Ogodei Khan
Ogodei Khan was the second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. The successor to Genghis Khan (d. 1227), he led the Mongols in building Karakorum into a proper city (with permanent structures and city walls rather than being a collection of nomadic yurts) in 1235, and in significantly expanding their territory. Under Ogodei's command, the Mongols began their invasion of Korea in 1231, and also expanded into northern China, taking Kaifeng in 1233 and Luoyang in 1234, destroying the Jurchen Jin Dynasty state in the process. The Mongol armies then moved south and conquered Sichuan province in 1236-1238. In the west, Ogodei's armies took Kiev in 1240 and clashed with those of Poland and Hungary in 1240-1241, reaching as far as the Adriatic Sea before withdrawing due to Ogodei's death.
Ogodei Khan died in 1241. His widow, Queen Toregene, also known as Turakina, then ruled as regent until 1246,[1] when Ogodei's son Guyuk Khan was named Great Khan.
Though Ogodei Khan is retroactively known as Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty is generally not considered to have been founded until 1271.
| Preceded by Genghis Khan |
Great Khan of the Mongol Empire 1228-1241 |
Succeeded by Toregene Guyuk Khan |
