6,471
edits
Genghis Khan: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
no edit summary
mNo edit summary |
|||
| Line 11: | Line 11: | ||
He established a universal legal code in his empire, with all being subject to the laws regardless of birth. He established the world's first postal system throughout his empire which utilized a relay system of horseback messages ( similar to the later American pony express). He is also claimed to have been the first to establish the convention of diplomatic immunity, which was in contravention to the common practice at the time of keeping foreign diplomats hostage as bargaining tools. | He established a universal legal code in his empire, with all being subject to the laws regardless of birth. He established the world's first postal system throughout his empire which utilized a relay system of horseback messages ( similar to the later American pony express). He is also claimed to have been the first to establish the convention of diplomatic immunity, which was in contravention to the common practice at the time of keeping foreign diplomats hostage as bargaining tools. | ||
Regarding family matters, as part of his Great Law, he legitimized all the offspring of concubines in his empire, banned the abduction or enslavement of any Mongol, and abolished the custom of bride-price (paying a women's family to marry her). He also forbade adultery, with wife-swapping and having sex with the wives of one's kin apparently being common among steppe nomads of the region previously. He established a form of elected tribal monarchy, with the Great Khan being from then on elected via a tribal council or ''khuriltai''. | |||
He conquered and despoiled large parts of northern China, central Asia, and utterly destroyed the powerful Turkic Khwarazmian Empire, which governed some of the most important regions of the Silk Road, despoiling the country, killing millions of people, and burning whole cities to the ground. This being his response to the inhospitable murder of envoys Genghis had sent in an effort to establish trade ties. In one of his most brutal deeds, when the wealthy city of Urgench (in modern Turkmenistan) was conquered by the Mongols, Genghis ordered the enslavement of the women, children and artisans of the city, and had the rest of the population of the city executed in a single session. Some figures claim up to 1.2 million inhabitants were massacred. | He conquered and despoiled large parts of northern China, central Asia, and utterly destroyed the powerful Turkic Khwarazmian Empire, which governed some of the most important regions of the Silk Road, despoiling the country, killing millions of people, and burning whole cities to the ground. This being his response to the inhospitable murder of envoys Genghis had sent in an effort to establish trade ties. In one of his most brutal deeds, when the wealthy city of Urgench (in modern Turkmenistan) was conquered by the Mongols, Genghis ordered the enslavement of the women, children and artisans of the city, and had the rest of the population of the city executed in a single session. Some figures claim up to 1.2 million inhabitants were massacred. | ||