Question
Why was trade so significant to the Mongols ?
Solution
In fact, the scant resources of the steppe lands drove Mongols and other Central Asian nomads to trade and barter with their sedentary neighbours in China. This was mutually beneficial to both parties: agricultural produce and iron utensils from China were exchanged for horses, furs and game trapped in the steppe.
Commerce was not without its tensions, especially as the two groups unhesitatingly applied military pressure to enhance profit. When the mongol lineages allied they could force their Chinese neighbours to offer better terms and trade ties were sometimes discarded in favour of outright plunder. This relationship would alter when the Mongols were in disarray. The Chinese would then confidently assert their influence in the steppe.
These frontier wars were more debilitating to settled societies. They dislocated agriculture and plundered cities. Nomads, on the other hand could retreat away from the zone of conflict with marginal losses.
