Name	Jamaal Wilkes
Nationality	American
Height ft	6
Height in	6
Weight lbs	190
Position	Small forward/shooting guard
Birth date	May 02, 1953
Birth place	Berkeley, California
Highschool	Santa Barbara
College	UCLA
Draft	11th overall
Draft team	Golden State Warriors
Draft year	1974
Career start	1974
Career end	1986
Former teams	Golden State Warriors (1974–77)Los Angeles Lakers (1977–85)Los Angeles Clippers (1985–86)
Awards	NBA Rookie of the Year (1975)4x NBA Champion (1975, 1980, 1982, 1985)3x NBA All-Star3x All-NBA Second Team2x NBA All-Defensive Second Team

Jamaal Wilkes (born Jackson Keith Wilkes on May 2, 1953 in Berkeley, California) is a retired American basketball player who played the small forward position and won four NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. Wilkes was also a key player in the run of NCAA championships accumulated during the John Wooden era of UCLA basketball. Upon entering the NBA in 1974, Wilkes converted to Islam and legally changed his name to Jamaal Abdul-Lateef, but retained his surname throughout his NBA career. He has since reverted to usage of Jamaal Keith Wilkes in his personal and professional life.

Playing career

One of the smoothest, steadiest and most productive forwards to ever play in the NBA (he possessed a deadly accurate jump shot from the corner that Hall of Fame Laker announcer Chick Hearn dubbed the "20 foot layup") Jamaal "Smooth as Silk" Wilkes won championships at the scholastic, collegiate and professional levels.

Wilkes was an All-America Prep player at Santa Barbara High School (his teammate Don Ford also played in the NBA with the Lakers) in Santa Barbara, California. As a two-time All-America at UCLA, Wilkes teamed with Bill Walton to bring UCLA the 1972 and 1973 NCAA titles, and a third place finish in 1974. As a Bruin, Wilkes was part of UCLA teams that won a record 88 consecutive games. In three years at UCLA, Wilkes averaged 15.0 ppg and 7.4 rpg and shot 51.4 percent from the field, and was also named to the 1972 NCAA All-Tournament Team and was a first-team Academic All-America in 1972, 1973, and 1974.

In March 2007, he was inducted into the Pac-10 Men's Basketball Hall of Honor. In an interview with the New York Post in 1985 and in several public speaking engagements, legendary coach Wooden stated, when asked to describe his ideal player: “I would have the player be a good student, polite, courteous, a good team player, a good defensive player and rebounder, a good inside player and outside shooter. Why not just take Jamaal Wilkes and let it go at that."

In 12 professional seasons with the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Clippers, Wilkes was a member of four NBA championship teams - one with Golden State in 1975, the season he was named Rookie of the Year - and three with the Lakers (1980, 1982, 1985), though an injury prevented him from playing in the 1985 NBA finals against the Boston Celtics, yet the Lakers' won the series in six games over the Celtics, 4-2.

For his career, Wilkes registered 14,664 points (17.7 ppg) and 5,117 rebounds (6.2 rpg), averaging 16.1 ppg in 113 postseason games. He played in the 1976, 1981, and 1983 All-Star Games and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team twice. The Sporting News named Wilkes to its NBA All-Pro Second Team three years.

Personal life

Along with being one of the co-authors behind the book and audio course, “Success Under Fire: Lessons For Being Your Best In Crunch Time”, Wilkes became a highly sought after motivational speaker for national organizations and Fortune 500 corporations. Upon his retirement from the NBA, he worked in the real estate and financial services industries in the last 22 years. In 2003, along with business partner Liza Wayne, he founded Jamaal Wilkes Financial Advisors, a firm specializing in wealth management solutions.

Wilkes is a long-time resident of Playa Del Rey, where Lakers owner Jerry Buss and coach Phil Jackson, as well as other Lakers and Clippers players, also reside. He has two sons and a daughter. His oldest son, Omar, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley where he played as shooting guard (6'4") for the basketball team.His youngest, Jordan, also graduated from Berkeley, where he played center (7'0"). Only daughter Sabreen graduated from UCLA in 2005 (also playing volleyball for the college) and went on to pursue a modeling and acting career. Wilkes himself made his feature-film debut as Nathaniel "Cornbread" Hamilton in the 1975 basketball-themed drama, Cornbread, Earl and Me, starring Moses Gunn, Rosalind Cash and Bernie Casey. The film also marked the on-screen debut of actor Laurence Fishburne, who was 12 years old at the time.

References

External links

Wilkes' official website

NBA.com bio

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:African American basketball players Category:African American Muslims Category:Basketball players from California Category:Converts to Islam Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:People from Ventura County, California Category:Golden State Warriors draft picks Category:Golden State Warriors players Category:Los Angeles Lakers players Category:Los Angeles Clippers players Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:UCLA Bruins men's basketball players Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:Shooting guards Category:Small forwards

Name	Khan Jamal
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth date	July 23, 1946
Birth place	Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Death date
Instrument	vibraphone, marimba, percussion
Genre	Jazz
Years active	1960s–present
Label	SteepleChase
Associated acts	Byard Lancaster, Sunny Murray
Url

Khan Jamal (born July 23, 1946, Jacksonville, Florida }}

External links

at All About Jazz |2=Khan Jamal}} at allmusic

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:CIMP artists Category:Combs College of Music alumni

Name	Bulleh Shah
Birth date	1680
Birth place	Uch, Punjab
Death date	1757 (aged 77)
Death place	Kasur, Punjab
Occupation	Poet
Ethnicity	Punjabi
Period	Mughal
Genre	Kafi
Movement	Poetry, Mysticism, Muslim, Sufism, Metaphysics
Influences	Shah Hussain, Sultan Bahu, Shah Sharaf

Bulleh Shah (1680–1757) ( Category:Pakistani Sufis Category:Indian Sufis Category:Punjabi poets Category:Punjabi people Category:Sufi poets Category:Sufi mystics Category:Kasur District Category:Punjabi-language poets Poetry Category:1680 births Category:1757 deaths Category:Pakistani humanists

Name	Zard
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Japan
Genre	Rock, pops
Years active	1991–2009
Label	B-Gram Records
Url	Wezard.net
Past members	Izumi Sakai (deceased)Fumihito MachidaHiroyasu HoshiKōsuke MichikuraKimitaka Ikezawa

was a Japanese pop group. Originally a group of five members, with lead vocalist Izumi Sakai as group leader. However, Sakai was the only member who stayed on in the group while others joined and left regularly. As such, Zard and Sakai may be referred to interchangeably. Zard's work was sold under the record label B-Gram Records, Inc. Their most popular and successful songs are , , and "My Friend" (1996).

Career

Zard began when Being Corporation former CEO Daikō Nagato (retired in 2007) recruited a 24-year old model named Sachiko Kamachi. Changing her name to Izumi Sakai in an attempt to cut off her past, she created a group called Zard. While whether the supporting members were firmly decided on is not clear, Zard made a breakthrough with the release of their debut single February 10, 1991 Good-bye My Loneliness, which was a theme song for the Fuji TV drama "Ideals and Reality of Marriage" featuring Misako Tanaka. The song was very successful, reaching #9 in the Oricon rankings.

Zard's next two singles did not sell as well. The fourth, took a slightly different approach. The group's rock style had morphed to popular while the seemingly dark music videos turned to a relatively brighter image. In fact, half of Zard's official appearances on TV were related to performing this song, which sold 440,000 copies. At that time, Music Station host Kazuyoshi Morita (aka Tamori) asked Sakai what took Zard so long to be on stage. Sakai's reply was that they wanted to make sure Zard would be an economically viable project and hence did not want to go public prematurely.

The major breakthrough for Zard came with the sixth single in 1993, "Makenaide", which became #1 in the Oricon charts and went on to sell over 1.8 million copies. She went on to release two more songs that reached #1, "Yureru Omoi" and "Kitto Wasurenai" in the same year. An album titled "Yureru Omoi" featuring both "Makenaide" and "Yureru Omoi" sold two million copies, the first million milestone for Zard in album sales. In fact, Being was so successful in the early 1990s that it was called Being Boom. No one sold more CDs than Zard in this year.

In 1995, Zard sold one more million hit, "My Friend". Although her sales fluctuated among six digits in sales for the remainder of the twentieth century, nine of twenty-one singles reached #1 and six reached #2. Only two could not break the top four mark. Since she also sold three hits of one million and one other of two million copies. On August 31, 1999, Zard held their first concert aboard cruise ship Pacific Venus, where six hundred people were randomly selected out of a million applicants. The DVD for this concert, released on January 26, 2000, had a limited production of 300,000 copies.

Sakai was also a very prolific lyricist. She wrote 150 songs during her 17-year career (numerous songs for other artists as well as all of the Zard songs except for two, and from their first album, Good-bye My Loneliness, which was written by Dariya Kawashima,) and released several books of poetry as well. An editorial in Asahi Shimbun writes that the secret to Zard's success was that while the trend in Japan showed a decrease in the number of music programs on television, Zard used late night commercials that aired her voice to advertise her works.

She also wrote songs for other artists, most notably for the J-pop groups that shared her management company: Field of View, Wands and Deen, and the late mainland Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng. She also wrote the lyrics for and participated in the collaboration for the single featuring J-pop groups Zard, Zyyg, Rev & Wands. The single also featured famed Japanese baseball hero Shigeo Nagashima. Some of her singles were used in anime, such as Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball GT and Detective Conan. The lyrics of by Field of View, the opening theme song of Dragon Ball GT, is by Izumi Sakai. Afterward, Zard covered this song in Today Is Another Day album.

Zard's most successful single, has been used as a theme song for Nippon Television program 24-hour TV, an annual Japanese television programming in which a celebrity host is on screen continually for a whole day. Sakai said that she was honored and looked forward to watching 24-hour TV. She also said that since Makenaide was widely appreciated by the public, she often felt as if that song was not hers to keep.

Zard was also known for being mysterious. This is partially because her record label did not release too much personal information on their artists, and also because she did not make that many personal appearances. She rarely appeared on any live TV music programs (e.g. TV Asahi's Music Station), which the main public relations tool for the record industry in Japan, since 1993 or do any public appearances. Her first concert was in 1999, this being held on a cruise ship for a mere 600 people in her fan club (300 entries x2 among 2 million concert ticket requests). Her first real concert tour, "What A Beautiful Moment Tour", was held in 2004, 13 years after her debut. Almost every single concert was sold out at the time. The tour ended up having 10 concerts spanning 4 months from March to July 2004, with a final concert held in the famed Nippon Budokan.

Although originally Zard is a group, Zard was frequently regarded as a solo female singer in Japan. She used to hold a female record in Japan for most single sales until Ayumi Hamasaki released "No Way to Say". According to Yomiuri Shimbun, as of August 2007, Zard was #8 for overall total in Japan. She has had 11 singles reach the #1 spot on the Oricon Singles Charts, and 9 albums reach the #1 spot on the Oricon Album Charts. 40 of her singles reached top 10 in Oricon ranking. Zard has released a total of 42 singles and 17 albums.

Zard was also featured in Tak Matsumoto's Ihoujin (August 27, 2003).

On a trivial note, Zard's album "Oh My Love" released in 1994 reached #1 for the 500th edition of the Oricon Rankings since it began in 1970. She has had 11 singles reach the #1 spot on the Oricon

Post-Izumi Sakai Zard

An album based on fan request was released on January 23, 2008, titled Zard Request Best: Beautiful Memory. NTV Morning News program, Zoom In Super's December 28, 2007 reports that over 500,000 entries were mailed to Being. Surprisingly, Makenaide and Yureru Omoi were not in the top 3, though they made the top 10. The three most voted songs were 1) Ano Hohoemi o Wasurenaide, 2) Shoujo no Koro ni Modotta Mitai ni, 3) Kakegae no Naimono.

When this album hit number one in the Oricon charts, it marked the eleventh time she had done so, matching the record held by Dreams Come True for the most number ones by female vocal groups.

Sakai's death

Izumi Sakai died on May 27, 2007 at age 40 in Keio University Hospital. She entered hospital in June 2006 after discovering she had cervical cancer and had the tumor removed. In April 2007, however, the cancer had spread to her lungs, resulting in her re-admittance to hospital. According to the hospital, she took daily walks every morning. During her walk on May 26, she accidentally fell from the stairs and was discovered at around 5:00 a.m. JST. She was sent to the emergency room, but unfortunately, it was too late. an agency spokesman said:

She had planned to release a new album in the fall, as well as her first live tour in three years to show her fans that she was fighting strongly against her illnesses.

A memorial service for fans was held on June 27 in a funeral hall in Aoyama, Tokyo. On the previous day, a memorial service for the people concerned was held and Maki Ohguro and Tetsuro Oda etc attended at this. At the same time, Tak Matsumoto and Koshi Inaba of B'z, Mai Kuraki and Shigeo Nagashima announced memorial comments for her.

Two compilation albums are planned for release on August 15, one that includes a selection of Sakai's personal favorite songs, the other that includes favorites from her staff. A fan-selected compilation album is also planned for the fall. Two tribute concerts were held—one on September 7 at Osaka Festival Hall, and the other on September 14 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan. The two places were chosen because they were the first and last stops respectively of the What a beautiful moment Tour in 2004—the only tour that band has gone on. The tour was called "What a Beautiful Memory".

In September 2007, an audience of 13,000 participated in a memorial Budokan concert. There were nine screens set up where many showed previously unseen footage of Izumi Sakai. A first single after she died called Glorious Mind was played. This was a song which Sakai recorded before she was hospitalized owing to cervical cancer in June 2006. This song will be used for the opening theme song of anime Detective Conan. It was not complete at the time of Sakai's death, but the chorus footage was complete. Extra minutes where she was singing in English were incorporated from a previously unrelated and unreleased song as well.

Discography

Singles

Albums

Compilations

DVD

Live albums

What a Beautiful Moment Concert Tour 2004

03/02/2004 Festival Hall, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

03/06/2004 Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture

03/09/2004 Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture

04/05/2004 Kobe International House, Hyogo Prefecture

04/08/2004 Pacifico Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture

04/30/2004 Festival Hall, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

05/08/2004 Aomori City Cultural Hall, Aomori Prefecture

05/10/2004 Sendai Sunplaza Hall, Sendai Prefecture

06/02/2004 Nagoya Century Hall, Aichi Prefecture

06/11/2004 Fukuoka Sun Palace, Fukuoka Prefecture

07/23/2004 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture

What a Beautiful Memory Concert Tour 2007-2009

09/06/2007 Osaka Festival Hall, Osaka Prefecture

09/07/2007 Osaka Festival Hall, Osaka Prefecture

09/14/2007 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture

01/19/2008 Kobe International Forum (International Hall), Hyogo Prefecture

02/02/2008 Pacifico Yokohama (Prefectural University Hall), Kanagawa Prefecture

02/10/2008 Izumi City, Prefecture

02/24/2008 Sapporo City Education & Cultural Forum, Hokkaido Prefecture

03/08/2008 Ishikawa Health & Pension Forum, Ishikawa Prefecture

03/15/2008 Aichi Health & Pension Forum, Aichi Prefecture

03/22/2008 Niigata Prefecture People's Forum, Niigata Prefecture

04/05/2008 Sunport Hall Takamatsu (Large Hall), Kagawa Prefecture

04/28/2008 Fukuoka Citizens' Forum, Fukuoka Prefecture

05/03/2008 Hiroshima Estelle Plaza, Hiroshima Prefecture

05/04/2008 Ehime Prefecture Citizen Cultural Forum (Subhall), Ehime Prefecture

05/23/2008 Doshima River Forum, Osaka Prefecture

05/24/2008 Doshima River Forum, Osaka Prefecture

05/25/2008 Doshima River Forum, Osaka Prefecture

05/27/2008 National Yoyogi Athletic Field (First Gymnasium), Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture

05/27/2009 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture

References

External links

Wezard.net - Official Website ShinKong - Official Website in Taiwan

Category:Japanese musical groups Category:Girl groups Category:Musical groups established in 1991

Rizwan "Riz" Khan (born April 1962) is a Yemeni-born British Asian television news reporter and interviewer, who first rose to prominence while working for the BBC and CNN. He currently hosts his own television show on Al Jazeera English.

Life and career

Khan was born in Aden to a Punjabi father and Gujarati mother. His father's roots hail from Pakistan administered Kashmir while his mother's roots go back to Kutch, which is in Gujarat. Khan moved with his family to London, England at the age of four. He attended both Springwell Junior and Hounslow Manor Comprehensive Schools and joined the Air Training Corps, graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Medical Physiology from the University of Wales, and then completed a postgraduate course in Radio Journalism at the University of Portsmouth.

In 1987 he was selected for the BBC News Trainee scheme - a two year BBC training system, usually taking only 6 people per course. Khan progressed to jobs as a BBC Reporter, Producer, and Writer, working in both television and radio, and would later become one of the founding News Presenters on BBC World Service Television News. He hosted the news bulletin that launched BBC World Service Television News in 1991. In 1993, he moved to CNN International, where he became a senior anchor for the network's global news shows. Events he covered included the 1996 and 1999 coverage of elections in India; the 1997 historic election in Britain; and in April 1998 the unprecedented live coverage from the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj.

In 1996 he launched his interactive interview show CNN: Q&A; with Riz Khan, and he has conducted interviews with guests including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, and genomic scientist J. Craig Venter. Khan also secured the world exclusive with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf following his coup in October 1999. Khan also hosted Q&A-Asia; with Riz Khan. These interactive shows put world newsmakers and celebrities up for viewer questions live by phone, e-mail, video-mail and fax, along with questions and comments taken from the real-time chatroom that opens half-an-hour before each show.

Khan currently hosts the Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English. On his show, Khan interviews analysts and policy makers and allows viewers to interact with them via phone, email, SMS messages or fax.

Khan speaks Urdu and Hindi, and also understands other South Asian languages such as Punjabi and Kutchi. He has studied French, and can understand some other European languages, including Swedish.

In 2005 he authored his first book, Al-Waleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince, published by Harper Collins.

References

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB111862259989457599-Ihjg4Nllad4n5yqZ4KHcKiJm5.html "Why I'm Joining Al Jazeera," op-ed by Riz Khan, Wall Street Journal 13 June 2005, p. A1

http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20010219/mscape2.shtml

External links

Riz Khan's official website

Profile at Al Jazeera English

MySpace Profile

Interview with Baron Dave Romm of KFAI-FM at the Republican National Convention Sept. 2, 2008 and picture

Category:1962 births Category:Al Jazeera people Category:Alumni of Cardiff University Category:Alumni of the University of Portsmouth Category:British Muslims Category:British people of Indian descent Category:English people of Pakistani descent Category:British journalists Category:British television presenters Category:Living people Category:Punjabi people Category:Gujarati people Category:People from Aden

:For Rick Turner the South African Philosopher assassinated in 1978 go to Rick Turner (Philosopher).

Rick Turner co-founded Alembic in 1970 and was involved in the design and construction of the Alembic instruments. He founded Rick Turner Guitars in 1979 and joined Gibson in 1988 where he served as president of Gibson Labs West Coast R&D; Division.

Turner left Gibson in 1992 and ran a guitar repair shop at Westwood Music in Los Angeles where he developed piezo pickup designs, working with Jackson Browne, David Crosby and others. He later co-founded Highlander Musical Audio, manufacturer of piezo pickups for acoustic guitars. He continues to design and build guitars for many professional players such as Lindsey Buckingham, Ry Cooder, David Lindley, David Crosby and Andy Summers. He is also a regular columnist for Acoustic Guitar and a former columnist for Bass Player, Frets and Guitar Player magazines. His present company is Renaissance Guitars and he has partnered with Seymour Duncan to form D-TAR. The Model 1 electric was designed by Turner for use by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who continues to use the model 1 to this day.

He has 4 children, Ethan, Bret, Shasta, and Elias. Ethan is a successful drummer and has been in various bands on the west coast.

Turner is best known because he helped engineer the Grateful Dead's wall of sound, cofounded one of the first boutique guitar companies, holds the patent on the graphite guitar neck, makes incredible acoustic guitars, and is an all-around pioneer in the guitar industry.

He made the bass that played what has to tbe the most famous bass line in rock history, Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain"

Turner's designs are considered significant and innovative, and include at least the following:

invented and patented the graphite neck in 1976, with Geoff Gould who then started Modulus Graphite.

the use of curved plates on the front and back of his Model 1 electric guitars in order to reduce standing wave hysteresis loss.

the use of 18v preamps in an attempt to tame the 'quack' sound commonly associated with piezoelectric acoustic guitar pickups.

Rick is unusual among inventors and innovators in that he is very open with his ideas. He teaches "Build a mandolin in four days" courses in the US and Australia and is extremely active on a wide range of musical instrumnet internet forums. His style could be seen as "forthright", not suffering fools gladly, and he has been described as being a little like Simon Cowell. While you may not like HOW he says something, you KNOW deep down that every word he says is right, backed up by years of experience.

Category:Guitar manufacturing companies

Name	Jagjit Singh
Background	solo_singer
Born	February 08, 1941Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
Genre	Ghazal, Classical, Devotional, Folk
Occupation	Composer, Singer, Music Director, Activist, Entrepreneur
Instrument	Vocals, Harmonium, Tanpura, Piano
Years active	1966–present
Label	EMI, HMV, Saregama, Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Polydor, TIPS, Venus, T-Series
Spouse	Chitra Singh
Url	www.jagjitsingh.co.uk

Jagjit Singh (, , ) (born February 8, 1941) is a prominent Indian Ghazal singer, composer, music director, activist and entrepreneur. Popularly known as "The Ghazal King" he gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh, in 1970's and 80's, as the first ever successful duo (husband-wife) act in the history of recorded Indian music. Together, they are considered to be the pioneers of modern Ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music. He has sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He was awarded India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003.

Widely credited for the revival and popularity of Ghazal, an Indian classical art form, through his music in landmark films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991), Jagjit Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time, in terms of both critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning over four decades and a repertoire comprising 50 albums the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining. He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by an incumbent Prime Minister - Atal Behari Vajpayee, also a critically acclaimed poet - in two albums, Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002). India's current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur are known to be his avid admirers.

On May 10, 2007, in a milestone joint session held in the historic Central Hall of India's Parliament (Sansad Bhawan), Jagjit Singh rendered the last Moghul Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar's famous ghazal "Lagta nahin hai dil mera" to commemorate the 150th anniversary of India's First War of Independence (1857). President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and dignitaries including former Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners were in attendance.

Jagjit Singh is the first Indian composer, and together with his wife Chitra Singh the first recording artist in the history of Indian music to use digital multi-track recording for their (India's first digitally recorded) album, Beyond Time (1987). He is regarded as one of India's most influential artistes. Together with sitar legend Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian classical music and literature, Singh has voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He has lent active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA.

Early years and background

Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan to Amar Singh Dhiman, a government employee, a native of Dalla village in Punjab (India) and his mother, Bachan Kaur from Ottallan village, Samrala. He had four sisters and two brothers and he is known as Jeet by his family. He was raised as a Sikh by religion.

He went to Khalsa High School in Sri Ganganagar and then studied science after matriculation at Government College, Sri Ganganagar and went onto graduate in Arts at DAV College, Jalandhar. He is a post-graduate in history from Kurukshetra University in Haryana.

Jagjit Singh's association with music goes back to his childhood. He learnt music under Pandit Chaganlal Sharma for two years in Ganganagar, and later devoted six years to learning Khayal, Thumri and Dhrupad forms of Indian Classical Music from Ustad Jamaal Khan of the Sainia Gharana school.

Career

Early career

The Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University and Kurukshetra University, Late Professor Suraj Bhan encouraged his interest in music. He arrived in Mumbai in 1965 in search of better opportunities for being a musician and singer. His early struggle in the music industry, though not too harsh by his own account, still had its share of trials and tribulations. He lived as a paying guest and his earlier assignments were singing advertisement jingles or performing at weddings and parties.

First Entry Into Movies

Jagjit Singh was first offered to sing in a Gujarati Film. "Dharati Na Chhoru" produced by Mr. Suresh Amin, famously known by Jagjit Singh as "Jholi Vaaley Baba" : known so, because he carried a Red Shoulder Bag wherever he went. Mr Suresh Amin was from Baroda-Gujarat and was associated with Scad Consultants Pvt Ltd. When, Mr Suresh Amin died in 1998 and Scad Consultants, Baroda, Organized a Live Concert by Jagjit singh in December 1998 - Jagjit Singh [Famously Called by friends as Maharaj] paid a special Tribute to Mr Suresh Amin and dedicated the Scad Consultants Concert to Mr Suresh Amin by Singing the song " Chitthi Na Koi Sandesh ", the perfect song to match his unawareness of Suresh Amin's Death.

Rise to fame

During 1970s, the art of ghazal singing was dominated by well-established names like Noor Jehan, Malika Pukhraj, Begum Akhtar, Talat Mahmood and Mehdi Hassan. However, he was able to make his mark and carve out a niche for himself. In 1976, his album The Unforgettables (On HMV LP Records) hit music stores. Essentially a ghazal album, its emphasis on melody and Jagjit's fresh voice was a departure from the prevalent style of ghazal rendition, which was heavily based on classical and semi-classical Indian music. Skeptics had their own reservations, purists scorned it but it was widely successful among listeners and the album set new sales records.

In 1967, Jagjit met Chitra, also a singer. After a two year courtship they got married (1969). They epitomize the first successful husband-wife singing team. Jagjit and Chitra Singh have made immense contributions to 'Ghazal' music and the Indian music industry in general.

Successful releases of the duo include Ecstasies, A Sound Affair and Passions. While these albums were breezy, Beyond Time released in the opening years of 1990s was an experimentation with sounds and conveyed a feeling that was beyond space and time.

Around this time the duo was struck by grief, when their only son, Vivek (21), met an untimely death in a road accident on 28 July 1990. Their subsequent album 'Someone Somewhere' was the last album with ghazals sung by both. The album is a tour of the soul, ethereal, conscientious and introspective. These ghazals have a moving quality to them since they embody a feeling of deep personal loss. After that Chitra Singh quit singing.

Jagjit Singh's later albums, including Hope, In Search, Insight, Mirage, Visions, Kahkashan (meaning "Galaxy"), Love Is Blind, Chirag (meaning "Lamp"/"Flame") also achieved success. Sajda (an Urdu word meaning "prostration"), which has ghazals sung by Jagjit and Lata Mangeshkar was another brilliant release and made its mark as a classic Ghazal album. The combined successes of his many albums made him the number one ghazal singer in India. The audience wanted more and Jagjit Singh obliged with his Punjabi albums. Ebullient, effervescent and bubbly, his Punjabi songs are pleasant as well as joyous. His enchanting ghazals use the choicest poetry by renowned poets including Mirza Ghalib, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Qateel Shifai, Shahid Kabir, Ameer Meenai, Kafeel Aazer, Sudarshan Faakir and Nida Fazli, and contemporary writers like Zaka Siddiqi, Nazir Bakri, Faiz Ratlami and Rajesh Reddy.

Jagjit also sang (as playback singer) for various songs in Bollywood films including Arth, Saath Saath, and Premgeet (all from 1980s). These scores remain popular even today. In fact, all the songs of film Premgeet were composed by Jagjit. His compositions for the TV serial Mirza Ghalib (based on the life of the poet Mirza Ghalib), remain extremely popular among ghazal aficionados. The exclusive element of Ghalib's poetry was sensitively and wonderfully brought out in the soulful compositions of Ghalib's ghazals by Jagjit Singh. The album could veritably be called a magnum opus.

Compared to his earlier ghazals (sung during 70s and 80s) his later ghazals have acquired a more soulful and poignant demeanour, as in albums such as Marasim, Face To Face, Aaeena, Cry For Cry. But all through this, romance never took a backseat! The journey to the soul is punctuated by romantic pauses like Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin. A testimony to his popularity is his ghazals in recent Bollywood flicks like Dushman, Sarfarosh, Tum Bin and Tarkeeb.

Most of the earlier albums of Jagjit Singh had English titles. Later, these had Urdu names like Sahar (meaning "Dawn"/"Morning"), Muntazir (meaning "In waiting"), Marasim (meaning "Relation"/"Relationship"/"Affinity" ), and "Soz" (meaning Pathos). The switchover may not be deliberate but marks a milestone in his singing. These new albums show a far better selection of lyrics and his singing has scaled new peaks.

Besides ghazals, Jagjit Singh has also sung Bhajans and Gurbani (Hindu and Sikh devotional hymns respectively). Albums such as Maa, Hare Krishna, Hey Ram...Hey Ram, Ichhabal and also Man Jeetai Jagjeet in Punjabi, put him in the league of Bhajan singers such as Mukesh, Hari Om Sharan, Yesudas, Anup Jalota and Purushottam Das Jalota. The soothing effect that Jagjit's voice has on frayed nerves has prompted psychiatrists in metros (as large cities in India are called) to prescribe them as stress relievers.

Influence

Jagjit Singh is accredited with bringing the ghazal genre, which was previously restricted to the elite classes, to the masses. His music direction can be seen to be pioneering in changing the sound layout by adding more Western instruments while mostly retaining the traditional orchestra (which includes a tablaa, dholak, bongos, sitar, sarod, santoor, flute, and harmonium, and a couple of string instruments]. Jagjit Singh is also nicknamed Ghazaljeet Singh.

Jagjit Singh is accredited with finding the number one singer of modern times Kumar sanu. Sanu himself confessed that Jagjit singh offered him the first chance to sing.

Jagjit Singh voiced his opinion against artists from Pakistan being allowed to sing in India, when Pakistan refuses to reciprocate the gesture.

In addition to cultivating his own successful career, Jagjit Singh has been involved in guiding many new, talented singers such as Abhijeet, Talat Aziz, Ghanshyam Vaswani, Ashok Khosla, Siza Roy, Vikram Singh, and Vinod Sehgal. He also lends active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the Library at St. Mary's (Mumbai), Bombay Hospital, CRY, and ALMA (an organization that adopts under-privileged students for further education and development).

Personal life

Jagjit Singh married the popular singer Chitra Singh in 1969. They live in Vivek Singh Lane (a road dedicated to their son) on Breach Candy in Mumbai. Their only son, Vivek, died in a road accident in the early 1990s.

In January 1998, Jagjit Singh had his First Cardiac Insufficiency (heart attack) which led him to quit smoking. In October 2007, he was hospitalized following blood circulation problems.

Music career

Ghazals

There are many successful ghazals composed by Jagjit Singh. Some of them are listed below:-

Yaarian Rab Kar Ke (Sang for Shiv K. Batalvi)

Umr Jalwon mein basar ho

Der lagi aane mein tumko

Apni aankho ke samundar mein utar jaane de

Koi paas aayaa sawere-sawere

Apne hothon par sajaana chaahta hoon

Meri zindagi kisi aur ki, mere naam ka koi aur hai

Apne haathon kee lakeeron mein

Sadma to hai mujhe bhi ke tujhse juda hoon main

Aadmi aadmi ko kya degaa

Haath chhooten bhi to

Garaj baras pyaasi dharthi par phir paani de maula

Apni marzi se kahan apne safar ke hum hain

Ik barahman ne kaha hai

Main na hindu na musalmaan mujhe jeene do

Kaise kaise haadse sehte rahe

Wo jo hum mein tumme qaraar tha

Patta-patta boota-boota haal hamaara jaane hai

Chak jigar ke see lete hain

Main bhool jaaoon tumhe, ab yahi munaasib hai

Jaate jaate wo mujhe achchhi nishaani de gaya

Shaam se aankh mein namin si hai

Tere baare mein jab socha nahin thaa

Tere aane ki jab khabar mehke

Tamanna fir machal jaaye agar tum milne aa jaao

Ab main ration ki kataron mein nazar aata hoon

Tujhse milne ki saza denge tere shehar ke log

Patthar ke khuda, patthar ke sanam

Huzoor aapka bhi ahtraam karta chaloon

Din aa gaye sabaab ke aanchal sambhaaliye

Gulshan ki faqat phoolon se nahin kaaton se bhi zeenat hoti hai

Baat saaqi ki na taali jaayegi

Chupke chupke raat din aansoon bahana yaad hai

Roshan jamal-e-yaar se hai anjuman tamaam

Tera chehra kitna suhaana lagta hai

Tum nahin, gham nahin sharaab nahin

Sarakti jaaye hain rukh se naqaab aahistaa-aahista

Ae khuda ret ke sehra ko samandar kar de

Yeh daulat bhi le lo, yeh shohrat bhi le lo

Hoshwalo ko khabar

Honthon se chhoo lo tum

Koi yeh kaise bataye

Tere khat

Bahut khoobsurat hai

Kiska Chehera

Kal chodvi ki raat thi

Baat niklegi to

Der laagi ane mein tumko

Main nashe mein hoon

Pyar mujhse jo kiya tumne

Tera chehera hai aaeene jaisa

Chitthi na koi sandesh

Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho

Jab se kareeb ho kay chale zindagi se hum

Koi fariyaad

Kahin duur jab din

Kehta hai baabul

Jhuki jhuki si nazar

Tumko dekha to yeh khayal

Sehma sehma

Yaad kiya dil ne kaha ho tum

Aap ko dekh kar

Jab saamne tum

Hazaron khwaishe aisi

Ya to mit jaaeeye ya mita deejiye

Tere aane ki jab khabar mehke

woh khat ke purje jala raha tha

tum ye kaise khafa ho gaye

hum to hai perdes mein desh mein

Jeevan Maran Chhe Ek (in Gujarati)

Woh kaaghaz ki kashti

Badi Najuk he ye manzil mohabbat ka safar he

Awards

In 2003, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours, from the Government of India.

In 2006, Teacher's Achievement Awards

...and many more.

Discography

Song for films

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Film Name !! Year !! Details |- |||2007|| |- |- |Umar||2006|| playback Singer: "Khumari Chaddh Ke Utar Gayi" |- |Baabul ||2006 ||playback Singer: "Kehta Hai Baabul" |- |Kasak||2005|| lyrics |- |Veer-Zaara ||2004|| "Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho" lyrics |- |Dhoop''||2003|| playback singer: "Benaam Sa Ye Dard", "Har Ek Ghar Mein Diya", "Teri Aankhon Se Hi" lyrics |- |Joggers' Park||2003 ||"Bari Nazuk Hai" lyrics |- |Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai||2003|| "Aisi Aankhen Nahin Dekhi" |- |Leela ||2002|| "Dhuan Uttha Hai", "Jaag Ke Kati", "Jabse Kareeb Ho Ke Chale", "Tere Khayal Ki" |- |Vadh ||2002|| "Bahut Khoobsurat" |- |Deham|| 2001|| "Yun To Guzar Raha Hai" |- |Tum Bin ||2001 ||Koi Fariyaad |- |Tarkieb ||2000|| Kiska Chehra ab mai dekhun... Tera chehra dekhkar |- |Shaheed Udham Singh ||2000|| |- |Bhopal Express|| 1999 || is duniya mein rakha kya hai |- |Sarfarosh ||1999|| "Hosh Walon Ko" |- |Dushman|| 1998 ||"Chhitti Na Koi Sandesh" |- |Khudai|| 1994|| "Din Aa Gaye Shabab Ke", "Ulfat Ka Jab Kisis Ne Liya Naam", "Ye Sheeshe Ye Rishte" |- |Mammo ||1994 ||hazaar baar ruke ham, hazaar baar chale by Gulzar |- |Khal Nayak ||1993|| "O Maa Tujhe Salaam" |- |Nargis|| 1992|| "Dono Ke Dil Hai Majboor Pyar Se", Main Kasie Kahoon Janeman |- |Billoo Badshah|| 1989|| |- |Aakhri Kahani||1989|| |- |Doosra Kanoon||1989||TV |- |Kaanoon Ki Awaaz||1989|| |- |Mirza Ghalib ||1988||TV Hit Serial Directed by Gulzar |- |Rahi ||1987|| |- |Aashiana ||1986||"Humsafar Ban Ke Hum" |- |Long Da Lishkara ||1986||"Ishq Hai Loko""Main Kandyali Thor Ve""Sare Pindch Puare Paye" |- |Phir Aayee Barsat ||1985||"Na Mohabbat Na Dosti Ke Liye" |- |Ravan ||1984||"Hum to Yun Apni Zindagi Se Mile""Main Gar Mein Chunariya" |- |Bahuroopi ||1966|| |- |Bhavna||1984||"Mere Dil Mein Tu Hi Tu Hai" |- |Kalka||1983|| |- |Tum Laut Aao ||1983|| |- |Zulf Ke Saye Saye ||1983||"Nashili Raat Mein" |- |Arth ||1982||"Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar""Koi Yeh Kaise Bataye""Tere Khushboo Mein Base Khat""Too Nahin To Zindagi Mein Aur Kya Reha Jayega""Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho" |- |Saath Saath ||1982||"Pyar Mujh Se Jo Kiya Tumne""Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya""Yeh Bata De Mujhe Zindagi""Yeh Bata De Mujhe Zindagi""Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar""Yun Zindagi Ki Raah Mein" chitra singh |- |Sitam||1982|| |- |Prem Geet ||1981||Hontho se chhoo lo tum |- |Ek Baar Kaho||1980|| Koi Gesu Koi Aanchal Hamein Aawaaz na De (music: Bappi Lahiri) (genre: nazm) |- |Griha Pravesh||1979|| |- |Avishkaar||1973|| |- |Heena||1999||TV Serial |- |Neem Ka Ped||1994||TV Serial ("Muunh ki baat sune har koii (Title Song)") |- |Hello Zindagi||19**||TV Serial ("Hai Lau Zindagi(Title Song)") |}

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Ghazal albums

The Unforgettables (1976)

Birha Da Sultan(Shiv Kumar Batalvi) Jagjit & Chitra (1978

Live in Pakistan (1979)

A Milestone (1980)

Main aur Meri Tanhaayee (1981)

The Latest (1982)

Ae mere Dil (1983)

Live at Royal Albert Hall ª(1983)

Ecstasies (1984)

A Sound Affair (1985)

Echoes (1985–86)

Beyond Time (1987)

Mirza Ghalib (Two Volumes) (1988), TV Serial Directed by Gulzar

Passion / Black Magic (1988)

Ghazals from Films (1989)

Emotions

Man Jite Jagjit (1990)

Memorable Ghazals of Jagjit and Chitra (1990)

Someone Somewhere (1990)

H O P E (1991)

Sajda (Two Volumes with Lata Ji) (1991)

Kahkashan (Two Volumes) (1991–92), TV Serial Directed by Jalal Agaa

Visions (Two Volumes) (1992)

In Search (1992)

Rare Gems (1992)

Face to face (1993)

Your Choice (1993)

Chiraag (1993)

Desires (1994)

Insight (1994)

Cry for Cry (1995)

Mirage

Unique (1996)

Come Alive in a Concert (1998 (CD))

Live at the Wembley

Love is Blind (1998)

Silsilay (1998) (Lyrics by Javed Akhtar)

Marasim (1999) (Lyrics by Gulzar)

jaam utha(1999)

Saher (2000)

Samvedna 2002 (Atal Behari Vajpayee's poetry))

Soz (2002) (Lyrics by Javed Akhtar)

Forget Me Not (2002)

Muntazir (2004)

Jeevan Kya Hai (2005)

Tum To Nahin Ho (Lyrics by Bashir Badr) (2005)

Life Story (2006)

Best of Jagjit & Chitra Singh (includes Mere Darwaaze Se Ab Chand Ko Ruksat Kar do by Ali Sardar Jaffrey)

Koi Baat Chale (Lyrics by Gulzar)

Jazbaat(2008)

Inteha (2009)(Promoted on Banoo Main Teri Dulhann)

Trivia

The album 'Beyond Time' is the first digitally recorded album of India.It was recorded in the studio 'Western outdoor' by sound recordists duo 'Daman Sood and Avinash Oak.

References

External links

Jagjit Singh's Official website

IMDB entry

Twitter

Article on the Genius of Jagjit Singh in Asian Lite Magazine by Sreeram Chaulia

Review of Jagjit Singh's Biography, Beyond Time, in Asia Times by Sreeram Chaulia

Jagjit Singh Lyrics and Translations

Bazm-E-Jagjit

Jagjit Singh Albums and Lyrics

Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh in Dulhann

Dollar Mehta does a PhD on Jagjit-Singh

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Indian composers Category:Indian ghazal singers Category:Indian Sikhs Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:People from Sri Ganganagar district

Title	Khagan of the Mongol Empire
Reign	1206–1227
Coronation	spring 1206 in khurultai at the Onon River, Mongolia
Othertitles	Khan, KhaganTemple name: Taizu (太祖)Posthumous name: Emperor Fatian Qiyun Shengwu(法天啟運聖武皇帝)
Full name	Genghis Khan (birth name: Borjigin Temüjin)Mongolian script ᠪᠣᠷᠵᠢᠭᠢᠨ ᠲᠡᠮᠦᠵᠢᠨ.
Successor	Ögedei Khan
Consort	Börte UjinKhulanYisugenYisuiothers
Issue	JochiChagataiÖgedeiToluiothers
Royal house	Borjigin
Father	Yesükhei
Mother	Ho'elun
Date of birth	1162
Place of birth	Khentii Mountains, Mongolia
Date of death	1227 (aged 65)

Genghis Khan ( or ; Mongolian: or ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ, , or ), ; probably 1162–1227), born Borjigin Temüjin , was the founder, Khan (ruler) and Khagan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.

He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed "Genghis Khan", he started the Mongol invasions that would ultimately result in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These included raids or invasions of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, Caucasus, Khwarezmid Empire, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in Khwarezmia. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.

Before Genghis Khan died, he assigned Ögedei Khan as his successor and split his empire into khanates among his sons and grandsons. He died in 1227 after defeating the Western Xia. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia at an unknown location. His descendants went on to stretch the Mongol Empire across most of Eurasia by conquering and/or creating vassal states out of all of modern-day China, Korea, the Caucasus, Central Asian countries, and substantial portions of modern Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Many of these invasions resulted in the large-scale slaughter of local populations, which have given Genghis Khan and his empire a fearsome reputation in local histories. It has been estimated that his campaigns killed as many as 40 million people based on census data of the times.

Beyond his great military accomplishments, Genghis Khan also advanced the Mongol Empire in other ways. He decreed the adoption of the Uyghur script as the Mongol Empire's writing system. He also promoted religious tolerance in the Mongol Empire, and created a unified empire from the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. Present-day Mongolians regard him highly as the founding father of Mongolia.

Early life

Lineage

Temüjin was related on his father's side to Khabul Khan, Ambaghai and Qutula Khan who had headed the Mongol confederation. When the Chinese Jin Dynasty switched support from the Mongols to the Tatars in 1161, they destroyed Khabul Khan. Genghis's father, Yesügei (leader of the Borjigin and nephew to Ambaghai and Qutula Khan), emerged as the head of the ruling clan of the Mongols, but this position was contested by the rival Tayichi’ud clan, who descended directly from Ambaghai. When the Tatars grew too powerful after 1161, the Jin switched their support from the Tatars to the Keraits.

Birth

, Mongolia in autumn, a region where Borjigin Temüjin was born and grew up.]] Because of the lack of contemporary written records, there is very little factual information about the early life of Temüjin. The few sources that provide insight into this period often conflict.

Temüjin was born in 1162 and the oldest son of his mother Hoelun. According to the Secret History, Temüjin was named after a Tatar chieftain whom his father had just captured. The name also suggests that they may have been descended from a family of blacksmiths (see section Name and title below).

Yesükhei's clan was called Borjigin (Боржигин), and Hoelun was from the Olkhunut, the sub-lineage of the Onggirat tribe. Like other tribes, they were nomads. Because his father was a chieftain, as were his predecessors, Temüjin was of a noble background. This higher social standing made it easier to solicit help from and eventually consolidate the other Mongol tribes.

No accurate portraits of Genghis exist today, and any surviving depictions are considered to be artistic interpretations. Persian historian Rashid-al-Din recorded in his "Chronicles" that the legendary "glittering" ancestor of Genghis was tall, long-bearded, red-haired, and green-eyed. Rashid al-Din also described the first meeting of Genghis and Kublai Khan, when Genghis was shocked to find that Kublai had not inherited his red hair. Also according to al-Din Genghis's Borjigid clan, had a legend involving their origins: it began as the result of an affair between Alan-ko and a stranger to her land, a glittering man who happened to have red hair and bluish-green eyes. Modern historian Paul Ratchnevsky has suggested in his Genghis biography that the "glittering man" may have been from the Kyrgyz people, who historically displayed these same characteristics. Controversies aside, the closest depiction generally accepted by most historians is the portrait currently in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan (see picture above).

Early life and family

Temüjin had three brothers named Khasar (or Qasar), Khajiun, and Temüge, and one sister named Temülen (or Temülin), as well as two half-brothers named Bekhter and Belgutei. Like many of the nomads of Mongolia, Temüjin's early life was difficult. His father arranged a marriage for him, and at nine years old, he was delivered by his father to the family of his future wife Börte, who was a member of the tribe Onggirat. Temujin was to live there in service to Dei Sechen, the head of the new household, until he reached the marriageable age of 12. While heading home, his father ran into the neighbouring Tatars, who had long been enemies of the Mongols, and he was subsequently poisoned by the food they offered. Upon learning this, Temüjin returned home to claim his father's position as chieftain of the tribe; however, his father's tribe refused to be led by a boy so young. They abandoned Hoelun and her children, leaving them without protection. . Illustration from a 15th century Jami' al-tawarikh manuscript]] For the next several years, Hoelun and her children lived in poverty, surviving primarily on wild fruits and ox carcasses, marmots, and other small game hunted by Temüjin and his brothers. It was during one hunting excursion that 10-year-old Temüjin killed his half-brother, Bekhter, during a fight which resulted from a dispute over hunting spoils. This incident cemented his position as a prisoner for manslaughter. In another incident in 1182 he was captured in a raid and held prisoner by his father's former allies, the Tayichi'ud. The Tayichi'ud enslaved Temüjin (reportedly with a cangue), but with the help of a sympathetic watcher, the father of Chilaun (who would later become a general of Genghis Khan), he was able to escape from the ger in the middle of the night by hiding in a river crevice. It was around this time that Jelme and Bo'orchu, two of Genghis Khan's future generals, joined forces with him. Temüjin's reputation also became widespread after his escape from the Tayichi'ud.

At this time, none of the tribal confederations of Mongolia were united politically, and arranged marriages were often used to solidify temporary alliances. Temujin grew up observing the tough political climate of Mongolia, which includes tribal warfare, thievery, raids, corruption and continuing acts of revenge carried out between the various confederations, all compounded by interference from foreign forces such as the Chinese dynasties to the south. Temüjin's mother Hoelun taught him many lessons about the unstable political climate of Mongolia, especially the need for alliances.

As previously arranged by his father, Temüjin married Börte of the Olkut'hun tribe when he was around 16 in order to cement alliances between their respective tribes. Börte had four sons, Jochi (1185–1226), Chagatai (1187—1241), Ögedei (1189—1241), and Tolui (1190–1232). Genghis Khan also had many other children with his other wives, but they were excluded from the succession, and records of daughters are nonexistent. Soon after Börte's marriage to Temüjin, she was kidnapped by the Merkits, and reportedly given away as a wife. Temüjin rescued her with the help of his friend and future rival, Jamuka, and his protector, Ong Khan of the Kerait tribe. She gave birth to a son, Jochi, nine months later, clouding the issue of his parentage. Despite speculation over Jochi, Börte would be his only empress, though Temüjin did follow tradition by taking several morganatic wives.

Temujin valued loyalty above all else and also valued brotherhood. Jumuka was one of Temujin's best friends growing up. But their friendship would be tested later in life, when Temujin was fighting to become a khan. Jumuka said this to Temujin before he was killed, "What use is there in my becoming a companion to you? On the contrary, sworn brother, in the black night I would haunt your dreams, in the bright day I would trouble your heart. I would be the louse in your collar, I would become the splinter in your door-panel...as there was room for only one sun in the sky, there was room only for one Mongol lord."

Religion

Genghis Khan's religion is widely speculated to be Shamanism or Tengriism, which was very likely among nomadic Mongol-Turkic tribes of Central Asia. But he was very tolerant religiously, and interested to learn philosophical and moral lessons from other religions. To do so, he consulted Buddhist monks, Christian missionaries, Muslim merchants, and the Taoist monk Qiu Chuji.

Uniting the confederations

The Central Asian plateau (north of China) around the time of Temüjin (the early 13th century) was divided into several tribes or confederations, among them Naimans, Merkits, Uyghurs, Tatars, Mongols, and Keraits, that were all prominent in their own right and often unfriendly toward each other as evidenced by random raids, revenges, and plundering.

Temüjin began his slow ascent to power by offering himself as an ally (or, according to others sources, a vassal) to his father's anda (sworn brother or blood brother) Toghrul, who was Khan of the Kerait, and is better known by the Chinese title Ong Khan (or "Wang Khan"), which the Jin Empire granted him in 1197. This relationship was first reinforced when Börte was captured by the Merkits; it was Toghrul to whom Temüjin turned for support. In response, Toghrul offered his vassal 20,000 of his Kerait warriors and suggested that he also involve his childhood friend Jamuka, who had himself become Khan (ruler) of his own tribe, the Jadaran. Although the campaign was successful and led to the recapture of Börte and utter defeat of the Merkits, it also paved the way for the split between the childhood friends, Temüjin and Jamuka. Temüjin had become blood brother (anda) with Jamuka earlier, and they had vowed to remain eternally faithful.

The main opponents of the Mongol confederation (traditionally the "Mongols") around 1200 were the Naimans to the west, the Merkits to the north, Tanguts to the south, and the Jin and Tatars to the east. By 1190, Temüjin, his followers, and their advisors, had united the smaller Mongol confederation only. In his rule and his conquest of rival tribes, Temüjin broke with Mongol tradition in a few crucial ways. He delegated authority based on merit and loyalty, rather than family ties. As an incentive for absolute obedience and following his rule of law, the Yassa code, Temüjin promised civilians and soldiers wealth from future possible war spoils. As he defeated rival tribes, he did not drive away enemy soldiers and abandon the rest. Instead, he took the conquered tribe under his protection and integrated its members into his own tribe. He would even have his mother adopt orphans from the conquered tribe, bringing them into his family. These political innovations inspired great loyalty among the conquered people, making Temüjin stronger with each victory. manuscript]] Toghrul's (Wang Khan) son Senggum was jealous of Temüjin's growing power, and his affinity with his father. He allegedly planned to assassinate Temüjin. Toghrul, though allegedly saved on multiple occasions by Temüjin, gave in to his son and became uncooperative with Temüjin. Temüjin learned of Senggum's intentions and eventually defeated him and his loyalists. One of the later ruptures between Toghrul and Temüjin was Toghrul's refusal to give his daughter in marriage to Jochi, the eldest son of Temüjin, a sign of disrespect in the Mongolian culture. This act led to the split between both factions, and was a prelude to war. Toghrul allied himself with Jamuka, who already opposed Temüjin's forces; however the internal dispute between Toghrul and Jamuka, plus the desertion of a number of their allies to Temüjin, led to Toghrul's defeat. Jamuka escaped during the conflict. This defeat was a catalyst for the fall and eventual dissolution of the Kerait tribe.

The next direct threat to Temüjin was the Naimans (Naiman Mongols), with whom Jamuka and his followers took refuge. The Naimans did not surrender, although enough sectors again voluntarily sided with Temüjin. In 1201, a kurultai elected Jamuka as Gur Khan, "universal ruler", a title used by the rulers of the Kara-Khitan Khanate. Jamuka's assumption of this title was the final breach with Temüjin, and Jamuka formed a coalition of tribes to oppose him. Before the conflict, however, several generals abandoned Jamuka, including Subutai, Jelme's well-known younger brother. After several battles, Jamuka was finally turned over to Temüjin by his own men in 1206.

According to the Secret History, Temüjin again offered his friendship to Jamuka, asking him to return to his side. Temüjin had killed the men who betrayed Jamuka, stating that he did not want disloyal men in his army. Jamuka refused the offer of friendship and reunion, saying that there can only be one Sun in the sky, and he asked for a noble death. The custom is to die without spilling blood, which is granted by breaking the back. Jamuka requested this form of death, despite the fact that in the past Jamuka had been known to have boiled his opponent's generals alive. The rest of the Merkit clan that sided with the Naimans were defeated by Subutai, who is now a member of Temüjin's personal guard and would later become one of the successful commanders of Genghis Khan. The Naimans' defeat left Genghis Khan as the sole ruler of the Mongol plains, which means all the prominent confederations fell and/or united under Temüjin's Mongol confederation.

Accounts of Genghis Khan's life are marked by claims of a series of betrayals and conspiracies. These include rifts with his early allies such as Jamuka (who also wanted to be a ruler of Mongol tribes) and Wang Khan (his and his father's ally), his son Jochi, and problems with the most important Shaman who was allegedly trying to break him up with brother Qasar who was serving Genghis Khan loyally. His military strategies showed a deep interest in gathering good intelligence and understanding the motivations of his rivals as exemplified by his extensive spy network and Yam route systems. He seemed to be a quick student, adopting new technologies and ideas that he encountered, such as siege warfare from the Chinese.

As a result by 1206 Temüjin had managed to unite or subdue the Merkits, Naimans, Mongols, Keraits, Tatars, Uyghurs and disparate other smaller tribes under his rule. It was a monumental feat for the "Mongols" (as they became known collectively). At a Kurultai, a council of Mongol chiefs, he was acknowledged as "Khan" of the consolidated tribes and took the new title "Genghis Khan". The title Khagan was not conferred on Genghis until after his death, when his son and successor, Ögedei took the title for himself and extended it posthumously to his father (as he was also to be posthumously declared the founder of the Yuan Dynasty). This unification of all confederations by Genghis Khan established peace between previously warring tribes and a single political and military force under Genghis Khan.

Military campaigns

Western Xia Dynasty

During the 1206 political rise of Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire created by Genghis Khan and his allies shared its western borders with the Tanguts' Western Xia Dynasty. To its east and south was the Jin Dynasty, founded by the Manchurian Jurchens, who ruled northern China as well as being the traditional overlord of the Mongolian tribes for centuries.

Genghis Khan organized his people, army, and his state to first prepare for war with Western Xia, or Xi Xia, which was closer to the Mongolian lands. He correctly believed that the more powerful Jin Dynasty's young ruler would not come to the aid of Xi Xia. When the Tanguts requested help from the Jin Dynasty, they were flatly refused.

The city of Bukhara was not heavily fortified, with a moat and a single wall, and the citadel typical of Khwarezmi cities. The city leaders opened the gates to the Mongols, though a unit of Turkish defenders held the city's citadel for another twelve days. Survivors from the citadel were executed, artisans and craftsmen were sent back to Mongolia, young men who had not fought were drafted into the Mongolian army and the rest of the population was sent into slavery. As the Mongol soldiers looted the city, a fire broke out, razing most of the city to the ground. Genghis Khan had the city's surviving population assemble in the main mosque of the town, where he declared that he was the flail of God, sent to punish them for their sins.

Meanwhile, the wealthy trading city of Urgench was still in the hands of Khwarezmian forces. The assault on Urgench proved to be the most difficult battle of the Mongol invasion and the city fell only after the defenders put up a stout defense, fighting block for block. Mongolian casualties were higher than normal, due to the unaccustomed difficulty of adapting Mongolian tactics to city fighting.

As usual, the artisans were sent back to Mongolia, young women and children were given to the Mongol soldiers as slaves, and the rest of the population was massacred. The Persian scholar Juvayni states that 50,000 Mongol soldiers were given the task of executing twenty-four Urgench citizens each, which would mean that 1.2 million people were killed. While this is almost certainly an exaggeration, the sacking of Urgench is considered one of the bloodiest massacres in human history.

In the meantime, Genghis Khan selected his third son Ögedei as his successor before his army set out, and specified that subsequent Khans should be his direct descendants. Genghis Khan also left Muqali, one of his most trusted generals, as the supreme commander of all Mongol forces in Jin China while he was out battling the Khwarezmid Empire to the west.

Georgia and Volga Bulgaria

After the defeat of the Khwarezmian Empire in 1220, Genghis Khan gathered his forces in Persia and Armenia to return to the Mongolian steppes. Under the suggestion of Subutai, the Mongol army was split into two component forces. Genghis Khan led the main army on a raid through Afghanistan and northern India towards Mongolia, while another 20,000 (two tumen) contingent marched through the Caucasus and into Russia under generals Jebe and Subutai. They pushed deep into Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Mongols destroyed the kingdom of Georgia, sacked the Genoese trade-fortress of Caffa in Crimea and overwintered near the Black Sea. Heading home, Subutai's forces attacked the Kipchaks and were intercepted by the allied but poorly coordinated 80,000 Kievan Rus' troops led by Mstislav the Bold of Halych and Mstislav III of Kiev who went out to stop the Mongols' actions in the area. Subutai sent emissaries to the Slavic princes calling for a separate peace, but the emissaries were executed. At the Battle of Kalka River in 1223, Subutai's forces defeated the larger Kievan force, while losing the battle of Samara Bend against the neighboring Volga Bulgars. The Russian princes then sued for peace. Subutai agreed but was in no mood to pardon the princes. As was customary in Mongol society for nobility, the Russian princes were given a bloodless death. Subutai had a large wooden platform constructed on which he ate his meals along with his other generals. Six Russian princes, including Mstislav III of Kiev, were put under this platform and crushed to death.

The Mongols learned from captives of the abundant green pastures beyond the Bulgar territory, allowing for the planning for conquest of Hungary and Europe. Genghis Khan recalled Subutai back to Mongolia soon afterwards, and Jebe died on the road back to Samarkand. Subutai and Jebe's famous cavalry expedition, in which they encircled the entire Caspian Sea defeating all armies in their path, except for that of the Volga Bulgars, remains unparalleled to this day, and word of the Mongol triumphs began to trickle to other nations, particularly Europe. These two campaigns are generally regarded as reconnaissance campaigns that tried to get the feel of the political and cultural elements of the regions. In 1225 both divisions returned to Mongolia. These invasions ultimately added Transoxiana and Persia to an already formidable empire while destroying any resistance along the way. Later under Genghis Khan's grandson Batu and the Golden Horde, the Mongols returned to conquer Volga Bulgaria and the Kievan Rus in 1237, concluding the campaign in 1240.

Western Xia and Jin Dynasty

, Jin Dynasty, Song Dynasty and Kingdom of Dali in 1142.]] The vassal emperor of the Tanguts (Western Xia) had earlier refused to take part in the war against the Khwarezmid Empire after Genghis Khan and the main army marched towards Kharezmian Empire. Plus Western Xia and the defeated Jin Dynasty formed a coalition to resist the Mongols, counting on the campaign against the Khwarezmians to drain the Mongols' ability to respond effectively.

In 1226, immediately after returning from the west, Genghis Khan began a retaliatory attack on the Tanguts. His armies quickly took Heisui, Ganzhou and Suzhou (not the Suzhou in Jiangsu province), and in the autumn he took Xiliang-fu. One of the Tangut generals challenged the Mongols to a battle near Helanshan, but was soundly defeated. In November, Genghis laid siege to the Tangut city Lingzhou, and crossed the Yellow River, defeating the Tangut relief army. According to legend, it was here that Genghis Khan reportedly saw a line of five stars arranged in the sky, and interpreted it as an omen of his victory.

In 1227, Genghis Khan's army attacked and destroyed the Tangut capital of Ning Hia, and continued to advance, seizing Lintiao-fu, Xining province, Xindu-fu, and Deshun province in quick succession in the Spring. At Deshun, the Tangut general Ma Jianlong put up a fierce resistance for several days and personally led charges against the invaders outside the city gate. Ma Jianlong later died from wounds received from arrows in battle. Genghis Khan, after conquering Deshun, went to Liupanshan (Qingshui County, Gansu Province) to escape the severe summer. The new Tangut emperor quickly surrendered to the Mongols, and the rest of the Tanguts officially surrendered soon after. Not happy with their betrayal and resistance, Genghis Khan ordered the entire imperial family to be executed, effectively ending the Tangut lineage.

Some accounts say that Genghis Khan was castrated by a Tangut princess using a hidden knife, who wanted revenge against his treatment of the Tanguts and stop him from raping her. After his castration, Genghis Khan died, and the Tangut princess committed suicide by drowning in the yellow river according to the legend. In some mythical legends, it is claimed that Genghis fell into a trance after being castrated and is waiting to be sent back to the Mongol people.

Succession

manuscript]] The succession topic of Genghis Khan was already significant during the later years of Genghis Khan's reign since he was already reaching his older years. Also the long running paternity discussion about Genghis' oldest son Jochi was already a relatively hot topic behind the scenes, which particularly was contentious because of the seniority of Jochi among the brothers. According to traditional historical accounts, the issue over Jochi's paternity was voiced most strongly by Chagatai. In The Secret History of the Mongols, just before the invasion of the Khwarezmid Empire by Genghis Khan, Chagatai declares before his father and brothers that he would never accept Jochi as Genghis Khan's successor. In response to this tension and possibly for other reasons, it was Ögedei who was appointed as successor. , AH 618, 1221 CE.]]

Jochi

Jochi died in 1226, during his father's lifetime. Some scholars, notably Ratchnevsky, have commented on the possibility that Jochi was secretly poisoned by an order from Genghis Khan. Rashid al-Din reports that the great Khan sent for his sons in the spring of 1223, and while his brothers heeded the order, Jochi remained in Khorasan. Juzjani suggests that the disagreement arose from a quarrel between Jochi and his brothers in the siege of Urgench. Jochi had attempted to protect Urgench from destruction, as it belonged to territory allocated to him as a fief. He concludes his story with the clearly apocryphal statement by Jochi: "Genghis Khan is mad to have massacred so many people and laid waste so many lands. I would be doing a service if I killed my father when he is hunting, made an alliance with Sultan Muhammad, brought this land to life and gave assistance and support to the Muslims." Juzjani claims that it was in response to hearing of these plans that Genghis Khan ordered his son secretly poisoned; however, as Sultan Muhammad was already dead in 1223, the accuracy of this story is questionable.

Genghis Khan was aware of this friction between his sons (particularly between Chagatai and Jochi) and worried of possible conflict between them if he died and therefore he decided to explicitly divide his empire among his sons and make all of them Khan in their own right and by appointing one of his sons as his successor. Chagatai was considered unstable due to his temper and rash behavior because of his statements he made that he would not follow Jochi if he were to become his father's successor. Tolui, Genghis Khan's youngest son was definitely not to be his successor because he was the youngest and in the Mongol culture, youngest sons were not given a huge responsibility due to their age. If Jochi was to become successor, it was likely that Chagatai would engage in warfare with him and collapse the empire. Therefore Genghis Khan decided to give the throne to Ogedei. Ogedei was seen by Genghis Khan as dependable in character and relatively stable and down to earth and would be a neutral candidate and might defuse the situation between his brothers.

Death and burial

In 1227, after defeating the Tangut people, Genghis Khan died (according to The Secret History of the Mongols). The reason for his death is uncertain and speculations abound. Some historians maintain that he fell off his horse during a horseback pursuit from the land of present day Egypt due to battle wounds and physical fatigue, ultimately dying of his injuries. Others contend that he was felled by a protracted illness such as pneumonia. The Galician-Volhynian Chronicle alleges he was killed by the Tanguts in battle. Later Mongol chronicles connect Genghis' death with a Tangut princess taken as war booty. One chronicle from the early 17th century even relates that the princess hid a small pair of pliers inside her vagina, and hurt the Great Khan so badly that he died. Some Mongol authors have doubted this version and suspected it to be an invention by the rival Oirads.

Genghis Khan asked to be buried without markings, according to the customs of his tribe. After he died, his body was returned to Mongolia and presumably to his birthplace in Khentii Aimag, where many assume he is buried somewhere close to the Onon River and the Burkhan Khaldun mountain (part of the Kentii mountain range). According to legend, the funeral escort killed anyone and anything across their path to conceal where he was finally buried. The Genghis Khan Mausoleum, constructed many years after his death, is his memorial, but not his burial site.

In 1939 Guomindang Chinese Nationalist soldiers took the mausoleum from its position at the 'Lord's Enclosure' (Mongolian: Edsen Khoroo) in Mongolia to protect it from Japanese troops. It was taken through Communist-held territory in Yan'an some 900 km on carts to safety at a Buddhist monastery, the Dongshan Dafo Dian, where it remained for ten years. In 1949, as Communist troops advanced, the Nationalist soldiers moved it another 200 km further west to the famous Tibetan monastery of Kumbum Monastery or Ta'er Shi near Xining, which soon fell under Communist control. In early 1954, Genghis Khan's bier and relics were returned to the Lord's Enclosure in Mongolia. By 1956 a new temple was erected there to house them. In 1968 during the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards destroyed almost everything of value. The "relics" were remade in the 1970s and a great marble statue of Genghis was completed in 1989.

On October 6, 2004, a joint Japanese-Mongolian archaeological dig uncovered what is believed to be Genghis Khan's palace in rural Mongolia, which raises the possibility of actually locating the ruler's long-lost burial site. Folklore says that a river was diverted over his grave to make it impossible to find (the same manner of burial as the Sumerian King Gilgamesh of Uruk and Atilla the Hun). Other tales state that his grave was stampeded over by many horses, and that trees were then planted over the site, and the permafrost also did its part in hiding the burial site.

Genghis Khan left behind an army of more than 129,000 men; 28,000 were given to his various brothers and his sons. Tolui, his youngest son, inherited more than 100,000 men. This force contained the bulk of the elite Mongolian cavalry. By tradition, the youngest son inherits his father's property. Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei Khan, and Kulan's son Gelejian received armies of 4,000 men each. His mother and the descendants of his three brothers received 3,000 men each.

Mongol Empire

Politics and economics

The Mongol Empire was governed by a civilian and military code, called the Yassa, created by Genghis Khan. The Mongol Empire did not emphasize the importance of ethnicity and race in the administrative realm, instead adopting an approach grounded in meritocracy. The exception was the role of Genghis Khan and his family. The Mongol Empire was one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history, as befitted its size. Many of the empire's nomadic inhabitants considered themselves Mongols in military and civilian life, including Turks, Mongols, and others and included many diverse Khans of various ethnicities as part of the Mongol Empire such as Muhammad Khan.

There were tax exemptions for religious figures and, to some extent, teachers and doctors. The Mongol Empire practiced religious tolerance to a large degree because Mongol tradition had long held that religion was a very personal concept, and not subject to law or interference. Sometime before the rise of Genghis Khan, Ong Khan, his mentor and eventual rival, had converted to Nestorian Christianity. Various Mongol tribes were Buddhist, Muslim, shamanist or Christian. Religious tolerance was thus a well established concept on the Asian steppe.

Modern Mongolian historians say that towards the end of his life, Genghis Khan attempted to create a civil state under the Great Yassa that would have established the legal equality of all individuals, including women. However, there is no contemporary evidence of this, or of the lifting of discriminatory policies towards sedentary peoples such as the Chinese. Women played a relatively important role in Mongol Empire and in family, for example Töregene Khatun was briefly in charge of the Mongol Empire when next male Khagan was being chosen. Modern scholars refer to the alleged policy of encouraging trade and communication as the Pax Mongolica (Mongol Peace).

Genghis Khan realised that he needed people who could govern cities and states conquered by him. He also realised that such administrators could not be found among his Mongol people because they were nomads and thus had no experience governing cities. For this purpose Genghis Khan invited a Khitan prince, Chu'Tsai, who worked for the Jin and had been captured by the Mongol army after the Jin Dynasty were defeated. Jin had captured power by displacing Khitan. Genghis told Chu'Tsai, who was a lineal descendant of Khitan rulers, that he had avenged Chu'Tsai's forefathers. Chu'Tsai responded that his father served the Jin Dynasty honestly and so did he; he did not consider his own father his enemy, so the question of revenge did not apply. Genghis Khan was very impressed by this reply. Chu'Tsai administered parts of the Mongol Empire and became a confidant of the successive Mongol Khans.

Military

Genghis Khan put absolute trust in his generals, such as Muqali, Jebe and Subutai, and regarded them as close advisors, often extending them the same privileges and trust normally reserved for close family members. He allowed them to make decisions on their own when they embarked on campaigns far from the Mongol Empire capital Karakorum. Genghis Khan expected unwavering loyalty from his generals, and granted them a great deal of autonomy in making command decisions. Muqali, a trusted general, was given command of the Mongol forces against the Jin Dynasty while Genghis Khan was fighting in Central Asia, and Subutai and Jebe were allowed to pursue the Great Raid into the Caucausus and Kievan Rus, an idea they had presented to the Khagan on their own initiative. The Mongol military was also successful in siege warfare, cutting off resources for cities and towns by diverting certain rivers, taking enemy prisoners and driving them in front of the army, and adopting new ideas, techniques and tools from the people they conquered, particularly in employing Muslim and Chinese siege engines and engineers to aid the Mongol cavalry in capturing cities. Another standard tactic of the Mongol military was the commonly practiced feigned retreat to break enemy formations and to lure small enemy groups away from the larger group and defended position for ambush and counterattack.

Another important aspect of the military organization of Genghis Khan was the communications and supply route or Yam, adapted from previous Chinese models. Genghis Khan dedicated special attention to this in order to speed up the gathering of military intelligence and official communications. To this end, Yam waystations were established all over the empire.

The followers of Temujin consisted of several Christians, three Muslims, and several Buddhists. They were united only in their devotion to Temujin and their oath to him and each other. The oaths sworn at Baljuna created a type of brotherhood, and in transcending kinship, ethnicity, and religion, it came close to being a type of modern civic citizenship based upon personal choice and commitment. This connection became a metaphor for the new type of community among Temujin's followers that would eventually dominate as the basis of unity within the Mongol Empire.

Khanates

Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons Ögedei, Chagatai, Tolui, and Jochi (Jochi's death several months before Genghis Khan meant that his lands were instead split between his sons, Batu and Orda) into several Khanates designed as sub-territories: their Khans were expected to follow the Great Khan, who was, initially, Ögedei.

Following are the Khanates the way Genghis Khan assigned them:

Empire of the Great Khan: Ögedei Khan, as Great Khan, took most of Eastern Asia, including China; this territory later to comprise the Yuan Dynasty under Kubilai Khan.

Mongol homeland (present day Mongolia, including Karakorum): Tolui Khan, being the youngest son, received a small territory near the Mongol homeland, following Mongol custom.

Chagatai Khanate: Chagatai Khan, Genghis Khan's second son, was given Central Asia and northern Iran.

Blue Horde to Batu Khan, and White Horde to Orda Khan, both were later combined into the Kipchak Khanate, or Khanate of the Golden Horde, under Toqtamysh. Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi, had received most of the distant Russia and Ruthenia. Because Jochi died before Genghis Khan, his territory was further split up between his sons. Batu Khan launched an invasion of Russia, and later Hungary and Poland, and crushed several armies before being summoned back by the news of Ögedei's death.

After Genghis Khan

Contrary to popular belief, Genghis Khan did not conquer all of the areas of the Mongol Empire. At the time of his death, the Mongol Empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Japan. The empire's expansion continued for a generation or more after Genghis's death in 1227. Under Genghis's successor Ögedei Khan the speed of expansion reached its peak. Mongol armies pushed into Persia, finished off the Xi Xia and the remnants of the Khwarezmids, and came into conflict with the imperial Song Dynasty of China, starting a war that would last until 1279 and that would conclude with the Mongols gaining control of all of China. They also pushed further into Russia and eastern Europe.

Perceptions

Like other notable conquerors, Genghis Khan is portrayed differently by those he conquered and those who conquered with him. Negative views of Genghis Khan are very persistent within histories written by many different cultures, from various different geographical regions. They often cite the cruelties and destruction brought upon by Mongol armies, not to mention the systematic slaughter of civilians in the conquered regions; other authors cite positive aspects of Genghis Khan's conquests as well.

Positive

100 Tenge coin]] Genghis Khan is credited with bringing the Silk Road under one cohesive political environment. This allowed increased communication and trade between the West, Middle East and Asia, thus expanding the horizons of all three cultural areas. Some historians have noted that Genghis Khan instituted certain levels of meritocracy in his rule, was tolerant of different religions and explained his policies clearly to all his soldiers. In Turkey, Genghis Khan is looked on as a great military leader, and it is popular for male children to carry his title as name.

In Mongolia

Traditionally Genghis Khan had been revered for centuries among the Mongols, and also among certain other ethnic groups such as the Turks, largely because of his association with Mongol statehood, political and military organization, and his historic victories in war. He eventually evolved into a larger-than-life figure chiefly among the Mongols and is still considered the symbol of Mongolian culture.

of Genghis Khan, the largest (40 metres tall) in the world, near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.]] During the communist period, Genghis Khan was often described as reactionary, and positive statements about him were generally avoided. In 1962, the erection of a monument at his birthplace and a conference held in commemoration of his 800th birthday led to criticism from the Soviet Union, and resulted in the dismissal of Tömör-Ochir, a secretary of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee.

In the early 1990s, when democracy was established in Mongolia, the memory of Genghis Khan with the Mongolian traditional national identity has had a powerful revival partly because of his perception during the Mongolian People's Republic period. Genghis Khan became one of the central figures of the national identity. He is looked upon positively by Mongolians for his role in uniting various warring tribes. For example, it is not uncommon for Mongolians to refer to Mongolia as "Genghis Khan's Mongolia", to themselves as "Genghis Khan's children", and to Genghis Khan as the "father of the Mongols" especially among the younger generation. However, there is a chasm in the perception of his brutality, Mongolians maintain that the historical records written by non-Mongolians are unfairly biased against Genghis Khan, and that his butchery is exaggerated, while his positive role is underrated.

banknote]] Genghis Khan's name and likeness are endorsed on products, streets, buildings, and other places. His face can be found on everyday commodities, from liquors to the largest denominations of 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 Mongolian tögrög (₮). Mongolia's main international airport has been renamed Chinggis Khaan International Airport, and major Genghis Khan statues have been erected before the parliament and near Ulaanbaatar. There have been repeated discussions about regulating the use of his name and image to avoid trivialization.

, Ulaanbaatar]] Genghis Khan is now regarded as one of Mongolia's prominent leaders. He is responsible for the emergence of the Mongols as a political and ethnic identity because there was no unified identity between the various tribes that had cultural similarity. He reinforced many Mongol traditions and provided stability and unity during a time of almost endemic warfare between various tribes. He is also given credit for the introduction of the traditional Mongolian script and the creation of the Ikh Zasag, the first written Mongolian law. In summary, Mongolians see him as the fundamental figure in the founding of the Mongol Empire, and therefore the basis for Mongolia as a country.

Mixed

In China

There are conflicting views of Genghis Khan in the People's Republic of China with some viewing him positively in the Inner Mongolia section where there is a monument and buildings about him and where there are considerable Mongols in the area with a population of around 5 million, almost twice the population of Mongolia. While Genghis Khan never conquered all of China, his grandson Kublai Khan completed that conquest, and established the Yuan Dynasty that is often credited with re-uniting China. There has also been much artwork and literature praising Genghis as a great military leader and political genius. The years of the Mongol-established Yuan Dynasty left an indelible imprint on Chinese political and social structures for subsequent generations with literature during the Jin Dynasty relatively fewer. In general the legacy of Genghis Khan and his successors, who completed the conquest of China after 65 years of struggle, remains a mixed topic, even to this day.

China suffered a drastic decline in population. Within China many people still retain the more traditional view that Genghis Khan was a barbarian invader, but modern times have seen the latter's official reinvention as a Chinese hero. The Mongol violence and depredations killed up to three quarters of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Some historians have estimated that Iran's population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century. Similarly, in Afghanistan (along with other non-Turkic Muslim countries) he is generally viewed unfavorably though some groups display ambivalence as it is believed that the Hazara of Afghanistan are descendants of a large Mongol garrison stationed therein.

The invasions of Baghdad, Samarkand, Urgench, Kiev, Vladimir among others caused mass murders, such as when portions of southern Khuzestan were completely destroyed. His descendant, Hulagu Khan destroyed much of Iran's northern part and sacked Baghdad although his forces were initially defeated by the Mamluks of Egypt. According to the works of the Persian historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, the Mongols killed more than 700,000 people in Merv and more than a million in Nishapur. In 1237 Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, launched an invasion into Kievan Rus'. Over the course of three years, the Mongols destroyed and annihilated all of the major cities of Eastern Europe with the exceptions of Novgorod and Pskov.

Giovanni de Plano Carpini, the Pope's envoy to the Mongol Great Khan, traveled through Kiev in February 1246 and wrote:

"They [the Mongols] attacked Rus, where they made great havoc, destroying cities and fortresses and slaughtering men; and they laid siege to Kiev, the capital of Rus; after they had besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death. When we were journeying through that land we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there are at the present time scarce two hundred houses there and the inhabitants are kept in complete slavery."

Although the famous Mughal Emperors were descendants of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, they distanced themselves from the Mongol atrocities against the Khwarizim Shahs, Turks, Persians, the citizens of Baghdad and Damascus and historical figures such as Attar of Nishapur.

Among the Iranian peoples, he is regarded along with Tamerlane as one of the most despised conquerors of Iran. In much of Russia, Middle East, Korea, China, Ukraine, Poland and Hungary, Genghis Khan and his regime are credited with considerable damage, destruction and loss of population.

Descent

Zerjal et al. [2003] identified a Y-chromosomal lineage present in about 8% of the men in a large region of Asia (about 0.5% of the men in the world). The paper suggests that the pattern of variation within the lineage is consistent with a hypothesis that it originated in Mongolia about 1,000 years ago. Because the rate of such a spread would be too rapid to have occurred by genetic drift, the authors propose that the lineage is carried by likely male-line descendants of Genghis Khan, and that it has spread through social selection. In Mongolia alone as many as 200,000 of the country's 2 million people could be Khan descendants.

The English spelling "Genghis" is of unclear origin. Weatherford claims it to derive from a spelling used in original Persian reports.Even at this time some Iranians pronounce his name as "Ghengiss". However, review of historical Persian sources does not confirm this.

According to the Secret History of the Mongols, Temüjin was named after a powerful warrior of the Tatar tribe that his father Yesügei had taken prisoner. The name "Temüjin" is believed to derive from the word temür, meaning iron (modern Mongolian: , tömör). The name would imply skill as a blacksmith.

More likely, as no evidence has survived to indicate that Genghis Khan had any exceptional training or reputation as a blacksmith, the name indicated an implied lineage in a family once known as blacksmiths. The latter interpretation is supported by the names of Genghis Khan's siblings, Temülin and Temüge, which are derived from the same root word.

===Name and spelling variations=== Genghis Khan's name is spelled in variety of ways in different languages such as , Turkic: Cengiz Han, Chengez Khan, Chinggis Khan, Chinggis Xaan, Chingis Khan, Jenghis Khan, Chinggis Qan, Djingis Kahn, Russian: Чингисхан (Čingiskhan) or Чингиз-хан (Čingiz-khan), etc. Temüjin is written in Chinese as .

When Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, he had his grandfather Genghis Khan placed on the official record as the founder of the dynasty or Taizu (). Thus, Genghis Khan is also referred to as Yuan Taizu () in Chinese historiography.

Timeline

Probably 1155, 1162, or 1167: Temüjin was born in the Khentii mountains.

At the age of nine, Temüjin's father Yesükhei was poisoned by Tatars, leaving him and his family destitute.

c. 1184: Temüjin's wife Börte was kidnapped by Merkits; he called on blood brother Jamuka and Wang Khan for aid, and they rescued her.

c. 1185: First son Jochi was born; leading to doubt about his paternity later among Genghis' children, because he was born shortly after Börte's rescue from the Merkits.

1190: Temüjin united the Mongol tribes, became leader, and devised code of law Yassa.

1201: Victory over Jamuka's Jadarans.

1202: Adopted as Wang Khan's heir after successful campaigns against Tatars.

1203: Victory over Wang Khan's Keraits. Wang Khan himself is killed by accident by allied Naimans.

1204: Victory over Naimans (all these confederations are united and become the Mongols).

1206: Jamuka was killed. Temüjin was given the title Genghis Khan by his followers in a Kurultai (around 40 years of age).

1207–1210: Genghis led operations against the Western Xia, which comprises much of northwestern China and parts of Tibet. Western Xia ruler submitted to Genghis Khan. During this period, the Uyghurs also submitted peacefully to the Mongols and became valued administrators throughout the empire.

1211: After the kurultai, Genghis led his armies against the Jin Dynasty ruling northern China.

1215: Beijing fell; Genghis Khan turned to west and the Khara-Kitan Khanate.

1219–1222: Conquered Khwarezmid Empire.

1226: Started the campaign against the Western Xia for forming coalition against the Mongols, the second battle with the Western Xia.

1227: Genghis Khan died after conquering the Tangut people. Cause of death is uncertain, although legend states that he was thrown off his horse in the battle and contracted a deadly fever soon after.

Notes

References

Man, John (2004). Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection. Bantam Press, London. ISBN 978-0-553-81498-9.

Further reading

Via the Internet Archive's copy of the History Channel Web site. (summary in English) Stevens, Keith. Retrieved 22 May 2008.

Primary sources

External links

Book Review of Genghis Khan by Leo De Hartog

Genghis Khan and the Mongols

Welcome to The Realm of the Mongols

Parts of this biography were taken from the Area Handbook series at the Library of Congress

Coverage of Temüjin's Earlier Years

Estimates of Mongol warfare casualties

Genghis Khan on the Web (directory of some 250 resources)

Mongol Arms

Genghis Khan's leadership approach – LeaderValues

BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time, topic was Genghis Khan February 2007

‘Ala’ al-Din ‘Ata Malik Juvayni A History of the World-Conqueror Ghengis Genghis Khan, Ata al-Mulk Juvayni and Rashid-al-Din Hamadani

* Category:Great Khans of the Mongol Empire Category:12th-century births Category:1227 deaths Category:13th-century Mongolian monarchs Category:12th-century Mongolian monarchs