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Möngke
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Quick Facts
Also spelled:
Mangu
Born:
1208, Mongolia
Died:
1259, Szechwan, China (aged 51)
Title / Office:
khan (1251-1259), Mongol empire
Notable Family Members:
brother Kublai Khan
brother Hülegü
brother Arigböge
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Möngke

Mongol khan
Also known as: Mangu
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Möngke (born 1208, Mongolia—died 1259, Szechwan, China) was a grandson of Genghis Khan and heir to the great Mongol empire.

Elected great khan in 1251, he was the last man who held this title to base his capital at Karakorum, in central Mongolia. Under his rule the city achieved an unprecedented splendour, and the Mongol Empire continued to expand at a rapid rate. Its territory became so large and diverse that Möngke was the last great khan capable of exerting real authority over all the Mongol conquests.

In the West, Möngke’s armies, led by his brother Hülegü (c. 1217–65), launched an attack on Iran, crushing the last resistance there by the end of 1256. The Mongols then advanced on Iraq, taking the capital at Baghdad in 1258. From there they moved into Syria in 1259, took Damascus and Aleppo, and reached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Historical map of the Mongol Empire at the death of Kublai Khan in 1294, showing the empire divided into four main khanates: the Golden Horde in the northwest, the Ilkhanate in the southwest, the Chagatai Khanate in central Asia, and the Yuan Dynasty in the east, covering much of China. Major cities such as Karakorum, Beijing (Khanbaliq), Baghdad, and Constantinople are marked.
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Mongol empire: The reign of Möngke

In the East, Möngke’s armies, under the command of his other brother, the famous Kublai (1215–94), outflanked the Chinese in the south and captured the Thai kingdom of Nan-chao, located in present-day Yunnan Province in China. They then brought much of present-day Vietnam under their suzerainty. Meanwhile the main Mongol forces began to advance against China proper. In 1257 Möngke took personal charge of his armies within China. Disease, however, ravaged his ranks, and Möngke died in the field. He was succeeded by his brother Kublai, who completed the conquest of China. A strict man, Möngke tried to preserve the old Mongol way of life. His contemporaries judged him to be a benevolent ruler.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.