Kublai Khan

China/MongolYuan1260-1294
RealmChina/Mongol
Reign1260-1294
HouseYuan
LegacyYuan founder, met Marco Polo

Biography

Grandson of Genghis, Kublai completed the conquest of Song China 1279, founded the Yuan, the first foreign dynasty to rule all China. His summer palace Shangdu, Xanadu, inspired Coleridge. Marco Polo served him 17 years. Japan invasions failed to the kamikaze typhoons 1274, 1281. Paper money system, Grand Canal extension, his reign the cosmopolitan peak, the empire fracturing into khanates after him.

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