In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Mongol Empire's reliance on ortoq merchant partnerships—a system Genghis Khan himself created to fund conquests—eventually destabilized the realm from within. They follow the rise of the ortoq from trusted trade allies under Ögedei to predatory lenders who sparked inflation, corruption, and rebellion. Key figures include the Jochid prince Berke, who used ortoq loans to undermine the Ilkhanate, and the Yuan official Ahmad Fanakati, whose ortoq-backed tax schemes triggered revolts in China. The discussion covers the Golden Horde's manipulation of ortoq debts to cripple Hulegu's campaigns, the Chagatai Khanate's botched attempt to regulate ortoq lending, and the Ilkhanate's disastrous 1294 paper money experiment that was enforced through ortoq networks. By the 1330s, ortoq debt had become a weapon of inter-khanate warfare, accelerating the empire's fragmentation. This episode offers a fresh lens on Mongol decline—not through battles or succession crises, but through the ledger books of the merchants who financed them.

#Ortoq #MongolEmpire #CentralAsia #TradeHistory #SilkRoad #ÖgedeiKhan #BerkeKhan #AhmadFanakati #GoldenHorde #Ilkhanate #ChagataiKhanate #YuanDynasty #MedievalEconomics #Inflation #FinancialHistory #MongolDecline #History #FexingoHistory

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo