Batu Khan, also known as Sain Khan and Tsar Batu, was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a division of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde, which ruled Rus', Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies of Poland and Hungary. "Batu" or "Bat" literally means "firm" in the Mongolian language. After the deaths of Genghis Khan's sons, he became the most respected prince called agha in the Mongol Empire.
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate, was established as a khanate that formed the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu. It was founded in the 13th century and was based primarily in Iran as well as neighboring territories, such as present-day Azerbaijan and the central and eastern parts of present-day Turkey. The Ilkhanate was originally based on the campaigns of Genghis Khan in the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219–24 and was founded by Hulagu Khan, son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan. With the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate. At its greatest extent, the state expanded into territories that today comprise most of Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, western Afghanistan, and the Northwestern edge of the Indian sub-continent. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, converted to Islam.
The Pax Mongolica, less often known as Pax Tatarica, is a historiographical term modelled after the original phrase Pax Romana which describes the stabilizing effects of the conquests of the Mongol Empire on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory that the Mongols conquered in the 13th and 14th centuries. The term is used to describe the eased communication and commerce the unified administration helped to create and the period of relative peace that followed the Mongols' vast conquests.
Ögedei was the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, succeeding his father. He continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun, and was a world figure when the Mongol Empire reached its farthest extent west and south during the Mongol invasions of Europe and East Asia. Like all of Genghis' primary sons, he participated extensively in conquests in China, Iran, and Central Asia.
Möngke was the fourth khagan of the Mongol Empire, ruling from July 1, 1251, to August 11, 1259. He was the first Khagan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign. Under Möngke, the Mongols conquered Iraq and Syria as well as the kingdom of Dali.
Chagatai Khan was the second son of Genghis Khan. He was Khan of the Chagatai Khanate from 1226-1242 C.E. The Chagatai language and Chagatai Turks take their names from him. He inherited most of what are now the five Central Asian states after the death of his father. He was also appointed by Genghis Khan to oversee the execution of the Yassa, the written code of law created by Genghis Khan, though that lasted only until Genghis Khan was crowned Khan of the Mongol Empire. The Empire later came to be known as the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire. Chagatai Khan was considered hot-headed and somewhat temperamental by his relatives, because of his attitude of non-acceptance of Jochi as Great Khan. He was the most vocal about this issue among his relations. Chaghatai is in some stories held responsible for the death of Jochi and Genghis Khan. At any rate, he was animated by the soldier-like spirit of his father, and succeeded in keeping order among as heterogeneous a population as a kingdom was ever composed of.
A Borjigin is a member of the sub-clan, which started with Yesugei, of the Kiyat clan. Yesugei's descendants were thus said to be Kiyat-Borjigin. The senior Borjigid 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, although genetic research has shown that descent from Genghis Khan is common in Central Asia.
Jebe was one of the most prominent Noyans (generals) of Genghis Khan. He belonged to the Besud clan, part of the Taichud tribe, which was under Targudai Khiriltug's leadership at the time of Genghis Khan. Even though Jebe was originally an enemy soldier, Genghis Khan recruited him and turned him into one of his greatest generals. Jebe played an important role in helping to expand the territory of Genghis Khan's empire. Despite playing a large role as a general for Genghis Khan, there are relatively few sources or biographies about his life. Jebe has been described as "the greatest cavalry general in history" for his unorthodox and daring maneuvers.
Nogai, also called Nohai, Nokhai, Nogay, Noqai, Kara Nokhai, and Isa Nogai, was a general and de facto ruler of the Golden Horde and a great-great-grandson of Genghis Khan. His grandfather was Bo'al/Baul/Teval Khan, the 7th son of Jochi. Nogai Khan was also a notable convert to Islam.
Descent from Genghis Khan, generally called Genghisids, is traceable primarily in Mongolia, India, China, Russia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. His four sons and other immediate descendants are famous by names and by deeds. Later Asian potentates attempted to claim descent from the Borjigin even on flimsy grounds, such as was considered Mongol matrilineal descent. In the 14th century, valid sources all but dried up. With the recent popularity of genealogical DNA testing, a larger and broader circle of people started to claim descent from Genghis Khan.
The Shadow is a 1994 American superhero film from Universal Pictures, produced by Martin Bregman, Willi Bear, and Michael Scott Bregman, directed by Russell Mulcahy, that stars Alec Baldwin. The film co-stars John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Ian McKellen, Jonathan Winters, Peter Boyle, and Tim Curry. It is based on the pulp fiction character of the same name created in 1931 by Walter B. Gibson.
Margo Lane is a fictional character in The Shadow stories. Margo is a friend and companion to Lamont Cranston, and an agent for his alter ego, The Shadow, in the wealthy set. Her first appearance was in 1937 in The Shadow radio drama. Her first appearance in a print story was in The Thunder King, a story in the April 1941 issue of The Shadow Magazine.
Genghis Khan was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia. After founding the Empire and being proclaimed "Genghis Khan", he launched the Mongol invasions that conquered most of Eurasia. Campaigns initiated in his lifetime include those against the Qara Khitai, Caucasus, and Khwarazmian, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were often accompanied by large-scale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in the Khwarazmian and Western Xia controlled lands. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.
The Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty, also known as the Mongol–Jin War, was fought between the Mongol Empire and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in Manchuria and north China. The war, which started in 1211, lasted over 23 years and ended with the complete conquest of the Jin dynasty by the Mongols in 1234.
The Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia from 1219 to 1221 marked the beginning of the Mongol conquest of the Islamic states. The Mongol expansion would ultimately culminate in the conquest of virtually all of Asia with the exception of Japan, the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, Siberia, and most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
The House of Ögedei, sometimes called the Ögedeids, were an influential family of Mongol Borjigin from the 12th to 14th centuries. They were descended from Ögedei Khan (c.1186-1241), a son of Genghis Khan who had become his father's successor, second Khagan of the Mongol Empire. Ögedei continued the expansion of the Mongol Empire.
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire is a 2010 book by Jack Weatherford, about the impact and legacy of Genghis Khan's daughters and Mongol queens such as Mandukhai the Wise and Khutulun. The book references Mongolian, Central Asian, Persian, European and Chinese sources such as Altan Tobchi, Erdeni Tobchi, Erdenyin Tunamal Sudar, Tarikh-i-Rashidi, Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini, and Ming shi in addition to various secondary sources in English, Mongolian, and German.
John Anthony Garnet Man is a British historian and travel writer. His special interests are China, Mongolia, and the history of written communication. He takes particular pleasure in combining historical narrative with personal experience.
The Mongol Empire conquered the Qara Khitai in the years 1216–1218 AD. Prior to the invasion, war with the Khwarazmian dynasty and the usurpation of power by the Naiman prince Kuchlug had weakened the Qara Khitai. When Kuchlug besieged Almaliq, a city belonging to the Karluks, vassals of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan dispatched a force under command of Jebe to pursue Kuchlug. After his force of 30,000 was defeated by Jebe at the Khitan capital Balasagun, Kuchlug faced rebellions over his unpopular rule, forcing him to flee to modern Afghanistan, where he was captured by hunters in 1218. The hunters turned Kuchlug over to the Mongols, who beheaded him. Upon defeating the Qara Khitai, the Mongols now had a direct border with the Khwarazmian Empire, which they would soon invade in 1219.
