Mongol Empire

Empire established by Genghis Khan, a loosely constructed federation of tribal groups extending from Russia to northern China; see Mongol., History:. Genghis became khan of the Mongol tribes in 1206. Divided by his sons at his death in 1227, Ogotai overcame the Jin and Sun dynasties of China in 1234, and another son, Batu, occupied Russia, parts of Hungary, and Georgia and Armenia, establishing the Kipchak Empire and other khanates. The Western Kipchaks, known as the Golden Horde terrorized Europe from 1237. Genghis's grandson Kublai Khan conquered China and used foreigners (such as the Venetian traveller Marco Polo) as well as subjects to administer his empire. Another grandson, Hulagu, conquered Baghdad and Syria. The Mongols lost China in 1367 and suffered defeats in the west in 1380; the empire broke up soon afterwards, fragmenting into separate chiefdoms.