Roots of Mongol Empire
With the rise of the Genghis Khan in the early 1200s, scientists were interested in conducing a project on the climate condition of Mongolia . They would like to investigate whether or not his success in conquering the largest contiguous land in the history which is 31 million square kilometres is related to the climate condition of Mongolia at that time. Thus, the project identifying the relationship between climate and the rise of a new leader and to make the previous climatic records more comprehensive is conducted.
Scientists believe that climate condition which is closely related to the grassland productivity, water availability and energy-use efficiency has great impact on the development of a country. To support this idea, scientists have collected evidences of living samples such as Siberian pines, downed logs and lava field's stressed trees . In addition, the phosphorus levels of lakes and the precipitation pattern over years were also recorded.
The above evidences collected support their idea in different ways. First of all, living samples collected can reflect the precipitation pattern at certain period. For instances, the rings of trees being acutely sensitive to changes in moisture levels bear the imprint of those fluctuations in which the thicker the tree rings, the wetter the years are.
Besides, with the phosphorus levels of lake and the precipitation pattern recorded, the availability of water for agriculture, irrigation and war could be accessed. When there is intense precipitation, the grassland productivity, livestock population and overall energy output will be boosted. More manpower and resources such as horses are thus available for war which takes advantages over sedentary armies of other countries.
Therefore, by analysing the living samples such as tree rings and different climatic statistics such as the precipitation pattern, the weather condition at the rising time of Genghis Khan