ABSTRACT
The unification of the tribal and ethnic groups of Mongolia under Temujin started around 1196 and culminated in 1206 with his proclamation as Chinggis Khan. Even though various contemporary sources claim that Islam spread quite extensively among the Mongols, it is not clear how predominant the “active” conversion was at this time. In the case of the Ilkhanid domains, the first seeds of the gradual conversion of the Chinggisid nomadic armies were sown during the first decades of Chinggisid control in Western Asia. The Islamization of the uluses was crucial not only for the dramatic expansion of the religion across the Eurasian Steppe belt but also for the post-14th-century ethno-genesis of Central Asia and the later Russian Empire.
