Genghis Khan; St. Louis; Kubla Khan; Marco Polo, & dangerous land routes East led Columbus sailing West- American Minute with Bill Federer

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All those blaming Columbus for sailing west must turn one chapter back in the history books to find that it was actually Islamic jihad disrupting the land routes from Europe to India and China that resulted in Columbus looking for a sea route.

Our story will begin with GENGHIS KHAN.

In 1206, shortly after the Italians captured Constantinople, something happened 4,000 miles east. Genghis Khan, 1162–1227, King of Mongols, started his conquest.

By 1226, the Mongols invaded Poland, and by 1241, the Mongols invaded Russia and Central Europe with an army of 700,000 warriors.

They were armed with advanced military technology of the “composite bow,” as powerful as the English longbow but half its size.

This enabled Mongols to shoot from the saddle of a horse and hit a target 300 yards away.

The Mongolian Empire became the largest contiguous land empire in history.

It included Mongolia, China, Manchuria, Korea, North India, Java, Indonesia, Persia-Iran, Mesopotamia-Iraq, the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Turkmenistan, Moldova, South Korea, and Kuwait, Georgia Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia, Russia and Hungary.

Genghis Khan’s years of ruthless Mongolian raids caused other tribes to migrate westward, including the Bulgars and Turks, who eventually crossed the borders into the Persian and Byzantine Empires.

In 1250, Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulegu Khan, destroyed the Muslim Caliphate in Baghdad, killing an estimated 100,000. This ended the Islamic Golden Age with its contributions in science, cultural works and economic development.

One report was the Mongols, not wanting to "shed" royal blood, rolled Caliph al-Musta'sim in a Persian rug and had horses trample him to death. In Marco Polo's account, the Caliph was locked in his treasure room of gold where he starved to death.

Hulegu Khan made a preemptive strike against the Muslim cult of Assassins to prevent them from sending out covert killers, as it was rumored they sent out 400 assassins to kill his brother Mongke Khan.

ASSASSINS

The word “assassin” is an 11th century Arabic word “Hashshashin,” which was a militant sect of Ismaili Muslims, led by Hassan-i-Sabah, 1034–1124.

They also called themselves fedayeen” which means one who is willing to sacrifice his life for the cause.

As a youth, Hassan-i-Sabah was friends with the Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam, 1048–1123, who wrote the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Hassan-i-Sabah’s religious sect specialized in terrorizing their enemies in fearlessly executed, politically motivated assassinations. They would approach unsuspecting victims in disguise, often in public or in a mosque, and kill them with a dagger.

Marco Polo, who visited the Hashshashim’s mountain fortress of Alamut after it was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century, brought back one of the many accounts of how Hassan-i-Sabah recruited assassins.

An assassin recruit was made to feel he was in danger of being killed, but then, without his knowledge, he was drugged with opium or “hashish” and made to think he had died.

Being in an altered state-of-mind, he was taken to a garden filled with feasting, wine, and beautiful women. Convinced he was in paradise, he would eventually pass out, only to be carried back to where he had been kidnapped.

Upon regaining consciousness, he was told that he had visited paradise and that if he died obeying Hassan-i-Sabah orders to assassinate someone, he would return there.

7TH CRUSADE 1248–1254 SAINT LOUIS

In 1243, the Knights Templar, based in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, fought in Egypt.

The following year, a Persian Muslim force from the Khwarezmian Empire stormed Jerusalem.

The crusader army was drawn into battle at La Forbie in Gaza, where it was defeated by Baibars, the Muslim Malik Sultan of Egypt and Syria, with Khwarezmian tribesmen.

King Louis the Ninth of France ruled the wealthiest kingdom in Europe and commanded the most powerful army. He reigned in the tradition of Frankish King Charles Martel, who stopped the Muslim invasion into France in 732.

King Louis the Ninth led the Seventh Crusade from 1248 to 1254 against Egypt.

It is thought he intended as a coordinated crusade with Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, according to surviving manuscripts in Vienna, dated April 10, 1262.

Correspondence was sent from Hulagu Khan through John the Hungarian to King Louis the Ninth:

"From the head of the Mongol army, avid to devastate the perfidious nation of the Saracens, good-willing support of the Christian faith ... so that you, who are the rulers of the coasts on the other side of the sea, endeavor to deny a refuge for the infidels, your enemies and ours, by having your subjects diligently patrol the seas."

King Louis the Ninth left his newly constructed port of Aigues–Mortes in southern France and achieved initial success, but then suffered defeat. Louis stayed at the crusader kingdom in Acre.

In the midst of this time there was an unorganized Shepherds’ Crusade in 1251.

Sadly, during the era of the crusades, Jews and Egypt’s Coptic Christian population were caught in the middle, being considered as heretics by some crusaders and being persecuted by Muslims as traitors.

8TH CRUSADE 1270 SAINT LOUIS

In 1268, Antioch fell to Muslim leader Mamluk Sultan Baibars. He slaughtered all the Christian and Jewish men of Antioch, Syria, and sold the women into slavery.

He smashed crosses, burned Bibles, desecrated graves, and dragged every priest, deacon and monk to the altar and slit their throats.

He destroyed the Church of St. Paul and the Cathedral of St. Peter.

In response to cries for help, King Louis the Ninth of France set sail from Aigues–Mortes in 1270 leading the 8th Crusade.

Though originally intending to come to the aid of Christian states in Syria, the Crusade was diverted to Tunis where it suffered defeat.

Louis was in Tunis only two months before dying of the plague or dysentery.

LORD EDWARD'S CRUSADE

An extension of the Eighth Crusade was called "Lord Edward's Crusade," led by Edward the First of England.

It was last Crusade to reach the Holy Land before the fall of Acre in 1291.

Edward sent an embassy to Abagha, Mongol ruler of Persia, and formed a Franco-Mongol alliance.

Abagha sent 10,000 horsemen 1271, under General Samagar, to Syria. They successfully defeated the Muslim troops around Aleppo, drove them toward Hama, and devastated all the lands way to the Apamea.

The Muslim Mamluk leader, Baibars, sent 17 ships disguised as Christian ships, to attack Cyprus and then Acre, but they were driven back.

Unfortunately, Mongols troops did not stay. After collecting booty from their conquests, they retreated east over the Euphrates River.

Baibars then attacked from Egypt and Edward was forced to negotiate a ten year truce.

Immediately afterwards, an assassin most likely sent by Baibars, attempted to kill Edward. Wounded from the poisoned dagger, Edward left to recuperate in Sicily.

There he received word of the death of his son, John, and father, Henry the Third, so he returned to England where he was crowned King in 1274.

In-fighting between crusader forces led to Acre being conquered by the Mamluks in 1291. This signaled the end of the permanent crusader presence in the Middle East.

MARCO POLO

Between the 7th and 8th Crusades, Venetian traders Niccolo and Matteo Polo settled on the Black Sea in 1259, in an area conquered a few years earlier by Genghis Khan.

This was over two centuries before Columbus sailed west.

The Polos traveled east, where, after 5,600 miles, they made it to China. There they were received by the new Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, 1215–1294, grandson of Genghis Khan. He was Emperor of China, Korea, North India, Persia, Russia and Hungary.

Kublai Khan sent Nicole and Matteo Polo back to the Pope requesting 100 teachers of the Christian faith and a flask of oil from Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem.

Upon reaching Rome, they found out that the Pope, Clement the Fourth, had died.

The new Pope, Gregory the Tenth, had just been elected and preoccupied with the wars in Europe.

Due to the unsettled situation, only two preaching Dominican friars accompanied the Polo’s on their return to China in 1271. Niccolo also brought along his 17-year-old son, Marco Polo.

As they crossed a warring area of Turkey, the fearful friars turned back, leaving only speculation as to how history would have been different had they continued the journey.

They gave Kublai Khan the flask of oil from Jerusalem. He was so impressed with young Marco Polo that he employed him as an envoy for 17 years. Marco Polo learned several Asian languages.

Marco Polo wrote of Assyrian Christian missionaries who had converted tens of thousands to Christianity in China and India. Even the influential mother of Kublai Khan, Sorghaghtani Beki, was a Nestorian Christian.

Polo recorded that Kublai Khan tolerated various religions so as to prevent conflicts within his empire.

He requested the Christian Bible be brought to him for Easter and Christmas, which he would kiss. Kublai Khan also honored Saracen-Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist feast days.

When asked why he did this, not understanding the incompatibility of differing beliefs, he responded:

“I respect and honor all four great Prophets: Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Moses and Buddha, so that I can appeal to any one of them in heaven.”

A thriving Nestorian Christian community existed in China throughout Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty, but declined during the subsequent Ming Dynasty when Mongolian and other "foreign influences" were forced out.

In 1291, the Polos accompanied the Mongol princess, Kököchin, to Persia. From there, they travelled to Constantinople and then to Venice returning home after being gone for 24 years.

Marco was captured during the Battle of Curzola in 1298 and imprisoned in Genoa.

There he recited to his cellmate, Rustichello da Pisa his travels to Persia, China, Mongolia, and India. It became Medieval Europe's best-seller, The Travels of Marco Polo. It was nicknamed "Il Milione" or One Million Lies, as it described many things unbelievable to Europeans.

• India's worship of cattle;

• homes smeared with cow dung;

• naked holy men;

• exotic herbs and spices;

• indigo blue dye;

• fields of cotton cloth being dyed;

• China's spaghetti noodles;

• a Chinese compass;

• gunpowder;

• paper from tree pulp;

• printed paper currency;

• ice-cream;

• eye glasses;

• wheelbarrow;

• thread from worms - silk;

• porcelain dishes - "China";

• burning black stones - coal;

• pinatas;

• wine from rice;

• asbestos from a mineral;

• feet-binding of little girls so their feet remain tiny;

• arrows shot from a recurve bow; and

• an imperial "pony-express" style postal system.

Marco Polo surprised Europeans with the claims that the Magi, who brought gifts to baby Jesus, were buried in Saveh, a town in Persia south of Tehran, Iran.

After a year, Marco Polo was released. He returned to Venice, married, had three children and became a successful merchant. He died in 1324 and was buried in Venice's San Lorenzo Church.

Marco Polo stated regarding his return to Europe from China:

"I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice."

In the city of Genoa, 1451, some 127 years after Marco Polo's death, another explorer was born, Christopher Columbus. He, too, wanted to travel to India and China.

Columbus was two years old when the Muslim Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Second conquered Constantinople in 1453, ending European trade East.

Muslim Turkish crusaders proceeded to invade Eastern Europe and dominate the Mediterranean Sea, trade from Europe to India and China along the China Silk Road became increasingly dangerous due to raiders.

THUGS

Caravans were raided by “thugs,” a word derived from the Hindu word “thuggees” meaning “deceivers.”

They were first mentioned by Ziya-ud-Din in his History of Furuz Shah, 1356, who explained how they originated from seven Muslim tribes.

Their method was to join an unsuspecting caravan on its journey through a remote area, riding with them for days in order to gain their trust.

When travelers let down their guard, thugs would distract them with loud music or point at the sky allowing a fellow thug to sneak up behind and strangle the victim.

This continued until every member of the caravan was killed.

Thugs were careful to bury all the bodies so their evil deeds would not alert other caravans.

Their method was later adopted by Hindu followers of Kali,

An estimated 2 million were killed by thugs over 600 years.

In the 1830s, after the British took control of India, Governor–General William Bentinck and Captain William Henry Sleeman began eradicating the thugs.

To deal with this cult of highway robbers, the British formed a “Thuggee and Dacoity - Banditry - Department, which was renamed in 1904 as the Central Criminal Intelligence Department.

Mark Twain wrote in Following the Equator 1897:

"Nobody could travel the Indian roads unprotected and live to get through; that the Thugs respected no quality, no vocation, no religion, nobody; that they killed every unarmed man that came in their way ...

In 1830, the English found this cancerous organization embedded in the vitals of the empire, doing its devastating work in secrecy, and assisted, protected, sheltered, and hidden by innumerable confederates–big and little native chiefs, customs officers, village officials, and native police, all ready to lie for it, and the mass of the people, through fear, persistently pretending to know nothing about its doings; and this condition of things had existed for generations, and was formidable with the sanctions of age and old custom ..."

Twain continued:

"If ever there was an unpromising task ... surely it was offered here—the task of conquering Thuggee. But that little handful of English officials in India set their sturdy and confident grip upon it, and ripped it out, root and branch!

How modest do Captain Vallancey’s words sound now, when we read them again, knowing what we know:

'The day that sees this far-spread evil completely eradicated from India, and known only in name, will greatly tend to immortalize British rule in the East.'"

A best-selling English novel was Confessions of a Thug, 1839, based on the life of infamous thug Syeed Amir Ali.

Once land routes were ended by Islamic expansion, Europeans looked for a sea route.

Vasco de Gama , in 1498, sailed from Portugal, around South Africa to India.

Acts by Columbus are mild compared to the harsh treatment Vasco de Gama inflicted on native populations of East Africa and India.

Columbus grew up in Genoa, the city where Marco Polo was imprisoned nearly two centuries earlier, and he undoubtedly heard Polo's stories of the Grand Khan who lived in a very strange land on the other side of the world.

Columbus owned a copy of Marco Polo's book, and wrote numerous personal notes in the margins.

At the age of 41, Christopher Columbus wrote to the King and Queen of Spain in 1492:

"Concerning the lands of India, and a Prince called Gran Khan ... How many times he sent to Rome to seek doctors in our Holy Faith to instruct him and that never had the Holy Father provided them, and thus so many people were lost through lapsing into idolatries ...

... And Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes devoted to the Holy Christian Faith and the propagators thereof, and enemies of the sect of Mahomet and of all idolatries and heresies, resolved to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said regions of India,

to see the said princes and peoples and lands and the dispositions of them and of all, and the manner in which may be undertaken their conversion to our Holy Faith ..."

Columbus continued:

"And ordained that I should not go by land -- the usual way -- to the Orient, but by the route of the Occident, by which no one to this day knows for sure that anyone has gone."

On October 10, 1492, Columbus wrote of his journey to India and China, of how the sailors were growing tired and scared, being on such a long journey -- in fact, it was the longest voyage out of the sight of land to that date.

Answering the sailors who wanted to turn back, Columbus wrote:

"Here the people could stand it no longer and complained of the long voyage ... but the Admiral ... added that it was useless to complain.

He had come to the Indies, and so had to continue until he found them, with the help of Our Lord."