60 Fun Facts About Genghis Khan

What was Genghis Khan's birth name?

One tradition says he was named after a Tatar captive his father had just brought home; another links it to the word for iron.

Genghis was born into which clan of the Mongol tribe?

The clan claimed descent from the legendary warlord Bodonchar Munkhag.

According to the most prominent legend, what was Genghis clutching in his hand when he was born?

In Asian folklore the motif marked the child as a future warrior.

Genghis's father was poisoned while accepting a meal from members of which tribe?

He relied on the steppe custom of hospitality to strangers, but they recognised their old enemy.

How old was Genghis when his father died and his family was abandoned by its tribe?

The family survived by gathering roots and nuts, hunting small animals and fishing.

Which older half-brother did the young Genghis kill to secure his position in the family?

The Secret History records that his mother angrily reprimanded her sons for the killing.

Which childhood blood brother of Genghis became his greatest rival and was eventually executed?

They swore the anda pact at eleven, exchanging knucklebones and arrows.

Who was Genghis Khan's principal wife, betrothed to him when he was eight?

She bore four sons and five daughters, all of whom became influential figures in the empire.

Genghis's principal wife came from which tribe, which had often intermarried with the Mongols?

Her father held the stronger negotiating position and made the boy stay in his household to work off the bride price.

Who was Genghis Khan's mother?

His father had abducted her from her Merkit bridegroom, a grievance that came back to haunt the family.

Genghis's newlywed wife was kidnapped by around 300 raiders from which tribe?

They were avenging his father's abduction of his mother years earlier.

Which eldest son of Genghis was born soon after his mother's rescue, his paternity in doubt?

His brother Chagatai once called him a Merkit bastard and brawled with him in front of their father.

Toghrul, the patron who received a sable cloak from the young Genghis, was khan of which tribe?

He had fought alongside Genghis's father and sworn the anda pact with him.

The Song diplomat Zhao Hong recorded that the future Genghis spent several years in what condition?

Modern historians think it likely: nothing else explains his whereabouts between about 1187 and 1195.

The Baljuna Covenant of 1203 was what?

The oath-takers came from nine tribes and included Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

How did Toghrul, Genghis's former patron, meet his end after fleeing in 1203?

His son Senggum escaped to Tibet; Genghis absorbed the tribe's elite by marrying its princesses into his family.

At which 1204 battle in the Altai Mountains were the Naimans decisively defeated?

Their leader Tayang Khan was killed and his son Kuchlug fled west.

In which year did Temüjin formally adopt the title Genghis Khan at a kurultai?

The assembly was held at the source of the Onon River, where he had grown up.

One theory holds that the title 'Genghis' derives from a Turkic word meaning what?

Since the ocean was believed to surround the earth, the title would imply universal ruler.

What was the Mongol military unit of a thousand men called?

Each was subdivided into hundreds and tens, and each also encompassed the soldiers' households.

At the 1206 assembly, the keshig bodyguard was expanded from 1,150 to how many men?

It doubled as household staff, military academy and the centre of government.

Which shaman, titled Teb Tenggeri, tried to divide the imperial family and was killed for it?

Genghis then took over the shaman's role as the Mongols' highest spiritual authority.

According to the Secret History, Genghis had a phobia of what?

The anonymous author is unusually critical, also presenting him as indecisive.

Which people were the first sedentary society to submit to the Mongols, in 1211?

Their leader Barchuk had freed them from the Qara Khitai; Genghis married a daughter to him.

The Xia kingdom, target of Genghis's 1209 invasion and of his final campaign, was ruled by which people?

Its civilisation was essentially wiped out when its capital fell in 1227.

In 1210 Genghis tried to flood the Xia capital by damming which waterway, only to flood his own camp?

The Mongols still lacked siege equipment better than crude battering rams.

How did Genghis respond in 1210 when a Jin envoy demanded that he submit and pay tribute?

The Jin could field 600,000 soldiers, potentially outnumbering him eight to one.

After his failed 1212 assault on Xijing, Genghis formed a corps of what from 500 Jin experts?

He had been wounded by an arrow during the unsuccessful siege.

The Jin capital Zhongdu, which surrendered to the Mongols in 1215, is which modern city?

The Jin court had already fled 600 km south, which Genghis took as a breach of the peace.

Which general infiltrated the Juyong Pass in 1213 and later annexed the Qara Khitai?

He undermined the usurper Kuchlug by proclaiming Mongol religious tolerance, then had him beheaded.

The young warrior Jebe won a place in Genghis's service after admitting he had done what in battle?

Genghis prized the honesty and courage over the offence.

Which commander did Genghis leave in charge of the war in North China in 1216?

He waged a brutal but effective campaign against the Jin until his death in 1223.

Kuchlug, usurper of Qara Khitai, tried to force his Muslim subjects to convert to what?

He was captured by local hunters in the Pamirs after fleeing the Mongols.

The massacre of a Mongol trade caravan in which border town sparked war with Khwarazm?

The governor Inalchuq accused the merchants of espionage; when a Mongol envoy was then killed, war was inevitable.

Who ruled the Khwarazmian Empire when Genghis invaded in 1219?

He ruled in an uneasy diarchy with his mother and refused to meet the Mongols in the field.

The fleeing Khwarazmian shah died of dysentery on an island in which body of water?

Jebe and Subutai had chased him all the way from Balkh.

How long did Jebe and Subutai's 7,500 km 'Great Raid' toward Europe last?

The expedition reached Georgia and Kievan Rus' before turning for home.

Which Khwarazmian prince escaped across the Indus into India after his defeat in November 1221?

He had earlier beaten a Mongol unit under Genghis's adopted son at Parwan.

Which son of Genghis led the brutal Khorasan campaign that annihilated Nishapur, Merv and Herat?

The campaign fixed Genghis's lasting image as a ruthless, inhumane conqueror.

Contemporary Persian historians put the death toll of the three Khorasan sieges alone at over what exaggerated figure?

John Man's estimate of 1.25 million for the entire campaign would still be a demographic catastrophe.

Which Taoist patriarch did Genghis summon to the Hindu Kush and reward with tax exemptions?

He also gave the Taoists authority over all monks in the empire, which they later used against the Buddhists.

What were the commissioners governing conquered territories, literally 'those who press the seal', called?

Local officials beneath them were called basqaq.

Genghis adopted the Uyghur alphabet for Mongolian with the help of which captured scribe?

Under Soviet pressure the script was later replaced by Cyrillic in Mongolia.

Genghis died in August 1227 while besieging the capital of which state?

His death was kept secret and the city, unaware, fell the following month.

What triggered Genghis's final illness in the winter of 1226–27?

His sons urged him to go home and recover; insulted by a Xia commander, he refused.

According to Marco Polo, how did Genghis Khan die?

Carpini said lightning; a famous legend blames a dagger wielded by the Xia emperor's former wife.

Genghis was buried on or near which sacred peak, afterwards declared a forbidden zone?

He had hidden on the same mountain as a young man when the Merkits raided his camp.

When his successor took the throne in 1229, Genghis's grave was honoured with the sacrifice of what?

The mountain was out of bounds to all but its Uriankhai guard.

Which son succeeded Genghis as ruler of the empire in 1229?

He lacked his brothers' military skill but was generous, well-liked and willing to compromise.

Genghis's chosen heir was known for what habit, which eventually killed him in 1241?

He drank heavily even by Mongol standards.

Which grandson of Genghis founded the Yuan dynasty in China in 1271?

He gave his grandfather the temple name Taizu, Supreme Progenitor.

Which grandson of Genghis sacked Baghdad in 1258, an event still remembered bitterly in the Arab world?

He founded the Ilkhanate in Persia.

Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, claimed descent from both Genghis and which other conqueror?

Timur himself ruled through puppet khans of Genghis's line and married at least two of his descendants.

In contemporary Japan, Genghis is best known for a legend that he was originally which samurai?

The tragic hero was forced to commit seppuku in 1189, according to history.

In the mid-1990s the Washington Post acclaimed Genghis Khan as what?

It said he embodied the half-civilised, half-savage duality of the human race.

The Persian chronicler Juzjani described Genghis as having the eyes of which animal?

He also noted a lack of grey hair; Zhao Hong mentioned a broad brow and long beard.

The Secret History of the Mongols survived because it was transliterated into what?

Its anonymous author is often critical of Genghis, which is why historians value it.

Which Persian scholar compiled the Compendium of Chronicles for the Ilkhan Ghazan?

He had privileged access to the lost Altan Debter but censored inconvenient details.

Genghis broke with steppe custom over post-battle plunder by doing what?

He disliked luxury and asked companions to address him informally and criticise his mistakes.

Which supreme deity did Genghis believe had destined him for world domination?

He came to believe he embodied suu, divine grace, and treated anyone who denied his right to rule as an enemy.