Book: Emperor of the Seas: Kublai Khan and the Making of China (Bloomsbury, 2024)
Author: Jack Weatherford
Reviewed by: Jonathan Addleton, president of Forman Christian College and former U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia
Combining a strong narrative style with a rare ability to make ancient history seem relevant to the present day, Jack Weatherford’s latest book is a welcome addition to his series of earlier books which provide an important and eminently readable window on the Mongols and their enduring legacy including Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World; The Secret History of the Queens of Mongolia; and Genghis Khan and the Search for God.
Emperor of the Seas is especially notable because it sheds light on an aspect of history that few Americans know about: the fact that the successors to Genghis Khan developed and deployed a navy, attempting to conquer and rule the seas in the same way that they had conquered and ruled the vast steppes of Central Asia.
It was Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan — neither fully Mongolian nor fully Chinese but whose place in history is guaranteed for his role in uniting China and launching a dynasty that drew on elements of both — that turned the Mongol gaze beyond the shores of East Asia, launching an effort to to bring Japan, Indonesia and even other parts of Asia up to the Gulf of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea into the Mongol orbit.
In doing so, Kublai Khan conceived, developed and deployed what became China’s first “blue-water navy”, mastering the art of ship-building and employing sailors and marines from a wide range of backgrounds while also attempting to knit far-flung parts of the world into a well-protected trade network that he envisaged would be the ocean equivalent to the “Silk Road” as experienced by Marco Polo that had earlier connected China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. As with the Silk Road, this new sea route provided opportunities for an exchange of ideas, intellectual ferment and religious dialogue aimed at further shaping an increasingly connected world.
Arguably, China’s latest self-proclaimed “Belt and Road” initiative draws on this largely unknown past as it seeks to assert China’s primacy on the global economic stage, increasingly also backed by the assertion of military might on both land and sea.
If William Faulkner is correct that, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” Weatherford’s latest book will remind readers that history often does involve recurring variations on a theme — in this case, on a theme in which Chinese-led sea-based operations, having played an important geopolitical role 800 years ago, may once emerge as a key factor in the 21st-first century.
About the reviewer:
Jonathan Addleton was born and raised in the mountains of northern Pakistan, the child of Baptist missionaries from Macon, Georgia. A career diplomat, he served as US Ambassador to Mongolia and USAID Mission Director in India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Mongolia and Central Asia, among other assignments. He now serves as Rector/President of Forman Christian College (A Chartered University) in Lahore, Pakistan
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