How can I find out if I'm really related to Ghengis Khan?

Question

The family story goes like this...back in the day when Khan had his vast empire, he did a lot of damage in the villages he passed through, and occassionally took some of the women for himself. My great-great-great grandmother was supposed to be one of these women. I'm a full blooded Russian, but the members of the family had some very un-Russian traits, such as very dark hair, and almond shaped slanted eyes. These traits did not exist in the family prior to Khan. We also have some artifacts that have been dated to the time of Khan, and they are supposed to be some of his personal belongings. It's pretty compelling evidence and leads me to believe that it's true. Is there any way I can find out for sure?

Answer 1

DNA could determine how much of you is Caucasian and how much is Mongoloid.

The problem with Ghengis is that, unlike William the Conqueror, he did not organize strict accounting of his holdings, and he did not conduct a census. Thus, there are no documents that genealogists can research. Artifacts of this age would have to be evaluated by cultural anthropologists. Or at least Antique Roadshow.

As for the women they took, they were often slit across the throat at a precise moment, which I shall not explain further. (Slaughter of Baghdad is a case in point for history buffs.)

Historically, however, the story is possible. Genealogically wise, it's not acceptable to proceed without documentary evidence based upon the dead individuals themselves, and those documents clearly do not exist.

If you check out the National Geographic web site and send a DNA sample, they'll affirm your Asiatic and Caucasian genes, and it will help them create a big database that explains human migration. You're going so far back, the DNA trick is your only bet.

Family lore is considered dangerous to genealogists, for a good reason. (I've proved 10 out of 12, so maybe it's not so bad.)

Good luck to you and happy hunting.

Answer 2

An international group of geneticists studying Y-chromosome data have found that nearly 8 percent of the men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry y-chromosomes that are nearly identical. The spread of the chromosome could be the result of natural selection, in which an extremely fit individual manages to pass on some sort of biological advantage. The authors think this scenario is unlikely. They suggest that the unique set of circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Mongol empire led to the spread.

Khan's eldest son, Tushi, is reported to have had 40 sons. Documents written during or just after Khan's reign say that after a conquest, looting, pillaging, and rape were the spoils of war for all soldiers, but that Khan got first pick of the beautiful women. His grandson, Kubilai Khan, who established the Yuan Dynasty in China, had 22 legitimate sons, and was reported to have added 30 virgins to his harem each year.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

It is impossible for you, or anyone else, to know which family traits existed within a family 800 years ago unless, like some royal families, it has been well documented, 800 years is something like 40 generations ago. If the stories of Ghengis Kahn and his many son's sexual prowess are to be believed, there are now some 16 million males descended from him. It is only males who could possibly trace their lineage back to him, or his male heirs, and then only if their precise Y-DNA was known, female Mtdna only shows the female lines and as it is not known who any of his 'partners' were, and it would be necessary to know their Mtdna, it is totally impossible to ever know which females descend from him because Y-DNA is only carried down through the generations by males.

Answer 3

That is going back very far.  Most people can go back to the 1600s.  Now if they have a royal or noble line, they can sometime go back further.  However, a person cannot trace their ancestry by starting with someone in the past and working down to the present.  You have to start with the present and work back. In other words you start with you.  It might take you a lifetime to get back that far if you can link us with his line some place.  

The Tartars left their traits in Russia and Eastern Europe.  My maternal grandfather was largely Polish and Polish Jew.  The somewhat slant or as you call them almond shaped eyes are among my mother's sisters. So that is not too unusual for people in that region.

Answer 4

It's a very difficult task. Even DNA won't help you because there's no DNA from Genghis to compare it to.

I would start by having someone authenticate the artifacts before drawing conclusions from them.

Then you need to find an historian who is really well-versed in Genghis Khan and the history of eastern Russia and Mongolia. I know there are a couple at the University of Illinois in Chicago and Northwestern University. But check the credentials of anyone who you want to contact before actually sending them an email.

Nothing that you need will be on the internet. You're going to have to do some serious research to be able to figure out if it's even plausible that the story is true.

Answer 5

To back up Genevieve actually they have isolated the Y-chromosome of the Khan family by testing his descendants in Mongolia. Since it appears this is information coming from a female line, and women do not pass on the Y-chromosome, then it would be scientifically impossible to confirm a relationship. All you can confirm is whether or not there is Mongolian DNA in you, but that could mean it was a Mongolian soldier. Mongolian soldiers helped themselves just as much as the rulers did.