Yuan dynasty
Topic: Nomadic Empires: The Mongols · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "An Empire Across Three Continents"
Meaning
The Yuan dynasty was the Mongol dynasty that ruled China. It came from the Toluyid line and was founded by Qubilai Khan, who became Grand Khan in Peking in 1260. The Mongols conquered all of China by 1279, when the Sung of the south fell. The Yuan ruled until 1368. It shows the Mongols governing a large farming and city-based society, very different from life on the steppe.
Example
In the 1270s Qubilai Khan presented himself as the protector of peasants and cities in China. Only forty years earlier, some Mongols had proposed killing the north Chinese peasants.
Don't confuse with
- Jurchen Chin dynasty: ruled north China from Peking before the Mongols. Peking was sacked in 1215, and the Chin were finally defeated in 1234.
- Il-Khanate: the other Toluyid state, which ruled Iran.
Related concepts
- Hulegu
- Sack of Baghdad
- Abbasid caliphate
- Il-Khanate
- Battle of Ain Jalut 1260
- Ulus
- Golden Horde
- Karakorum
- Kublai Khan