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Mongol destruction of Iran
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The Mongol destruction of Iran refers to Mongol conquest of Iran and the ensuing mass killing there after. Before his death in 1227, Genghis had reached western Azerbaijan, pillaging and burning cities along the way. The Mongol invasion was disastrous to the Iranians. Although the Mongol invaders were eventually converted to Islam and accepted the culture of Iran, the Mongol destruction of the Islamic heartland marked a major change of direction for the region. Much of the six centuries of Islamic scholarship, culture, and infrastructure was destroyed as the invaders burned libraries, and replaced mosques with Buddhist temples.
According to the works of the Iranian historian Rashid al-Din (1247-1318), the Mongols killed more than 700,000 people in Merv and more than a million in Nishapur. The total population of Persia may have dropped from 2,500,000 to 250,000 as a result of mass extermination and famine. Population exchanges did also in some cases occur but depends as of when. Destruction of qanat irrigation systems destroyed the pattern of relatively continuous settlement, producing numerous isolated oasis cities in a land where they had previously been rare. A large number of people, particularly males, were killed; between 1220 and 1258, 90% of the total population of Iran may have been killed as a result of mass extermination and famine. Steven R. Ward claims 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 Iranians where killed in the conquest.
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