1221

Years: 1219 1219 1220 – 1221 – 1222 1223 1224
Decades: 1190s 1200s 1210s – 1220s – 1230s 1240s 1250s
Centuries: 12th century – 13th century – 14th century

1221 by topic
Politics
State leaders – Sovereign states
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments – Disestablishments
Art and literature
1221 in poetry

Events

January – The Mongol Army under Jochi captures the city of Gurganj (now Kunya-Urgench), and massacres the inhabitants, reported by contemporary scholars as being over a million killed, although probably only a fifth or a tenth of that in reality.
February – Merv is sacked by the Mongols under Tolui at the orders of Genghis Khan. Contemporary scholars report over a million people are systematically killed in the aftermath.
May 13 – Emperor Juntoku is briefly succeeded by Emperor Chūkyō on the throne of Japan.
Former Emperor Go-Toba leads an unsuccessful rebellion against the Kamakura Shogunate.
Emperor Go-Horikawa ascends to the throne of Japan.
The Maya of the Yucatán revolt against the rulers of Chichen Itza.
Nizhny Novgorod City (Russia) is founded.
A large and highly efficient Mongol army, dispatched under Subutai by Genghis Khan to Georgia, defeats two Georgian armies around Tbilisi, but lacks the will or equipment to besiege the city.
Genghis Khan enters the Indus Valley.
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II founds the University of Padua in Italy.
Sultan Kamil, Saladin's son and successor, offers Palestine to the Crusaders in return for Damietta, which the Crusaders eventually give up in exchange for a safe retreat from the Nile Delta.
Majd al Mulk al-Muzaffar, the grand vizier of Greater Khorasan, is killed by Mongol invaders.