GENGHIS KHAN: BIOGRAPHY, MILITARY BEGINNINGS, CONQUESTS, DEATH - ARTE - 2024

Genghis Khan (1162-1227) was a Mongol military man and ruler. He is known for having forged one of the largest empires known to mankind after unifying the Mongol tribes, with whom he conquered lands that stretched from the Pacific to Europe.

After the founding of the Mongol Empire it came to bear the title of "Great Khan", which could be translated as "emperor". The governmental structure of his town was traditionally called "kaganato" and had other local kans.

Genghis Khan, by JONASKIM,, by Pixabay.

His achievements surpassed those of the great military men who existed before him, including Alexander the Great. The value of his exploits is even greater, since he raised his Empire from scratch until he managed to conquer his neighbors and establish himself as the most powerful.

He created a strong war apparatus in which he emphasized the importance of the class dedicated to war issues, that was why the common people sacrificed their own privileges in order to offer the fruits of their work to strengthen the army.

His first achievement was to unify the Kaganatos and establish himself as the undisputed leader. Together they directed their warlike appetite against China, which was then unstable due to internal problems.

From there they set out against the Corasmian Empire, extending their dominions to unimaginable borders. Although he was not present in battle, his most loyal generals led attacks with those who conquered Armenia and Georgia, later facing the Slavs of both Kiev Rus and Volga Bulgaria.

His name was tied to the concept of savagery, being one of the leaders who caused the most destruction during his time. Although the leader of the Mongols was illiterate, he had the vision to make science and letters flourish in his lands.

Biography

Portrait of Genghis Khan. Anonymous court painter of the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368).

Early years

Temujin was the birth name of Genghis Khan. He was born approximately on April 16, 1162 and is believed to have reached the world in Dulun-Boldaq or in the vicinity of the Onón River.

He brought a clot of blood clenched in his fist, which was considered a good omen in their culture, since it heralded the birth of a great leader for the men of the tribe.

His father was Yesugei, head of the Borjigin clan, who descended from Qabul Khan, an important leader who had been favored by the Jin dynasty, but whose influence during Temujin's father's rule was very little.

However, the young man grew up surrounded by the prestige that being a member of that offspring and son of the chief gave him. Furthermore, his mother, Hoelun, was the main wife of Yesugei and Temujín the eldest son of the union.

Other siblings

The couple had other children named Qasar, Qachiun, Temuge, and a girl named Temulun. In his second wife, Sochigel, Yesugei had two boys named Bether and Belgutei.

Despite the fact that Bether was older, according to Mongolian customs only the main wife could conceive heirs with her husband, so the succession would go to Temujín after the death of her father.

Childhood

There are many blank spaces for posterity left by the first events in the life of Genghis Khan, since at that time the Mongols did not have a generalized writing method in their population.

It is known that when he was about 9 years old, the young Temuyín was given by his father to the family of his fiancee, Borte, who was a member of the Khongirad.

From that moment the boy must remain with them until their marriage, which would take place three years later.

Death of Yesugei

Upon returning to his land, Yesugei, Genghis Khan's father met a group of Tartars who, despite being enemies for years, offered him a meal that the leader of the borjigas accepted. In that invitation he met death, since the food was poisoned.

When the boy, just 10 years old, heard the news, he returned to his former dominions to claim his position as heir to his father and new leader of the clan. However, the rest of the members disagreed and instead expelled the entire family.

Exile

It was since then that both Yesugei's widows and all their offspring began to live as true nomads, gathering fruits and in a difficult situation that had not been known to anyone given their aristocratic status in Mongolian society.

Since the young people acquired hunting skills, the family began to improve their standard of living since they were able to collect game to share at the table with the women and younger brothers.

Head of the family

The rivalry between Temujín and his older half-brother, Sochigel's son, increased every day. One of the main reasons is that Bether was the oldest man in the family, so she possessed certain privileges and was constantly exercising them.

However, Temujín was the eldest son of Yesugei's main wife, which gave him greater rights and resented his stepbrother's attitude towards him.

On one occasion the young men went hunting, that afternoon their stepbrothers tried to snatch their prey from Temuyín and the young man, who was only 14 years old at the time, murdered Bether. In this way he gained the full right to be the man of the family.

Although Hoelun, his mother, punished Temujín for fratricide, neither his stepbrother, as well as Sochigel, held a grudge against him and remained living together as a family after Bether's death.

Youth

When Temujín was about 15 years old, he was captured by former allies of his father, the Taichi'ut. The captors decided not to murder the boy, but to leave him as a slave using a wooden necklace that joined his arms and neck.

The same device used to restrain him served to hit the guard who was watching him carelessly and managed to slip away. To unleash himself, Temuyín ran with the luck that another guard came to his aid because what had been done to him seemed unfair and because of the courage he had shown.

First friends

Another anecdote from Temuyín's youth was when a group of bandits stole 8 of the 9 horses that the family owned. The boy took the only beast that was left in his stable and set off on the trail of the thieves.

This is how he met Boghurtschi, another young man who joined him ever since and offered him a fresh horse, in addition to his company, to recapture the stolen animals. Some time later the new friend became an anda from Temuyín.

An "anda" is the Mongolian equivalent of a "blood brother." Two young men take an oath to never betray each other and to always stay together. The second walk from Temujín was Jamukha, a young man from a noble family.

Military beginnings

Portrait of Genghis Khan. Brooklyn Museum.

After the kidnapping of Borte, Temuyín's fiancée since he was 9 years old, the boy went to his father's old anda: Togrhul, who at that time was the khan of the Keraites. Yesugei's friend made available to the aggrieved young man 20,000 men for ransom.

He recommended that, in addition to his soldiers, Temujin should invite Jamukha, who had become khan of the Jardan.

Temuyín's campaign against the Merquitas was a success and he was able to recover his wife from the abduction to which she had been subjected. However, from that moment on, Jamukha's friendship with the future Genghis Khan was fractured.

Protected of Togrhul

Togrhul for his part decided to accept Temujín as one of his second-rank military leaders from then on, so that he could prosper in the war field, as was the custom among the noblemen of the Mongolian tribes.

At that time the clans were divided and constantly in conflict, among them the most important were the Merquitas, Naimanes, Tatars, Khamag Mongols and Keraites, but there were many more divisions.

Marriage and children

Temuyín's first child with his main wife, Borte, was born nine months after her return with her husband. The gestation period gave rise to questioning the paternity of the child they named Jochi.

However, in the eyes of the future khan that did not obscure the rights his first-born possessed in the succession. In addition, he continued to procreate with Borte and the couple had nine children before Temuyín decided to take other wives.

Other children

The second male child was born in 1183 and was named Chagatai, later Ogedei (1186) and Tolui (1191) arrived. In total they had 9 children, but the exact names or dates of birth of Genghis Khan's daughters are not known.

The only children who had the right to inherit their father's possessions were those born from his union with Borte, who was the only one of the consorts considered main and who was later granted the rank of “great empress”.

Other wives

When Borte reached its fertile stage, Genghis Khan decided to marry other women and take concubines. He had many partners, but the most important were those who also served to consolidate his political position.

Among the list are Gunju, Isukhan and Abika, who was the second in priority among the khan's wives, surpassed by Borte, likewise his offspring were the second with successor rights among the sons of Temuyín.

Then there were a couple of sisters named Yesugen and Yesui, of Tatar origin. Another important consort in the life of Genghis Khan was Khulan. Other names mentioned in the records are: Gunibiesu and Heedan.

War Awards

During one of their invasions of China, the Jin dynasty gave a princess named Quiguo as a pledge of goodwill.

In another of his conquests, he also received the daughter of a leader from the area attacked by the Mongols, the girl was called Chaqa. Both young women were accepted as wives, but they were never given importance within the Mongolian government.

All wives of Genghis Khan were provided with a personal court, servants, and dominions of their own, so that in the main territories controlled by the emperor an empress would remain along with her children.

Ascent

After defeating the Merquitas during the rescue of his wife Borte, the position within Mongolian society held by the young Temuyín was consolidated. Furthermore, it was then that he began to gather his own military forces.

The differences with their anda were first due to the system that each one favored.

While Jamukha preferred to retain the ancestral aristocratic government, Temujín believed that meritocracy should be implemented regardless of an individual's origins.

Mongolian chief

Temujin was selected as khan of the Mongols in 1186. A year later, his old friend Jamukha rebelled against the new leader of the Mongols. Finally, the Gardanese and his 30,000 men were victorious.

However, few were pleased with the winner, as his actions instilled suspicion among the other leaders. Among those acts, he highlighted that he boiled the heads of more than 70 prisoners of war.

Alliance with the Jin

When Temujín returned, he did so as commander of one of the edges of an army made up of the Jin dynasty of China, along with the Keraites, who were led by Togrhul, his protector and friend.

That coalition was directed against the Tartars, former favorites of the Jin, but whose power had grown to become dangerous to China.

That is why Mongols and Keraites agreed that it was necessary to get rid of this unnecessary competition.

The alliance won the confrontation against the Tartars and the Jin honored their new warrior friends, especially the Togrhul clan, to whom they awarded important titles, while Temujin was relatively relegated to a secondary position.

Attractive leader

Since then, the future Genghis Khan was already putting social mobility and meritocracy into practice among his people.

It offered rewards for military victories to both civilians and warriors. That strengthened every day his position with the people who made a daily commitment to the Mongol ruler.

In addition, he had taken the custom of massacring the adults of a town after the victory and keeping the young children, who were integrated into families of the community by placing them in adoptive Mongolian families.

Showdown with Togrhul

Genghis Khan, then known as Temuyín, was extremely close to the old anda of his father Yesugei, being that way from the beginning of the young orphan's political career. That relationship provoked the envy of the Keraite leader's son.

The young man, named Senggun, coordinated the assassination of Temujín, who found out what he was planning and went to Togrhul to collaborate with him in the matter. The latter refused, making it clear that he would not provide any help against his own son.

In any case, Temujín managed to prevent Senggun's mission and ended not only him, but also his allies in the conspiracy.

Open conflict

The second offense that Togrhul made to Temuyín in Temujin's eyes was that of denying the offer of marriage between a daughter of the Keraita and Jochi, the eldest son of the Mongol. This affront was the one that unleashed the war between the two peoples.

Togrhul allied himself with the enemy and former anda of Temujín: Jamukha. However, the Keraite was defeated, while Jamukha managed to escape.

From that moment all the surviving Keraites were scattered throughout the Mongol dominions as soldiers and servants.

The end of Jamukha

Temujin's old friend sought refuge with the Naiman clan, who offered him protection despite the fact that many of the tribes were shifting their allegiance to the promising Khan of the Mongols.

A kurultai or tribal assembly that united several of the clans in which political and military matters were discussed decided to give Jamukha the title of "Gur kan". That was the highest rank a ruler of the steppe peoples could hold.

The fact that Jamukha accepted the proposal brought his relationship with Temuyín to a definitive end, since it placed them as rivals for total control of the area.

One of the first to leave the coalition backing Jamukha and become loyal to Temujín was Subotai.

Finally, most of the support of the new Guru khan ended up migrating to the ranks of Temujín, who, offering a token of peace to his old friend, rejected a large part of the new followers whom he ordered assassinated for treason.

Union of Mongolian Peoples

Traitors were not accepted in the ranks of Temujín and this was demonstrated from the beginning. Meanwhile, Jamukha, seeing that his future as a leader had been almost definitively truncated, assured that only one man should lead his people and requested a noble death.

After the defeat inflicted by one of the men who gained the confidence of Temujín, Subotai, to the remaining Merquitas and Naimanos it was that the military force of the khan of the Mongols was finally consolidated.

The universal ruler

A new kurultai raised Temujín as the supreme ruler of the steppe communities and granted it the title of “Genghis Khan” in 1206. From then on they were formed as a Mongolian confederation, since this clan came to dominate the rest.

With the Tatars subjugated, the Keraites and Jurkines eliminated from the scene, and the Gardans and their allies defeated. All clans abandoned their conflicts and even put aside their tribal names and clan titles to join the new Mongol nation.

They all began to work together, the military class as well as the common people was strengthened with the aim of beginning to expand its borders to the neighboring kingdoms that were the new enemy of the confederation.

Conquest of Western Xia

The Tangut Empire, located in western Xia, was the newly appointed khan's first expansionist target.

Since 1205, Temujín had launched small attacks against the populations of the area in search of loot, but in 1208 it had already begun to prepare a large-scale invasion of Chinese territory.

Genghis Khan's main objective was to gain control of trade through the Silk Road, as well as take advantage of the territories to launch attacks from there against the Jin Empire, to the east.

In 1209 the khan began the invasion. Emperor Li Anquan of Xi requested help from the Jin Empire, but it was denied as its ruler, Wanyan Yongji, saw fit to let his two closest enemies fight each other.

False withdrawal

After defeating several cities along the channel of the Yellow River, the Mongols' path to Yinchuan, the capital of the Empire, was interrupted by the fortification of Kiemen, which guarded the only pass through the mountains to the main city of Xia.

Image of Genghis Khan on a Mongolian banknote, by Erdenebayar, via Pixabay.

The men led by the Khan laid siege to the city for two months. However, Mongolian forces of 70,000 men were not enough to shake the Chinese stronghold.

Genghis Khan then faked a retreat from the siege, a trap that General Wei-Ming Lin-Kung fell into, who came out with his troops from the safety of the walls to attack the seemingly weakened Mongol army. In the open field, the Mongols were easily victorious.

Yinchuan

Upon reaching Yinchuan, in May 1209, Temujín found a fortified city that had a garrison of 150,000 men, almost twice the Mongol forces who had been reinforced by 50,000 men.

As they still lacked siege technology, the Mongols tried to attack the walls several times for months.

Heading to victory

In October, the attacking army diverted the course of the irrigation canals that supplied the city in an attempt to flood it. In January 1210 the dam gave way and forced the men of Temuyín to retreat and seek high ground.

Despite this, faced with the threat of the army still in the vicinity of the capital and with the crops destroyed, Western Xia surrendered to Genghis Khan.

Li Anquan paid tribute and gave one of his daughters in marriage to the Mongol leader, for which Western Xia became a vassal state of the Mongol Empire.

Conquest of Jin

After paying tribute to the Khan, Li Anquan sent troops to attack the Jin Empire for failing to come to their aid against the Mongols.

The following year, with forces recovered, Genghis Khan sent troops to help western Xia. In 1213, the occupying forces besieged the capital of Jin, Zhongdu, present-day Beijing.

Throughout the year 1213, the Mongols defeated the Jin armies, which were far outnumbered. Likewise, they looted and destroyed all the crops in northern China.

Surrender

The ruler of Jin agreed to make his kingdom a vassal state to the Mongols and a princess of his family was given in marriage to the khan. However, a Chinese general, Li Ying, decided to ambush the invading troops during the retreat.

Emperor Aizong managed to stop him, but fearing reprisals, he left the capital and moved the court to Kaifeng. In 1215, Zhongdu fell to the might of Genghis Khan.

Conquest of Qara Khitai

In 1218, the ruler of Qara Khitai was a Naiman usurper who had fled after being defeated by Temujin in 1204 called Kuchlung. He besieged Almaliq in 1216, a vassal city of the Mongols since 1211.

Genghis Khan sent General Jebe, nicknamed "the arrow", with 20,000 soldiers to the aid of the city and requested the regent of Corasmia, Muhammad II, not to come to the aid of Kuchlung.

Even without the help of Corasmia, the Mongols were at a numerical disadvantage, so Jebe decided that the best strategy was to start revolts in the population that was already dissatisfied with the regency of the usurper.

In the capital

The Mongols were able to liberate Almaliq and continued towards the capital of Qara Khitai: Balasagun, where they faced a depleted army of 30,000 thousand men.

The defeat of the usurper's troops forced Kuchlung to flee to Badakhshan, in modern Afghanistan, where he was captured by hunters and handed over to Jebe who ordered his beheading. In this way, Qara Khitai came under the control of the Mongol Empire.

Conquest of Corasmia

After the annexation of Qara Khitai, Genghis Khan saw the potential to become a trading partner of the Corasmian Empire, extending the roads of the Silk Road.

The Khan sent a caravan of 500 Muslim men, the majority religion of Corasmia, with goods and messages of peace; however, the governor of Otrar captured them with the excuse that they were Mongol spies.

The Mongol leader, trying to avoid conflict, sent three messengers to the capital to see Shah Muhammad II.

The offense

Of the three envoys, the two Mongols were shaved and the Muslim was executed. In addition, the Corasmian regent ordered the execution of the men of the caravan.

This affront was the trigger for the invasion because in 1219 the Mongol army entered Corasmian territory, at the beginning of a ruthless campaign that forged the name of Genghis Khan in infamy.

After a great intelligence work, the Mongol emperor prepared his army, which then had gunpowder and siege equipment: battering rams and ballistae.

Psychological warfare

The Mongols managed to gather about 700,000 men, while the defensive forces had about 400,000 scattered throughout the Corasmian territory.

All the more so than military superiority, the psychological warfare that preceded the arrival of the Mongol army was key to ending the Corasmian Empire in just two years. Mongol spies sowed discontent among the population and the shah's generals.

Furthermore, because the Corasmian Empire was a disjointed unit in which each regional governor acted independently, there was no coordination between his troops.

Genghis Khan focused his troops first on the areas that had recently been ravaged by the armies of the shah where loyalty to the Empire was weak. By doing this, he managed to get many defending troops to desert rather than face the Mongols.

The heart of Corasmia

The Golden Horde acted mercilessly against cities that put up even minimal resistance. Those who surrendered without fighting were not looted, nor were their inhabitants executed.

Otrar, besieged for six months, and Urgench, where the Mongols suffered heavy casualties, were the only cities where the Golden Horde encountered stiff resistance.

In March 1220, the forces led by Genghis Khan reached Samarkand, the capital of the Empire. The city was fortified and had about ten thousand defenders.

The Khan, along with his sons Chagatai and Ogedei, launched an attack on the city, putting the Corasmian prisoners in front of the troops as a shield.

On the third day of fighting, the city launched a counterattack. Genghis Khan had his troops feign a retreat, and then at least half of the men still in the fortress charged out.

Final defeat

The Mongols were unbeatable in the open field, so on the fifth day of fighting there was a massive surrender in the ranks of the city.

Only a few loyal to the shah stood at the city gates to defend it and were slaughtered.

After taking the city, Genghis Khan ordered the execution of all who fought in its defense. In addition, he led the population to an esplanade on the outskirts and many were put to death.

The Flight of Muhammad II

The shah managed to escape and decided to flee together with a few supporters. The last stronghold to fall was the city of Urgench, ruled by the shah's mother who, learning of her son's escape, decided to emulate him. However, she was captured and taken to Mongolia.

Faced with the power vacuum, General Khumar Tegin proclaimed himself Shah and planted a fierce defense against the Golden Horde. The terrain was not conducive to Mongolian warfare tactics and that was the only time they suffered more casualties than they caused.

Ultimately, the Corasmians were defeated. What happened next during the sacking of the city is considered the bloodiest massacre in human history, as only the artisans, women and children were left alive.

Second invasion of western Xia

During the return to Mongolia from Corasmia, the Golden Horde split in two. The men led by the khan took control over Afghan territories and northern India.

As soon as they got home, Genghis Khan once again directed his troops to China, as the western Xia leaders, who had declared themselves vassals of the Mongols, did not heed the Mongol's call to help in the war against Shah Muhammad II.

In addition, they had joined forces with Jin to face the Mongols as they believed they were worn out by war.

In 1226 the Mongol army entered Xia and quickly took control of the territory until in early 1227 they destroyed the capital Ning Hia.

Then one after another the provinces fell. In the late summer of that year, the last stand was destroyed and the Khan ordered the execution of the entire Tangut family.

Death

Genghis Khan died on August 18, 1227. The versions about the reason for his death have been numerous, among the most widespread it was said that he died as a result of a wound received in his last fight (Marco Polo's version).

Other accounts claim that during a hunt he fell from his horse and died, while some have said that he was ill long before he died or that he was killed.

Doing his bidding, Genghis Khan was buried in a nameless grave whose location is unknown. Over the years it was decided to create a mausoleum to honor him, however his resting place remains a mystery.

Mongolian empire

Politics

One of the bases for the organization in all aspects of the kingdom was given with the promulgation of the Yassa, a law that was created by Genghis Khan in times of war but that had been modified to be able to be implemented in times of peace.

The Yassa presented an advantage for the Mongol emperor, since he never made it public, so he could modify it at his convenience depending on the circumstances.

It has been speculated that it tried to introduce gender equality by granting the same rights to women.

Genghis Khan statue, by czu_czu_PL., via Pixabay.

But the main political sustenance of the Mongol Empire was the fact of basing its rule on a meritocracy and discarding the aristocratic custom that had been dominant among the steppe tribes.

Ethnic divisions and privileges were set aside, and positions of importance, as well as promotions, began to be distributed to those who proved their worth as warriors or useful intellectuals.

Also in the times of Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire was one of the most diverse culturally, as well as in terms of religions, which is why it proclaimed freedom of worship among the members of the kingdom.

Economy

Thanks to the Pax Mongolica, good commercial relations were established between Europe and the Mongol Empire, especially between the 13th and 14th centuries, when both Genghis Khan and his descendants ruled.

This helped the area's economy flourish by consolidating the Silk Road and ensuring the safe passage of foreigners engaged in commercial activity with the issuance of primitive passports.

Tax exemptions were granted to those practicing certain professions, including religious men, as well as teachers and doctors in order to attract them to the Mongolian borders.

Culture

Genghis Khan was a visionary in various cultural aspects for Mongolian society. He was the first to establish a standardized writing system among its people, in addition to initiating an official record of the administration of the Empire.

The commercial ties established with other civilizations allowed the khan to realize the importance that intellectuals had in society, so he created plans to strengthen academic aspects in Mongolia, especially medicine.

He was also able to realize that even though his people were ancestrally nomadic, he could take great advantage of managing permanent settlements, especially those he conquered, so he invited administrators who had served in China to his kingdom.

He created a primitive mail system thanks to which he was able to communicate quickly from one end to the other of his vast territories.

He understood that it was important to unite the cultures that he had managed to control and that is why he allowed them certain freedoms and took the highest science and culture from each of the civilizations that he submitted.

army

The Mongolian people were traditionally warriors and trained their youth from an early age to engage in combat. Despite this, the modifications that Genghis Khan introduced to the military organization drove the expansion of the Empire that reached the gates of Europe.

The first change was to build a decimal system to divide the troops: arban was equivalent to 10 soldiers, jaghun were 100, mingghan were 1,000 and tumen 10,000, each of these corps had a leader. When more than two tumen gathered, it could be considered a horde.

Each of Genghis Khan's soldiers and generals had the freedom to make their own decisions in the field. The important thing was to achieve the goals that were set in the war meetings.

The three men most trusted by the Mongol leader were Muqali, Jebe and Subotai, as well as his own relatives.

Equipment and training

The Mongols spent much of their time outside of wartime training for battle. Their army consisted mostly of cavalry, but later they included engineers capable of assembling and building war machines, especially for sieges.

Genghis Khan's troops trained especially in horsemanship and archery. They carried out great hunts that they used as military practices.

Their light armor was generally made of leather and under it they wore silk clothing, which made it easy to extract projectiles when hit by enemy arrows, as well as allowing them great agility on the battlefield.

The horses were equipped with stirrups and each soldier had about four to keep them always fresh.

For every 10 soldiers that made up an arban, 6 specialized in archery and 4 were spearmen. Each archer was equipped with about 60 arrows of different caliber to be able to achieve different ranges.

Tactics

The Mongols used to avoid close combat, preferring as far as possible to attack from a prudent range in order to keep the number of casualties in their ranks as low as possible.

One of their stellar tactics was to feign a retreat and envelop their enemies from all sides as they came after them.

They also became masters of the siege, especially after introducing engineers and technicians who were capable of assembling catapults and other war machines in the field. They were disassembled and transported on horseback in order to have more speed when moving.

With the sieges they managed to break the supply chain of the cities and eventually forced them to flee or fight after being exhausted by the lack of food and fresh water.

Another of the plans to which Genghis Khan resorted was psychological warfare. He always offered his enemies the chance to surrender before fighting, but if they rejected his terms he slaughtered the city in its entirety.

The bloody stories reached the towns before Genghis Khan himself, and the terrified leaders decided to capitulate beforehand.

References

1. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Genghis Khan. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
2. Broadbridge, A. (2018). Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge University Press.
3. Muller, E. (October 1942). It was the terror of the world. Selecciones del Reader's Digest magazine, p.32.
4. Weatherford, J. (2006). Genghis Khan and the beginning of the modern world. Criticism, Barcelona.
5. Bawden, C. (2019). Genghis Khan - Biography, Conquests, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: britannica.com.