Thomas Allsen's latest book breaks new scholarly boundaries in its exploration of cultural and scientific exchanges across Mongol Eurasia. Contrary to popular belief, Mongol rulers were intensely interested in the culture of their sedentary subjects and, under their auspices, commodities, ideologies and technologies were disseminated from East to West. Preface ix Note on transliteration x Abbreviations xi PART I BACKGROUND Introduction 3(5) Before the Mongols 8(9) PART II POLITICAL-ECONOMIC RELATIONS Formation of the Il-qans, 1251-1265 17(7) Grand Qans and Il-qans, 1265-1295 24(7) Continuity and change under Ghazan, 1295-1304 31(4) Sultans and Grand Qans, 1304-1335 35(6) Economic ties 41(10) Overview of the relationship 51(8) PART III INTERMEDIARIES Marco Polo and Po-lo 59(4) Qubilai and Bolad Aqa 63(9) Rashid al-Din and Pulad chinksank 72(11) PART IV CULTURAL EXCHANGE Historiography 83(20) Geography and cartography 103(12) Agriculture 115(12) Cuisine 127(14) Medicine 141(20) Astronomy 161(15) Printing 176(13) PART V ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS Models and methods 189(4) Agency 193(10) Filtering 203(7) Summation 210(2) Bibliography 212(26) Index 238