The history of the Qaghan title, made accessible to the world
An encyclopedic record of every ruler who held the supreme title of the Eurasian steppe — across twenty polities, seventeen centuries, and dozens of peoples
The Qaghan title belongs to the history of many peoples — Turkic, Mongolic, Slavic, Iranian, Chinese, and more. This project is dedicated to documenting every ruler who held it, in full, for a global audience.
Written profiles, deep dives, and overviews of all 435 rulers who held the Qaghan title across twenty khaganates and 1,660 years of history — from the Xianbei chiefs of Inner Asia to the Ottoman sultans of Constantinople and the Qajar shahs of Tehran. Content that goes beyond textbook summaries and focuses on the human stories behind the empires.
Structured content spanning the full arc of Qaghan history — from the Rouran who first institutionalized the title in 402 AD, through the Göktürks who spread it from China to the Byzantine frontier, the Khazars who defended Europe from the Arab caliphate, the Mongols who built the largest empire in history, to the Ottomans and Qajars who carried the title into the twentieth century. Every chapter of this story is documented here.
Short-form posts, facts, and stories shared across platforms to bring the full breadth of Qaghan history to wider audiences — reaching people in Turkey, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Iran, China, Russia, and beyond whose own national histories intersect with the rulers documented here.
An AI-powered experience where you can have conversations with the collective wisdom of 435 rulers — Göktürk qaghans, Mongol great khans, Khazar khagans, Ottoman sultans, and Qing emperors speaking together across centuries. Ask about strategy, governance, leadership, or history.
This project explores:
The Qaghan title is not the heritage of any single nation. It is a shared thread running through the histories of dozens of peoples across Eurasia. The Göktürk inscriptions at Orkhon are among the oldest surviving texts in any Turkic language. The Bulgarian Khans who founded Sofia and defeated Byzantine emperors carried steppe titles into the heart of Europe. The Khazar conversion to Judaism is one of the most remarkable episodes in medieval religious history. The Mongol Pax opened the Silk Road and connected East and West for a century.
If your country's history intersects with any of these khaganates — and for much of Eurasia, it does — then part of this record belongs to your heritage too. That is why this project is built in English, for a global audience, and why every khaganate is documented with the same depth and seriousness.
Hi, I'm Dulguun. I'm building this project from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Growing up in Mongolia, the Qaghan tradition was always part of the culture around me. But I noticed that most English-language content treats this history as a purely Mongolian story — starting with Genghis Khan and ending with the Yuan Dynasty. That misses twelve centuries of what came before, and the extraordinary reach of the Qaghan title across Eurasia after the Mongol era. Qaghan is my attempt to document the full picture.
This is a personal project built out of genuine curiosity. It is evolving, independent, and made with the conviction that this history deserves a serious, accessible home on the internet — one that serves readers from Ankara to Almaty, from Sofia to Beijing.
The vision is to build the most complete and readable English-language resource on the Qaghan title — every ruler, every khaganate, every era — for anyone in the world whose history touches this tradition.
This is a long-term project. It is built openly, updated as content is ready, and designed to grow alongside its audience.
Whether you have feedback, a correction, a topic suggestion, or you simply want to say that your country's history is documented here — I would like to hear from you.
Dulguun@qaghan.comReaders, researchers, and history enthusiasts from any country whose heritage intersects with the Qaghan tradition are especially welcome.
Twenty khaganates, 435 rulers, 1,660 years — or speak directly with the Council.
