Mongols

The Mongols have beenmuch maligned in history as uncivilized marauders who left behind a trail of blood across the continents of Asia and Europe reducing to dust whatever came on their way. This analysis has had a long European and Asia tradition and is based on contemporary writings and eyewitness accounts mainly from Europe and Persia. Part of this outlook about the Mongols also derive from the ambivalent attitude of the Church at Rome towards them. But this outlook is patently flawed and biased. Recent research has shown that Mongols in many ways were on a civilising mission - whereever they went they brought on their wake flourihing trade and commerce, connected people and introduced new technology. Recent history looks at Mongols as some sort of medieval globalisers - connecting the then known world and ending the isolation in many senses.
In the past, if Mongols were not looked as uncivilised barbarians, they were looked as a classic case study of nomadic and pastoral lifestyle and the how presuably how different they were from the civilised and sedentary agriculturists.
The new perspective on the Mongols come out very clearly in brilliant book by an American historian, J. McIver Weatherford called the Ghengis Khan and the making of the Modern World. There is no guessing here, in the title itself the author accepts the role of Mongols in modernising the world. Even if you are not interested in history this book is worth a look.
Incidentally, the Mongols founded some of the most important ruling dynasties across Asia including Persia, China, Turkey and India.