Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1217)
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu (Mongolian: Хүлэгү/ᠬᠦᠯᠡᠭᠦ, romanized: Hu’legu’/Qülegü, lit. 'Surplus'; Chagatay: ہلاکو; Persian: هولاکو خان, Hulâgu xân; Arabic: هولاكو خان/ هَلَاوُن; Chinese: 旭烈兀; pinyin: Xùlièwù [ɕû.ljê.û]; c. 1217 – 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Western Asia. Son of Tolui and the Keraite princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of Ariq Böke, Möngke Khan, and Kublai Khan.
Hulagu's army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate of Persia, a precursor to the eventual Safavid dynasty, and then the modern state of Iran. Under Hulagu's leadership, the siege of Baghdad (1258) destroyed Baghdad's standing in the Islamic Golden Age and weakened Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic influence to the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo and ended the Abbasid Dynasty.