Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan (1215-1294), Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 and founder of the Yuan dynasty of China.
Category: Figures
- September 23, 1215Birth of Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan
Kublai is born on 23 September 1215, a son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan. He becomes the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the first Yuan emperor of China.
- 1251Möngke becomes Great Khan and Kublai takes charge of northern China
After his brother Möngke is elected Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kublai is given authority over the Mongols' Chinese territories. His Chinese advisers and administration there become the base of his later power.
- 1253 – 1256Kublai Khan conquers the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan
On his brother Möngke's orders, Kublai leads a campaign from 1253 against the Dali Kingdom in southwest China. Yunnan is pacified by the end of 1256, outflanking the Song dynasty from the southwest.
- May 5, 1260Kublai Khan is proclaimed Great Khan at Kaiping, splitting the Mongol Empire
After Möngke's death in 1259, Kublai is proclaimed Great Khan at Kaiping (later Shangdu) in 1260, as his brother Ariq Böke is at Karakorum. The rival claims start a civil war and the empire never again has one ruler.
- 1264Ariq Böke surrenders to Kublai Khan, ending the Toluid Civil War
Blockaded and starving, Ariq Böke submits to his brother Kublai at Shangdu in 1264. Kublai becomes the undisputed Great Khan in the east, while the western khanates go their own way.
- c. 1266 – c. 1293Kublai Khan begins building Dadu (Khanbaliq), the future Beijing, as the Yuan capital
Kublai orders a new capital, Dadu, built beside the old Jin capital Zhongdu. Sources date the start to 1264, 1266 or 1267; the city becomes the Yuan capital in the 1270s and is finished around 1293.
- c. 1269Kublai Khan's court introduces the 'Phags-pa script for the Mongol empire
The Tibetan monk Drogön Chögyal Phagpa devises a new alphabet at Kublai Khan's request to write Mongolian and other languages of the empire. Sources date it to 1269 or 1270.
- 1273Fall of Xiangyang opens the Yangtze to the Mongols
After a siege of several years, the Song twin fortress of Xiangyang and Fancheng surrenders to Kublai Khan's army in 1273. The defeat opens the Yangtze and leaves the Southern Song open to invasion.
- November 1274Kublai Khan's first invasion of Japan reaches Hakata Bay
A Yuan and Korean fleet takes Tsushima and Iki and lands near Hakata in Kyushu in November 1274, but withdraws after a storm and strong samurai resistance. Kublai had demanded Japan's submission since 1266.
- February 1276Mongol army enters Lin'an; the Southern Song court surrenders
General Bayan enters the Song capital Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1276 and the dowager empress and child Emperor Gong of Song submit to Kublai Khan. Loyalist resistance continues in the south.
- March 19, 1279Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty; Yuan rules all China
The Yuan navy under Zhang Hongfan destroys the last Song fleet at Yamen on 19 March 1279; the child emperor Zhao Bing dies. Kublai Khan now rules all China, the first time non-Han rulers hold it all.
- 1281Kublai Khan's second invasion of Japan is wrecked by a typhoon
A far larger Yuan force in two fleets attacks Kyushu in 1281. After weeks held at the coast by samurai defences, a typhoon destroys much of the fleet. The storm becomes known as kamikaze, or 'divine wind'.
- 1285Yuan army invades Đại Việt (Vietnam) for the second time
Kublai Khan's forces invade Vietnam again in 1285, after incursions from 1257, and once more in 1287. The Trần dynasty resists and ends by accepting nominal tributary status.
- 1293Yuan expedition to Java fails after Kublai Khan's last overseas campaign
In 1293 Kublai Khan sends a fleet to punish King Kertanegara of Singhasari in Java. It is drawn into local politics and withdraws, and the Majapahit kingdom emerges. Kublai dies the following year.