The Franco-Mongol alliance was an attempted alliance between FrankishCrusaders and the Mongol Empire against the Muslims, their common enemy. Contact between Europeans and Mongols began around 1220, and tended to follow a pattern: the Europeans asked the Mongols to convert to Christianity, while the Mongols (who had already conquered many Christian and Muslim nations in their advance across Asia) responded with demands for submission and tribute (example letter pictured). European attitudes began to change in the mid-1260s, from perceiving the Mongols as enemies to be feared, to potential allies against the Muslims. The Mongols sought to capitalize on this, promising a re-conquered Jerusalem to the Europeans in return for cooperation. Attempts to cement an alliance continued through decades of negotiations, without success. The Mongols invaded Syria several times between 1281 and 1312, sometimes in attempts at joint operations with Crusader forces, but the forces were never able to coordinate in any meaningful way. The Mongol Empire eventually dissolved into civil war, and the Crusaders lost control of Palestine and Syria to the Egyptian Mamluks. (Full article...)
... that historical maps and descriptions include nine different names for Lake Débo(pictured) in Niger?
... that the Purple-throated Cotinga is considered a naturally rare species across its range?
... that the church of St. Severin in Keitum on the island of Sylt, first mentioned in 1240, is furnished with an early Renaissance pulpit from Denmark?
A map showing caesium-137 contamination in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (in curies per square kilometer) in 1996, ten years after the Chernobyl disaster struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster contaminated 162,160 square kilometres (62,610 sq mi) of land and is widely considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.
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