Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan

After uniting the Mongol and Turkic tribes of the steppe by wars and alliances, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan, 'universal ruler', at a great assembly or kurultai on the Onon river in 1206. He reorganised his people into a disciplined army based on decimal units and merit rather than clan, and issued a legal code, the Yassa. He conquered northern China, Central Asia and Persia before he died in 1227. His successors created the largest contiguous land empire in history, which at its peak in the late thirteenth century covered about 24 million square kilometres, and connected Europe and Asia.

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