Who is Chinggis Khaan?

Temuujin (the childhood name of Genghis Khan) was born on 16 April 1162 (most historians agree on this date). He was born in an area called Deluun Boldog, in today’s Khentii province, as the first son of Yesugei, who led several Mongol tribes.

Temuujin learned to ride horses when he was three, and hunted and fished before he was 6 years old. According to the Mongol tradition of early marriage arrangements, Yesugei made an arrangement to have his son wed a girl from a neighboring tribe. As a part of the arrangement, Yesugei left his son with the girl’s tribe. On his way home, Yesugei was poisoned by a Tatar tribe that offered him hospitality. With his last breath, he told his son Temuujin he had to succeed his reign. After Yesugui’s death, the people of the tribes under his rule moved on their way, leaving Temuujin, his mother Oulen, and his younger brothers and sister.

For some people, it was clear Temuujin could become a powerful man and a good general, but they believed Temuujin and his family members would die soon because of hunger after they were deserted.

Instead, the hardship of Temuujin’s life, violence, confusion and injustice happening around him influenced him to grow into a strong, fair man. By 1189, he unified several Mongol tribes and reigned as Genghis Khan in an area named Huh Nuur. Genghis is a Turkic word meaning “ocean”, symbolizing that the wisdom and right of the king will be as unlimited as an ocean. He spent 16 years uniting all the Mongol tribes and rival clans, and in 1206 at a meeting of all the Mongol lords, he officially announced the establishment of the Great Mongol Empire.

The Empire had a wide territory, stretching from Baikal Lake in the north to the Great Wall in the south, from Hyangan Mountain in the east to the western end of the Altai Mountains. Genghis Khan established the capital of the Great Mongol Empire in the wide valley of the Orkhon river. According to his decree, the capital city, Karakorum, was established in 1220 and was completed by his successors. The capital, Karakorum, was more like a trade center than a capital city, and was surrounded by a 4×4 km wall with four main gates. Around every gate, there was a different trade. The inside organization of the city consisted of the King’s Palace; monasteries, churches and mosques of different religions; districts of craftsman; and foreign citizens and more. Karakorum was one of the stops on the famous “silk road,” and was the intersection of the connecting countries’ economic, political, and trade relationships.

After the establishment of the Great Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan started to conquer foreign countries. Every battle had a reason for him. For example: Genghis Khan valued trade and attempted to connect Asia and Europe by a trade road. At that time, the Turks (Horezm state) ruled a wide territory from Afghanistan to the Black Sea.

In 1217, Genghis Khan sent 3 representatives with gifts to ask for trade and a peaceful relationship with Sultan Mohmed II of the Horezm State. Later, Genghis sent 450 merchants and caravans with letters to keep the peace. Nevertheless, the governor of Otrar city robbed the caravan and killed the caravan’s guides. The Persian historian Ata Mali Juvandi wrote that the “robbery of one caravan brought misfortune to all the world”. Genghis Khan asked the Sultan of Horezm to punish the governor who killed the guides. In response, the Sultan insulted him and called him a rude nomad. As a result, Genghis Khan conquered the state, crossing high mountains, wide steppes and empty desert, crossing over 4000km with his warriors.

XIII-XY century, Genghis Khan and his successors established the biggest-ever Empire, which included most of Asia and Europe.

The traveler Marco Polo wrote “people of all the countries conquered by Genghis Khan lived without danger and accepted Genghis Khan as a supreme nobleman.”

In 1227, Genghis Khan was injured in a fall from his horse while going to battle against the Tangud State. The reason he fell from his horse was that his horse was frightened from herds of asses or wild horses ( Przewalski horses).