Genghisids
Descent from Genghis Khan is traceable primarily in Central Asia. His four sons and other immediate descendants are famous by names and by deeds. Later Asian potentates attempted to claim such descent even with flimsy grounds. In the 14th century, valid sources (heavily dependent on Rashid-al-Din Hamadani and other Persian or Arabic historians) all but dry up. With the recent popularity of genealogical DNA testing, a wider circle of people started to claim descent from the great conqueror.
Among the Asian dynasties descended from Genghis Khan were the Yuan Dynasty of China, the Ilkhanids of Persia, the Jochids of the Golden Horde, the Shaybanids of Siberia, and the Astrakhanids of Central Asia. As a rule, the Genghisid descent was crucial in Tatar politics. For instance, Mamai had to exercise his authority through a succession of puppet khans but could not assume the title of khan himself because he was not of the Genghisid lineage.
The word "Chingisid" derives from the name of the Mongol conqueror Genghis (Chingis) Khan (c. 1162–1227 CE). Genghis and his successors created a vast empire stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Black Sea.
- The Chingisid principle, or golden lineage, was the rule of inheritance laid down in the (Yassa), the legal code attributed to Genghis Khan.
- A Chingisid prince was one who could trace direct descent from Genghis Khan in the male line, and who could therefore claim high respect in the Mongol and Turkic world.
- The Chingisid states were the successor states or Khanates after the Mongol empire broke up following the death of the Genghis Khan's sons and their successors.
- The term Chingisid people was used to describe the people of Genghis Khan's armies who came in contact with Europeans, primarily the Golden Horde, led by Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis. These were predominantly Oghuz — Turkic speaking people rather than Mongols. (Although the aristocracy was largely Mongol, Mongols were never more than a small minority in the armies and the lands they conquered.) Europeans often (incorrectly) called the people of the Golden Horde Tartars.
Babur and Humayun, founders of the Mughal Empire in India, asserted their authority as Chinggisids. Because they claimed it through their maternal lineage, they had never used the clan name - Borjigin.
The last ruling monarch, Mohammed Alim Khan (d.1944), of Genghisid ancestry was overthrown by Red Army in 1920.
Read more about this topic: Borjigin