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produced the world’s largest empire, before or since. Mongols were not the first steppe nomads to invade China or Europe, but they were much more ef- fective conquerors. Their invention of the stirrup was pivotal, enabling war- riors to stand and fire arrows accurately at a gallop in any direction, even backward, rendering their horses the most effective mobile war machine the world has yet seen. This, combined with superb military organization, pro- duced armies that mowed down almost all opposition for most of the thir- teenth century. Before the close of that century, the 1200s, Mongols ruled an incredible 40 percent of the entire world population, including all China, near- ly all the Near East, as well as much of eastern Europe. At the maximum, the Mongols’ conquests and raids reached to the borders of Germany, the gates of Vienna, and the shores of the Adriatic. Incidentally, Jenghiz Khan’s most brilliant commander, Subedai, who invaded deep into eastern Europe in 1223, was a Tuvan. Since those tumultuous times, the Mongols and Tuvans, speaking their own distinct languages, have settled back into their more usual pastoral pur- suits. Tuvans have in recent years gained notice in some Western circles for their unique throat singing, which has existed for thousands of years. 43