20 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in every exam-style shape used in the paper. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markWhich work is the earliest surviving narrative account of Genghis Khan’s life?
(A) Juwaini’s chronicle of the Il-Khans(B) The Secret History of the Mongols(C) Marco Polo’s travel account(D) Rashiduddin’s history of the Mongols - 1 markWhat was Genghis Khan’s original name?
(A) Jamuqa(B) Boghurchu(C) Temujin(D) Tughril - 1 markWhich ruler had Mongol envoys executed, and so provoked the campaigns of 1219 to 1221?
(A) Sultan Muhammad of Khwarazm(B) Ong Khan of the Kereyits(C) Jalaluddin(D) The ruler of the Qara Khita - 1 markA unit of ten thousand soldiers in the Mongol decimal army was called a:
(A) noyan(B) naukar(C) tuman(D) tama - 1 markThe Golden Horde was the name observers gave to the khanate ruled by the:
(A) Toluyids in China(B) Chaghataids in Turkistan(C) Il-Khanids in Iran(D) Jochids in the Russian steppes
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Almost everything historians know about the Mongols comes from writers who were not Mongols themselves.
Reason (R): Nomadic Mongol society left the past unwritten and produced no literature of its own.
(A) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A(B) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): The yasa was a detailed written law code that Genghis Khan personally composed.
Reason (R): In its earliest form the word yasaq meant simply law, decree or order, and covered administrative rules for the hunt, the army and the postal system.
(A) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A(B) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch List I with List II.
List I: (i) Jochi (ii) Chaghatai (iii) Ogodei (iv) Toluy
List II: (a) The Mongol homeland (b) The Russian steppes (c) The Transoxianian steppe and the lands north of the Pamirs (d) Great Khan, with his capital at Karakorum
(A) i-c, ii-b, iii-a, iv-d(B) i-b, ii-d, iii-c, iv-a(C) i-b, ii-c, iii-d, iv-a(D) i-a, ii-c, iii-b, iv-d - 1 markMatch the steppe confederacy in List I with its date and people in List II.
List I: (i) Hsiung-nu (ii) Juan-juan (iii) T’u-chueh (iv) Khitan
List II: (a) 940 CE, Mongols (b) 200 BCE, Turks (c) 550 CE, Turks (d) 400 CE, Mongols
(A) i-b, ii-a, iii-c, iv-d(B) i-c, ii-d, iii-b, iv-a(C) i-d, ii-b, iii-a, iv-c(D) i-b, ii-d, iii-c, iv-a
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements.
Statement I: The Mongols took up settled farming on a large scale during the thirteenth century.
Statement II: Neither pastoralism nor hunting and gathering could support a dense population, so the steppe had no cities of its own.
(A) Both statements are true, and Statement II explains Statement I(B) Both statements are true, but Statement II does not explain Statement I(C) Statement I is true, Statement II is false(D) Statement I is false, Statement II is true - 1 markConsider the following statements.
Statement I: In the 1230s a strong group among the Mongols pressed for massacring the peasantry of north China and turning the fields into pasture.
Statement II: By the 1270s Qubilai Khan was presenting himself as the protector of peasants and cities.
(A) Both statements are true, and Statement II explains Statement I(B) Both statements are true, but Statement II does not explain Statement I(C) Statement I is true, Statement II is false(D) Statement I is false, Statement II is true
5 Chronological Ordering
Chronological Ordering
- 1 markArrange the following in chronological order.
1. Peking is sacked
2. The Hsi Hsia are defeated
3. The Great Wall of China is breached
4. The Qara Khita are defeated
(A) 2-1-3-4(B) 3-2-1-4(C) 2-3-1-4(D) 1-3-2-4 - 1 markArrange the following events in chronological order.
1. The Yuan dynasty comes to an end in China
2. Baghdad is captured and the Abbasid caliphate ends
3. The whole of China comes under Mongol rule
4. Ghazan Khan rules Il-Khanid Iran
(A) 3-2-4-1(B) 2-4-3-1(C) 2-3-4-1(D) 1-2-3-4
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markThe specially chosen captains who commanded the new units alongside Genghis Khan’s sons were called ______.
(A) anda(B) tuman(C) naukar(D) noyan - 1 markThe rapid courier relay that linked the far corners of the empire was known as the ______.
(A) yam(B) baj(C) tama(D) paiza
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markWhich of these was NOT one of the four sons among whom Genghis Khan divided responsibility for his conquests?
(A) Jochi(B) Hulegu(C) Chaghatai(D) Toluy
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
After the fall of Bukhara in 1220, the Persian chronicler Juwaini recorded that Genghis Khan addressed the wealthy residents of the city in these words: ‘O people, know that you have committed great sins. If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the punishment of God.’ A man who had escaped the sack of the city was asked, long afterwards, what had happened there. His entire answer was: ‘They came, they mined the walls, they burnt, they slew, they plundered and they departed.’
- 1 markIn the passage, whose words are ‘I am the punishment of God’?
(A) Juwaini’s(B) Genghis Khan’s(C) The escaped survivor’s(D) A preacher of Bukhara - 1 markWhat does the survivor’s one-line answer suggest about the material historians have to work with?
(A) That eyewitness reports of Mongol campaigns are usually long and detailed(B) That Mongol chroniclers left the most balanced record(C) That much of what survives is brief, second-hand or set down by the conquered, so it must be read with care(D) That the Mongols kept careful written records of every campaign
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 markConsider the following statements.
(i) Genghis Khan died in 1227.
(ii) The conquest of the whole of China was completed within his own lifetime.
(A) Both are true(B) Only (i) is true(C) Only (ii) is true(D) Both are false - 1 markConsider the following statements.
(i) The Mongol Khans made their own personal faith the official religion of the empire.
(ii) By the middle of the thirteenth century the word ulus had come to mean a fixed territorial dominion.
(A) Both are true(B) Only (i) is true(C) Only (ii) is true(D) Both are false
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions1. (B): The Secret History of the Mongols, whose Mongolian title is transliterated Mongqol-un niuca tobcian, is the oldest narrative on his life, and even its own Mongolian and Chinese versions disagree with each other. · 2. (C): He was named Temujin, son of Yesugei, chieftain of the Kiyat, a group of families within the larger Borjigid clan. · 3. (A): Sultan Muhammad’s execution of the envoys brought Mongol armies down on Otrar, Bukhara, Samarqand, Balkh, Gurganj, Merv, Nishapur and Herat. · 4. (C): The decimal system ran in units of 10, 100, 1,000 and, at least on paper, 10,000. The largest of these was the tuman, which rarely held its full number. · 5. (D): Jochi’s descendants ruled the Russian steppes, and their state was known to outside observers as the Golden Horde.
Assertion-Reason1. (A): Both are true and R gives the cause of A: since the Mongols themselves wrote almost nothing down, the surviving chronicles, travelogues and documents were all produced by city-based literati. · 2. (D): A is false: the yasa was in all likelihood a compilation of Mongol customary tradition given Genghis Khan’s authority by his successors. R is true and shows how narrow the term was at the start.
Match the Following1. (C): Jochi received the Russian steppes, Chaghatai the Transoxianian steppe and the lands north of the Pamirs, Ogodei the office of Great Khan with Karakorum as his capital, and Toluy the ancestral Mongol homeland. · 2. (D): The book’s own table gives Hsiung-nu 200 BCE (Turks), Juan-juan 400 CE (Mongols), T’u-chueh 550 CE (Turks) and Khitan 940 CE (Mongols).
Statement-Based Questions1. (D): Statement I is false: a little farming was possible in the pastoral areas, but unlike some Turkic peoples further west the Mongols never really took to it. Statement II is correct. · 2. (B): Both statements are correct, but they describe two different moments in a changing policy. The second is a later contrast to the first, so it cannot be the explanation for it.
Chronological Ordering1. (C): The Hsi Hsia fell by 1209, the Great Wall was breached in 1213, Peking was sacked in 1215 and the Qara Khita were beaten in 1218. · 2. (C): Baghdad fell in 1258, China was completely conquered by 1279, Ghazan Khan ruled from 1295 to 1304, and the Yuan dynasty ended in 1368.
Fill in the Blanks1. (D): Noyan was the rank given to the captains picked to lead the reorganised units under Genghis Khan’s four sons. · 2. (A): The yam was the chain of outposts holding fresh horses and riders, and it was refined further after Genghis Khan’s death until its speed astonished foreign travellers.
Odd One Out1. (B): Hulegu was a grandson, who founded the Il-Khanid state in Iran. The four sons were Jochi, Chaghatai, Ogodei and Toluy.
Passage-Based Questions1. (B): Juwaini reports these as Genghis Khan’s own words, spoken to the wealthy residents of Bukhara after the city fell in 1220. · 2. (C): A single sentence was all one survivor could give, and even Juwaini wrote long afterwards for Mongol patrons, so such material has to be handled critically.
True / False1. (B): He died in 1227, but the whole of China came under Mongol rule only in 1279, under his successors. · 2. (C): The first is wrong: the Khans held a range of personal faiths and kept them apart from public policy, recruiting administrators and soldiers from every religion. The second is correct.
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