Accession of Ögedei Khan and the Building of Karakorum

Also called: Yam

Genghis Khan’s third son Ögedei became Great Khan and built the capital at Karakorum. A network of relay stations (yam) tied the vast empire together.

Raised to Great Khan at the kurultai of 1229, Ögedei destroyed the Jin in 1234 and in 1235 built walls and a palace at Karakorum on the Orkhon as the imperial capital. A kurultai that year decided on Batu’s European campaign and on campaigns against the Song and Goryeo. Relay stations (yam) across the empire carried envoys and orders swiftly, and on Yelü Chucai’s advice a tax system was set up in northern China. When Ögedei died in 1241, the Mongol armies in Europe withdrew.