Kublai Khan

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September 23, 1215 – February 18, 1294),^[2][3] born Kublai (**Mongolian**: Хубилай, Xubilaĭ; **Middle Mongolian**: Qubilai; **Chinese**: 忽必烈; **pinyin**: Hūbìliè; also spelled Khubilai) and also known by the **temple name** Shizu (**Chinese**: 元世祖; **pinyin**: Yuán Shìzǔ; **Wade–Giles**: Yüan Shih-tsu), was the fifth **Khagan** (Great Khan) of the Ikh Mongol Uls (**Mongol Empire**), reigning from 1260 to 1294, and the founder of the **Yuan dynasty** in Mongolia and China, a division of the Mongol Empire.

Kublai was the fourth son of **Tolui** (his second son with **Sorghaghtani Beki**) and a grandson of **Genghis Khan**. He succeeded his older brother **Möngke** as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother **Ariq Böke** in the **Toluid Civil War** lasting until 1264. This episode marked the beginning of disunity in the empire.^[4] Kublai's real power was limited to China and **Mongolia**, though as Khagan he still had influence in the **Ilkhanate** and, to a far lesser degree, in the **Golden Horde**.^[5][6][7] If one counts the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, his realm reached from the Pacific to the **Black Sea**, from **Siberia** to modern day **Afghanistan**– one fifth of the world's inhabited land area.^[8]

In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China, Korea, and some adjacent areas, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. By 1279, the Yuan forces had overcome the last resistance of the Southern Song dynasty, and Kublai became the first non-Han Emperor to conquer all of China. He was also the only Mongol Khan after 1260 to win new conquests.^[9]