Al-Altan

Al-Altan (c. 1196 – 1246), also known as Altalun and Altaluqan,[1] was the youngest child and favourite daughter of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, and Börte, his primary wife.

Al-Altan's mother, Börte, was born into the Onggirat tribe, who lived along the Greater Khingan mountain range south of the Ergüne river, in modern-day Inner Mongolia.

[6] In the decade after Al-Altan's birth, Temüjin steadily increased his power and subjugated rival tribes, a process which culminated in his coronation as Genghis Khan, ruler of the newly-founded Mongol Empire, in 1206.

'"lord of fortune"') of the wealthy Uighur people to the southwest of the Mongol heartland, rejected the authority of his suzerain, the Qara Khitai state in Central Asia.

[16] One theory, favoured by historians such as Thomas T. Allsen and Anne F. Broadbridge, hypothesizes that under Ögedei, the Mongols began to interfere with the administration and taxation of the previously semi-autonomous Uighur state.

In return for committing this taboo act, Güyük rewarded Eljigidei with a senior military position in West Asia, distant from any enemies he gained through killing Al-Altan.

[19] In 1251, Möngke Khan acceded to the throne as part of the Toluid Revolution, in which the family of Genghis's youngest son Tolui seized power from the descendants of Ögedei.

[20] Möngke's faction put forward numerous arguments that the house of Ögedei had contravened Mongol law and custom and were thus unfit to rule: the most provocative of these allegations was that they had unlawfully executed Al-Altan, Genghis's favourite daughter, without consulting the wider family.

[23] Salindi remained loyal to the Ögedeyids after the Toluid Revolution, but was eventually captured, tortured for a confession, and executed by his brother Ögünch [zh; ja], who replaced him as idiqut.

[24] Because of the taboo nature of her death and the possibility that the Ögedeyids unlawfully interfered in the Uighur administration, numerous aspects of Al-Altan's life were censored in official chronicles, such as the Secret History of the Mongols.

Map of the Mongol tribes c. 1207, including the homelands of the Borjigin, the Kereit, the Naimans, and others outside Mongolia, such as the Uighurs and the Jin dynasty
The tribal polities united by Temüjin to found the Mongol Empire; the Uighurs lived outside the Mongol heartland at the southwest corner of the map.
A portrait of a Mongol man wearing an orange robe and a pointed green cap; his mustache and beard are long and thin.
A Yuan dynasty portrait of Ögedei , Al-Altan's brother whom she allegedly poisoned.