Changes

Over time, much of the influence of the Mongols has become more of a background to other historical developments. Important trades shifted away from the Silk Road, and the New World gained a greater significance in the global economy. However, one areas area that the Mongol invasions have continued to affect is in demographics. Central Asia has experienced some of the greatest changes, where the decline of Indo-Aryan or Indo-European languages, such as those based for Persian, reflect a shift more to Turkic type languages. This also likely reflects greater presence of Turkic populations as they increasingly moved across Central Asia during the period of conqueststhat saw major cities and populations removed. Such migrations had begun in the 11th century but increased further. Many regions remained relatively depopulated for centuries, such as Iran and Iraq, where those regions had once support supported far larger populations and those levels of populations did not fully recover until perhaps the 20th century. This also meant these regions became less significant in global affairs, as new powers arose to replace them in the Near East and surrounding regions. In general, Central Asia and the Middle East became more depopulated. As they also lost their ability to control trade routes after navigation improved to circumvent the Silk Road routes, this created new opportunities for populations from the eastern parts of Central Asia to increasingly move into other regions of Central Asia and the Middle East. Eventually, this led to more influence and rise of Turkic based dynasties, which had begun already before the Mongols, and, eventually, the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. Over the long-term, the Middle East became less central for global affairs as it had been, in part due to population decline but also shifts in global trade patterns that were influenced by the Mongol invasions. <ref>For more on demographic and political changes due to the Mongols, see: Harris, P. M. G. (2001). <i>The history of human populations.</i> Westport, Conn: Praeger.</ref>

In China, the impacts did also lead to new political developments. The Yuan dynasty became a successor Chinese state from a Mongol khanate. However, in China, the invasion may have not been as destructive to the population, as they seemed to recover by the 14th and 15th centuries. Nevertheless, the experience of China with the Mongol invasions may have contributed to its isolationist policies that started in the late 15th century. The outside began to look like an uncivilized place, where the Mongol destruction was still relatively fresh on the mind of Chinese rulers, leading to a greater internallyfocus away from the rest of the world. This had long-term consequences for China, as it led to its economic and eventually political decline in the later half of the 2nd millennium and leading up to the early 20th century.In effect, one of the great global powers began to become insular.<ref>For more on the impact of the Mongols on China, see: Langlois, J. D. (Ed.). (1981). <i>China under Mongol rule.</i> Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.</ref>