Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire / Eurasian Steppe · 1206 – 1368
Overview
The largest contiguous land empire in human history, built in a single generation by Genghis Khan and his sons. At its 1279 peak it spanned from the Pacific to the Black Sea, ruling perhaps a hundred million people across China, Central Asia, Persia, Mesopotamia, and the Russian steppe. Within a century of its founding it had fragmented into four major khanates — the Yuan dynasty in China, the Ilkhanate in Persia, the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, and the Golden Horde over Russia — each ruled by descendants of Genghis.
Lineage
14 figures- Borte1161 – 1230
- Genghis Khan1162 – 1227
- Jochi1182 – 1227
- Batu Khan1207 – 1255
- Chagatai Khan1183 – 1242
- Ögedei Khan1186 – 1241
- Güyük Khan1206 – 1248
- Tolui1191 – 1232
- Möngke Khan1209 – 1259
- Kublai Khan1215 – 1294
- Hulagu Khan1218 – 1265
- Töregene Khatun1185 – 1246
- Sorghaghtani Beki1190 – 1252
- Toghon Temür1320 – 1370
All figures
- Borte1161 – 1230
- Genghis Khan1162 – 1227
- Jochi1182 – 1227
- Chagatai Khan1183 – 1242
- Töregene Khatun1185 – 1246
- Ögedei Khan1186 – 1241
- Sorghaghtani Beki1190 – 1252
- Tolui1191 – 1232
- Güyük Khan1206 – 1248
- Batu Khan1207 – 1255
- Möngke Khan1209 – 1259
- Kublai Khan1215 – 1294
- Hulagu Khan1218 – 1265
- Toghon Temür1320 – 1370
Related events
After a twelve-day siege, the Mongol army of Hulagu Khan stormed Baghdad on 10 February 1258. They sacked the city for a week, butchering perhaps two hundred thousand inhabitants and throwing the books of the great libraries into the Tigris until, the chronicles say, the river ran black with ink. The last Abbasid caliph, al-Musta'sim, was rolled in a carpet and trampled to death by horses, ending the caliphate that had ruled the Islamic east for half a millennium.
Also involved: Abbasid Caliphate (destroyed)
Kublai Khan proclaimed the Yuan dynasty on 18 December 1271, adopting a Chinese-style reign name and presenting his Mongol regime to his subjects as the legitimate successor to the Chinese imperial tradition. The Southern Song dynasty held out for another eight years before its final collapse at Yamen, completing the first foreign conquest of all China.
Also involved: Yuan (founded)
See also
Same region
Same era
Abbasid CaliphateMiddle East / Mesopotamia · 750 – 1258
BagrationiGeorgia (Caucasus) · 780 – 1810
- Abkhazia
Georgia / Caucasus · 786 – 1008
- Ossetia
North Caucasus · 800 – 1239
- Arcruni
Armenia / Caucasus · 830 – 1021
- Chola Dynasty
South India / Coromandel Coast · 848 – 1279