At a primal level, your brain just doesn't think the details of Genghis Khan's war with the Quarismian Shah in 1219 are as important as a bear attacking you.
At a time when Genghis Khan's Mongols were advancing into Central Asia and Europe and the Crusades were being fought in Palestine, Guge was a flourishing centre of commerce, art, religion and political power.
Genghis Khan was a vicious warlord, but his domestic policies " would today open him up to accusations of being a politically correct, latte-drinking virtue signaller" .
While one ancient tree, said to date from before the time of the Mongol invader Genghis Khan 800 years ago, survived the drought, other younger trees did not.
Before Genghis Khan was the founder and ruler of the Mongolian Empire, which was the largest contiguous land empire the world had ever seen, he was known as Temujin.