1. Ghazan was the son of Arghun, grandson of Abaqa Khan and great-grandson of Hulegu Khan, continuing a long line of rulers who were direct descendants of Genghis Khan.
46 Facts About Ghazan
1. 2.
Military conflicts during Ghazan's reign included war with the Mamluk Sultanate for control of Syria and battles with the Turko-Mongol Chagatai Khanate.
3.
Ghazan pursued diplomatic contacts with Europe, continuing his predecessors' unsuccessful attempts at forming a Franco-Mongol alliance.
4.
Ghazan's parents were Arghun and his concubine Kultak Egechi of the Dorbod.
5.
Ghazan was raised an Eastern Christian, as was his brother Oljaitu.
6.
Ghazan lived together with Gaykhatu in Buluqhan Khatun's encampment in Baghdad after Abaqa's death.
7.
Ghazan reunited again with his father when Buluqhan Khatun was wed to Arghun and became Ghazan's step-mother.
8.
Ghazan spent the next ten years defending the frontier of the Ilkhanate against incursions by the Chagatai Khanate of Central Asia.
9.
When his father, Arghun, died in 1291, Ghazan was prevented from pursuing his claim of leadership in the capital because he was engaged both with Nawruz's raids, and dealing with rebellion and famine in Khorasan and Nishapur.
10.
Ghazan again tried to visit Gaykhatu, but after his refusal, he had to go back.
11.
Ghazan received Kokochin, a Mongol princess from the Yuan dynasty in China, on his way back from Tabriz to Khorasan.
12.
Ghazan had been brought from the east in a caravan which included Marco Polo among hundreds of other travellers.
13.
In 1294, Ghazan forced Nawruz to surrender at Nishapur and Nawruz then became one of Ghazan's lieutenants.
14.
Ghazan was loyal to his uncle, though he refused to follow Gaykhatu's lead in introducing paper currency to his province, explaining that the weather of Khorasan was too humid to handle paper.
15.
Baydu explained that Ghazan was away during the events leading to Gaykhatu's fall, therefore nobles had no choice but to raise him to throne.
16.
Nevertheless, Amir Nowruz encouraged Ghazan to take steps against Baydu, because he was nothing but a figurehead under grips of nobles.
17.
Ghazan's army were commanded by Prince Sogai, Buralghi, Nowruz, Qutluqshah and Nurin Aqa.
18.
Once he reached Ghazan, he sent back a cauldron to Baydu; a word play on the Turkish word kazan.
19.
Ghazan eased the troubles with the Golden Horde, but the House of Ogedei and Chagatais of Central Asia continued to pose a serious threat to both the Ilkhanate and his overlord and ally to the Great Khan in China.
20.
Ghazan sent two of his relatives, Prince Sogai and Esen Temur, against the army of Chagatai Khanate, but they deserted, believing this was Nawruz's plot to further deprive the nobility of their possessions.
21.
Ghazan was arrested by Baltu near Delice and was delivered to Ghazan in 1296.
22.
Shortly afterwards Ghazan reluctantly ordered the murder of Taghachar; he recognised that he had been a help and that he was not an imminent threat, and explained his decision by reference to a Chinese story about the execution of a commander who saved a future emperor by betraying a former one.
23.
Ghazan maintained strong ties with the Great Khan of the Yuan and the Golden Horde.
24.
Five years later Ghazan sent his Mongolian and Persian retainers to collect income from Hulegu's holdings in China.
25.
Ghazan called upon other Mongol Khans to unite their will under Temur Khan, in which he was supported by Kaidu's enemy, Bayan Khan of the White Horde.
26.
Ghazan commissioned Rashid-al-Din to produce a history of the Mongols and their dynasty, the Jami' al-Tawarikh "Compendium of Chronicles" or Universal History.
27.
Ghazan assembled a 20,000 strong force, which postponed Ghazan's plan to invade Syria.
28.
Ghazan returned with Mamluk reinforcements to Anatolia but was defeated again.
29.
Ghazan was one of a long line of Mongol leaders who engaged in diplomatic communications with the Europeans and Crusaders in attempts to form a Franco-Mongol alliance against their common enemy, primarily the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate.
30.
Ghazan already had the use of forces from Christian vassal countries such as Cilician Armenia and Georgia.
31.
Ghazan's army took the city of Aleppo, and was there joined by his vassal King Hethum II of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, whose forces included some Templars and Hospitallers, and who participated in the rest of the offensive.
32.
Plans for combined operations with the Crusaders were again made for the following winter offensive, and in late 1301, Ghazan asked Pope Boniface VIII to send troops, priests, and peasants, in order to make the Holy Land a Frank state again.
33.
In 1303, Ghazan sent another letter to Edward I via Buscarello de Ghizolfi, reiterating his great-grandfather Hulegu Khan's promise that the Mongols would give Jerusalem to the Franks in exchange for help against the Mamluks.
34.
Ghazan was bathed in the water of Lar Damavand valley of Mazandaran.
35.
Ghazan showed tolerance for multiple religions, encouraged the original archaic Mongol culture to flourish, tolerated the shias, and respected the religions of his Georgian and Armenian vassals.
36.
When Ghazan learned that some Buddhist monks feigned conversion to Islam due to their temples being earlier destroyed, he granted permission to all who wished to return to Tibet, Kashmir or India where they could freely follow their faith and be among other Buddhists.
37.
Ghazan was a man of high culture, with many hobbies including linguistics, agro-techniques, painting, and chemistry.
38.
Ghazan ordered a new census in Persia to define the Dynasty's fiscal policy.
39.
Ghazan began to reuse wilderness, non-producing and abandoned lands to raise crops, strongly supporting the use and introduction of Eastern Asian crops in Persia, and improved the Yam system.
40.
Ghazan ordered only envoys bearing urgent military intelligence to use the staffed postal relay service.
41.
Ghazan reformed the issuance of jarliqs, creating set forms and graded seals, ordering that all jarliqs be kept on file at court.
42.
Ghazan opted to purchase most weapons on the open market.
43.
On coins, Ghazan omitted the name of the Great Khan, instead inscribing his own name upon his coins in Iran and Anatolia.
44.
Ghazan continued to use the Great Khan's Chinese seal which declared him to be a wang below the Great Khan.
45.
Ghazan's reforms extended to the military, as several new guard units, mostly Mongols, were created by Ghazan for his army center.
46.
Ghazan had nine wives, 6 of them being principal wives and one being concubine:.