When you hear about the lord of the Mongols, you are referring to the great Genghis Khan. Who had the leadership ability, tenacity, and remarkable courage to conquer more than twice the land of anyone else. His name means universal emperor , a qualifier that he earned for his many exploits. When was Genghis khan born?

He was a visionary from an early age, which allowed him to develop the Mongol Empire , generating contact between Western and Eastern civilizations. Today in his honor in Ulaanbaatar, is his statue, which is characterized as the largest statue in the world.

Who was Genghis Khan?

He is considered one of the most interesting Western emperors in Mongolian history for the great feats he performed. Like the fact that some nomads of the prairies managed to agilely invade great civilizations much more advanced and with twice the population. From an early age the idea of ​​forming an empire was raised, that is why during his life he directed his armies to conquer more lands , for this they captured and killed a large number of people.

Some historians compare his exploits to those of Alexander the Great , although surprisingly the Mongol empire surpassed him for being much larger . It is believed that it was much more successful than the Greek Empire because the descendants of Genghis Khan conquered more lands, managing to change the culture and societies of all the conquered regions. When was Genghis khan born?

Genghis Khan Biography

He was born in 1162 in Mongolia , his birth name was Temujin , then he came to be known as Genghis Khan. His father was Yesugei who belonged to the royal Borjigin clan of the shamanist religion. Temujin’s mother was a young woman named Hoelun who was her father’s second wife, he kidnapped her along with her first husband. It was from his mother that he learned that to survive in the unruly Mongolian tribal society he had to create alliances.

From a very young age Genghis Khan faced great trials, at the age of 9 his father was assassinated which left his family in misery. Having to face strong events, such as learning from an early age to kill and fight to survive. With the death of his father he tried to be recognized as the leader of the tribe but it rejected him.

Genghis Khan’s family

Genghis Khan at the age of 16 married Börte who belonged to the Olkuthun tribe, his goal was to establish alliances between his tribe and that of his wife. With Börte he had four children named Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei and Tolui, although he had other children but these were not recognized by inheritance of authority in the clan. According to records, the physical characteristics of both Genghis Khan and his descendants were white and had green eyes and red hair . A curious fact is that, for Genghis Khan, it was a great surprise that his grandson Kublai had dark hair and not like him. When was Genghis khan born?

Genghis Khan Characteristics

Genghis Khan not only stood out for his military prowess, but he also became known for his charisma which ensured the loyalty of his soldiers . He was characterized by valuing the effort of his subjects since he formed an administration founded on meritocracy. It was not governed by distinction of rank or social position, it offered the opportunity as officials to people from the conquered territories.

It should also be mentioned that as an enemy he was fearsome , since he substantially used the strategy of terror. This being one of the strategies to protect yourself and at the same time build the largest land empire in history.

Birth of the Mongol Empire

Genghis Khan managed to realize that the problem at that time was that the Mongolian tribes were fighting each other . They were always in constant conflict with the Xin Empire and other nomadic peoples. That is why Genghis Khan as a strategy to protect himself and extend his influence never showed himself to be on one side. He showed the tribes his favor stealthily so as not to have a powerful enemy that could attack them. When was Genghis khan born?

His goal was to unify the tribes to form an empire and be the one to lead it . For this, the method he used was to compensate the loyalty of the tribes under his direction with gifts, also with the delegation of authority that was earned by merit and not by family ties. Another way was showing indulgence to the enemy tribes , they were encouraged to join his cause, in that way every day he managed to have many more people, clans and tribal groups under his rule.

By 1206 it had subdued the Merkits, Naimans, Keraits, Tatars, and Uyghurs, as well as many other large and small civilizations. It is in Kurultai that a council of Mongol rulers names him Genghis Khan.

Characteristics of the Mongol Empire

• The town was renamed Mongols .
• The Uyghur way of writing was adopted as the official form of their empire.
• The members of his empire were allowed freedom of worship.
• Intelligence and communication information was essential for the empire .
• Educated and wise advisers were established to advise him.
• Adaptation and use of technology was allowed.

Genghis Khan achievements

With the conquest of the empires, the successors brought the political unity of the region . The Mongols also extended the empire to Korea, Central Asia, Persia and Russia, to achieve this the soldiers were transferred from the captured territories in the East to help capture the west.

Another achievement of the empire was that Chinese artists and craftsmen were trained to learn skills elsewhere. In the case of Western artisans, they were transferred to live and teach in the East , in this way it was possible to standardize the culture artistically . The Silk Road trade was reestablished which generated general prosperity. When was Genghis khan born?

The empire was also characterized by offering spectacles for the masses, opera theater and popular novels in colloquial language of large productions. The only thing the empire was limited in was scientific advances. Since during the time the only of the Song advances that were used was the technology of gunpowder weapons that were introduced in the West.

Death of Genghis Khan

It is known that Genghis Khan died around the year 1227 , although the cause of his death is not known with precision . It is believed that it was the result of a previous accident on a horse that brutally threw him to the ground , causing him internal injuries and his health never recovered afterwards. Other versions speculate that it could have been from injuries caused during the war with the Xia .

Before his death he left his son Ogedei as his heir and among the rest of his sons the Mongolian territory was shared. By the time of his death, Genghis Khan had managed to conquer and extend his empire from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea. The place where his tomb lies is not known, since he was buried in secret, because he ordered it, according to Mongolian customs.