[PzLdr]

The Empire he and his descendants built gave Europeans [for the first time] almost unimpeded access to the goods of China and the East, since the Mongols controlled the entire Silk road.

European desire for those goods led to the Age of Discovery when alternate routes to those markets became necessary after the Mongol Ulus fell into fratricidal [and in some cases, religious] wars, and the Silk Road became unsafe. So you might say Chingghis had an indirect impact on the discovery of America.

[muawiyah]

Actually, the Mongols in the guize of the Ming Dynasty may well have discovered the Americas. Check out the voyages of Admiral He in the early 1400s ~ this real-er than life figure was the model for Sinbad the Sailer.

Ghenghis Khan was a remarkable individual who kicked human civilization in the teeth and put it back to work.