High Middle Ages · Central Asia · War
1205
Temujin defeats the Naiman confederation
1205
In his final major steppe campaign before the kurultai of 1206, the Mongol leader crushed the Naiman, the last major rival confederation on the Mongolian plateau. The Naiman's Uighur scribes and Nestorian Christian priests were absorbed into the growing Mongol state, enriching its administrative and spiritual vocabulary. With the Naiman broken, no rival remained between Temujin and universal sovereignty over the steppe.