Genghis Khan's Culture

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Genghis Khan: The Culture of a Nomadic Empire I read The Conquest of Genghis Khan, written by Alison Behnke, which was about how Genghis Khan grew to power, and changed the world forever. Genghis Khan’s culture is obviously vastly different from mine. Genghis Khan was the founder and undisputed leader of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire ruled with an iron fist in Asia through the 13th and 14th centuries. The Mongols were the largest contiguous land empire in history. Most people think that the Roman Empire was the largest and most powerful in history, but under Genghis Khan’s leadership the Mongols were twice the size of the Romans. Genghis Khan’s formula to obtain power was brutally simple -- he and his men murdered millions of…show more content…
Some of them lived in at least semi-permanent settlements. These people lived largely in northern Mongolia plateau, which was more forested than the central steppes. They fished in streams and rivers, hunted the forest’s wild creatures and also raised some domesticated animals such as cattle” (Behnke p.…show more content…
Many of us are Christian and the most common religions around here are Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists. Mongols did not attend a regular church, but they did have their beliefs, “But religion and spirituality were a part of their life and culture. Genghis Khan and his fellow Mongols followed a belief system called animism. Animists believe in a group of deities (gods and goddesses) and spirits who often represent parts of the natural world” (Behnke p. 17). We pray to God and Jesus, the Mongols did have a powerful figure they looked up to, “The most powerful figure in Mongolian spirituality was Tenger Etseg (often simply called Tenger), or Blue Heaven. The god rules the vast Mongolian skies. Mountains and their peaks -- the places closest to Tenger and his sky realm -- had special importance to the Mongols” (Behnke p. 18). Mongols would sometimes hiked and climbed their way up to mountain peaks to pray to Blue Heaven. Eventually, the Mongols were exposed to other religions, “Over time the Mongols came into contact with other religions, such as Tibetan Buddhism and Nestorianism (a branch of Christianity that began in the Middle East and spread to China). While most Mongols did not abandon their own faith entirely, they were also receptive to the ideas of other religions” (Behnke p.
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