becomes pope
  5. Muhammad II becomes Khwarazm-shah
  6. Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
  7. Temüjin proclaimed Genghis Khan

Moments of this period

Wars of this period

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