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Volume 44The recent Timur episode really hooked me (I feel like I shoulda known about it already). I have 2 questions: 1: how do you think it would have gone if he’d have made it to China?
Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage
Drew “Dr.C” Clinkenbeard asks, The recent Timur episode really hooked me (I feel like I shoulda known about it already). I have 2 questions: 1: how do you think it would have gone if he’d have made it to China? 2: it seems like China did everything first; I feel like it should be the dominant culture- why not? (My assumption: Mongols.) Anyway, keep on going Gary; I’m getting close to wanting to join Patreon… I like your work that much.
I think Timur would have gotten bogged down. Ghengis Khan didn’t conquer China. That was left to his grandson, Kublai Khan. China was big, and conquering it would have taken a long time.
As for why China didn’t dominate the world, I think it is more a cultural thing. China viewed itself as the center of the world. The Middle Kingdom.
During the Ming Dynasty, they abruptly stopped the voyages of exploration by Admiral Zheng He. When Europeans arrived, they didn’t want any of the goods that they had to trade.
China was highly centralized, whereas Europe was made up of highly competitive nations, who were looking for an advantage over their rivals.
This contentment ended up being their undoing.
Based on available episode transcripts. Answers are attributed to their original episodes and may contain transcription errors or later-outdated information. Some older volumes have missing source material.