Genghis Khan: From the Onon to Samarkand

Temüjin, the future Genghis Khan, was born into the Borjigin clan around 1162, the date most historians accept. The Secret History records the spot as Delüün Boldog on the Onon River, but scholars place it either at Dadal in Khentii Province or across the border in Russia, so the pin is only a candidate. Legend says he came into the world clutching a blood clot, a sign of a warrior. Historians record that he and his siblings grew up at the family camp on the river bank, learning to ride and shoot a bow.

Location precision: The birthplace is debated; the pin marks Dadal, one of two proposed sites.

Visitor guidance: Dadal is a remote village in Khentii Province; expect long steppe drives.

When Merkit raiders attacked the camp, Temüjin and his brothers hid on Burkhan Khaldun while his wife Börte was carried off. In the Secret History he later gives the mountain the credit: "I was shielded by Mount Burkhan Khaldun." That is his own telling, not an independent record. The peak rises 2,362 metres in the Khentii range and is still sacred: a 1995 presidential decree made its worship a national monument.

Location precision: The pin marks the mountain; the hiding place on its slopes is unknown.

Avarga, once called Aurag, lies near where Genghis Khan's family lived. A 2020 study, using radiocarbon dating, concluded it was his winter base camp. Oral tradition says Börte and other family members stayed on there while he campaigned in Khwarazm. Later the site became a shrine for the cult of Genghis Khan under Kublai Khan and his successors. The exact camp location is not fixed on the ground, so treat the pin as the area.

Location precision: The two map sources place Avarga about ten kilometres apart; the pin follows the encyclopedia point.

Visitor guidance: Remote steppe site in Khentii Province; go with a local driver.

Before the Khwarazm campaign, Genghis rallied his troops at a place called Karakorum in 1218–1219; the city itself is usually dated to 1220. Until 1235 it was little more than a yurt town. Only then did his successor Ögedei decree the Palace of Myriad Peace, finished within a year. The stone city came only after his death. Little of it remains standing, but the grassland of the Orkhon valley is open to visit.

Visitor guidance: The site lies beside Kharkhorin in Övörkhangai Province.

In 1218 a Mongol trade caravan of around 450 men reached Otrar, where the governor Inalchuq accused them of being spies and, with the sultan's assent, had them executed. Genghis answered with invasion: he besieged the city for five months in 1219, and it fell in February 1220, when Inalchuq was executed. The ruins of the oasis town lie in southern Kazakhstan.

Visitor guidance: The ancient city site is in the Turkistan Region of Kazakhstan.

Genghis reached Samarkand in March 1220 and was joined there by his sons, fresh from Otrar. The city was well-fortified with eight iron gates, yet a large part of the garrison surrendered on 16 March. The citadel held for about a month before it too fell. Samarkand was later restored: Timur made it his capital in 1370 and rebuilt its walls and palaces. The pin marks Afrasiyab, the old city's site, now an archaeological area north of today's centre.

Location precision: The pin marks the old city of Afrasiyab, not a specific gate or wall.

Visitor guidance: Afrasiyab has a museum and open archaeological ground in Samarkand.

In winter 1226–1227 Genghis fell from his horse while hunting and grew steadily weaker, yet insisted the siege of the Western Xia capital go on. He died on either 18 or 25 August 1227, and the death was kept a closely guarded secret. The city, then called Zhongxing and today Yinchuan, fell that autumn and its people were slaughtered. Where in the campaign camp he died is not recorded, so the pin marks the city.

Location precision: Sources place his death during the siege, not at a named spot.

Visitor guidance: Yinchuan is a modern city in Ningxia; nothing marks the siege.

The legend, from the Secret History, says Genghis once rested under a tree near Burkhan Khaldun and said: "What a beautiful view! Bury me here when I pass away." The record is thinner: details of the funeral and burial were never made public, and the area became a forbidden zone. A 1989–92 survey found 1380 possible graves of nobles but not his. It is not known whether he was buried there at all, so this stop has no pin.

Location precision: The grave has never been found, so no location is given.