BorjiginA 'Borjigin' is a member of the Mongol sub-clan that started with Bodonchar Munkhag of the Kiyat clan. Yesugei's descendants were thus said to be Kiyat-Borjigin. The senior Borjigids provided ruling princes for Mongolia and Inner Mongolia until the 20th century. The clan formed the ruling class among the Mongols and some other peoples of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Today, the Borjigid are found in most of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, and additionally genetic research has shown that descent from Genghis Khan and Timur is common throughout Central Asia and other regions.
AlaniaAlania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished between the 9th–13th centuries in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania. With its capital at Maghas, the location of which is still disputed, it became independent from the Khazars in the late 9th century. It was Christianized by a Byzantine missionary soon after, in the early 10th century.
Franco-Mongol allianceSeveral attempts at a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Islamic caliphates, their common enemy, were made by various leaders among the Frankish Crusaders and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Such an alliance might have seemed an obvious choice: the Mongols were already sympathetic to Christianity, given the presence of many influential Nestorian Christians in the Mongol court.
AranikoAniko, Anige or Araniko (अरनिको, 阿尼哥; 1245–1306) was one of the key figures in the arts of Nepal and the Yuan dynasty of China, and the artistic exchanges in these areas. He was born in Kathmandu Valley during the reign of Abhaya Malla. He is known for building the White Stupa at the Miaoying Temple in Beijing. During the reign of Jayabhimadeva, he was sent on a project to build a golden stupa in Tibet, where he also initiated into monkhood.
Bayan of the BaarinBayan of the Baarin (Mongolian: Баян; 1236 – January 11, 1295), or Boyan (), was an ethnic Mongol general of the Yuan dynasty of China. He was known to Marco Polo as "Bayan Hundred Eyes" (probably from a confusion with ). He commanded the army of Kublai Khan against the Southern Song dynasty, ushering in the Southern Song collapse and the conquest of southern China by the Yuan dynasty. "Bayan" literally means "rich" in the Mongolian language. Born a grandnephew of Nayagha, a general under Genghis Khan, Bayan came from the Mongol Baarin tribe.
KutlushahKutlushah, Kutlusha or Qutlughshah (Кутлугшах, قتلغشاه, Խութլուշահը or Cotlesse in Frank sources), was a general under the Mongol Ilkhanate ruler Ghazan at the end the 13th century. He was particularly active in the Christian country of Georgia and especially during the Mongol invasion of Syria, until his ignominious defeat in 1303 led to his banishment. He was killed during the conquest of Gilan in 1307. Kutlushah was a member of the Manghud tribe.
BerkeBerke Khan (died 1266) (also Birkai; Бэрх хаан, Бәркә хан) was a grandson of Genghis Khan and a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde (division of the Mongol Empire) who effectively consolidated the power of the Blue Horde and White Horde from 1257 to 1266. He succeeded his brother Batu Khan of the Blue Horde (West), and was responsible for the first official establishment of Islam in a khanate of the Mongol Empire.
Yeheidie'erdingYeheidie'erding (, ? – 1312), also known as Amir al-Din (أمير الدين, Amīr al-Dīn), was a Muslim architect who helped design and led the construction of the capital of the Yuan dynasty, Khanbaliq, located in present-day Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China. According to Cary Y. Liu interpretation of the Ma-ho-ma-sha Stele inscription, either Amir al-Din's ancestors came from the Western Regions, although originating from Arabia, or that he directly came from Arabia.
Yuan dynastyThe Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian: , Yeke Yuwan Ulus, literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai (Emperor Shizu or Setsen Khan), the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In Chinese history, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty.
GhazanMahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (غازان خان, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of Arghun, grandson of Abaqa Khan and great-grandson of Hulagu Khan, continuing a long line of rulers who were direct descendants of Genghis Khan.