Genghis Khan

Founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (c. 1162–1227)

Temüjin, crowned Genghis Khan, united the Mongol tribes and launched campaigns that created the largest contiguous land empire in history. His military innovations, meritocratic leadership, and use of mobility and intelligence reshaped Eurasian geopolitics.

Under his successors, the Mongols facilitated exchange across continents — the Pax Mongolica — allowing trade, ideas, and technology to spread between East and West.

“If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”

Genghis Khan remains a figure of both devastation and transformation: a conqueror whose institutions and laws left deep marks on the medieval world.