Hulagu

Hulagu

 

(also Hulagu Khan). Born 1217 in Mongolia; died Feb. 8, 1265, in Maragheh, Iran. Founder of the Hulaguid dynasty and state.

A grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulagu spent his youth in military campaigns. In 1256 he led Mongol troops to the Middle East, where he completed the Mongolian conquest of Iran, Iraq, and neighboring countries. He crushed the Ismailian state in Iran in 1256 and the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258. He fought the Mamelukes in Syria in 1260 and the Golden Horde in 1262. Hulagu proclaimed himself sovereign in 1256, although nominally he remained a vassal of the great khan, from whom he received the title of il-Khan, or khan of the tribe, in 1261.