Yuan dynasty

The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol dynasty that ruled Mongolia and China from 1271 to 1368. Before this dynasty, China was ruled by the Song dynasty. After the Yuan dynasty, the Ming dynasty ruled China. Genghis Khan and his army of Mongols conquered many parts of China. His grandson Kublai Khan added more parts of China to his kingdom. He founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271.

Great Yuan 大元 ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ
1271–1368
Yuan dynasty circa 1294 The situation of Goryeo was disputed
Provinces of Yuan in 1330
Status	Khagan-ruled division of the Mongol Empire Conquest dynasty in China
Capital	Khanbaliq (Beijing)
Common languages	Mongolian Chinese
Religion	Buddhism (Tibetan Buddhism as de facto state religion), Heaven worship, Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Nestorian Christianity, Roman Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Chinese Manichaeism, Islam, Legalism
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 1260–1294	Kublai Khan
• 1333–1368	Toghon Temür
Chancellor
Historical era	Postclassical Era
• Genghis Khan founds Mongol Empire	Spring, 1206
• Formal proclamation of the Yuan dynasty	5 November 1271
• Battle of Xiangyang	1268–1273
• Conquest of Southern Song	4 February 1276
• Battle of Yamen	19 March 1279
• Red Turban Rebellion	1351–1368
• Fall of Khanbaliq	14 September 1368
• Formation of Northern Yuan dynasty	1368–1388
Area
1310	11,000,000 km2 (4,200,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1290	77000000
• 1293	79816000
• 1330	83873000
• 1350	87147000
Currency	Predominantly Paper Currency (Chao), with a small amount of Chinese cash in use
Preceded by Succeeded by Mongol Empire Song dynasty Northern Yuan dynasty Ming dynasty

In the year of 1206, Genghis Khan ruled the Mobi tribes(a part of a country) to establish the Mongol country at the Onon River. Jin was the main race in Mongolia, but Jin and Xia were in decline, Mongolia had attacked the Western Xia and Jin in August 1227, and Jin lost, so Mongolia occupied the whole north of China in March 1234.

In 1259, Möngke Khan died after the Song Yuan dynasty war. His brothers all wanted to be king. His fourth brother, Kublai, and his seventh brother, Ali Khan, fought to rule the Mobi tribes. And finally in 1264, Kublai won. Kublai made the name "DaYuan" in 1271 and proclaimed the Yuan Dynasty and said its founder was his grandfather Genghis. In 1276, Yuan ruled southern of Song, so yuan ruled the whole China in this year. In 1279, the Kublai subdued southern Song dynasty. The Yuan dynasty ruled China and brought different parts of China together that had been split since the late Tang dynasty. They were the first foreign dynasty to rule just about all of China.

For centuries, most of what the West knew about China came from the book by Marco Polo about his visit to Kublai's empire. The Yuan dynasty ended in 1368 when the Ming dynasty took control.

Related pages

• History of China