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Created page with "*''Born: 1215'' *''Died: 1294'' Kublai Khan was the grandson of the conquering Genghis Khan, and the first emperor of China's Yuan Dynasty. It was at his comm..."
*''Born: [[1215]]''
*''Died: [[1294]]''
Kublai Khan was the grandson of the conquering [[Genghis Khan]], and the first emperor of China's [[Yuan Dynasty]]. It was at his command that the two [[Mongol invasions]] of Japan were launched in [[1274]] and [[1281]].
==Early Life==
Kublai Khan's mother Sorghaghtani Beki was a devout [[Nestorian Christianity|Nestorian Christian]]. His brothers included Hulagu, Mongke, and Ariq Boke, khans of great historical significance for their activities in Central Asia and further west. Though illiterate herself, Sorghaghtani Beki made sure that each of her sons studied other languages, so as to better prepare them for governing the lands they would conquer.<ref name=elman>Robert Tignor, [[Benjamin Elman]], et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 394-399.</ref>
Kublai Khan later married a woman named [[Chabi]], who is also known for her active political prominence. She played a significant role in the conversion of the Mongol people to [[Tibetan Buddhism]], offering patronage to Tibetan monks and monasteries.<ref name=elman/>
==Conquest of China==
Mongol forces first entered China under Kublai's grandfather Genghis Khan, defeating the [[Jurchen]] [[Jin Dynasty]] which had controlled northern China since [[1127]]. Under Kublai Khan, they pressed further south, and began threatening the [[Southern Song Dynasty]]. The riverine environment, Mongol unfamiliarity with boats, and sub-tropical climate presented difficulties; while the Mongols were unmatched on the grassy steppes to the north, here many of their warriors succumbed to malaria, and their horses to the heat. Their armies pressed forward, however, and were eventually successful in taking the steppes of southwestern China, from which they then attacked China's economic heartland from the west, taking it too, in part thanks to superior use of the Song's own gunpowder weapons.<ref name=elman/>
Kublai Khan declared the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty in [[1271]], establishing a new capital at Dadu (大都, lit. "Great Capital"; this city would later become [[Beijing]]). He would spend the next eight years completing his conquest of China, capturing the Southern Song capital of [[Hangzhou]] in [[1276]]. The Empress Dowager Xie and the child emperor, [[Emperor Gong of Song]], were escorted to Dadu, where they were treated with honors. Meanwhile, the Song dynasty continued briefly with a succession of two emperors reigning in exile, before they too were killed and the Song Dynasty came to its ultimate end in [[1279]].
==Mongol Invasions of Japan==
The Khan sent envoys to [[Dazaifu]] in [[1268]], essentially commanding Japan to submit to Mongol authority or else be conquered. This message was passed on to authorities in [[Kyoto]] and [[Kamakura]], who ultimately ignored it. Another similar warning sent in 1271 led to the [[Kamakura shogunate]] ordering the enhancement of defenses along the northern [[Kyushu]] coast. The Khan sent yet another envoy in [[1272]], who was also rebuffed. His armies then invaded in [[1274]], but were ultimately forced to call off the invasion, in large part due to suffering great losses in a storm.
The Khan then began to prepare a second invasion, and sent another message, threatening a new invasion and this time demanding that the "King of Japan" submit to Mongol suzerainty and present himself at Beijing. The messengers were brought to Kamakura and executed. Having not yet fully conquered Song Dynasty China until [[1279]], and facing famines and other difficulties in Korea, the Khan's plans for invading Japan were delayed for a time; he finally launched his second invasion in [[1281]], and was thwarted once again by the weather. The Khan planned for a third invasion, but this never came to fruition, in part due to affairs which occupied him and his men in China.
==Other Conquests==
The Mongols under Kublai Khan took [[Yunnan province]] in southwestern China and parts of Burma in the 1270s, presenting a threat to the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, and attempting, though unsuccessfully, to invade Java in [[1293]].<ref name=elman/>
The Khan also oversaw a failed attempt to [[Mongol invasions of Ryukyu|invade the Ryukyu Kingdom]] in [[1291]]; his successor would invade [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] again in [[1296]], but this too was unsuccessful. Kublai Khan died in [[1294]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[George Sansom]], ''A History of Japan to 1334'', Stanford: Stanford University Press (1958), 419-448.
<references/>
[[Category:Foreigners]]
[[Category:Kamakura Period]]
*''Died: [[1294]]''
Kublai Khan was the grandson of the conquering [[Genghis Khan]], and the first emperor of China's [[Yuan Dynasty]]. It was at his command that the two [[Mongol invasions]] of Japan were launched in [[1274]] and [[1281]].
==Early Life==
Kublai Khan's mother Sorghaghtani Beki was a devout [[Nestorian Christianity|Nestorian Christian]]. His brothers included Hulagu, Mongke, and Ariq Boke, khans of great historical significance for their activities in Central Asia and further west. Though illiterate herself, Sorghaghtani Beki made sure that each of her sons studied other languages, so as to better prepare them for governing the lands they would conquer.<ref name=elman>Robert Tignor, [[Benjamin Elman]], et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 394-399.</ref>
Kublai Khan later married a woman named [[Chabi]], who is also known for her active political prominence. She played a significant role in the conversion of the Mongol people to [[Tibetan Buddhism]], offering patronage to Tibetan monks and monasteries.<ref name=elman/>
==Conquest of China==
Mongol forces first entered China under Kublai's grandfather Genghis Khan, defeating the [[Jurchen]] [[Jin Dynasty]] which had controlled northern China since [[1127]]. Under Kublai Khan, they pressed further south, and began threatening the [[Southern Song Dynasty]]. The riverine environment, Mongol unfamiliarity with boats, and sub-tropical climate presented difficulties; while the Mongols were unmatched on the grassy steppes to the north, here many of their warriors succumbed to malaria, and their horses to the heat. Their armies pressed forward, however, and were eventually successful in taking the steppes of southwestern China, from which they then attacked China's economic heartland from the west, taking it too, in part thanks to superior use of the Song's own gunpowder weapons.<ref name=elman/>
Kublai Khan declared the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty in [[1271]], establishing a new capital at Dadu (大都, lit. "Great Capital"; this city would later become [[Beijing]]). He would spend the next eight years completing his conquest of China, capturing the Southern Song capital of [[Hangzhou]] in [[1276]]. The Empress Dowager Xie and the child emperor, [[Emperor Gong of Song]], were escorted to Dadu, where they were treated with honors. Meanwhile, the Song dynasty continued briefly with a succession of two emperors reigning in exile, before they too were killed and the Song Dynasty came to its ultimate end in [[1279]].
==Mongol Invasions of Japan==
The Khan sent envoys to [[Dazaifu]] in [[1268]], essentially commanding Japan to submit to Mongol authority or else be conquered. This message was passed on to authorities in [[Kyoto]] and [[Kamakura]], who ultimately ignored it. Another similar warning sent in 1271 led to the [[Kamakura shogunate]] ordering the enhancement of defenses along the northern [[Kyushu]] coast. The Khan sent yet another envoy in [[1272]], who was also rebuffed. His armies then invaded in [[1274]], but were ultimately forced to call off the invasion, in large part due to suffering great losses in a storm.
The Khan then began to prepare a second invasion, and sent another message, threatening a new invasion and this time demanding that the "King of Japan" submit to Mongol suzerainty and present himself at Beijing. The messengers were brought to Kamakura and executed. Having not yet fully conquered Song Dynasty China until [[1279]], and facing famines and other difficulties in Korea, the Khan's plans for invading Japan were delayed for a time; he finally launched his second invasion in [[1281]], and was thwarted once again by the weather. The Khan planned for a third invasion, but this never came to fruition, in part due to affairs which occupied him and his men in China.
==Other Conquests==
The Mongols under Kublai Khan took [[Yunnan province]] in southwestern China and parts of Burma in the 1270s, presenting a threat to the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, and attempting, though unsuccessfully, to invade Java in [[1293]].<ref name=elman/>
The Khan also oversaw a failed attempt to [[Mongol invasions of Ryukyu|invade the Ryukyu Kingdom]] in [[1291]]; his successor would invade [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] again in [[1296]], but this too was unsuccessful. Kublai Khan died in [[1294]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[George Sansom]], ''A History of Japan to 1334'', Stanford: Stanford University Press (1958), 419-448.
<references/>
[[Category:Foreigners]]
[[Category:Kamakura Period]]