I wonder if Attila the Hun left a similar genetic legacy in Western Eurasia. He's reputed to have had 300 plus wives and sons who would have inherited a high position and, presumably, significant mating opportunities. Is there any evidence for an Attila the Hun genetic legacy?

>>evidence for an Attila the Hun genetic legacy?

Turkman/Tartars have quite a high frequency of r1a and r1b (Wells).Could Attila be Rla/R1b.I think he was defeated in France,may be his offspring settled there.Anybody got a paper on the genetics of France?...a long wait I think.

The Oirats may always have been problematic. They were one of the last peoples to submit (though chronology is confused) and may have rebelled at some point (there's a really horrible story of their punishment at the end of Boyle's "Successors of Genghis Khan" which sometimes names the Oirats and sometimes to a different tribe).

We're talking about two very different things: the Oirat / Mongol (narrow sense of Genghis's original tribe) relation before Genghis's rise to power, and afterwards. Before 1200 or so Oirats and Mongols were at opposite ends of the Mongol world, so not extremely closely related, though still Mongol. In the course of Genghis empire, though, his line intermarried with lots of peoples, Mongol, Turkish, and other) but seemingly not Oirat very much.

The Mongol army which went west to Russia was led by Genghis's Mongols but was predominantly Turkish in the lower ranks, and the Golden Horde eventually Turkified. The Oirats remained behind but came West later.

As I frequently say, the analysis of concrete historical-geographical-political units is often more revealing than the attempt to pigeonhole peoples by language group or descent.

Here are some basic historical facts about Genghis Khan:

Genghis Khan ,(Chinggis Khan), is one of history’s greatest leaders.During his lifetime, he conquered more territory than any other conqueror and established the largest contiguous empire in world history.Today his legacy continues in Asia,Mongols today celebrate him as the founding father of Mongolia.

http://www.worldtopix.com/ genghi...nghis_khan.html