If you had to choose a pastoral nomadic group to come out of Central Asia and dominate the world, you probably wouldn't have chosen the Mongols. As for most of the history we've been discussing, they just hung out in the foothills bordering the Siberian forest, mixing, herding, and hunting, quietly getting really good at archery and riding horses. Also, the Mongols were much smaller than other pastoral groups like the Tatars or the Uyghurs. And not to get like all great man history on you or anything, but the reason the Mongols came to dominate the world really started with one guy, Genghis Khan. Let's go to the Thought Bubble. The story goes that Genghis, or Chinggis Khan, was born around 1162 with the name Temüjin to a lowly clan. His father was poisoned to death, leaving Temüjin under the control of his older brothers, one of whom he soon killed during an argument.