Ep. 195: Genghis Khan – Top 5 Facts
Intro
Hello and welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
I’m Jans, your Mnemonic Man, and today's episode is on a man with the most human DNA on planet earth, to this day, Genghis Khan.
Born with the name Temujin around 1162 in the Khentii Mountains, Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire and eventually the leader of the largest contiguous empire in history, to that point.
Arranged to be married at a young age, to the daughter of a powerful chieftain by his father, Yesügei, things drastically changed when his father was murdered by a rival clan who poisoned him. With the father dead, the family was abandoned and thrust into poverty.
Taken captive on several occasions and escaping near-death situations, Temujin slowly gained a following. He befriended two rulers, Jamukha and Toghrul, but when this relationship eventually soured, Temujin came out on top, united all the Mongol tribes, and took the name Genghis Khan, which is likely to mean ‘universal ruler.’
Under his rule the Mongols launched a series of military campaigns across Asia and Europe, some of which included the Jin Dynasty, the Khwarazmian Empire, Qara Khitai, Persia, and Mesopotamia.
Along with the violence and killing, Genghis Khan promoted a meritocracy and religious and cultural tolerance. His governance was progressive, and his empire facilitated trade along the Silk Road.
Genghis Khan died in 1227, with the cause of his death unknown. Some possibilities include the bubonic plague, injuries sustained from falling off his horse, or the more fanciful suggestion of bleeding to death from castration by a Chinese princess after revenge.
His burial site is also unknown with all attending killed by soldiers, who were then in turn killed by another group of soldiers.
Today’s mnemonic will be on Genghis Khan’s top 5 facts.
So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
Genghis Khan[a] (born Temüjin; c. 1162 – August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the first ruler of the Mongol Empire, which he created in 1206 in his fatherland in what is now Mongolia. Many consider him the greatest military leader of all time.
After the death of his father when Temüjin was eight, his family was left behind by the Mongols. They became very poor but did not die. Temüjin was very clever, and people who liked him came to be his soldiers. He made friends with two rulers, Jamukha and Toghrul, and they helped him find his wife Börte, who had been made a prisoner.
However, Temüjin and Jamukha started to dislike each other, and they began a war. Temüjin lost at the start and may have had to run away for years. By 1196, he was back in Mongolia, and many soldiers came to fight for him. Soon, Toghrul started to dislike Temüjin and attacked him in 1203. Temüjin won the war, and both Toghrul and Jamukha died.
Temüjin took the name "Genghis Khan", the meaning of which is unknown, at a large meeting in 1206. He made changes to the society of the Mongols so that it was more stable and killed a powerful shaman who tried to overcome him.
His armies then attacked foreign lands: the Western Xia in 1209, the Chinese Jin dynasty in 1211, the Qara Khitai in 1218 and the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219. Many of those countries suffered greatly from those attacks. Genghis Khan died in 1227. His third son, Ögedei, became the second ruler of the Mongol Empire in 1229.
Many people think very different things about Genghis Khan. For his people, he was intelligent and caring. To his enemies, he was an evil murderer. His soldiers killed millions of people, but also allowed trading and communications to grow across Asia.
After his death, the Mongolians made him into a god. Today, they remember him as the father of their country.
Extracted from: [https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan]
Mnemonic
Genghis Khan – Top 5 Facts Mnemonic – Genghis MMoBB
(Picture Genghis Khan’s mob of Mongols invading China and defeating the Jin and Song dynasties)
1. Genghis’s harem was massive, and he is believed to have around 16 million descendants
2. Married Borte when he was 16
3. Mongol Empire was the second biggest in history
4. Born in Mongolia in 1162 and died in 1227
5. Born with the name Temujin
Five Fun Facts
1. Genghis Khan was handed his name of Temujin, after one of the enemies, his father, had conquered. He was born with a black clot of blood in his clenched fist, supposedly foretelling his emergence as a great leader. He attained the honorific name of Genghis Khan in 1206 when he was proclaimed leader of the Mongols at a tribal meeting.
2. Genghis Khan was going to get married early, and when I say early, I mean at the tender age of nine years old! His father, Yesügei, arranged a marriage between his son and Börte, the daughter of a powerful chieftain, and thus a powerful ally. This was to unravel though, when his father was poisoned by a rival clan. On his death, many leaders and soldiers abandoned the clan, and Temujin was left to live in poverty. He did, however, end up marrying Börte, but seven years later.
3. Temujin had an older half-brother called Behter. They argued over who was the rightful heir to their father, Yesügei. Temujin was the son of Yesügei’s chief wife; however, Behter was two years older, which meant he could marry Temujin’s mother and become Temujin’s stepfather. This rivalry was put to an end, though, when hunting, when Temujin and his younger brother, Qasar, ambushed and killed Behter.
4. The road to power was rough for Temujin, being held captive on more than one occasion and making many close escapes. After building his own clan, he returned to marry Börte and claimed a powerful ally, which would help him carve out an empire, covering approximately 12,000,000 square kilometres by the time of his death in 1227.
5. Apart from the many genocides that occurred where the enemy refused to surrender, Genghis Khan was tolerant of other religions and promoted ethnic diversity in his empire. Along with passing a law declaring religious freedom, Khan also showed a keen interest in other religions and studied Islam, Taoism, Christianity, and Buddhism. While ethnic diversity enabled his empire to function efficiently, utilising the various skills that different cultures possessed.
Three-Question Quiz
Q.1. Genghis Khan was born and grew up in which modern-day country?
Q.2. What were the Mongols’ homes called?
Q.3. Khan is a traditional name meaning what? Options are strong one, leader, or follower
Bonus Q. Who is the successor of Genghis Khan? Options are Ögedei Khan, Genghis Khan II, or Kublai Khan
Bonus Q. If Julius Caesar’s motto was “I came, I saw, I conquered,” What was Genghis Khan’s?
Mnemonic Recap
Genghis Khan – Top 5 Facts Mnemonic – Genghis MMoBB
(Picture Genghis Khan’s mob of Mongols invading China and defeating the Jin and Song dynasties)
1. Genghis’s harem was massive, and he is believed to have around 16 million descendants
2. Married Borte when he was 16
3. Mongol Empire was the second biggest in history
4. Born in Mongolia in 1162 and died in 1227
5. Born with the name Temujin
Three-Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. Genghis Khan was born and grew up in which modern-day country?
A. Mongolia
Q.2. What were the Mongols’ homes called?
A. Yurts
Q.3. Khan is a traditional name meaning what? Options are strong one, leader, or follower
A. Leader
Bonus Q. Who is the successor of Genghis Khan? Options are Ögedei Khan, Genghis Khan II, or Kublai Khan `
A. Ögedei Khan, who was the third son of Genghis and Börte
Bonus Q. If Julius Caesar’s motto was “I came, I saw, I conquered,” What was Genghis Khan’s?
A. The opposite!
Word of the Week
proscribe
[ proh-skrahyb ]
verb
to denounce, condemn, or prohibit something
Example
Genghis Khan did not proscribe any religion; rather promoted religious freedom and cultural diversity.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://www.thecollector.com/genghis-khan-facts/
https://www.ducksters.com/biography/quiz/genghis_khan_questions.php