Mongolian military influence opened the land route from Europe, through the quiescent Islam states of the Near East, to India, Nepal, and beyond. During this "opening" of more than century between Europe and the East, several political and religious emissaries from Christendom and the Mongol Khans traveled the Asian land route - the "Silk Road." These were the times of Marco Polo and interminable journeys to the mystical East with it's alluring spices and silks and the stunning jewels of India.

The Christians sought during this interval to convert the Mongols, who were not ready for the word of Christ. The Mongols sought military alliance against Islam. It didn't work. Had the Christians been more patient, and worked militarily with the Mongols and then, hoping exposure to European ideals would ultimately convert the Mongolians, the two empires might have assimilated. Certainly the Mongols, while practicing no single religion, had far more religious tolerance than they are given credit for. Mongol tolerance of Buddhism would be contribute to their undoing.

The Christians were too rigid in their insistence on converting the Mongols, who themselves, a great conquering people, were unable to administer their vast realms that stretched over a quarter of the Asian continent. In 1348, the Chinese revolted against the Mongols - establishing the fist Ming dynasty. This was the end of Mongol supremacy in the East. The Europeans states became embroiled in pre-Renaissance civil disorder and religious corruption. Islam was spared, and the Muslims again slammed shut the land route between East and West. They re-captured their near-monopoly trade with the East. They were the ultimate "middlemen" between East and West.

But unfettered access to the riches of the East (to which Europe became enamored during the "opening") held supreme motivation, and thus was set in motion the great age of seafaring discovery. The drive to bypass Muslim middlemen sent Europeans around Africa and to the Far East via the sea. And Columbus's hope to find a shorter "Western" route led him to the New World. These episodes demonstrate how misperceptions, stubborness, greed, and above all, faith, combined to drive the story of humanity. 

Next: The voyage to discover the Indian Ocean.