Genghis Khan was perhaps the greatest and most ruthless conqueror the world has ever know. More than three million people may have died during the bloody creation of his empire. During his twenty year reign Khan subdued the Russian princes; his army conquered Persia, Asia Minor, Korea, South-East India, Indonesia, and China.
Where is Khan’s Tomb?
Many years before his death, the fearsome Mongol conqueror, after the custom of his people, chose his own grave site. Legends state that Khan chose the shelter of a lone tree near the base of Mount Burkhan Khaldun in Mongolia’s wild Khingan mountain range. So, somewhere deep in the mountains, Khan’s men dug an elaborate Tomb and Genghis Khan was laid to rest in an ornate coffin.
Into the grave with him went the royal treasury – a massive hoard of gems and precious metals — the spoils of war collected by Khan from all the lands he’d conquered in his twenty year reign. Some say the treasure included the crowns of each of the seventy-eight rulers Khan had subjugated, including those of Russia, Persia, and India.
At the age of 65, during a campaign against the Chinese, the great Khan suffered a fatal fall from his horse, and in August of 1227 the mourning Mongol army abandoned the conflict to take their leader home.
After many months of pomp and ceremony, the body of the fallen ruler was loaded onto a giant oxcart and began its long journey towards the Khan’s final resting place. Surrounding the cart was a funeral procession 2,500 strong accompanied by a mounted bodyguard of 400 soldiers.
The Cover-up
Legend has it, that Genghis Khan’s soldiers killed every person encountered by the funeral procession on its journey into the mountains. And after Khan’s body was intured, the soldiers turned their attention to the slaves who dug the tomb, slaughtering all 2,500 of them. When the soldiers returned to Karakorum, Genghis Khan’s capital, they in turn were killed by other soldiers so they couldn’t reveal the location of Khan’s tomb.
To make the Tomb even harder to find, local legends say that a river was diverted over Khan’s grave, completely submerging it. Other tales state that his grave was stampeded over by horses to erase signs of digging, then trees were planted on top of it. The forest men of the Uriangut clan were appointed to nurture the saplings covering the grave, and eventually the burial site was swallowed in an impenetrable forest.