Changes

The Mongol invasions of the 13th century affected much of Eurasia, where at one point, the Mongols had conquered lands stretching from China to Eastern Europe. While these invasions have been depicted as very destructive and disruptive to trade and urban life in many regions, several new developments fundamentally changed the course of history for Europe and Asia. Many of these impacts are not obvious, but the Mongols' influences, in effect, can still be felt today.

This also likely reflects a greater presence of Turkic populations as they increasingly moved across Central Asia during conquests that saw major cities and populations removed. Such migrations had begun in the 11th century but increased further. Many regions remained relatively depopulated for centuries, such as Iran and Iraq, where those regions had once supported far larger populations, and those levels of populations did not fully recover until perhaps the 20th century. This also meant these regions became less significant in global affairs, as new powers arose to replace them in the Near East and surrounding regions.

In general, Central Asia and the Middle East became more depopulated. As they also lost their ability to control trade routes after navigation improved to circumvent the Silk Road routes, this created new opportunities for populations from the eastern parts of Central Asia to increasingly move into other regions of Central Asia and the Middle East. Eventually, this led to more influence and the rise of Turkic based dynasties, which had begun already before the Mongols, and the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. <ref>For more on demographic and political changes due to the Mongols, see: Harris, P. M. G. (2001). <i>The History of Human Populations.</i> Westport, Conn: Praeger.</ref>