Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	840
Title	Cross-Cultural Contacts and Changes in Worldviews during the Pax Mongolica
Date/Time	Tuesday 4 July 2017: 16.30-18.00
Organiser	Jong Kuk Nam, Department of History, Ewha Womans University, Seoul
Moderator/Chair	Janggoo Kim, Institute of Eurasian Silk Roads Studies, Dongguk University, South Korea
Paper 840-a	Tartar Slaves in Late 14th-Century Florence (Language: English) Jong Kuk Nam, Department of History, Ewha Womans University, Seoul Index Terms: Geography and Settlement Studies; Historiography - Medieval
Paper 840-b	Others in the East in Apocalyptic Discourses of the Late Middle Ages (Language: English) Baik-Yong Song, Department of History Education, Hannam University, South Korea Index Terms: Mentalities; Religious Life
Paper 840-c	The Marvelous Things (mirabilia) in the East Described in Jordanus Catala's Travel Account (Language: English) Yong-Jin Park, Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University Index Terms: Anthropology; Mentalities
Paper 840-d	Marco Polo in the Catalan Atlas, 1375 (Language: English) Hyunhee Park, Department of History, John Jay College / Graduate Center, City University of New York Index Terms: Art History - General; Geography and Settlement Studies; Maritime and Naval Studies
Abstract	This session aims to investigate cross-cultural contacts and changes in worldviews during the Pax Mongolica spanning from the mid-13th to the mid-14th century. The foundation of the Mongol Empire permitted European missionaries and merchants to make their way from Europe to China or vice-versa. Travelling through Asia and undertaking business and religious mission, they could encounter 'others', Asian peoples almost unknown to them. We will present research addressing the diverse aspects of cross-cultural contacts during the Mongol period: commerce between Europe and Asia, displacement of human beings and merchandises, attitudes towards otherness, European imagination, perception of Asia in travel accounts, and new knowledge of Asia incorporated to world maps. This forum will provide an opportunity to redress misunderstandings and prejudices about the Mongol period and to make a reappraisal of that period.