Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan (1215-1294)

Kublai Khan (1215-1294) was a

Mongolian leader who made an impact
on China, not only through conquest,
but also by ruling successfully. Many
of the rulers before him were brutally
land-hungry and apathetic to the
conquered people; however, Kublai
challenged the stereotypes of
Mongolian rulers by investing in his
newly acquired people and providing
the foundations of a grand empire.

Kublai was the second son

of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki, and a grandson
of Genghis Khan. He succeeded his older
brother Mungke as Khagan in 1260, but had to
defeat his younger brother Arig Buke in a
succession war lasting till 1264. This episode
marked the beginning of disunity in the
empire. Kublai's real power was limited to China
and Mongolia, though as Khagan he still had
influence in the ilkhanate and, to a far lesser
degree, in the Golden Horde. If one counts the
Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, his
realm reached from the Pacific to the Black Sea,
from Siberia to modern day Afghanistan one
fifth of the world's inhabited land area.


(1257-1324)

The summer garden of

Kublai Khan at Xanadu is the
subject of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge's 1797
poem Kublai Khan. This
poem and Marco Polo's
earlier book brought Kublai
and his achievements to the
attention of a wider
audience, and today Kublai
is a well-known historical
figure.

Kublai's victory in North China- Enthronement

In 1253, Kublai was ordered to

attack Yunnan, and he asked the Kingdom
of Dali to submit. This kurultai proclaimed
Kublai Great Khan, on April 15, 1260,
despite Arig Buke's apparently legal claim.
Kublai Khan was chosen by his many
supporters to become the next Great
Khanat the Grand Kurultai in the year 1260.
This led to warfare between Kublai and Arig
Buke, which resulted in the destruction of
the Mongolian capital at Karakorum.

 12321266

Karakorum quickly fell to

Kublai's large army, but
following Kublai's departure
it was temporarily re-taken
by Arig Buke in 1261. Arig
Buke surrendered to Kublai
at Xanadu on August 21,
1264. The rulers of the
western khanates
acknowledged Kublai's
victory and rule in Mongolia.

Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368)
The Yuan Dynasty was the empire established by Kublai
Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan, after he
conqueredSouthern Song dynasties in China.
Although the Mongols had ruled territories, which
included today's northern China for decades, it was not
until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the
dynasty in the traditional Chinese style. His realm
the Great Yuan Empire was by this point isolated from
the other khanates and controlled only most of presentday China and its surrounding areas including
modern Mongolia. It was the first foreign dynasty to rule
all of China and lasted until 1368, after which its
remnants in Mongolia were known as the Northern
Yuan.

The Yuan is considered both a successor to the Mongol

Empire and as an imperial Chinese dynasty. In official
Chinese histories, the Yuan Dynasty bore the Mandate of
Heaven, following the Song Dynasty and preceding
the Ming Dynasty. Although the dynasty was established
by Kublai Khan, he placed his grandfather Genghis
Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the
dynasty as Taizu.
In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai Khan also claimed
the title of Great Khan, supreme over the other successor
khanates: the Chagatai, the Golden Horde, and
the ilkhanate. As such, the Great Yuan Empire was also
sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan.

Rule of Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan was seen as a martial emperor, reforming
much of China and its institutions, a process that would
have taken decades to complete. For example, he
consolidated his rule by centralizing the government of
China making himself (unlike his predecessors)
an absolute monarch. He divided his empire into Xing
Zhongshusheng usually translated as "branch
Secretariat" or "province", each governing the areas of
approximately two or three modern-day Chinese
provinces, and this provincial-level government structure
became the model for later Ming and Qing dynasties.
Kublai Khan also reformed many other governmental and
economic institutions, especially the tax system.

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