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Genghis Khan [a] (born Temüjin; c. 1162 – August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, [b] was the founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongol tribes , he launched a series of military campaigns , conquering large parts of China and Central Asia .
Ancient sources described Genghis Khan's conquests as wholesale destruction on an unprecedented scale in certain geographical regions, causing great demographic changes in Asia. According to the works of the Iranian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318), the Mongols killed more than 1,300,000 people in Merv and more than 1,747,000 in Nishapur .
During the Mongol invasions and conquests, which began under Genghis Khan in 1206–1207, the Mongol army conquered most of continental Asia, including parts of the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe. The efforts of Mongol troops and their allies enabled the Mongol Empire to become the contemporarily largest polity in human history.
Genghis Khan forged the initial Mongol Empire in Central Asia, starting with the unification of the nomadic tribes of the Merkits, Tatars, Keraites, Turks, Naimans and Mongols. The Buddhist Uighurs of Qocho surrendered and joined the empire. He then continued expansion via conquest of the Qara Khitai [16] and of the Khwarazmian Empire.
The Rise of Genghis Khan involves the events from his birth as Temüjin in 1162 until 1206, when he was bestowed the title of "Genghis Khan" (sometimes "Chingis Khan"), which means something along the lines of "Universal Ruler" or "Oceanic Ruler" by the Quriltai, which was an assembly of Mongol chieftains.
The Khan was mostly occupied with subjugating the Afghans near Jalalabad, and the Mongol army then wintered in the Swat valley. [34] [26] Genghis Khan next sent his son Ögedei to sack Ghazni and subdue some of the Afghan mountain forts, a task which took fifteen months to fully accomplish. [35]
Genghis intended to annihilate the entire Western Xia culture: he methodically destroyed their cities and countryside, and began besieging Yinchuan in 1227. In December, near the end of the siege, Genghis Khan died of unknown causes, which has been presented by some accounts as being the result of wounds he had suffered against the Western Xia.
Expansion of the Mongol Empire. This is the timeline of the Mongol Empire from the birth of Temüjin, later Genghis Khan, to the ascension of Kublai Khan as emperor of the Yuan dynasty in 1271, though the title of Khagan continued to be used by the Yuan rulers into the Northern Yuan dynasty, a far less powerful successor entity, until 1634.