Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire and its successor khanates, including Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty in China, from the 13th to the 14th century.
Category: States
- 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.
- 1219Genghis Khan invades Khwarazmia
After the Khwarazmian governor of Otrar kills a Mongol caravan in 1218, Genghis Khan invades in 1219-1221. Bukhara, Samarkand and Gurganj fall; Shah Muhammad II flees toward the Caspian and dies there around December 1220. Traditional death tolls are held exaggerated.
- May 31, 1223The Mongols defeat the Rus' and Cumans at the Kalka
On 31 May 1223 Jebe and Subutai, after riding through the Caucasus and beating the Cumans, defeat the Rus' princes and Cumans at the Kalka River. The raid covers some 8,900 km in three years. Subutai returns with Batu in 1237 and conquers Kievan Rus'.
- April 1241The Mongols defeat Poles and Hungarians
In April 1241 the Mongols beat Henry II of Silesia at Legnica (9 April) and Béla IV of Hungary at Mohi on the Sajó (11 April), destroying the Hungarian royal army; Béla flees to the Adriatic coast. They withdraw in 1242. Army sizes in the sources are disputed.
- 1245Carpini carries a papal mission to the Mongols
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine leaves Lyon on 16 April 1245 on Innocent IV's mission, witnesses Güyük's enthronement on 24 August 1246, and returns in 1247 with the khan's demand that Europe submit. His Ystoria Mongalorum is the oldest European account of the Mongols.
- 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.
- 1253William of Rubruck reaches Karakorum
Sent by Louis IX in 1253, the Flemish Franciscan William of Rubruck reaches Karakorum in December and is received by Möngke on 4 January 1254. He watches a debate among Christians, Buddhists and Muslims in May and returns in 1255. His route shows the Caspian is an inland sea.
- February 1258The Mongols take Baghdad
Hulegu's army besieges Baghdad from late January 1258, and Caliph al-Musta'sim surrenders on 10 February. The caliph is executed, ending Abbasid rule in Baghdad. Casualty claims of up to two million are exaggerated; whether the House of Wisdom was destroyed is not confirmed.
- 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.
- 1271Kublai Khan proclaims the Yuan dynasty in China
Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, adopts the Chinese dynastic name Yuan for his Mongol empire in China and rules from Dadu (Beijing). The Polos later served at his court.
- c. 1271Marco Polo leaves Venice with his father and uncle for the Mongol court
Aged about 17, Marco Polo sets out from Venice with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo on an overland journey across Asia to Kublai Khan. The date rests largely on Polo's own account.
- 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.
- c. 1275Marco Polo reaches Kublai Khan's court at Shangdu
After a journey of about three and a half years the Polos arrive at Kublai Khan's summer capital, Shangdu (Xanadu). Marco serves the khan for some 17 years; his exact role is disputed.
- 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.
- 1287Rabban Bar Sauma travels from China to Europe
Born near Beijing, the Church of the East monk Rabban Bar Sauma travels west for the Ilkhan Arghun in 1287-88, seeking an alliance against the Mamluks. He meets Andronicus II, Philip IV and Edward I, and Pope Nicholas IV in Rome. The alliance fails.
- c. 1291Marco Polo leaves China from Zaitun with a Mongol princess's party
The Polos depart from the port of Zaitun by sea, escorting the princess Kököchin to Persia. Sources give 1291 or 1292.
- 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.
- 1294John of Montecorvino reaches Khanbaliq
The Franciscan John of Montecorvino reaches China in 1294, just after Kublai's death, and builds a church at Khanbaliq in 1299 and a second in 1305. He translates the New Testament and Psalms into Uyghur and is consecrated archbishop of Peking in 1308.
- February 18, 1294Death of Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire and Yuan China
Kublai Khan dies at Dadu (Beijing) on 18 February 1294 after ruling China for over two decades, weakening the unity of the Mongol Empire.