Chingis Khan. Who was he? What did he do? What impact did he have on the world? Was he a strong and visionary leader, or a bloodthirsty and ruthless conqueror?We see portraits of this Asian warlord and they are apparently far from accurate! He may have had red hair and green eyes.... What? Well, that is what historian Rashid al-Din thinks. This mysterious man conquered and ruled the 2nd largest empire in the world.
So, why am I telling you this? Well, I just returned from the land of Chingis Khan. (Americans call him "Ghengis Khan", but then again, his name was actually "Temujin"!) While standing in front a university in Siberia, a distinguished looking woman came up and asked me and my colleagues if we were there for the Chingis Khan conference. "No, " said we, "we are not." She invited us to change our plans and follow her there. She was helping to host the conference, so how could we turn her down?
While we didn't stay long, I can say that my trip to this part of the world was fascinating. Though we were in Russia, it certainly didn't feel like it. 7/10 faces on the streets were Asian. Beautiful, friendly people the Buriyats are. They are cousins of Mongolians and, therefore, cousins of Chingis.
What a diverse and intriguing country Russia is! You should see it for yourself!
2 comments:
Read Eric's copy of a book on Ghengis this fall. (In fact its still on my nightstand and I need to give it back to him.) Pretty fascinating stuff.
I have heard of that book and thought of it often while I was there. I am intrigued. Maybe Eric will lend it to me, too!
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