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Khan is a title meaning ruler in Mongolian. A khan controls a khanate. Whenever appropriate, it is also translated as emperor.
Probably the most famous people with the title Khan were the Mongol Genghis Khan, and his grandson Kublai Khan: the former founded the Mongol Empire and the latter founded the Yuan Dynasty in China.
This title was probably first used by Rouran; maybe the Xianbei used it earlier. At that time it was pronounced Khaghan. The gh sound later weakened and disappeared becoming Khaan in Modern Mongolian. The Secret History of the Mongols clearly distinguishes Khaghan and Khan: only Genghis and his descendants are called Khaghan ("Khan of Khans"); other rulers are referred to as Khan.
The title Khan was among numerous titles used by the sultans of the Ottoman empire.
The title Khan was also used in the Seljuk Turk dynasties of the near-east to designate a head of multiple tribes, clans or nations, who was below an AtabegAtabeg is a title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a king or Emperor but senior to a Khan. The title of Atabeg was common during the Seljuq rule of the near-east starting in the 12th centur in rank.
Jurchen and ManchuThe Manchu manju in Manchu; ( pinyin: mnzu) in Chinese, often shortened to ( pinyin: mn)) are an ethnic group who originated in northeastern Manchuria. They conquered the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China unt rulers also used the title Khan (Han in ManchuThe Manchu language is a member of the Tungusic languages; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Chinese and there are less than 100 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus. However, t); for example, NurhaciNurhaci or Nurgaci ( Chinese: ) ( 1559- September 30, 1626; r. 1616- September 30, 1626) was a chieftain of a Jurchen tribe of northeastern Manchuria. He is considered to be the founding father of the Manchu state and is also credited with ordering the cr was called Genggiyen Han.Rulers of KhazariaKhazaria also known as Khazar khaganate or Khazar khanate was the country of the Khazars, neighboring the Byzantine Empire in the southwest, Kievan Rus' in the northwest, Volga Bulgaria in the north, and Azerbaijan in the southeast. This Turkic people ado used the title Khagan.
See also: Khong TayijiKhong Tayiji (also spelled Qong Tayiji in Manchu: Hong Taiji is a title of the Mongols. Khong Tayiji derives from Chinese Huangtaizi (; crown prince). At first it also meant crown prince in Mongolian. It was given only to descendents of Chinggis Khan., list of Mongol KhansGrand Khan of the Mongol Empire Chinggis Khan ( 1206- 1227) Tolui (regent) ( 1227- 1229) Ogedei Khan ( 1229- 1241) Toregene Khatun (regent) ( 1241- 1246) Guyuk Khan ( 1246- 1248) Oghul Ghaymish (regent) ( 1248- 1251) Mongke Khan ( 1251- 1259) Kubilai Khan