Gengis khan

Genghis Khan , or Chinggis Khan orig. Temüjin, (born 1162, near Lake Baikal, Mongolia—died Aug. 18, 1227), Mongolian warrior-ruler who consolidated nomadic tribes into a unified Mongolia and whose troops fought from China’s Pacific coast to Europe’s Adriatic Sea, creating the basis for one of the greatest continental empires of all time. The leader of a destitute clan, Temüjin fought various rival clans and formed a Mongol confederacy, which in 1206 acknowledged him as Genghis Khan (“Universal Ruler”). By that year the united Mongols were ready to move out beyond the steppe. He adapted his method of warfare, moving from depending solely on cavalry to using sieges, catapults, ladders, and other equipment and techniques suitable for the capture and destruction of cities. In less than 10 years he took over most of Juchen-controlled China; he then destroyed the Muslim Khwārezm-Shah dynasty while his generals raided Iran and Russia. He is infamous for slaughtering the entire populations of cities and destroying fields and irrigation systems but admired for his military brilliance and ability to learn. He died on a military campaign, and the empire was divided among his sons and grandsons. Related Article Summaries

Of all the wonders in The Palace of the Great Khan, the silver fountain most captivated the visiting monk. It took the shape of “a great silver tree, and at its roots are four lions of silver, each with a conduit through it, and all belching forth white milk of mares,” wrote William of Rubruck, a Franciscan friar who toured the Mongol capital, Khara Khorum, in 1254. When a silver angel at the top of the tree trumpeted, still more beverages spouted out of the pipes: wine, clarified mare’s milk, a honey drink, rice mead – take your pick. The Khans had come a long way in just a few decades. Like the rest of his fierce horsemen, Genghis Khan – whose cavalry pounded across the steppe to conquer much of Central Asia – was born a nomad. When Genghis took power in 1206, Mongolian tribes lived in tents, which they moved while migrating across the grasslands with their livestock. As the empire continued to expand, though, the Khans realized the need for a permanent administrative center. “They had to stop rampaging and start ruling,” says Morris Rossabi, who teaches Asian history at Columbia University. So in 1235, Genghis’s son, Ogodei, began building a city near the Orkhon River, on the wide-open plains. “It was as if you put Venice in Kansas,” says Don Lessem, producer of a new The ruins now lie beneath sand and scrubby vegetation, but lately there’s been renewed interest in Khara Khorum. A book of new scholarship, “Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire,” coming out in June details ...

So, where is this charismatic leader buried? Does he have a monumental tomb like the pyramids built for the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, or a mausoleum with terra–cotta warriors, like the one built for China's first Qin emperor? The answer is that the location of Genghis Khan's tomb is unknown and unlikely to be found anytime soon. Moreover, some people in Mongolia might prefer that it is never found, as Genghis is regarded by some today with an almost religious reverence, experts tell Live Science. The tomb, wherever it may be, "is very important to the people of Mongolia with almost religiousovertones," William Honeychurch, an associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, told Live Science in an email. He declined to speculate on where the tomb may be located. Related: What was the largest empire in the world? One possibility is that Genghis Khan was buried in Mongolia's eastern Khentii province, where he was born. "I think the tomb is in [the] mountains in Khentii Province," Nancy Steinhardt, a professor of East Asian art at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Museum, told Live Science in an email. "I don't think it will be found any time soon," she added. Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire in 1227 and at its greatest extent in 1279. (Image credit: Shutterstock) Contemporary sources are largely silent on where Genghis Khan’s tomb is or what it looked like. "There exists no historical or archaeological record describing the physical appearance of this tomb," a team o...