Genghis Khan

In Eurasia, Genghis Khan was a historical icon. He invaded lands, conquered territories, and was feared far plus wide. His reign existed in a temporary time period. His sons ruled his Empire after he had died. His influences are still felt today in how Central Asia is orientated in its culture. In terms of geography, Central Asia is called the heartland. Genghis Khan was a Mongolian leader and an expert military strategist. Genghis Khan's empire was larger in land than the Roman Empire and Alexander the Great's Empire. Genghis Khans father was murdered, he was betrayed by his best friend, and his rivals kidnapped his wife. Therefore, he lived a tumultuous life even from his early childhood. Genghis Khan defined a large portion of the history and culture of the Middle Ages indeed.

The cosmology and the history of the Mongols must be explained first before totality of Genghis Khan's Empire ought to be made manifested. Genghis Khan was an extremely famous historical figure. He lived from May 31, 1162 to August 25, 1227. He was born Borjigin
Temujin. His father was named Yesugei or the leader of the Borjigin. His nephew was Ambaghai and Qutula Khan. Temiujin was related to Kahbul Kahan, Ambaghai, and Qutula Khan to his father's side. He was the founder (like Khan or ruler) and Khagan (or emperor) of the Mongol Empire. He made the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. Contiguous means sharing a common border that touches each other (without a break). He united the many nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. He founded the Mongol Empire under the unification of nomadic tribes in northeast Asia.

The Mongols tribes lived in the steppe region north of China. This region was near the Gobi Desert. The steppe region is a word that pertains to geography. A steppe is like a grassland filled with scrublands and had plains. Its conducive to a nomadic lifestyle. There are little to no trees in a steppe area. Some steppes are semi-desert. Its too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert. Chernozem is the soil type in the climate. Its dry condition can cause the steppes to be very cold in the winter time (in -40 degrees F) and up to 104 degrees F in the summer time. This is where Asian and Eurasian tribes lived in. The Mongols were nomads (or people that traveled to place to place rapidly without a stationary lifestyle). They were dependent on horse for transportation, etc. The Yerpa valley is in Tibet. It houses tons of Buddhist monasteries. Their clan structure hated the Chinese people. There were many tribes of the Mongols that were mixed with Turkish peoples. In fact, some Mongols are cousins to the Turks and the Huns. There is the Kerait tribe of mixed Mongol and Turkic ancestry. Khan is a word in Mongolian culture that refers to a ruler. Khagan refers to the title of emperor. The Yuan Dynasty leaders were called Khagan. Kagan is a common Turkish name in Turkish.

Genghis Khan united the Mongol clans before his invasions of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He started the Mongol invasions in the name of Genghis Khan. He conquered most of Eurasia. Genghis Khan also invaded India, Russia, and other places.

Genghis Khan promoted raids or invasions of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, Caucasus Kharzemid Empire, and Western Xi and Jin dynasties. He expressly conquered the Khwarezmid Empire.

What is a Khanate? A Khanate is a political entity or region thats ruled by a Khan. After Genghis Khan died, his Empire was divided into 4 son ruled by his sons and grandsons. This is similar to the end of Alexander the Greats Empire when his Empire was broken up among his major general after Alexander the Great died in ca. 332 B.C. Now, the Mongol Khanates (or regions) include the following:

The The The The

Khanate of the Kipchak (Golden Horde) Khanate of Chaghadai Khanate of Persia Khanate of the Great Khan

The Golden Horde Khanate was created in the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire. Jochi was Genghis Khan eldest son. Jochis son Batu (or Genghis Khans grandson) ruled the Blue Horde. He and his relatives ruled his khanate for over 200 years.

Some populations in the raids were killed of civilians in a wholesale fashion. This massacre occurred especially in Khwarzemia. Before Genghis Khan died, he assigned Ogedei Khan as his successor and split his empire into khanates among his sons and grandsons. He died in 1227 after defeating the Western Xia. He was buried in an unknown location in Mongolia. His descendants stretched his Empire into China, Korea, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and parts of Western Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Many of these invasions killed innocent local populations. According to William Bonner and Addison Wiggin, "It has been estimated that his campaigns killed as many as 40 million people based on census data of the times." Genghis Khan did surprising actions in his Empire. He decreed the adoption of the Uyghur script as the Mongol Empire's writing system. He promoted religious tolerance in the Mongol Empire. The present day Mongolians regarded him as the founding father of Mongolia. Genghis Khan unified the people in the Central Asian plateau north of China (made up of the Naimans, Merkits, Uyghurs, Tatars, Mongols, and Keraits).

What is the Yassa? The Yassa is a military and civilian code that was created by Genghis Khan. It wasnt dealing with ethnicity or race in administration, but it deal with meritocracy. Meritocracy is when you give a person a job in government based on their merits (or talents in education, intelligence, credentials, skills, or any other personal attributes). This is related to Confucian philosophy where Confucianism promoted civil service exams in ancient China in order for people to get governmental jobs (these exams were tested on the works from Confucius like the Analects). Genghis Khan's history is long and controversial. Genghis Khan never conquered all of China. Yet, his grandson Kublai Khan completed that conquest. Kublai Khan created the Yuan Dynasty that united China. The Yuan Dynasty contributed greatly to the literature and social structure of China indeed. China's Northern population decreased its population during that era. In other places in the world, Genghis Khan's forces caused an enormous damage and destruction to populations from the Middle East to parts of Europe. Iran's population lost from 10-15 million people and some historians feel that Iran didn't reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid 1900's. There were invasions of Baghdad, Samarkhan, Urgench, Kiev, Vladimir, and other cities. Some parts of Khuzestan were totally destroyed. It is said that Genghis Khan is credited with bringing the Silk Road into another level in the world. The Silk Road came into one cohesive political environment. This caused more communication and trade between the West, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the rest of Asia. It expanded the horizons of those cultural areas. Some historians believed that Genghis Khan created some meritocracy in his rule, was tolerant of different religions, and explained his policies to all of his soldiers. Yet, these acts will never justify the imperialism and war mongering nature of Genghis Khan at all. People abhorred him in the Middle East and Iran (they considered him a genocidal warlord that killed populations).

Ogatai is the new Khan after Genghis Khan died. The Mongol Empire was one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history because of its size. In Summary, we gather these facts about Genghis Khan:

Kublai Khan ruled China and creates the Yuan dynasty. Before going forward, some facts should be shown about the Yuan Dynasty first. A dynasty is simply a family of rulers that control a certain extent of a territory.

The Yuan Dynasty existed from 1271-1378. Its first ruler or Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan. Kublai called himself the Great Khan or the supreme ruler of the Mongol khanates (from Chagatai Khanate, the Golden Horde, and the Ilkhanate). He tried to adopt Chinese customs in order to make his rule more efficient. He ordered the building of the new capital in the modern day city of Beijing. It had been called Zhongdu. He was the first non-Han dynasty to rule all of China and he claimed the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven is like the divine rights of Kings. The Mandate of Heaven is the approval of Heaven to allow a person to rule over an Empire in China. Han Chinese people were discriminated against in the Yuan Dynasty since the Mongols held most governmental power in the Yuan Dynasty. He supported the Silk Road for trade and promoted science plus religion. The Ming Dynasty came after the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming was ruled by the ethnic Han and it was one of the strongest dynasties in orderly government and social stability in the world.

Kublai Khan is met by the European explorer named Marco Polo. Polo lived form ca. 1254 to 1324. He wrote of his travels to Il Milione (or the Travels of Marco Polo). His work talked about his traveled into Asia, Persia, China, and Indonesia between 1271 and 1291. Polo criticized Buddhism and Islam since hes a Catholic. This introduced a lot of Europeans to the culture of Central Asians, Eurasians, and Asians to the European audience. He influenced cultural diffusion (or the spreading of culture

in the Old World across continents during that time period). It is said that his father and uncle (named Niccolo and Maffeo) traveled to meet Kublai Khan. Polo is from Venice, Italy. Marco Polo lived a more successful life by being a rich merchant, being married, and had 3 children. He is buried in San Lorenzo. Marco Polo starts in 1271 to go into China. He travels along the Silk Road in places like Kashgar, Beijing, etc. He traveled with his father and uncle. He had many riches and treasures. When Polo came into Italy, Italy was at war with Genoa. He was imprisoned temporarily. Polos works talks about the burning of coal, paper money, but he didnt talk about footbinding (or the process of using force against females feet in order to allow them to marry a richer man. The feet were extremely made short as a result of this brutal process. This is found in ancient Chinese culture and its fortunately banned today in China), chopsticks, or the Great Wall of China. Kublai Khan asked Marco Polo about Christianity and the Pope. Marco Polo wrote about pasta like food in China, but pasta like foods existed in the four corners of the Earth among thousands of years.

The Genghis Khan Empire fell via civil wars, revolt, financial ruin, and other problems in the Khanates. The Mongol Empire is larger in land size than the following Empires: The Russian Empire The Spanish Empire Qing Dynasty in China The Yuan Dynasty The Umayyad Caliphate The Achmaemenid Empire (or the Persian Empire) The Japanese Empire The Ottoman Empire

The British Empire is the only Empire largest than the Mongol Empire in total land and water size.

Marco Polo inspired Christopher Columbus to promote his journey to America. He inspired other European explorers to deal with map making as well. Christopher Columbus is a controversial and imperialist character. The Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria sent Columbus and other all over the world. 5 people died in Columbus home. Columbus went into Portugal and then Spain to find someone to support his journey. Spain back then was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. The Dominican monks used the Spanish Inquisition to harm religious liberties. The head inquisitor was named Torquemada and he was the so-called spiritual advisor to Queen Isabella. Just as Columbus was about to sail, the Spanish engineered a coup d'tat at the Vatican and Spanish Pope Alexander VI was "elected" Pope. There was the infamous Bull of Borgia giving the entire New World exclusively to Spain. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V published a Bull entitled Romanus Pontifex in which he gave Portugal the exclusive right to conquer and enslave ALL non-Roman Catholics. This Bull was the forerunner of the deadly Bull of Pope Alexander VI which gave exclusive right to Spain to conquer and enslave the New World natives. He died of old age in Spain on May 20, 1506. So, many people realize that Christopher Columbus was a slick terrorist that used his religion as an excuse to promote injustices against Native American peoples. Banks and schools are closed nationwide to celebrate and remember this criminal named Columbus. I dont celebrate the murder of my people or Native American human beings. Barbarism, violence, and imperialism are the evil actions acuminated in the mentality of these nefarious terrorists like Columbus. Even today, we have the same type of terrorists and imperialists lusting after wealth, material goods, mineral resources, etc. In his writings, Columbus called Native Americans despicable names. Columbus stole land and slave trade his way as well. His brothers Bartholomew and Giacomo worked out imperialist

schemes as well. Columbus and crew murdered fleeing Native Americans who were the Arawaks. We dont need to genuflect serial killers like Christopher Columbus.

Today, we have to be careful to never support evil dictators, preemptive wars of aggression, torture, the ending of habeas corpus, assassinating citizens, drone wars, the use of WMDS, the War on Drugs, massive debt creation via the FED, deceptive networks like FOX News, etc. Its interesting to note that according to Carol Rosenberg from the Miami Herald say that Gitmo is costing taxpayers about $800,000 annual for each of the 171 detainees. Gitmo has been a placed filled with torture. Yet, annually, inmates in federal prison cost about $25,000 per person. The hypocritically neo cons dont want to end the war on terror, but they want to maintain Gitmo (while demanding draconian cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare where people worked to earn those benefits in a just fashion). Gitmo is just one base out of many making up this modern day Empire that exploits the wilderness called America. The lesson here is that we should fight for whats right in the world within the framework of militancy, authentic motivation, compassion, and true activism. At the end of the day, we have to be better than the past.

By Timothy