History of Mongol Empire : 10 Lesser Known Facts About Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan, who is credited with founding the nation of Mongolia and inventing the first global postal system, was born around 1162 and passed away on August 18, 1227. One of history’s most illustrious conquerors, Temujin, a Mongolian warrior and king, was born. He expanded his empire from China’s east coast to the Aral Sea.

To identify his adversary’s vulnerabilities, Genghis Khan deployed his huge network of spies. Using that, Khan launched an all-out assault with up to 2,50,000 cavalrymen on the enemy’s defences. The Mongols utilised weapons like catapults, mangonels, and even diverted rivers to flood out the enemy when they attacked big cities. Within the rapidly expanding Mongol empire, the survivors were given religious freedom and protection. Khan made incursions into Eastern Europe, Persia, and India by 1227 and had largely conquered Central Asia. His vast empire was spread across northern China and central Russia, from the Aral Sea in the west to Beijing in the east.

Here are some interesting and lesser known facts about Genghis Khan,

1. Genghis Khan was born with a blood clot

According to legend, Genghis Khan was born with a blood clot in his fist, foreshadowing his rise to prominence as a great and strong leader. It appears that he had blood on his hands from the start.

2. Genghis Khan wasn’t his real name

Around the year 1162, the man who would later become the “Great Khan” of the Mongols was born near the Onon River with the original name Temujin, which means “of iron” and demonstrated strength. Genghis Kahn was not given the honorific name until 1206, when he was chosen as the Mongols’ leader at a confederation of tribes known as a “kurultai.”. Although “Khan” is a conventional title that denotes “leader” or “ruler,” historians are unsure of the name’s ancestry. Although in context it is typically translated as “supreme ruler” or “universal ruler,” it may have originally meant “ocean” or “just.”

3. Genghis Khan’s childhood was traumatic

Genghis had to deal with the harshness of life on the Mongolian Steppe from a young age. Following the poisoning of his father by rival Tatars when he was only nine years old, his tribe later drove his family away and left his mother to raise her seven children by herself. As a child, Genghis had to learn how to hunt and gather food in order to survive. In a food fight as a teenager, he may have even killed his own half-brother.

4. There’s no conclusive evidence of what he looked like

Very little is known about Genghis Kahn’s personal life or even his appearance for such a significant figure. His early portraits and sculptures have all vanished, and the scant information historians do have about him is frequently inconclusive or unreliable. He is typically pictured as tall and powerful with flowing hair and a long, bushy beard.

5. Genghis Khan nearly died once

The promotion of his commanders was typically based on skill and experience rather than status, ancestry, or even prior allegiances because the Great Khan had a sharp eye for brilliance. One well-known instance of this belief in meritocracy occurred in 1201 when Genghis nearly died after having his horse shot out from under him by an arrow during a combat with the enemy Taijut tribe.

6. Genghis Khan was responsible for 40 million brutal deaths

Although it is hard to determine with certainty how many people died during the Mongol invasions, many historians estimate that the figure was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 million. Censuses from the Middle Ages reveal that during the Khan’s reign, the population of China fell by tens of millions, and experts believe that the Khan may have killed three-fourths of the population of modern-day Iran during his conflict with the Khwarezmid Empire.

7. Genghis Khan was liberal towards all religions

Genghis Khan celebrated the diversity of the lands he had just conquered, in contrast to many other empire builders. He enacted legislation ensuring everyone’s right to practise their religion freely, and he even exempted places of worship from paying taxes. The political aspect of this tolerance stemmed from the Khan’s understanding that contented subjects were less likely to rebel, but the Mongols also had a remarkably tolerant view of religion.

8. Genghis Khan established and started the first post office in the Mongol Empire

The Mongols’ sophisticated communication system, together with the bow as well as the horse, were perhaps their most potent tool. Establishing the “Yam,” a mounted courier service, was one of his first directives as Khan. This mediaeval express was made up of an efficient network of post houses and way stations that were dispersed throughout the entire Empire.

9. Genghis Khan’s death is still an unsolved mystery

Perhaps the most well-known mystery surrounding the Khan’s life is how it ended. The conventional story claims that he passed away in 1227 from wounds received after falling from a horse, but other sources give a variety of causes, including malaria and an arrow wound to the knee. One of the more dubious accounts even asserts that he was killed while attempting to seduce a Chinese princess.

10. Soviet rule banned his name in 20th century

Although Genghis Khan is now revered as a national hero and the country’s founding father, his name was outlawed during the Soviet era in the 20th century. The Soviet Union attempted to stifle the memory of the Khan by erasing his account from school textbooks and prohibiting pilgrimages to his birthplace in Khentii in an effort to eradicate all traces of Mongolian nationalism. After Mongolia gained independence in the early 1990s, Genghis Khan was eventually reinstated in its history, and since then, he has appeared frequently in both art and popular culture.