Checheikhen was a daughter of

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

and his first wife

Börte Börte (simply Borte, also Börte Üjin; Mongolian: ; Cyrillic: Бөртэ үжин; c. 1161–1230) was the first wife of Temüjin, who became Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. Börte became the head of the first Court of Genghis ...

Marriage

When, in 1207, Genghis Khan sent his son

Jochi Jochi Khan ( Mongolian: mn, Зүчи, ; kk, Жошы, Joşy جوشى; ; crh, Cuçi, Джучи, جوچى; also spelled Juchi; Djochi, and Jöchi c. 1182– February 1227) was a Mongol army commander who was the eldest son of Temüjin (aka G ...

to subdue the northern tribes, the

Oirats Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia. Histor ...

were the first to offer an alliance to Genghis Khan. As part of this alliance, his daughter Checheyikhen married Torolchi, one of the sons of the Oirat chieftain Khudugha Beki. One of Jochi's daughters, Checheyikhen's niece, married another. At her marriage, Genghis told her to govern and control the Oirat people. Her husband would not stay with her, but serve under Genghis Khan as one of his ''gurugen'', or sons-in-law. Her control over the Oirat gave the Mongols control over the northern trade routes. Since her sisters co-administered important parts of the

Silk Route The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

, the commercial interdependence between their respective lands increased.

Aftermath of Checheyikhen's death

In 1237, likely after Checheyikhen died, her brother

Ögedei Khan Ögedei Khagan (also Ogodei;, Mongolian: ''Ögedei'', ''Ögüdei''; – 11 December 1241) was second khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun. ...

seized the Oirat lands and allegedly had 4000 young Oirat girls raped. The Oirat now came under his direct control.

Orghana Orghana (Orakina or Ergene Khatun) was an Oirat princess of the Mongol Empire and Empress of the Chagatai Khanate. She was a daughter of Torolchi, chief of the Oirats and Checheyikhen, daughter of Genghis Khan. She served as regent in the name of ...

was her daughter. Oghul Qaimish was also possibly one of her daughters.

Notes

Sources

* {{cite book , title=

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens ''The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire'' is a 2010 book by Jack Weatherford, about the impact and legacy of Genghis Khan's daughters and Mongol queens such as Mandukhai the Wise and Khutul ...

, first=Jack, last=Weatherford, year=2010 , publisher=Broadway Paperbacks, New York Women of the Mongol Empire 13th-century Mongolian women 12th-century Mongolian women 13th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Genghis Khan