10 Things You May Not Know About Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan Hero or Villain?
By - AAKASH SAINI
Genghis Khan, Genghis also spelled Chinggis, Chingis, Jenghiz, or Jinghis, original name Temüjin, also spelled Temuchin, (born 1162, near Lake Baikal, Mongolia—died August 18, 1227), Mongolian warrior-ruler, one of the most famous conquerors of history, who consolidated tribes into a unified Mongolia and then extended his empire across Asia to the Adriatic Sea.
Genghis Khan was a warrior and ruler of genius who, starting from obscure and insignificant beginnings, brought all the nomadic tribes of Mongolia under the rule of himself and his family in a rigidly disciplined military state. He then turned his attention toward the settled peoples beyond the borders of his nomadic realm and began the series of campaigns of plunder and conquest that eventually carried the Mongol armies as far as the Adriatic Sea in one direction and the Pacific coast of China in the other, leading to the establishment of the great Mongol Empire.
10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT GENGHIS KHAN
“GENGHIS” WASN’T HIS REAL NAME.
The man who would become the “Great Khan” of the Mongols was born along the banks of the
Onon River sometime around 1162 and originally named Temujin, which means “of iron” or
“blacksmith.” He didn’t get the honorific name “Genghis Kahn” until 1206, when he was
proclaimed leader of the Mongols at a tribal meeting known as a “kurultai.” While “Khan” is a
traditional title meaning “leader” or “ruler,” historians are still unsure of the origins of
“Genghis.” It may have may have meant “ocean” or “just,” but in context it is usually translated
as “supreme ruler” or “universal ruler.”
HE HAD A ROUGH CHILDHOOD.
From an early age, Genghis was forced to contend with the brutality of life on the Mongolian
Steppe. Rival Tatars poisoned his father when he was only nine, and his own tribe later expelled
his family and left his mother to raise her seven children alone. Genghis grew up hunting and
foraging to survive, and as an adolescent he may have even murdered his own half-brother in a
dispute over food. During his teenage years, rival clans abducted both he and his young wife, and
Genghis spent time as a slave before making a daring escape. Despite all these hardships, by his
early 20s he had established himself as a formidable warrior and leader. After amassing an army
of supporters, he began forging alliances with the heads of important tribes. By 1206, he had
successfully consolidated the steppe confederations under his banner and began to turn his
attention to outside conquest.
THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE RECORD OF WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE.
For such an influential figure, very little is known about Genghis Kahn’s personal life or even his
physical appearance. No contemporary portraits or sculptures of him have survived, and what
little information historians do have is often contradictory or unreliable. Most accounts describe
him as tall and strong with a flowing mane of hair and a long, bushy beard. Perhaps the most surprising description comes courtesy of the 14th century Persian chronicler Rashid al-Din, who
claimed Genghis had red hair and green eyes. Al-Din’s account is questionable—he never met
the Khan in person—but these striking features were not unheard of among the ethnically diverse
Mongols
SOME OF HIS MOST TRUSTED GENERALS WERE FORMER ENEMIES.
The Great Khan had a keen eye for talent, and he usually promoted his officers on skill and
experience rather than class, ancestry or even past allegiances. One famous example of this belief
in meritocracy came during a 1201 battle against the rival Taijut tribe, when Genghis was nearly
killed after his horse was shot out from under him with an arrow. When he later addressed the
Taijut prisoners and demanded to know who was responsible, one soldier bravely stood up and
admitted to being the shooter. Stirred by the archer’s boldness, Genghis made him an officer in
his army and later nicknamed him “Jebe,” or “arrow,” in honor of their first meeting on the
battlefield. Along with the famed general Subutai, Jebe would go on to become one of the
Mongols’ greatest field commanders during their conquests in Asia and Europe.
HE RARELY LEFT A SCORE UNSETTLED.
Genghis Khan often gave other kingdoms a chance to peacefully submit to Mongol rule, but he
didn’t hesitate to bring down the sword on any society that resisted. One of his most famous
campaigns of revenge came in 1219, after the Shah of the Khwarezmid Empire broke a treaty
with the Mongols. Genghis had offered the Shah a valuable trade agreement to exchange goods
along the Silk Road, but when his first emissaries were murdered, the enraged Khan responded
by unleashing the full force of his Mongol hordes on the Khwarezmid territories in Persia. The
subsequent war left millions dead and the Shah’s empire in utter ruin, but the Khan didn’t stop
there. He followed up on his victory by returning east and waging war on the Tanguts of Xi Xia,
a group of Mongol subjects who had refused his order to provide troops for his invasion of
Khwarizm. After routing the Tangut forces and sacking their capital, the Great Khan ordered the
execution of the entire Tangut royal family as punishment for their defiance.
HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF AS MANY AS 40 MILLION PEOPLE.
While it’s impossible to know for sure how many people perished during the Mongol conquests,
many historians put the number at somewhere around 40 million. Censuses from the Middle
Ages show that the population of China plummeted by tens of millions during the Khan’s
lifetime, and scholars estimate that he may have killed a full three-fourths of modern-day Iran’s
population during his war with the Khwarezmid Empire. All told, the Mongols’ attacks may have
reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent.
HE WAS TOLERANT OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS.
Unlike many empire builders, Genghis Khan embraced the diversity of his newly conquered
territories. He passed laws declaring religious freedom for all and even granted tax exemptions to
places of worship. This tolerance had a political side—the Khan knew that happy subjects were
less likely to rebel—but the Mongols also had an exceptionally liberal attitude towards religion.
While Genghis and many others subscribed to a shamanistic belief system that revered the spirits
of the sky, winds and mountains, the Steppe peoples were a diverse bunch that included
Nestorian Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and other animistic traditions. The Great Khan also
had a personal interest in spirituality. He was known to pray in his tent for multiple days before
important campaigns, and he often met with different religious leaders to discuss the details of
their faiths. In his old age, he even summoned the Taoist leader Qiu Chuji to his camp, and the
pair supposedly had long conversations on immortality and philosophy.
HE CREATED ONE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SYSTEMS.
Along with the bow and the horse, the Mongols most potent weapon may have been their vast
communication network. One of his earliest decrees as Khan involved the formation of a
mounted courier service known as the “Yam.” This medieval express consisted of a wellorganized series of post houses and way stations strung out across the whole of the Empire. By
stopping to rest or take on a fresh mount every few miles, official riders could often travel as far
as 200 miles a day. The system allowed goods and information to travel with unprecedented
speed, but it also acted as the eyes and ears of the Khan. Thanks to the Yam, he could easily keep
abreast of military and political developments and maintain contact with his extensive network
of spies and scouts. The Yam also helped protect foreign dignitaries and merchants during their
travels. In later years, the service was famously used by the likes of Marco Polo and John of
Plano Carpini.
NO ONE KNOWS HOW HE DIED OR WHERE HE IS BURIED.
Of all the enigmas surrounding the Khan’s life, perhaps the most famous concerns how it ended.
The traditional narrative says he died in 1227 from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse, but
other sources list everything from malaria to an arrow wound in the knee. One of the more
questionable accounts even claims he was murdered while trying to force himself on a Chinese
princess. However he died, the Khan took great pains to keep his final resting place a secret.
According to legend, his funeral procession slaughtered everyone they came in contact with
during their journey and then repeatedly rode horses over his grave to help conceal it. The tomb
is most likely on or around a Mongolian mountain called Burkhan Khaldun, but to this day its
precise location is unknown.
THE SOVIETS TRIED TO SNUFF OUT HIS MEMORY IN MONGOLIA.
Genghis Khan is now seen as a national hero and founding father of Mongolia, but during the era
of Soviet rule in the 20th century, the mere mention of his name was banned. Hoping to stamp
out all traces of Mongolian nationalism, the Soviets tried to suppress the Khan’s memory by
removing his story from school textbooks and forbidding people from making pilgrimages to his
birthplace in Khentii. Genghis Khan was eventually restored to Mongolian history after the
country won independence in the early 1990s, and he’s since become a recurring motif in art and
popular culture. The Great Khan lends his name to the nation’s main airport in the city of Ulan
Bator, and his portrait even appears on Mongolian currency.
40 Facts about Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan is a name that resonates with all who have heard of his harrowing exploits.
History books portray him as a brutal emperor who massacred millions of Asian and Eastern
European people. However, he also practiced religious and racial tolerance, and his Mongolian
Empire valued the leadership of women. Khan also brought law and civilization to Mongolia and
is regarded as a hero in his native land.
So who was the real Genghis Khan? Western impressions are heavily influenced by negative
Persian accounts, whereas Eastern impressions vary. For a balanced perspective, the following
list of 40 facts explores the full story of this fascinating historical figure.
A Portrait of Genghis Khan
1. Genghis Khan was born in Delüün Boldog in 1162. He died in 1227 at the age of 65.
According to legend, he was born with a blood clot in his clenched fist, foretelling his emergence as a great leader.
2. Khan was tall, had a long beard, and likely sported red hair and green eyes, although he wouldhave looked oriental. This mixing of European and Asian characteristics was quite common in Mongolia at the time.
3. Khan founded the Mongol Empire when he united the tribes occupying the Mongol plains. These plains are situated between China and Russia in central Asia.
4. The Mongol Empire went on to become the largest contiguous empire in history, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.
5. As well as modern day Mongolia, Khan’s empire included most of China, Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and some parts of Russia.
6. Genghis Khan believed the strength of a man was defined by the children he left behind. He had thousands of women within his harem and fathered children with many of them.
7. Around 8% of men from Asia are his descendants. This Mongol lineage is known for men because the common DNA is within the Y-chromosome.
8. Khan's armies may have slaughtered more people than Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler's combined. His military campaigns sometimes involved eliminating an entire civilian population. As many as 40 million people were killed under his rule.
9. On Genghis Khan’s order, he was buried in an unmarked grave at an unknown location in Mongolia. In order to conceal the location, his funeral escort executed everyone in their path.
10. According to legend, Khan requested that a river be diverted over his grave so that he would never be disturbed. This followed the custom of burial for ancient leaders such as Gilgamesh and Attila the Hun.
11. Surprisingly, Khan promoted religious tolerance and was interested in the philosophies of other cultures. He studied Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. When he attempted to befriend Persia, he sent a Muslim emissary.
12. Genghis Khan also supported ethnic diversity within his empire, allowing people from other cultures to administer his cities. The Mongolians lacked experience for this task, given their nomadic roots.
13. Women were also well respected in the Mongolian Empire, with Töregene Khatun ruling as regent for 5 years after the death of Genghis’ son, Ögedei.
14. Genghis Khan modernized Mongolian culture by adopting the Uyghur script as a writing system and by creating the Yassa code of law.
15. Before he united Mongolia, the plains were occupied by nomadic tribes including the Tatars, Keraits, Mongols, Merkits, and Naimans. Khan belonged to one of the Mongol tribes. The Chinese Jin dynasty used to periodically switch their support between the tribes to ensure that none attained superiority. This made the Jin dynasty one of Khan’s first targets.
16. Genghis Khan’s birth name was Temujin, which was the name of a powerful warlord defeated by his chieftain father, Yesugei.
17. When Temujin was only 9 years old, Yesugei arranged for him to stay with Börte, Temujin's future wife. She was the daughter of a neighboring chieftain.
18. Yesugei was poisoned by the Tatars, forcing Temujin to return home to claim leadership. However, he was outcast and forced to live in squalor for a number of years with his mother and brothers.
19. At the age of 10, he killed one of his half-brothers in a fight over hunting spoils.
20. At the age of 15, he was enslaved by a neighboring Mongol tribe but escaped with the help of a guard. This enhanced his reputation and gained him valuable allies.
21. At 16, he married Börte and allied with her Mongol tribe. As was tradition, he took numerous other wives during his life, but Börte was his only Empress.
22. When Börte was kidnapped by the Merkits, Temujin rescued her with the help of the Kerait tribe (who were allied with his father) and another Mongol tribe led by Jamukha.
23. Eight months after Börte’s capture, she gave birth to her first son, Jochi. This led to questions about the paternity and a later challenge from Khan’s other sons.
24. With the Mongol tribes united and the Merkit tribe defeated, Temujin found himself at war with his previous allies, the Keraits. After defeating them, he destroyed the Naimans. In each case he was successful in convincing a greater number of tribes to become his allies. He was also helped by the alliance of the formidable general, Subutai.
25. Temujin became ruler, or `Khan’, of the united Mongolian tribes around 1206 and adopted the name Genghis.
26. The name Genghis likely comes from the word Jenggis, meaning `right, just, and true,’ though it could also come from the word Tenggis, meaning `ocean’ and `wide-spreading.’
27. Khan had four sons in total: Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui.
28. He assigned his son, Ögedei Khan, as his successor because Ögedei had no quarrel with Genghis’ other sons.
29. Khan valued loyalty and brotherhood and promoted his generals on the basis of merit rather than noble standing. This system of meritocracy contributed greatly to the success of his armies. In the early years, he allowed captured soldiers to join his army, growing his forces with each victory.
30. He was a master tactician and organizer, employing novel and sometimes brutal methods. As well as forging alliances where possible, his military meritocracy used siege warfare, spy networks, and supply routes with way-stations to aid the communication of covert intelligence.
31. On the battlefield, Khan's army used cavalry charges, `feigned retreats' (before ambush), pincer assaults, and prisoners as human shields to achieve victory. He also liked to foster discord in enemy countries before an assault, inciting revolution or civil war.
32. Khan forced the surrender of Xia China in 1209 after correctly predicting that Jin China would not aid them. He then defeated the Jin dynasty in 1215 by gathering intelligence about the location of their army.
33. He turned west and defeated the Kaira-Khitan Khanate in 1218 by using a small force to incite a revolution within the country.
34. The Persian Khwarezmid Empire offended Genghis Khan by beheading his messenger and looting his trade caravan. The insult led to a huge Mongol invasion by 200,000 men. The Persians were crushed by the Mongol's superior tactics in 1222. The civilian population were decimated with as many as 90% killed; though skilled workers were sent back to Mongolia.
35. Khan’s army split for the journey home. Generals Subutai and Jebe went north to conquer large swathes of Russia and the Ukraine, while Khan ploughed through Afghanistan and Northern India in the south.
36. During this time, the Xia and Jin had allied to resist Mongolian rule. In his final military victory, Khan returned and defeated them both in 1226. To prevent further betrayal, he had the Chinese royal family executed.
37. Genghis Khan died in 1227. According to legend, a Chinese princess castrated him with a concealed dagger, leading to his death. This was said to be an act of revenge for the death of her family and a way to prevent him from raping her.
38. A more likely theory about his death is that he was thrown from his horse and died from his injuries. Another theory claims he died from pneumonia and another suggests he was killed in his final battle with the Chinese.
39. To avoid conflict among his sons, he divided his empire among them in his will. The new Khan, Ögedei, expanded the Mongolian Empire further.
40. Today, Genghis Khan is very popular in Mongolia, with his face appearing on bank-notes and a number of consumer products. He is regarded as the father of the Mongols.
“GENGHIS” WASN’T HIS REAL NAME.
The man who would become the “Great Khan” of the Mongols was born along the banks of the
Onon River sometime around 1162 and originally named Temujin, which means “of iron” or
“blacksmith.” He didn’t get the honorific name “Genghis Kahn” until 1206, when he was
proclaimed leader of the Mongols at a tribal meeting known as a “kurultai.” While “Khan” is a
traditional title meaning “leader” or “ruler,” historians are still unsure of the origins of
“Genghis.” It may have may have meant “ocean” or “just,” but in context it is usually translated
as “supreme ruler” or “universal ruler.”
HE HAD A ROUGH CHILDHOOD.
From an early age, Genghis was forced to contend with the brutality of life on the Mongolian
Steppe. Rival Tatars poisoned his father when he was only nine, and his own tribe later expelled
his family and left his mother to raise her seven children alone. Genghis grew up hunting and
foraging to survive, and as an adolescent he may have even murdered his own half-brother in a
dispute over food. During his teenage years, rival clans abducted both he and his young wife, and
Genghis spent time as a slave before making a daring escape. Despite all these hardships, by his
early 20s he had established himself as a formidable warrior and leader. After amassing an army
of supporters, he began forging alliances with the heads of important tribes. By 1206, he had
successfully consolidated the steppe confederations under his banner and began to turn his
attention to outside conquest.
THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE RECORD OF WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE.
For such an influential figure, very little is known about Genghis Kahn’s personal life or even his
physical appearance. No contemporary portraits or sculptures of him have survived, and what
little information historians do have is often contradictory or unreliable. Most accounts describe
him as tall and strong with a flowing mane of hair and a long, bushy beard. Perhaps the most surprising description comes courtesy of the 14th century Persian chronicler Rashid al-Din, who
claimed Genghis had red hair and green eyes. Al-Din’s account is questionable—he never met
the Khan in person—but these striking features were not unheard of among the ethnically diverse
Mongols
SOME OF HIS MOST TRUSTED GENERALS WERE FORMER ENEMIES.
The Great Khan had a keen eye for talent, and he usually promoted his officers on skill and
experience rather than class, ancestry or even past allegiances. One famous example of this belief
in meritocracy came during a 1201 battle against the rival Taijut tribe, when Genghis was nearly
killed after his horse was shot out from under him with an arrow. When he later addressed the
Taijut prisoners and demanded to know who was responsible, one soldier bravely stood up and
admitted to being the shooter. Stirred by the archer’s boldness, Genghis made him an officer in
his army and later nicknamed him “Jebe,” or “arrow,” in honor of their first meeting on the
battlefield. Along with the famed general Subutai, Jebe would go on to become one of the
Mongols’ greatest field commanders during their conquests in Asia and Europe.
HE RARELY LEFT A SCORE UNSETTLED.
Genghis Khan often gave other kingdoms a chance to peacefully submit to Mongol rule, but he
didn’t hesitate to bring down the sword on any society that resisted. One of his most famous
campaigns of revenge came in 1219, after the Shah of the Khwarezmid Empire broke a treaty
with the Mongols. Genghis had offered the Shah a valuable trade agreement to exchange goods
along the Silk Road, but when his first emissaries were murdered, the enraged Khan responded
by unleashing the full force of his Mongol hordes on the Khwarezmid territories in Persia. The
subsequent war left millions dead and the Shah’s empire in utter ruin, but the Khan didn’t stop
there. He followed up on his victory by returning east and waging war on the Tanguts of Xi Xia,
a group of Mongol subjects who had refused his order to provide troops for his invasion of
Khwarizm. After routing the Tangut forces and sacking their capital, the Great Khan ordered the
execution of the entire Tangut royal family as punishment for their defiance.
HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF AS MANY AS 40 MILLION PEOPLE.
While it’s impossible to know for sure how many people perished during the Mongol conquests,
many historians put the number at somewhere around 40 million. Censuses from the Middle
Ages show that the population of China plummeted by tens of millions during the Khan’s
lifetime, and scholars estimate that he may have killed a full three-fourths of modern-day Iran’s
population during his war with the Khwarezmid Empire. All told, the Mongols’ attacks may have
reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent.
HE WAS TOLERANT OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS.
Unlike many empire builders, Genghis Khan embraced the diversity of his newly conquered
territories. He passed laws declaring religious freedom for all and even granted tax exemptions to
places of worship. This tolerance had a political side—the Khan knew that happy subjects were
less likely to rebel—but the Mongols also had an exceptionally liberal attitude towards religion.
While Genghis and many others subscribed to a shamanistic belief system that revered the spirits
of the sky, winds and mountains, the Steppe peoples were a diverse bunch that included
Nestorian Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and other animistic traditions. The Great Khan also
had a personal interest in spirituality. He was known to pray in his tent for multiple days before
important campaigns, and he often met with different religious leaders to discuss the details of
their faiths. In his old age, he even summoned the Taoist leader Qiu Chuji to his camp, and the
pair supposedly had long conversations on immortality and philosophy.
HE CREATED ONE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SYSTEMS.
Along with the bow and the horse, the Mongols most potent weapon may have been their vast
communication network. One of his earliest decrees as Khan involved the formation of a
mounted courier service known as the “Yam.” This medieval express consisted of a wellorganized series of post houses and way stations strung out across the whole of the Empire. By
stopping to rest or take on a fresh mount every few miles, official riders could often travel as far
as 200 miles a day. The system allowed goods and information to travel with unprecedented
speed, but it also acted as the eyes and ears of the Khan. Thanks to the Yam, he could easily keep
abreast of military and political developments and maintain contact with his extensive network
of spies and scouts. The Yam also helped protect foreign dignitaries and merchants during their
travels. In later years, the service was famously used by the likes of Marco Polo and John of
Plano Carpini.
NO ONE KNOWS HOW HE DIED OR WHERE HE IS BURIED.
Of all the enigmas surrounding the Khan’s life, perhaps the most famous concerns how it ended.
The traditional narrative says he died in 1227 from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse, but
other sources list everything from malaria to an arrow wound in the knee. One of the more
questionable accounts even claims he was murdered while trying to force himself on a Chinese
princess. However he died, the Khan took great pains to keep his final resting place a secret.
According to legend, his funeral procession slaughtered everyone they came in contact with
during their journey and then repeatedly rode horses over his grave to help conceal it. The tomb
is most likely on or around a Mongolian mountain called Burkhan Khaldun, but to this day its
precise location is unknown.
THE SOVIETS TRIED TO SNUFF OUT HIS MEMORY IN MONGOLIA.
Genghis Khan is now seen as a national hero and founding father of Mongolia, but during the era
of Soviet rule in the 20th century, the mere mention of his name was banned. Hoping to stamp
out all traces of Mongolian nationalism, the Soviets tried to suppress the Khan’s memory by
removing his story from school textbooks and forbidding people from making pilgrimages to his
birthplace in Khentii. Genghis Khan was eventually restored to Mongolian history after the
country won independence in the early 1990s, and he’s since become a recurring motif in art and
popular culture. The Great Khan lends his name to the nation’s main airport in the city of Ulan
Bator, and his portrait even appears on Mongolian currency.
40 Facts about Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan is a name that resonates with all who have heard of his harrowing exploits.
History books portray him as a brutal emperor who massacred millions of Asian and Eastern
European people. However, he also practiced religious and racial tolerance, and his Mongolian
Empire valued the leadership of women. Khan also brought law and civilization to Mongolia and
is regarded as a hero in his native land.
So who was the real Genghis Khan? Western impressions are heavily influenced by negative
Persian accounts, whereas Eastern impressions vary. For a balanced perspective, the following
list of 40 facts explores the full story of this fascinating historical figure.
A Portrait of Genghis Khan
1. Genghis Khan was born in Delüün Boldog in 1162. He died in 1227 at the age of 65.
According to legend, he was born with a blood clot in his clenched fist, foretelling his emergence as a great leader.
2. Khan was tall, had a long beard, and likely sported red hair and green eyes, although he wouldhave looked oriental. This mixing of European and Asian characteristics was quite common in Mongolia at the time.
3. Khan founded the Mongol Empire when he united the tribes occupying the Mongol plains. These plains are situated between China and Russia in central Asia.
4. The Mongol Empire went on to become the largest contiguous empire in history, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.
5. As well as modern day Mongolia, Khan’s empire included most of China, Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and some parts of Russia.
6. Genghis Khan believed the strength of a man was defined by the children he left behind. He had thousands of women within his harem and fathered children with many of them.
7. Around 8% of men from Asia are his descendants. This Mongol lineage is known for men because the common DNA is within the Y-chromosome.
8. Khan's armies may have slaughtered more people than Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler's combined. His military campaigns sometimes involved eliminating an entire civilian population. As many as 40 million people were killed under his rule.
9. On Genghis Khan’s order, he was buried in an unmarked grave at an unknown location in Mongolia. In order to conceal the location, his funeral escort executed everyone in their path.
10. According to legend, Khan requested that a river be diverted over his grave so that he would never be disturbed. This followed the custom of burial for ancient leaders such as Gilgamesh and Attila the Hun.
11. Surprisingly, Khan promoted religious tolerance and was interested in the philosophies of other cultures. He studied Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. When he attempted to befriend Persia, he sent a Muslim emissary.
12. Genghis Khan also supported ethnic diversity within his empire, allowing people from other cultures to administer his cities. The Mongolians lacked experience for this task, given their nomadic roots.
13. Women were also well respected in the Mongolian Empire, with Töregene Khatun ruling as regent for 5 years after the death of Genghis’ son, Ögedei.
14. Genghis Khan modernized Mongolian culture by adopting the Uyghur script as a writing system and by creating the Yassa code of law.
15. Before he united Mongolia, the plains were occupied by nomadic tribes including the Tatars, Keraits, Mongols, Merkits, and Naimans. Khan belonged to one of the Mongol tribes. The Chinese Jin dynasty used to periodically switch their support between the tribes to ensure that none attained superiority. This made the Jin dynasty one of Khan’s first targets.
16. Genghis Khan’s birth name was Temujin, which was the name of a powerful warlord defeated by his chieftain father, Yesugei.
17. When Temujin was only 9 years old, Yesugei arranged for him to stay with Börte, Temujin's future wife. She was the daughter of a neighboring chieftain.
18. Yesugei was poisoned by the Tatars, forcing Temujin to return home to claim leadership. However, he was outcast and forced to live in squalor for a number of years with his mother and brothers.
19. At the age of 10, he killed one of his half-brothers in a fight over hunting spoils.
20. At the age of 15, he was enslaved by a neighboring Mongol tribe but escaped with the help of a guard. This enhanced his reputation and gained him valuable allies.
21. At 16, he married Börte and allied with her Mongol tribe. As was tradition, he took numerous other wives during his life, but Börte was his only Empress.
22. When Börte was kidnapped by the Merkits, Temujin rescued her with the help of the Kerait tribe (who were allied with his father) and another Mongol tribe led by Jamukha.
23. Eight months after Börte’s capture, she gave birth to her first son, Jochi. This led to questions about the paternity and a later challenge from Khan’s other sons.
24. With the Mongol tribes united and the Merkit tribe defeated, Temujin found himself at war with his previous allies, the Keraits. After defeating them, he destroyed the Naimans. In each case he was successful in convincing a greater number of tribes to become his allies. He was also helped by the alliance of the formidable general, Subutai.
25. Temujin became ruler, or `Khan’, of the united Mongolian tribes around 1206 and adopted the name Genghis.
26. The name Genghis likely comes from the word Jenggis, meaning `right, just, and true,’ though it could also come from the word Tenggis, meaning `ocean’ and `wide-spreading.’
27. Khan had four sons in total: Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui.
28. He assigned his son, Ögedei Khan, as his successor because Ögedei had no quarrel with Genghis’ other sons.
29. Khan valued loyalty and brotherhood and promoted his generals on the basis of merit rather than noble standing. This system of meritocracy contributed greatly to the success of his armies. In the early years, he allowed captured soldiers to join his army, growing his forces with each victory.
30. He was a master tactician and organizer, employing novel and sometimes brutal methods. As well as forging alliances where possible, his military meritocracy used siege warfare, spy networks, and supply routes with way-stations to aid the communication of covert intelligence.
31. On the battlefield, Khan's army used cavalry charges, `feigned retreats' (before ambush), pincer assaults, and prisoners as human shields to achieve victory. He also liked to foster discord in enemy countries before an assault, inciting revolution or civil war.
32. Khan forced the surrender of Xia China in 1209 after correctly predicting that Jin China would not aid them. He then defeated the Jin dynasty in 1215 by gathering intelligence about the location of their army.
33. He turned west and defeated the Kaira-Khitan Khanate in 1218 by using a small force to incite a revolution within the country.
34. The Persian Khwarezmid Empire offended Genghis Khan by beheading his messenger and looting his trade caravan. The insult led to a huge Mongol invasion by 200,000 men. The Persians were crushed by the Mongol's superior tactics in 1222. The civilian population were decimated with as many as 90% killed; though skilled workers were sent back to Mongolia.
35. Khan’s army split for the journey home. Generals Subutai and Jebe went north to conquer large swathes of Russia and the Ukraine, while Khan ploughed through Afghanistan and Northern India in the south.
36. During this time, the Xia and Jin had allied to resist Mongolian rule. In his final military victory, Khan returned and defeated them both in 1226. To prevent further betrayal, he had the Chinese royal family executed.
37. Genghis Khan died in 1227. According to legend, a Chinese princess castrated him with a concealed dagger, leading to his death. This was said to be an act of revenge for the death of her family and a way to prevent him from raping her.
38. A more likely theory about his death is that he was thrown from his horse and died from his injuries. Another theory claims he died from pneumonia and another suggests he was killed in his final battle with the Chinese.
39. To avoid conflict among his sons, he divided his empire among them in his will. The new Khan, Ögedei, expanded the Mongolian Empire further.
40. Today, Genghis Khan is very popular in Mongolia, with his face appearing on bank-notes and a number of consumer products. He is regarded as the father of the Mongols.
From an early age, Genghis was forced to contend with the brutality of life on the Mongolian
Steppe. Rival Tatars poisoned his father when he was only nine, and his own tribe later expelled
his family and left his mother to raise her seven children alone. Genghis grew up hunting and
foraging to survive, and as an adolescent he may have even murdered his own half-brother in a
dispute over food. During his teenage years, rival clans abducted both he and his young wife, and
Genghis spent time as a slave before making a daring escape. Despite all these hardships, by his
early 20s he had established himself as a formidable warrior and leader. After amassing an army
of supporters, he began forging alliances with the heads of important tribes. By 1206, he had
successfully consolidated the steppe confederations under his banner and began to turn his
attention to outside conquest.
THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE RECORD OF WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE.
For such an influential figure, very little is known about Genghis Kahn’s personal life or even his
physical appearance. No contemporary portraits or sculptures of him have survived, and what
little information historians do have is often contradictory or unreliable. Most accounts describe
him as tall and strong with a flowing mane of hair and a long, bushy beard. Perhaps the most surprising description comes courtesy of the 14th century Persian chronicler Rashid al-Din, who
claimed Genghis had red hair and green eyes. Al-Din’s account is questionable—he never met
the Khan in person—but these striking features were not unheard of among the ethnically diverse
Mongols
SOME OF HIS MOST TRUSTED GENERALS WERE FORMER ENEMIES.
The Great Khan had a keen eye for talent, and he usually promoted his officers on skill and
experience rather than class, ancestry or even past allegiances. One famous example of this belief
in meritocracy came during a 1201 battle against the rival Taijut tribe, when Genghis was nearly
killed after his horse was shot out from under him with an arrow. When he later addressed the
Taijut prisoners and demanded to know who was responsible, one soldier bravely stood up and
admitted to being the shooter. Stirred by the archer’s boldness, Genghis made him an officer in
his army and later nicknamed him “Jebe,” or “arrow,” in honor of their first meeting on the
battlefield. Along with the famed general Subutai, Jebe would go on to become one of the
Mongols’ greatest field commanders during their conquests in Asia and Europe.
HE RARELY LEFT A SCORE UNSETTLED.
Genghis Khan often gave other kingdoms a chance to peacefully submit to Mongol rule, but he
didn’t hesitate to bring down the sword on any society that resisted. One of his most famous
campaigns of revenge came in 1219, after the Shah of the Khwarezmid Empire broke a treaty
with the Mongols. Genghis had offered the Shah a valuable trade agreement to exchange goods
along the Silk Road, but when his first emissaries were murdered, the enraged Khan responded
by unleashing the full force of his Mongol hordes on the Khwarezmid territories in Persia. The
subsequent war left millions dead and the Shah’s empire in utter ruin, but the Khan didn’t stop
there. He followed up on his victory by returning east and waging war on the Tanguts of Xi Xia,
a group of Mongol subjects who had refused his order to provide troops for his invasion of
Khwarizm. After routing the Tangut forces and sacking their capital, the Great Khan ordered the
execution of the entire Tangut royal family as punishment for their defiance.
HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF AS MANY AS 40 MILLION PEOPLE.
While it’s impossible to know for sure how many people perished during the Mongol conquests,
many historians put the number at somewhere around 40 million. Censuses from the Middle
Ages show that the population of China plummeted by tens of millions during the Khan’s
lifetime, and scholars estimate that he may have killed a full three-fourths of modern-day Iran’s
population during his war with the Khwarezmid Empire. All told, the Mongols’ attacks may have
reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent.
HE WAS TOLERANT OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS.
Unlike many empire builders, Genghis Khan embraced the diversity of his newly conquered
territories. He passed laws declaring religious freedom for all and even granted tax exemptions to
places of worship. This tolerance had a political side—the Khan knew that happy subjects were
less likely to rebel—but the Mongols also had an exceptionally liberal attitude towards religion.
While Genghis and many others subscribed to a shamanistic belief system that revered the spirits
of the sky, winds and mountains, the Steppe peoples were a diverse bunch that included
Nestorian Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and other animistic traditions. The Great Khan also
had a personal interest in spirituality. He was known to pray in his tent for multiple days before
important campaigns, and he often met with different religious leaders to discuss the details of
their faiths. In his old age, he even summoned the Taoist leader Qiu Chuji to his camp, and the
pair supposedly had long conversations on immortality and philosophy.
HE CREATED ONE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SYSTEMS.
Along with the bow and the horse, the Mongols most potent weapon may have been their vast
communication network. One of his earliest decrees as Khan involved the formation of a
mounted courier service known as the “Yam.” This medieval express consisted of a well
organized series of post houses and way stations strung out across the whole of the Empire. By
stopping to rest or take on a fresh mount every few miles, official riders could often travel as far
as 200 miles a day. The system allowed goods and information to travel with unprecedented
speed, but it also acted as the eyes and ears of the Khan. Thanks to the Yam, he could easily keep
abreast of military and political developments and maintain contact with his extensive network
of spies and scouts. The Yam also helped protect foreign dignitaries and merchants during their
travels. In later years, the service was famously used by the likes of Marco Polo and John of
Plano Carpini.
NO ONE KNOWS HOW HE DIED OR WHERE HE IS BURIED.
Of all the enigmas surrounding the Khan’s life, perhaps the most famous concerns how it ended.
The traditional narrative says he died in 1227 from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse, but
other sources list everything from malaria to an arrow wound in the knee. One of the more
questionable accounts even claims he was murdered while trying to force himself on a Chinese
princess. However he died, the Khan took great pains to keep his final resting place a secret.
According to legend, his funeral procession slaughtered everyone they came in contact with
during their journey and then repeatedly rode horses over his grave to help conceal it. The tomb
is most likely on or around a Mongolian mountain called Burkhan Khaldun, but to this day its
precise location is unknown.
THE SOVIETS TRIED TO SNUFF OUT HIS MEMORY IN MONGOLIA.
Genghis Khan is now seen as a national hero and founding father of Mongolia, but during the era
of Soviet rule in the 20th century, the mere mention of his name was banned. Hoping to stamp
out all traces of Mongolian nationalism, the Soviets tried to suppress the Khan’s memory by
removing his story from school textbooks and forbidding people from making pilgrimages to his
birthplace in Khentii. Genghis Khan was eventually restored to Mongolian history after the
country won independence in the early 1990s, and he’s since become a recurring motif in art and
popular culture. The Great Khan lends his name to the nation’s main airport in the city of Ulan
Bator, and his portrait even appears on Mongolian currency.
40 Facts about Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan is a name that resonates with all who have heard of his harrowing exploits.
History books portray him as a brutal emperor who massacred millions of Asian and Eastern
European people. However, he also practiced religious and racial tolerance, and his Mongolian
Empire valued the leadership of women. Khan also brought law and civilization to Mongolia and
is regarded as a hero in his native land.
So who was the real Genghis Khan? Western impressions are heavily influenced by negative
Persian accounts, whereas Eastern impressions vary. For a balanced perspective, the following
list of 40 facts explores the full story of this fascinating historical figure.
A Portrait of Genghis Khan
1. Genghis Khan was born in Delüün Boldog in 1162. He died in 1227 at the age of 65.
According to legend, he was born with a blood clot in his clenched fist, foretelling his emergence as a great leader.
2. Khan was tall, had a long beard, and likely sported red hair and green eyes, although he wouldhave looked oriental. This mixing of European and Asian characteristics was quite common in Mongolia at the time.
3. Khan founded the Mongol Empire when he united the tribes occupying the Mongol plains. These plains are situated between China and Russia in central Asia.
4. The Mongol Empire went on to become the largest contiguous empire in history, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.
5. As well as modern day Mongolia, Khan’s empire included most of China, Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and some parts of Russia.
6. Genghis Khan believed the strength of a man was defined by the children he left behind. He had thousands of women within his harem and fathered children with many of them.
7. Around 8% of men from Asia are his descendants. This Mongol lineage is known for men because the common DNA is within the Y-chromosome.
8. Khan's armies may have slaughtered more people than Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler's combined. His military campaigns sometimes involved eliminating an entire civilian population. As many as 40 million people were killed under his rule.
9. On Genghis Khan’s order, he was buried in an unmarked grave at an unknown location in Mongolia. In order to conceal the location, his funeral escort executed everyone in their path.
10. According to legend, Khan requested that a river be diverted over his grave so that he would never be disturbed. This followed the custom of burial for ancient leaders such as Gilgamesh and Attila the Hun.
11. Surprisingly, Khan promoted religious tolerance and was interested in the philosophies of other cultures. He studied Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. When he attempted to befriend Persia, he sent a Muslim emissary.
12. Genghis Khan also supported ethnic diversity within his empire, allowing people from other cultures to administer his cities. The Mongolians lacked experience for this task, given their nomadic roots.
13. Women were also well respected in the Mongolian Empire, with Töregene Khatun ruling as regent for 5 years after the death of Genghis’ son, Ögedei.
14. Genghis Khan modernized Mongolian culture by adopting the Uyghur script as a writing system and by creating the Yassa code of law.
15. Before he united Mongolia, the plains were occupied by nomadic tribes including the Tatars, Keraits, Mongols, Merkits, and Naimans. Khan belonged to one of the Mongol tribes. The Chinese Jin dynasty used to periodically switch their support between the tribes to ensure that none attained superiority. This made the Jin dynasty one of Khan’s first targets.
16. Genghis Khan’s birth name was Temujin, which was the name of a powerful warlord defeated by his chieftain father, Yesugei.
17. When Temujin was only 9 years old, Yesugei arranged for him to stay with Börte, Temujin's future wife. She was the daughter of a neighboring chieftain.
18. Yesugei was poisoned by the Tatars, forcing Temujin to return home to claim leadership. However, he was outcast and forced to live in squalor for a number of years with his mother and brothers.
19. At the age of 10, he killed one of his half-brothers in a fight over hunting spoils.
20. At the age of 15, he was enslaved by a neighboring Mongol tribe but escaped with the help of a guard. This enhanced his reputation and gained him valuable allies.
21. At 16, he married Börte and allied with her Mongol tribe. As was tradition, he took numerous other wives during his life, but Börte was his only Empress.
22. When Börte was kidnapped by the Merkits, Temujin rescued her with the help of the Kerait tribe (who were allied with his father) and another Mongol tribe led by Jamukha.
23. Eight months after Börte’s capture, she gave birth to her first son, Jochi. This led to questions about the paternity and a later challenge from Khan’s other sons.
24. With the Mongol tribes united and the Merkit tribe defeated, Temujin found himself at war with his previous allies, the Keraits. After defeating them, he destroyed the Naimans. In each case he was successful in convincing a greater number of tribes to become his allies. He was also helped by the alliance of the formidable general, Subutai.
25. Temujin became ruler, or `Khan’, of the united Mongolian tribes around 1206 and adopted the name Genghis.
26. The name Genghis likely comes from the word Jenggis, meaning `right, just, and true,’ though it could also come from the word Tenggis, meaning `ocean’ and `wide-spreading.’
27. Khan had four sons in total: Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui.
28. He assigned his son, Ögedei Khan, as his successor because Ögedei had no quarrel with Genghis’ other sons.
29. Khan valued loyalty and brotherhood and promoted his generals on the basis of merit rather than noble standing. This system of meritocracy contributed greatly to the success of his armies. In the early years, he allowed captured soldiers to join his army, growing his forces with each victory.
30. He was a master tactician and organizer, employing novel and sometimes brutal methods. As well as forging alliances where possible, his military meritocracy used siege warfare, spy networks, and supply routes with way-stations to aid the communication of covert intelligence.
31. On the battlefield, Khan's army used cavalry charges, `feigned retreats' (before ambush), pincer assaults, and prisoners as human shields to achieve victory. He also liked to foster discord in enemy countries before an assault, inciting revolution or civil war.
32. Khan forced the surrender of Xia China in 1209 after correctly predicting that Jin China would not aid them. He then defeated the Jin dynasty in 1215 by gathering intelligence about the location of their army.
33. He turned west and defeated the Kaira-Khitan Khanate in 1218 by using a small force to incite a revolution within the country.
34. The Persian Khwarezmid Empire offended Genghis Khan by beheading his messenger and looting his trade caravan. The insult led to a huge Mongol invasion by 200,000 men. The Persians were crushed by the Mongol's superior tactics in 1222. The civilian population were decimated with as many as 90% killed; though skilled workers were sent back to Mongolia.
35. Khan’s army split for the journey home. Generals Subutai and Jebe went north to conquer large swathes of Russia and the Ukraine, while Khan ploughed through Afghanistan and Northern India in the south.
36. During this time, the Xia and Jin had allied to resist Mongolian rule. In his final military victory, Khan returned and defeated them both in 1226. To prevent further betrayal, he had the Chinese royal family executed.
37. Genghis Khan died in 1227. According to legend, a Chinese princess castrated him with a concealed dagger, leading to his death. This was said to be an act of revenge for the death of her family and a way to prevent him from raping her.
38. A more likely theory about his death is that he was thrown from his horse and died from his injuries. Another theory claims he died from pneumonia and another suggests he was killed in his final battle with the Chinese.
39. To avoid conflict among his sons, he divided his empire among them in his will. The new Khan, Ögedei, expanded the Mongolian Empire further.
40. Today, Genghis Khan is very popular in Mongolia, with his face appearing on bank-notes and a number of consumer products. He is regarded as the father of the Mongols.
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