This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Yam (route) is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Yam (Mongolian: Өртөө Örtöö) is a supply point route messenger system employed and extensively used and expanded by Genghis Khan and used by subsequent Great Khans and Khans. Relay stations were used to give food, shelter and spare horses for Mongol armies messengers. Genghis Khan gave special attention to Yam because Mongol armies were known to travel very fast, so their messengers had to be even faster, covering 200-300 km per day. It was used to speed up the process of information and intelligence.
Contents |
Description
The Yam operated with a chain of relay stations at certain distances to each other, usually around 140 miles or 200 kilometers. Messengers for example would go to the next relay station and give the information to the second messenger and rest and let the second messenger go to the third relay station to hand the document to the third messenger. This way information or documents were constantly on the move without each messenger getting tired. In each relay station there would be spare horses, food, and shelter.
As one of the most fundamental tools for managing the Mongol Empire, the operation of the Yam system was regulated by the the written law Yassa. Both messengers and station operators enjoyed extended priviledges. Even for everybody else, the requirements of the Yam took precedence before their other duties and interests, and they had to support it whenever it became necessary. This kind of support was made possible by the strict discipline within the empire, which also led to a high level of security, often described as Pax Mongolica.
At first the system was also available to merchants free of cost. The abuse of this possibility led Möngke Khan to require that commercial users pay for the services.
The service has been described in great detail by European travellers including Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, William of Rubruck, Marco Polo, and Odoric of Pordenone. While it was not the first messenger system in history (earlier ones existed in the Persian and Roman Empires), it was unprecedented in size and efficiency.
Etymology
The name Yam was adopted in most western languages from Russian, where it probably is a Tatar (turkic) loan word. The turkic word root again is related to the Mongolian "Zam" (road or way). However, in the Mongolian Empire, both the postal system and the individual stations were named "Örtöö" ("Örtege" in Classical Mongolian).
References
- de Hartog, Leo (2004). Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World. Tauris Parke Paperbacks, pp.40-41. ISBN 1860649726.
See also
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 9 November 2008, at 22:46.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Yam (route)".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.