ABSTRACT
Eurasian history proper begins in the second half of the thirteenth century with the Mongols. Though their empire did not last for long—some authorities assert it survived for as little as forty years, and it certainly did not endure for much more than a century—they made a major contribution by inextricably linking Europe and Asia. The states and empires of the two continents had traded with each other as early as the first century b.c.e., and nomadic peoples from Asia such as the Xiongnu had raided and invaded European territory since the fourth century c.e. The fabled Silk Road, which wound its way from northwest China through the oases of central Asia, the towns and marketplaces of Persia, and the ports on the Mediterranean and then westward to Europe, had facilitated trade between Asia and Europe. But there had been no direct relations between Europe and East Asia and no European had set foot in China until the Mongol invasions.
