Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan (born Temüjin, c. 1162–1227) founded the Mongol empire, the largest contiguous land empire in history. Britannica dates his birth to 1162 near Lake Baikal and his death to August 18, 1227, during the campaign against the Tangut kingdom of Xi Xia; Iranica's entry favours 1167 and stresses that his early life is known chiefly from the Secret History of the Mongols, written within a generation of his death. From a boyhood of captivity and vendetta he built alliances — with Toghril of the Kereit — and outmanoeuvred rivals such as Jamuka; in 1206 a kurultai on the Onon River proclaimed him universal emperor. His armies took Beijing in 1215, absorbed Khara-Khitai in 1218 and shattered the Khwarazmian sultanate in 1219–21, while his generals raided Crimea in 1223. He left a decimal army, the yasa, the Uighur script and the yam relay network — and a tomb whose location the sources say was kept secret.