The Khanster is geting a face-lift. Bit if home boy pride being stirred up for Genghis and his accomplishments.
I hear it was Mongols who invented the “Hot Pot” meal.
[quote] Genghis Khan, law giver, free trader and diplomat, is back with a new image
By Richard Spencer in Ulan Bator, (Filed: 11/07/2006)
The Mongolian capital has been swamped with images of its former potentate, Genghis Khan, in honour of the anniversary of his unification of the nation in 1206.
At the climax of celebrations in Ulan Bator yesterday, soldiers in traditional uniform and bearing yaks’ tail standards heralded the unveiling of an enormous statue of the Great Khan in the main Sukhbaatar Square.
Mongolian soldiers take part in the opening of the Nadaam festival
The monument in which it is set contains earth and stones from the holy and historic places in Mongolia associated with his rule.
Nambaryn Enkhbayar, the president, addressing a crowd of onlookers and dignitaries, including the Duke of York, said: “May the spirit of the great Genghis Khan inspire the future of the Mongolian people and lead it once again to prosperity.”
Genghis has always had his cultish admirers, those on the remote steppe who believe that he will return 800 years after his death to rescue the world from decay. But the reverence in which he is held by mainstream Mongolians comes as a shock to visitors from the West, where his name is associated with bloodshed and terror.(good read at the link) Telegraph[/quote]
[quote]A recent study suggests Genghis Khan’s direct patrilineal descendants today constitute ~8% of men in a large area of Asia (~0.5% of the world population).
With 16 million living men carrying his Y-chromosome, Genghis Khan had about 800,000 times the reproductive success of the average man of his age. What was his secret?
[/quote] kuro5hin.org/story/2003/2/8/214236/6651
Genghis Khan: most prolific man in history? || kuro5hin.org
Aside from the bloodshed, which was pretty common for his day, the Mongol empire did have a long lasting effect on the world: trade. Within its borders, merchants were free to travel from one end to another with protection, little brigandage. This enhanced the value of the Silk Road, built trade links between east and west, and when the Arabs became the middlemen later on, it also set off the Age of Discovery as a way to circumvent the old trade routes, all in the name of trade ie wealth.
Also keep in mind that the trade wasn’t just in goods but also ideas. Despite not being formally educated himself, he may have done more to increase worldwide learning than all but a handful of history’s rulers.
Ah, yes: The Mongols.
Excellent horsemen, masters of the original blitz, wizards at logistics. The under-rated influencer of many a culture and civilization.
Fine soldiers too, they must have been. Division of forces en route, yet united in the strategic approach. Supreme mobility to obtain the the effect of being everywhere at once, with the resulting effect on an enemy’s morale. Collapse from within thru the short, sharp, selective use of mobile firepower, and all the sheer terror that would follow…
