Despite its relatively small size, Karakorum was one of the most important cities in the history of the Silk Road. Although founded by Genghis Khan in 1220, Karakorum's development as capital of the
What was the purpose of Karakorum?
Karakorum (or the Karakorum and occasionally spelled Kharakhorum or Qara Qorum) was the capital city for the great Mongol leader Genghis Khan and, according to at least one scholar, the single most important stopping point on the Silk Road in the 12th and 13th centuries CE.
Why are Mongols so important?
Despite its reputation for brutal warfare, the Mongol Empire briefly enabled peace, stability, trade, and protected travel under a period of “Pax Mongolica,” or Mongol peace, beginning in about 1279 and lasting until the empire's end. But Genghis Khan's death in 1227 ultimately doomed the empire he founded.
