The Mongols were first mentioned in Chinese texts from c. 600-900 A.D. The narrative “Secret History of the Mongols” is the closest source resembling a primary document that remains for the Mongols. This narrative is a mythical account of the formation of the people that would become known as the Mongols. The original narrative ends […]
Category: Mongol Empire
Georgia
Jebe Noyan along with Subodai Bahadur Noyan were two of the Mongol ‘Hounds of War.’ They were Mongol military generals and between 1221-1224 they participated in an epic reconnaissance excursion. The two generals would come to capture the Georgian kingdom in c. 1223 and make it the first European vassal state. Vassal states are states […]
Samarkand (Samarqand)
Samarqand was an urban city of Central Asia, more specifically located in modern day Uzbekistan. The city was taken over in c. 1210 by the Khwarazmians. During this time, Chinggis was focused on China and had no desire to start a fight with Khwarazmians. At this time he pursued a working relationship, sending political envoys to […]
Zhongdu (Beijing)
Zhongdu was the northern capital for the Chin seized by Chinggis in 1215. Later Zhongdu became the Mongol capital under Qublia (Chinggis Khan’s grandson). Qublia chose Zhongdu as the capital to appease the Chinese citizens. The streets were wide enough for nine horses to trod abreast at the same time. The Yellow River ran through […]
Yarkand
Yarkand was an important trade city along the Silk Road since its establishment under the Chinese Han Dynasty in the first century C.E. It was therefore a very desirable conquest, and passed hands from dynasty to dynasty for centuries. By the eleventh century, Muslims had taken control of Yarkand from the Kashgars, but it would […]
Bukhara
The Mongol conquest of Bukhara, even by their own standards, was brutal. After the capital of Samarkand fell, the capital was moved to Bukhara by the remaining men, and Genghis Khan dedicated two of his generals and their forces to completely destroying the remnants of the Khwarezmid Empire, including not only royal buildings, but entire […]
