Genghis Khan was One of the World's Deadliest Rulers, and 16 Million of His Descendants are Alive Today

The 100 Deadliest Episodes in Human History

1. Second World War (Worldwide 1939-45)
Death Toll: 65 million
Germany and Japan decide that the world would be a lot better place without all those damn foreigners.

2. Genghis Khan (Asia 1206-27)
Death Toll: 40 million
The Mongols’ attacks may have reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent.

3. Mao Zedong (China 1949-75)
Death Toll: 40 million
Communist policies badly messed up China.

4. Famines in British India (1769, 1876, 1896, 1943)
Death Toll: 27 million
Colonial policies badly messed up India.

5. Fall of the Ming Dynasty (China 1635-62)
Death Toll: 25 million
The pinnacle of Chinese civilization succumbed to internal rebellion and external invaders.

6. Taiping Rebellion (China 1850-64)
Death Toll: 20 million
A messianic uprising of Chinese Christians.

7. Stalin (Soviet Union 1928-53)
Death Toll: 20 million
The second most evil moustache in history.

8. Mideast Slave Trade (ca. 700-1900)
Death Toll: 19 million
It wasn't really like this.

9. Tamerlane (Central Asia 1370-1405)
Death Toll: 17 million
A Mongol warlord tried a bit too hard to be like Genghis Khan.

10. Atlantic Slave Trade (1452-1807)
Death Toll: 16 million
Someone's got to do the dirty work.

How could 16 million men, living in an area stretching from China to the Middle East, share the identical genetic footprint of one man, Genghis Khan? 

That vast region precisely matches the range of Genghis Khan's dominion, through which he led his 13th century Mongol armies on the greatest orgy of pillage, rape and slaughter known to history. It was a phenomenal achievement, accomplished in just 20 years. At the time of his death in 1227, Genghis ruled an empire twice the size of Rome's, and it changed the world forever. His original name was Temujin, but he took the title of Genghis Khan, or 'Universal Ruler,' when he united the fractious Mongolian tribes in 1206. He and his pony-mounted archers then set out on a whirlwind of foreign conquest and destruction. Genghis and his hordes annihilated every community which resisted them, killing or enslaving men, then distributing captured women among themselves and raping them. [Source]