The Mongols arose from obscure origins in the recesses of Inner Asia to unify their immediate nomadic neighbors and then to conquer much of the Eurasian landmass, ruling large parts of it for more than a century. Emerging from a newly consolidated heartland north of the Gobi in the thirteenth century, the Mongols and their armies—made up of conquered peoples—thrust through western Asia, crossed the Ural Mountains, invaded the countries of Eastern Europe, and pressed on to Austria and the Adriatic. They also advanced through southwest Asia to the eastern Mediterranean and they conquered the Chinese empire. At about the same time, they embarked on ambitious maritime expeditions against Java and Japan. The Mongols were phenomenally hard-driving and ambitious for such a small group, and their accomplishments were considerable. Only the Mamluks of Egypt, the "divine winds" ofJapan, and the Mongols' own legal tradition—the need to return home to elect a new khan—halted the inexorable Mongol military advances.