Comprehensive information and links about Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan or "the last of the great Khans" (1215–1294), Mongol military leader, was Khan (1260–1294) of the Mongol Empire and founder and first Emperor (1279–1294) of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty.

Born the second son of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki and grandson of Genghis Khan, he succeeded his brother Möngke in 1260, after years of fighting as Khan of the Mongol Empire. Kublai Khan's brother, Hulagu, was the conqueror of Persia and founder of the Ilkhanate. Kublai also had a nephew named Kaidu, who died in 1301.

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Empire

The empire was separated into four khanates, each ruled by a separate khan and overseen by the Great Khan. The Kipchak Khanate (also called the Golden Horde) ruled Russia; the Ilkhanate ruled the Middle East, the Chagatai Khanate ruled over western Asia, and the Great Khanate controlled Mongolia and eventually China. The empire reached its greatest extent under Kublai with his conquest of China, completed with the final defeat of the Song Dynasty in 1279. He ruled better than his predecessors, promoting economic growth with the rebuilding of the Grand Canal, repairing public buildings, and extending highways. He also introduced paper currency although eventually a lack of fiscal discipline and inflation made that an economic disaster. He encouraged Chinese arts and demonstrated religious tolerance, except to Taoism. His capital was at Beijing (then 大都 lit. big capital). The empire was visited by several Europeans, notably Marco Polo in the 1270s who may have seen the summer capital in Shangdu (上都 lit. upper capital or Xanadu?).

He conquered Dali (Yunnan) and Goryeo (Korea). Under pressure from his Mongolian advisors, Kublai attempted to conquer Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia. All those failed attempts, costly expeditions, and his introduction of paper currency caused inflation.

Kublai Khan twice attempted to invade Japan in search of gold; however, twice the Samurai resisted greatly and the weather tore the fleets apart. The first attempted invasion was in 1274 with a fleet of 900 ships. The second invasion was in 1281 with a fleet of over 1,170 large war junks, each about 240 feet long. Dr. Kenzo Hayashida, the marine archaeologist who discovered the wreckage of the second invading fleet off the western coast of Takashima, headed the excavation. The excavation's findings strongly indicate that Kublai Khan rushed the conquered Chinese to construct a large fleet in a year (a task that should have taken up to 5 years), which forced the Chinese — who already hated their conquerors — to use any available ships, particularly river boats, as the basis for Khan's fleet. Not only were river boats (which are flat on the bottom for calmer river currents) used to navigate the treacherous sea, but it is believed that the Chinese ship builders built in weaknesses into the boats that were actually constructed. Other than boats that were poorly and hastily constructed by the Chinese, Khan chose to use the captured Chinese river boats for the balance of the fleet for his invasion. Had Kublai used ocean going ships, which have a curved keel to prevent capsizing, his navy may have survived the storm and made it to invade Japan as originally intended.

John Pearson, author of (2005), writes, "The cost of these defeats led the Khan to devalue the central currency, further exacerbating growing inflation. He also increased tax assessments. These economic problems lead to growing resentment of the Mongols, who paid no taxes, among the Chinese populace." David Nicole writes in that "these disastrous defeats shattered the myth of Mongol invincibility throughout Asia." He also wrote that Kublai Khan was determined to mount a third invasion, despite the horrendous cost to the economy and to his and Mongol prestige of the first two defeats, and only his death prevented such a third attempt, despite the unanimous agreement of his advisors against such an attempt."

Notes

General note: Dates given here are in the Julian calendar. They are not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.

The Cambridge History of China thinks that Khiyad was a sublineage inside the larger Borjigin clan, but other scholars disagree and think that Borjigin was a sublineage inside the larger Khiyad clan, while there are those who think that Khiyad and Borjigin were both used interchangeably. Founded the Yuan Dynasty on that day. However, was not in control of southern China until February 1276 when the Southern Song emperor was captured and the imperial seal was relinquished to the Mongols. The last pockets of resistance in southern China fell in 1279.