Genghis Khan Misunderstood Part I

When we envision individuals like Genghis Khan we see villains and for the most part, our history depicts them as such.  If you think about this man, first thoughts of, conqueror, pillager, ransacker, rampant womaniser, and an enemy of religion come to mind.  However there is so much more to him than meets the eye.  Most of these points are biased as they were written by those he conquered and is a testament to the level of success he had as an expander of his empire.   

A major point of contention of Genghis Khan's pillager attitude is the notion that he hated education.  For instance, there is a common belief that Khan razed libraries and that he would have nothing to do with books and the like.  This can possibly be interpreted as a hatred for learning and education but you have to realize that there was a method to the seeming madness.  Genghis Khan was illiterate, what would he do with books?  What would he do with books on subjects of benefit (warfare, economics, law), when he had the forerunners of those subjects under his control.  After conquering lands, he would institute the best skilled workers and serviceman into his fold of governance with rapprochement.  

He only asked for allegiance to him.  In this way, he promoted learning, albeit in a more practical and applied sense.  It is for this policy on free-learning that he had people from surrounding nations flock to his empire, for a chance to practise, without restriction, their craft.  You had experts come in from as far as England.  In fact, this policy of openness was so engrained in the Mongol art of empire-building that generations after Genghis, Marco Polo would go on from Italy to become a governor of one of the Mongol provinces.  That's something isn't it?  Stay tuned as I bring to light another misconception of Genghis Khan:  his position on religion.  

References:

Weatherford, J. McIver. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Crown, 2004. Print.