The Mongol Empire, an area ruled by the great Mongol khans in the 13th and 14th centuries, was one of the largest land empires in history. The original homeland of the Mongols, was bounded by the Khingan Mountains on the east, the Altai and Tian mountains on the west, the Shilka River and the mountain ranges by Lake Baikal on the north, and the Great Wall of China on the south.
It was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206 AD when he brought together the Mongol and Turkic tribes. When he died in 1227 AD, he had conquered Central Asia, North China and parts of eastern Persia. Later his grandson Kublai Khan would go on to expand the empire and found the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty, ruling whole China. The Mongol Empire stretched from Eastern Europe to Western Asia, including Central Asia and the Middle East. Its power did not last long, though. By the 1360s it had broken into several empires, all of which were later destroyed.
Images for kids
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Genghis Khan, National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan
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Genghis Khan ascended the throne in the Yeke Quriltay region in the Onan river, from the Jami’ al-tawarikh.
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Mongol Empire circa 1207
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The sack of Suzdal by Batu Khan in 1238, miniature from 16th-century chronicle
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The battle of Liegnitz, 1241. From a medieval manuscript of the Hedwig legend.
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Batu Khan consolidates the Golden Horde
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A Stone Turtle at the site of the Mongol capital, Karakorum.
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Hulagu, Genghis Khan’s grandson and founder of the Il-Khanate. From a medieval Persian manuscript.
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Mongol invasion of Baghdad
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Fall of Baghdad, 1258
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The Mongols at war
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The samurai Suenaga facing Mongol arrows and bombs. Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba (蒙古襲来絵詞), circa 1293.
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Mongol warrior on horseback, preparing a mounted archery shot.
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The funeral of Chagatai Khan.
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A European depiction of the four khans, Temür (Yuan), Chapar (House of Ögedei), Toqta (Golden Horde), and Öljaitü (Ilkhanate), in the Fleur des histoires d’orient.
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Hungarian King Béla IV in flight from the Mongols under general Kadan of the Golden Horde.
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The relict states of the Mongol Empire by 1300.
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The Battle of Blue Waters between the armies of Lithuania and the Golden Horde in 1362
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Reconstruction of a Mongol warrior
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Mongol general Subutai of the Golden Horde
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The executed – long and full beard probably means he is not a Mongol – has been thrown off a cliff.
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Persian miniature depicting Ghazan’s conversion from Buddhism to Islam.
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Tuda Mengu of the Golden Horde.
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An Islamic gold coin inscribed in the name of Genghis Khan
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Map showing the boundary of 13th century Mongol Empire compared to today’s Mongols in Mongolia, Russia, the Central Asian States, and China
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Tokhtamysh and the armies of the Golden Horde initiate the Siege of Moscow (1382).
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The first Mughal Emperor Babur and his heir Humayun.
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Kalmyk migration from Russia to China in 1770–1771
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Coronation of Ögedei Khan in 1229 as the successor of Genghis Khan. By Rashid al-Din, early 14th century.
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