Mongols Before Genghis Khan

At the time Genghis Khan was born, no country needed a leader more than the country of Mongolia, situated at the top of China and to the south of Russia.

Mongolia before Genghis Khan

There were three groups living in Mongolia:

• those who hunted and fished in the Siberian forests;
• those who tilled the soil and raised cattle; and
• those who wandered the plains with small herds of sheep, cattle and horses.

Mongols before Genghis Khan

The wanderers were called Mongols. To survive in the vast and often hostile terrain of the plains they had developed uncommon skills of resilience and resourcefulness. They were superb horsemen and their sturdy ponies were famous for their fortitude. They could carry their riders through freezing snowstorms or blinding sand storms. They could withstand the arid Gobi desert, climb rocky mountains, and travel for days across the steppes without tiring.

The Mongols themselves had developed phenomenal memories that allowed them to navigate hundreds of miles without compasses, using instead their memories of the positions of trees, stones, stars, and the flights of wild birds. They were expert hunters and traders and they were also expert thieves - to survive they had learned early on to steal whatever they could. If they were strong enough, they waged war to get what they needed.

Who were the Mongols?

The Moguls were a short race, seldom taller than 5 feet 6 inches. But they had big, strong bones, and massive chests. Their legs were bowed from lifetimes on horseback, their faces were flat with high cheekbones, and they wore their wiry black hair in long braids that hung down their back. They were known for their piercing dark eyes and their flashing white teeth. The eyes of Genghis Khan were said by all who knew him to "possess fire."

During their wanderings, the Mongols were constantly at war with each other and with the other peoples who inhabited the land - forming alliances and breaking them, fighting over land and livestock, raiding caravans and camps, and kidnapping each other's women. Women were an especially valuable commodity. Men were not allowed to marry within their clan and finding suitable wives was sometimes difficult. Clans also took slaves from other clans, and tried to recruit warriors from each other. For hundreds of years in Mongolia there had been no unity, no central leadership, and a steady disintegration of trust. Clans, families, and tribes had been completely splintered. It was a golden opportunity for a man with just the right capabilities, and such a man was born in the year 1162 in a small tribe in northeastern Mongolia.