Descent from Genghis Khan in East Asia is well documented by Chinese sources. His descent in West Asia and Europe was documented through the 14th century, in texts written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani and other Muslim historians. With the advent of genealogical DNA testing, a larger and broader circle of people have begun to claim descent from Genghis Khan owing to dubious and imprecise haplogroup identifications. However, while many of Genghis Khan's agnates' resting places are known (e.g. Shah Jahan in the Taj Mahal), none of their remains have been tested to prove or disprove these theories and debate continues (see below).
The family tree of Genghis Khan is listed below. This family tree only lists prominent members of the Borjigin family and does not reach the present. Genghis Khan appears in the middle of the tree, and Kublai Khan appears at the bottom of the tree. The Borjigin family was the imperial house of the Mongol Empire (and its various successor states), dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.
Diagrammatic family tree
Only selected, prominent members are shown. Khagans (Great Khans who were rulers of the whole empire[1]) are in bold.
Jochi, Genghis Khan's eldest son, had many more recorded progeny than his brothers Ögedei, Chagatai, and Tolui—but there is some doubt over his paternity. According to The Secret History of the Mongols, the boy was sent to Genghis by Chilger, who had kidnapped his first wife Börte, keeping her in captivity for about a year. In one passage, Chagatai refers to Jochi as "bastard" (although the true meaning of the Mongol term is obscure). To this, Genghis Khan responds: "How dare you talk about Jochi like this? Is not he the eldest of my heirs? That I never heard such wicked words again!" (p255). All in all, Genghis Khan pronounces the words "Jochi is my eldest son" thrice (p210, 242, 254).
Modern historians speculate that Jochi's disputed paternity was the reason for his eventual estrangement from his father and for the fact that his descendants never succeeded to the imperial throne. On the other hand, Genghis always treated Jochi as his first son, while the failure of the Jochid succession may be explained by Jochi's premature death (which may have excluded his progeny from succession).
Another important consideration is that Genghis' descendants intermarried frequently. For instance, the Jochids took wives from the Ilkhan dynasty of Persia, whose progenitor was Hulagu Khan, a son of Tolui who was a son of Genghis Khan. As a consequence, it is likely that many Jochids had other sons of Genghis Khan among their maternal ancestors.
Asia
Asian dynasties descended from Genghis Khan included the Yuan dynasty (Kublaids) of China, the Hulaguids of Persia, the Jochids of the Golden Horde, the Shaybanids of Siberia and Central Asia, and the Astrakhanids of Central Asia. As a rule, the Genghisid descent played a crucial role in Tatar politics. For instance, Mamai (1335–1380) had to exercise his authority through a succession of puppet khans but could not assume the title of khan himself because he lacked Genghisid lineage.
Timur Lenk (1336–1405), the founder of the Timurid dynasty, claimed descent from Genghis Khan. He associated himself with the family of Chagatai Khan through marriage. He never assumed the title Khan for himself, but employed two members of the Chagatai clan as formal heads of state. The Mughal imperial family of the Indian subcontinent descended from Timur through Babur and also from Genghis Khan (through his son Chagatai Khan).
The ruling Wang Clan of the Korean Goryeo dynasty became descendants of the Genghisids through the marriage between King Chungnyeol (reigned 1274–1308) and a daughter of Kublai Khan. All subsequent rulers of Korea for the next 80 years, through King Gongmin, also married Borjigid princesses.
The khans of the Khoshut Khanate were indirect descendants. They were descendants from a younger brother of Genghis Khan, Qasar.
As the Russian Empire absorbed Turkic polities, their Genghizid rulers frequently entered the Russian service. For instance, Kuchum's descendants became Russified as the Tsarevichs of Siberia. Descendants of Ablai Khan assumed in Russia the name of Princes Valikhanov. All these families asserted their Genghisid lineage. The only extant family of this group is the House of Giray, whose members left Soviet Russia for the United States and United Kingdom.
The Qing dynasty of China completely exterminated one branch (Ligdan Khan's descendants) of the Borjigids after an anti-Qing revolt in 1675 by Ejei Khan's brother Abunai and Abunai's son Borni against the Qing.[10] The Qing emperors then placed the Chahar Mongols under their direct rule. The emperors of the Qing dynasty and the emperor of Manchukuo were also indirect descendants by Qasar, a younger brother of Genghis Khan. Their ancestry traces Horchin princes established matrimonial relationship with the imperial family of Aisin Gioro.
After the Mongol invasion of Rus', members of the Rurikid dynasty of Rus often sought marriages with Mongol princesses. Many of these marriages were sought for military and political advantage, as the Russian princes were often feuding with each other. A marriage alliance with the Mongol horde gave them better leverage in their struggles against each other.
After spending several years at the Mongol court, Yury of Moscow sought to marry Konchak, a sister of Öz Beg Khan, which the Khan gave consent to. Konchak converted to Christianity, and was given the baptismal name Agatha.[11] This marriage was a strategic political alliance that transformed Moscow in to the newest regional power in Russia, and severely weakened the power away from the Russian Prince of Tver, formerly a major power prior to the Mongol invasions.[12]
Members of the Mongol royal families played a significant role in Russia. Berke's nephew adopted the Christian name Peter and founded St. Peter's Monastery in Rostov, where his descendants existed for centuries as boyars.[13]
St. Fyodor the Black married a daughter of Mengu-Timur. She was baptized and given the Christian name Anna.[15] Male-line descendants of Fyodor's marriage to the Tatar Princess include all rulers of Yaroslavl (from then on) and over 20 princely families (such as the Shakhovskoy, Lvov, or Prozorovsky, among others). After the 1917 revolution, some of these families were expelled from Russia.
According to Marie Favereau, a feeling of mutual respect between the Russian and Mongol sides had developed. The fact that Russian princes could marry Mongol princesses was a sign that Mongol lords trusted their northern vassals. She also notes that, even after the adoption of Islam by the Mongol khans, the Mongols never took Russian women as concubines, unlike the Ottoman sultans.[16]
Zerjal et al. (2003) identified a Y-chromosomal lineage haplogroup C*(xC3c) present in about 8% of men in a region of Asia "stretching from northeast China to Uzbekistan", which would be around 16 million men at the time of publication, "if [Zerjal et al's] sample is representative."[17] The authors propose that the lineage was likely carried by male-line descendants of Genghis Khan, because of its presence in certain ethnic groups rumored to be their descendants. One study published in the Russian Journal of Genetics found that 24% of Mongolians carry this haplogroup, and that it occurs in low frequencies in neighboring Turkic states (with the exception of Kazakhstan).[18]
A white paper by the American Society of Human Genetics Ancestry and Ancestry Testing Task Force, Royal et al. (2010) observed the Zerjal et al. hypothesis:
Although such a connection is by no means impossible, we currently have no way of assessing how much confidence to place in such a connection. We emphasize, however, that whenever formal inferences about population history have been attempted with uniparental systems, the statistical power is generally low. Claims of connections, therefore, between specific uniparental lineages and historical figures or historical migrations of peoples are merely speculative.[19]
In a 2017 review paper published in Human Genetics, authors Chiara Batini and Mark Jobling cast doubts on Zerjal's 2003 theory that Genghis Khan is linked to haplogroup C:
Ancient DNA data (Lkhagvasuren et al. 2016) from remains in high-status Mongolian graves dated to 1130–1250 CE revealed MSY lineages belonging to hg R1b, rather than hg C: there are a number of explanations for such findings, but taken at face value, they do not support the Genghis Khan hypothesis for the origin of the widespread Asian expansion lineage (Zerjal et al. 2003).[20]
Proposed candidate haplogroups and haplotypes
Over the years, following haplogroups have been proposed as candidates:[21]
C2b1a3a1c2-F5481 (C-M217*-Star Cluster / clade of C2*-ST): Widespread in Central Asia among Kazakhs, Hazaras and ordinary commoner Mongols. The Kerey clan of the Kazakhs have a high amount of the C3* star-cluster (C2*-ST) Y chromosome and it is very high among Hazaras, Kazakhs and Mongols in general.[22] However, in 2017 a Chinese research team suggested that the Y chromosome C-M217*-Star Cluster likely traces back to ordinary Mongol warriors, rather than Genghis Khan, and that "a direct linking of haplogroup C-M217 to Genghis Khan has yet to be discovered."[23] In a review paper published in Human Genetics, authors Chiara Batini and Mark Jobling cast doubts on Zerjal's 2003 theory that Genghis Khan is linked to haplogroup C[24]
C2c1a1a1-M407: Carried by Mongol descendants of the Northern Yuan ruler from 1474 to 1517, Dayan Khan, an alleged male line descendant of Genghis Khan.[25]
C2b1a1b1-F1756: In 2019, a Chinese research team study suggested that Haplogroup C2b1a1b1-F1756[26] might be a candidate of the true Y lineage of Genghis Khan. The Lu clan claimed to be the descendants of Khulgen, the sixth son of Genghis Khan. A genetic study of the molecular genealogy of Northwest China shows that some members of Lu belong to Y-DNA haplogroup C2b1a1b1 F1756.[26] This haplogroup is also observed in the Tore clan from Kazakhstan, who have claimed to be paternal descendants of Jochi, the first son of Genghis Khan.[27] However, the claim that the Lu clan is descendant of Khulgen is controversial and is disputed by several other studies.[28]
Research published in 2016 suggested that Genghis possibly belonged to the haplogroup Haplogroup R1b (R1b-M343).[29] Five bodies, dating from about 1130–1250, were found in graves in Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia. The authors suggested they were members of the Golden Family, and linked the spread of R1b-M343 to the former territories of the Mongol Empire. The authors also suggested that the Tavan Tolgoi bodies are related either to the female lineages of Genghis Khan's Borjigin clan, or to Genghis Khan's male lineage, rather than the Ongud clan.[30]
Popular culture
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the motorway contractor Mr. Prosser is (unknown to himself) a direct patrilineal descendant of Genghis Khan. This manifests itself in a predilection for fur hats, a desire to have axes hanging above his front door, being slightly overweight and occasional visions of screaming Mongol hordes.
Fictional character Shiwan Khan, who is described as the last living descendant of Genghis appears in The Shadow, a collection of serialized dramas, originally on 1930s radio. He also appeared in the 1994 film adaptation, The Shadow.
In a spoof of the 1989 comedy film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure by the sketch show Robot Chicken, a crowd member admonishes Bill and Ted for choosing Genghis Khan to bring to the future as he slaughtered millions, erroneously claiming 6% of all Mongolians were his direct descendants resulting from rape.
↑ Jochi's paternity is uncertain. It was a matter of debate during his lifetime as it is now. His mother, Borte Fujin, gave birth to him within her 9-month period of captivity among the Merkit people. Despite that, Genghis Khan always addressed Jochi as his own offspring.
↑ The ruling years of Sasi-Buqa, Erzen and Chimtai may have been as follows: Sasi-Buqa (1309–1315), Erzen (1315–1320), Chimtai (1344–1361), with the gap (1320–1344) being filled by the ruling years of Mubarak-Khwaja, who has been pointed as Chimtai's uncle, father or brother by some historians. However, recent findings[which?] indicate that Mubarak-Khwaja is actually not from Ordaid descent, but from Toqa-Timurid instead, which gives us the dates and the family tree structure observed in the main article.
↑ Following the deaths of Jani-Beg's sons, the Batuid lineage came to an end as rulers of the Blue Horde/Golden Horde. A period of anarchy (known as bulqaq in Turkic) took place in the Blue Horde and lasted until the establishment of Toqtamish’s rule in 1380. According to Ötemiš-Hājji,[2] Khidr was the first to claim Saray's empty throne with the support of Taidula (Jani-Beg's mother). His Shibanid lineage was also acknowledged by Spuler.[3]
↑ Following the death of Chimtai, the Ordaid lineage came to an end as rulers of the White Horde. According to Ötemiš-Hājji,[4] Qara-Nogai was the first to claim Signaq's empty throne with the support of his brothers (that later followed him). Qara-Nogai's (as Urus' and Mubarak Khwaja's) Toqa-Temurid lineage was also acknowledged by István Vásáry.[5]
↑ The position of Urus and his brother Tuli-Khwaja in Jochi's family tree is controversial. Scholars and historians had previously traced them to Orda's lineage (as sons of Chimtai), but nowadays most of the academics seem to agree that they were Toqa-Temur's descendants (sons of Badik). One of the strongest arguments in favour of this change is presented by István Vásáry[6]
↑ Toqtamish seized the throne of the Blue Horde in 1380, ending the bulqaq (anarchy period) and establishing the reunification of both east and west wings of the Golden Horde. Urus had achieved something similar in 1372, but that lasted only for a short period. Furthermore, despite being Khan of the Golden Horde de facto, Urus' position was contested among the Blue Horde by that time, and he never truly promoted the reunification of both wings.
Related Research Articles
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of the Mongol Empire after 1259, it became a functionally separate khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or as the Ulus of Jochi, and it replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, extending northward into parts of the Arctic; eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent, attempted invasions of Southeast Asia, and conquered the Iranian Plateau; and westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.
Jochi Khan was a Mongol army commander who was the eldest son of Temüjin, and presumably one of the four sons by his principal wife Börte, though issues concerning his paternity followed him throughout his life. An accomplished military leader, he participated in his father's conquest of Central Asia, along with his brothers and uncles.
The Khanate of Astrakhan was a Tatar rump state of the Golden Horde. The khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the area adjacent to the mouth of the Volga river, around the modern city of Astrakhan. Its khans claimed patrilineal descent from Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan.
A Borjigin is a member of the Mongol sub-clan that started with Bodonchar Munkhag of the Kiyat clan. Yesugei's descendants were thus said to be Kiyat-Borjigin. The senior Borjigids provided ruling princes for Mongolia and Inner Mongolia until the 20th century. The clan formed the ruling class among the Mongols and some other peoples of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Today, the Borjigid are found in most of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, and genetic research has shown that descent from Genghis Khan and Timur is common throughout Central Asia and other regions.
Berke Khan was a grandson of Genghis Khan from his son Jochi and a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde who effectively consolidated the power of the Blue Horde and White Horde from 1257 to 1266. He succeeded his brother Batu Khan of the Blue Horde (West), and was responsible for the first official establishment of Islam in a khanate of the Mongol Empire. Following the Sack of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan, his cousin and head of the Mongol Ilkhanate based in Persia, he allied with the Egyptian Mamluks against Hulagu. Berke also supported Ariq Böke against Kublai in the Toluid Civil War, but did not intervene militarily in the war because he was occupied in his own war against Hulagu and the Ilkhanate.
The White Horde, or more appropriately, the Left wing of the Jochid Ulus was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1225, after the death of Jochi when his son, Orda-Ichen, inherited his father's appanage by the Jaxartes. It was the eastern constituent part of the Golden Horde.
The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these khanates eventually assimilated into the Turkic populations that they conquered and ruled over, thus becoming known as Turco-Mongols. These elites gradually adopted Islam, as well as Turkic languages, while retaining Mongol political and legal institutions.
Orda Ichen was a Mongol Khan and military strategist who ruled the eastern part of the Golden Horde during the 13th century.
Tokhta was Khan of the Golden Horde from 1291 to 1312. He was a son of Mengu-Timur and a great-grandson of Batu Khan.
A khanate or khaganate is a type of historic polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. Khanates were typically nomadic Turkic, Mongol and Tatar societies located on the Eurasian Steppe, politically equivalent in status to kinship-based chiefdoms and feudal monarchies. Khanates and khaganates were organised tribally, where leaders gained power on the support and loyalty of their warrior subjects, gaining tribute from subordinates as realm funding. In comparison to a khanate, a khaganate, the realm of a khagan, was a large nomadic state maintaining subjugation over numerous smaller khanates. The title of khagan, translating as "Khan of the Khans", roughly corresponds in status to that of an emperor.
Urus Khan was the eighth Khan of the White Horde and a disputed Khan of the Blue Horde; he was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. Urus himself was the direct ancestor of the khans of the Kazakh Khanate.
The Khongirad was one of the major divisions of the Mongol tribes. Their homeland was located in the vicinity of Lake Hulun in Inner Mongolia and Khalkha River in Mongolia, where they maintained close ties with the ruling dynasties of northern China. Because the various Hongirad clans never united under a single leader, the tribe never rose to great military glory. Their greatest fame comes from being the primary consort clan of the ruling house of Genghis Khan's Mongol empire. Genghis Khan's mother (Hoelun), great grandmother, and first wife were all Khongirads, as were many subsequent Mongol Empress and princesses.
Bayan was one of the most famous khans of White Horde. "Bayan" means "rich" and "buyan" means "good deed/act" in the Mongolian language.
The Qara'unas or Negüderi were the Mongols who settled in Afghanistan after moving from Turkestan and Mongolia.
The House of Ögedei, sometimes called the Ögedeids, was an influential Mongol family and a branch of the Borjigin clan from the 12th to 14th centuries. They were descended from Ögedei, a son of Genghis Khan who succeeded his father to become the second khagan of the Mongol Empire. Ögedei continued the expansion of the Mongol Empire.
Ulugh Muhammad or Muhammad Khan was a medieval Tatar statesman, Gengisid, Khan of the Golden Horde, ruler of Crimea (1437), and the founder of the Khanate of Kazan, which he ruled from 1438–1445. He was the son of the oglan Ichkile Hassan and the cousin of Tokhtamysh. He received the nickname "Ulugh", meaning older or large, in contrast to Küchük Muhammad, meaning younger or small.
The division of the Mongol Empire began after Möngke Khan died in 1259 in the siege of Diaoyu Castle with no declared successor, precipitating infighting between members of the Tolui family line for the title of khagan that escalated into the Toluid Civil War. This civil war, along with the Berke–Hulagu war and the subsequent Kaidu–Kublai war, greatly weakened the authority of the great khan over the entirety of the Mongol Empire, and the empire fractured into four khanates: the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Southwest Asia, and the Yuan dynasty in East Asia based in modern-day Beijing – although the Yuan emperors held the nominal title of khagan of the empire.
References
↑ Morris., Rossabi (2012). The Mongols: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.xxi. ISBN9780199841455. OCLC808367351.
↑ István Vásáry 2009, p.383: “The Beginnings of Coinage in the Blue Horde”
↑ István Vásáry, 2009, p.383: “The Beginnings of Coinage in the Blue Horde”
1 2 3 Weatherford, Jack (2010). The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. Broadway Paperbacks, NY.
↑ According to some scholars, the Girays were regarded as the second family of the Ottoman Empire after the House of Ottoman: "If Rome and Byzantium represented two of the three international traditions of imperial legitimacy, the blood of Genghis Khan was the third. ... If ever the Ottomans became extinct, it was understood that the Genghizid Girays would succeed them." (Simon Sebag Montefiore. Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000, p. 244).
↑ The Travels of Marco Polo – Complete (Mobi Classics) By Marco Polo, Rustichello of Pisa, Henry Yule (Translator)
↑ See the medieval life of St. Peter of the Horde and records of the Petrovsky Monastery.
↑ Benz 2017, p.77"In 1257, Prince Gleb traveled in to Mongolia and married a Mongol princess who accepted Baptism and was given the Christian name of Theodora."
↑ Benz 2017, p.77"The ties between Russian and Mongolian houses persisted, even after Islam spread not only to the Ilkhans of Asia Minor but also the Golden Horde. Under Khan Tuda Mangu, Grand Duke Fedor of Smolensk, formerly of Yaroslavl, enjoyed particularly high prestige. He spent several years at the Mongol court. After the death of his first wife, Princess Maria of Yaroslavl, he married a daughter of Mangu Timur, who was baptized and received the Christian name of Anna."
↑ Wen, Shao-Qing; Hong-Bing, Yao; Du, Pan-Xin; Lan-Hai Wei (2019). "Molecular genealogy of Tusi Lu's family reveals their paternal relationship with Jochi, Genghis Khan's eldest son". Journal of Human Genetics. 26 (2): 230–237. doi:10.1038/s10038-019-0618-0. PMID31164702. S2CID174810181.
↑ Liu, Yi (2020). "A commentary on molecular genealogy of Tusi Lu's family reveals their paternal relationship with Jochi, Genghis Khan's eldest son". Journal of Human Genetics. 66 (5): 549–550. doi:10.1038/s10038-020-00857-y. PMID33127984. S2CID226219315.
↑ Lkhagvasuren et al. 2016"...it seems most likely that the Tavan Tolgoi bodies are members of Genghis Khan’s Golden family, including the lineage of bekis, Genghis Khan’s female lineage, and their female successors who controlled Eastern Mongolia in the early Mongolian era instead of guregens of the Ongud clan, or the lineage of khans, Genghis Khan’s male lineage, who married females of the Hongirad clan, including Genghis Khan’s grandmother, mother, chief wife, and some daughters-in-law.
Sources
Secret History of Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century [Yuan chao bi shi]. Brill's Inner Asian Library vol. 7. Translated by Igor de Rachewiltz. Leiden, South Holland; Boston, MA: Brill. 2004. ISBN90-04-13159-0.
B. Sumiyabaatar, "The Genealogy of the Mongols", 720 P, 2003, ISBN99929-5-552-X]; The genealogy of the families mentioned in this book generally goes back to 18 generations. The genealogy of Chingis Khan which began 1.500 years or 40-50 generations ago and comprises hundreds of thousands of people prevented Mongolian blood from being mixed with that of other nations. Due to the encouragement of intra-tribal marriages family lines were kept stringent. From 1920 onward people were not allowed to keep genealogical records, and the descendants of the nobles and scholars were tortured and killed. This prohibition lasted for about 70 years or three generations. Although the keeping of genealogical records was rare during that period, Mongolians used to pass information about their ancestors to their children orally.
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