Karakoram, the Gunks and New Routes And Climbing Ethics.

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 1 - 5 of total 5 in this topic

donald perry

Trad climber

kearny, NJ

Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 15, 2012 - 07:52pm PT

One second ... I lost my pencil.

GOclimb

Trad climber

Boston, MA

Feb 17, 2012 - 04:28pm PT

???

GO

Dropline

Mountain climber

Somewhere Up There

Feb 17, 2012 - 04:39pm PT

You have lost something else as well.

nutjob

Gym climber

Berkeley, CA

Feb 17, 2012 - 04:58pm PT

Heh heh.

I'm reading a book about Genghis Khan these days. EXTREMELY interesting, and overturning a lot of prejudices and misinformation I had picked up through my standard schooling. Apparently he was ruthless to crush opposition and consolidate his power (it is a pretty amazing story of rising from as low a position a human can be, to the greatest control any human has ever had over the world), killing many in the process, but he also created "civilization" across an unprecedented geographic scale that placed government ahead of religion and allowed different religions to coexist in a respectful manner, instuted paper money exchanges to facilitate trade, developed excellent roads and efficient mail systems, etc.

In short, it was not just this crazy horde of dudes on horses destroying western, mideastern, and chinese civilizations. They created an environment where scholars from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism debated the merits of their religion in an open forum to entertain and enlighten the government leaders. Granted, they were ordered on "pain of death" to behave themselves in the debate. But at the same time in Europe, torture was growing in popularity as a means of enforcing Christianity and the Crusades were raging. Which society was more enlightened?

One might argue that the start of the Renaissance in Europe owed as much to the Mongols killing off the aristocracy during their conquest, thereby weakening the oppressive power structure of the middle ages, as much as any information exchange with the Crusades to the middle east.

Anyways, time to tie it in to this thread. One of Gengis Khan's sons who became the Grand Khan ordered the city of Karakoram to be built. It was primarily a storehouse for all the loot they were accumulating, and a place to maintain all the scholars and artisans whom they had assimilated through their conquests.