From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane's Timurid Empire, the Mongols were history's last great invaders. Carving out the largest land empire in history, they controlled the Silk Road and commanded a vast tract of territory connecting East to West under Pax Mongolica. This phase of history is also that of the Turkic peoples ("Tatars") and the 'Stans, which are rarely ever told. The (Turco-)Mongols' long and wide-reaching rule encompassed all these more exotic, seldom-documented countries in Eurasia but also impacted on China, Russia, India, the Ottoman Empire and Europe.

The Mongol Empire later fragmented and survived as:
- the Golden Horde (Kipchak Khanate; Eastern Europe - Central Asia)
- the Great Khanate (Yuan dynasty; China & Mongolia)
- the Persian Ilkhanate (Greater Iran & Turkey) and
- the Chagatai Khanate (Central Asia - West China; later ruling the Indian subcontinent as the Mughals).