Genghis Khan, originally named Temujin Borjigin, was born on the poor steppes of Mongolia in 1162. Being extremely poor and illiterate, still this man rose to become one of the greatest rulers and conquerors in human history. He came to power in Mongolia around 1206 when he was able to unify several nomadic tribes and transformed them into a political, social and especially military power. And because he had a great military mind, he was able to create one of the strongest and most powerful armies in the world.
What really stands out for me about Genghis Kan was that despite being so ruthless in his conquests, he was also a man who was open to new ideas and did not impose limits on knowledge, religion, art, or any other cultural aspect. He was always open to learning something new and as evidence of this, you see that throughout the time of his ruling, there was a spike of cultural and economical mixing that encompassed European cultures such as the one in Venice with the Chinese culture. When seeing images of Genghis Khan, you think about a rigid man incapable of any kind of intellectual capacity, aside from the military one, but you see that that was not the case.
Studying the legacy of an empire is vital to history because because it allows you not only to understand how the thought processes and behaviors of the time were like, but it also allows you to draw conclusions that teach new generations to repeat what must be repeated and correct what must be corrected.
The Mongols have always been portrayed as savages that came from a really unknown and unthought-of region of Asia and who literally swiped most of Asia and even parts of Europe to form one of the greatest and most powerful empires. However, what you learn after reading about the legacy of the Mongols and especially Genghis Khan, is that they were great military leaders, who believed in the system of rising to power and reknown through accomplishments rather than birth and this made their empire strong and long lasting. Also, the rise of culture and knowledge derived from the oppenness of the Mongols to trading and cultural exchange, was something that you would not have expected from a nation that supposedly rose from savage people. I believe that the legacy was really important and it shaped, especially Asia, for years after it ended.
