About

Temujin Borjigin was born circa 1162 in what is now the nation of Mongolia. After enduring a youth of poverty and deprivation, he became the Khan, or leader, of his tribe, and awarded the title Chengis--that's Genghis for most of you, becoming Genghis Khan.

He later became Genghis Khaghan--'Khaghan' being the term for the ruler of all the Khans.

He was egomaniacal and probably psychotic. He believed that he was the true and only rightful ruler of the entire earth, and amassed the biggest land empire in history except for the Soviet Union. His military and tactical genius was such that he not only started a land war in Asia and actually won, but he also attacked Russia in the middle of winter and won that, too. The Mongol armies engaged both French and Japanese armies at the same time.

The standards of law and order were upheld so strongly in his empire that it was said that a woman could walk unaccompanied from one end to the other, carrying a bag of gold, and not be molested or assaulted even once. Temujin believed in freedom of religion--all subjects were free to pray for his health and success to whatever god or gods they pleased. He established inns for travelers and distributed food to the poor.

He is also credited with decimating entire villages and cutting the population of China approximately in half. If you were on his good side, life was good. If you were on his bad side, you were dead, and anyone who did not submit immediately to the god-given authority of his rule was on his bad side.


This history lesson was brought to you by the letters Zed, Gimel, and the number e.