page_title: Mongol Empire
section_title: Mail system
hierarchical_section_title: Mongol Empire / Society / Mail system
caption_attribution_description: Letter from Oljeitu to Philippe le Bel, 1305. Transcription of the introduction: "Olziit Sultan ug maani. Iridfarans (Roi de France) Sultanaa. Ertnees ta buriin Frankuud irgenii sultad manai sain elents, sain ovog, sain etseg, sain akh dor amraldaj, khol beer bogoos oir met setgej, alivaa ugsee ochij, elchinee, esnii belguudee ilgeeldseniig yu andakhun ta?" Translation of the introduction: "Oljeitu Sultan our word. To the Iridfarans (King of France) Sultan. How could it be forgotten that from ancient times all you sultans of the Frank citizens have dealt peacefully with our good great-grandfather (Hulegu Khan), good grandfather (Abaga Khan), good father (Arghun Khan) and good brother (Ghazan Khan), esteeming us near although you are far, pronouncing your various words and sending your ambassadors and gifts of health-wishing?" Transcription of another line: "Naran urgakhui Nankhiyasiin ornoos avan Talu dalai khurtel ulus barildaj zamuudaa uyuulav." Translation of the line: "Our nation has been interlocked (peacefully connected) from the land of the Nankhiyas (plural for 'South Chinese') where the sun rises to the Talu Ocean (Mediterranean Sea) and our roads have been tied together." Red seal imprint with ten seal script Chinese characters: 真命皇帝天順萬夷之寶 Zhēnmìng huángdì tiānshùn wànyí zhī bǎo ("Precious seal of the Emperor truely mandated [by Heaven] to pacify the ten thousand foreign peoples").
context_page_description: The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire eventually stretched from Eastern Europe and parts of Central Europe to the Sea of Japan, extending northward into parts of the Arctic; eastward and southward into the Indian subcontinent, Mainland Southeast Asia and the Iranian Plateau; and westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.
  The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of several nomadic tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan, whom a council proclaimed as the ruler of all Mongols in 1206. The empire grew rapidly under his rule and that of his descendants, who sent out invading armies in every direction. The vast transcontinental empire connected the East with the West, the Pacific to the Mediterranean, in an enforced Pax Mongolica, allowing the dissemination and exchange of trade, technologies, commodities and ideologies across Eurasia.
context_section_description: The Mongol Empire had an ingenious and efficient mail system for the time, often referred to by scholars as the Yam. It had lavishly furnished and well-guarded relay posts known as örtöö set up throughout the Empire. A messenger would typically travel 25 miles (40 km) from one station to the next, either receiving a fresh, rested horse, or relaying the mail to the next rider to ensure the speediest possible delivery. The Mongol riders regularly covered 125 miles (200 km) per day, better than the fastest record set by the Pony Express some 600 years later. The relay stations had attached households to service them. Anyone with a paiza was allowed to stop there for re-mounts and specified rations, while those carrying military identities used the Yam even without a paiza. Many merchants, messengers, and travelers from China, the Middle East, and Europe used the system. When the great khan died in Karakorum, news reached the Mongol forces under Batu Khan in Central Europe within 4–6 weeks thanks to the Yam.
  Genghis and his successor Ögedei built a wide system of roads, one of which carved through the Altai mountains. After his enthronement, Ögedei further expanded the road system, ordering the Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde to link up roads in western parts of the Mongol Empire.
  Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty, built special relays for high officials, as well as ordinary relays, that had hostels. During Kublai's reign, the Yuan communication system consisted of some 1,400 postal stations, which used 50,000 horses, 8,400 oxen, 6,700 mules, 4,000 carts, and 6,000 boats.
  In Manchuria and southern Siberia, the Mongols still used dogsled relays for the yam. In the Ilkhanate, Ghazan restored the declining relay system in the Middle East on a restricted scale. He constructed some hostels and decreed that only imperial envoys could receive a stipend. The Jochids of the Golden Horde financed their relay system by a special yam tax.
caption: A 1305 letter (on a scroll measuring 302 by 50 centimetres (9.91 by 1.64 ft)) from the Ilkhan Mongol Öljaitü to King Philip IV of France.
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