Historically, the ruler or monarch of a Mongol tribe. Early on a distinction was made between the h1 of khan and that of khākān, or “great khan.” Later the term khan was adopted by the Seljuq and Khwārezm-Shāh dynasties as a h1 for the highest nobility. Gradually it became an affix to the name of any Muslim property owner. Today it is often used as a surname.
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(born Oct. 17, 1817, Delhi—died March 27, 1898, Aligarh, India) Indian educator and jurist. Born into a family of officials in the Mughal dynasty, he worked for the British East India Co. and held various judicial posts. He supported the British in the 1857 Indian Mutiny but criticized their errors in his influential pamphlet Causes of the Indian Revolt. His other works include Essays on the Life of Mohammed (1870) and commentaries on the Bible and
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Kublai Khan; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei
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(born 1162, near Lake Baikal, Mongolia—died Aug. 18, 1227) Mongolian warrior-ruler who consolidated nomadic tribes into a unified Mongolia and whose troops fought from China's Pacific coast to Europe's Adriatic Sea, creating the basis for one of the greatest continental empires of all time. The leader of a destitute clan, Temüjin fought various rival clans and formed a Mongol confederacy, which in 1206 acknowledged him as Genghis Khan (“Universal Ruler”). By that year the united Mongols were ready to move out beyond the steppe. He adapted his method of warfare, moving from depending solely on cavalry to using sieges, catapults, ladders, and other equipment and techniques suitable for the capture and destruction of cities. In less than 10 years he took over most of Juchen-controlled China; he then destroyed the Muslim Khwārezm-Shah dynasty while his generals raided Iran and Russia. He is infamous for slaughtering the entire populations of cities and destroying fields and irrigation systems but admired for his military brilliance and ability to learn. He died on a military campaign, and the empire was divided among his sons and grandsons.
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(born Oct. 17, 1817, Delhi—died March 27, 1898, Aligarh, India) Indian educator and jurist. Born into a family of officials in the Mughal dynasty, he worked for the British East India Co. and held various judicial posts. He supported the British in the 1857 Indian Mutiny but criticized their errors in his influential pamphlet Causes of the Indian Revolt. His other works include Essays on the Life of Mohammed (1870) and commentaries on the Bible and
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