Yuan dynasty

Great Yuan
  • 大元
  • Dà Yuán (Chinese)
  • ᠳᠠᠢ ᠦᠨ
    ᠤᠯᠤᠰ
  • Dai Ön ulus (Mongolian)
[1]
1271–1368
Yuan dynasty (c. 1290)[note 1]
Yuan dynasty (c. 1290)[note 1]
StatusKhagan-ruled division of the Mongol Empire[note 2]
Conquest dynasty of Imperial China
Capital
Common languages
Official script'Phags-pa script[5]
Religion
Buddhism (Tibetan Buddhism as de facto state religion), Confucianism, Taoism, Shamanism, Mongolian Tengrism/Chinese Heaven worship, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Nestorian Christianity, Roman Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Chinese Manichaeism, Islam
GovernmentMonarchy
Emperor[note 3] 
• 1260–1294
Kublai
• 1332–1368
Toghon Temür
Chancellor 
• 1264–1282
Ahmad Fanakati
• 1340–1355
Toqto'a
Historical eraPostclassical Era
• Kublai proclaimed Emperor[note 3]
5 May 1260
• Kublai's proclamation of the dynastic name "Great Yuan"[8]
5 November 1271
1268–1273
4 February 1276
19 March 1279
1351–1368
• Fall of Khanbaliq
14 September 1368
• Formation of Northern Yuan dynasty
1368–1388
Area
1310[9]11,000,000 km2 (4,200,000 sq mi)
CurrencyJiaochao banknotes, Chinese cash
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Mongol Empire
Song dynasty
Northern Yuan
Ming dynasty
Phagmodrupa dynasty
History of Mongolia
Prehistoric period
Afanasievo culture 3300–2500 BC
Chemurchek culture 2750–1900 BC
Munkhkhairkhan culture 1800–1600 BC
Sagsai culture 1500–1000 BC
Ulaanzuukh culture 1450–1150 BC
Deer stones culture 1400–700 BC
Slab-grave culture 1100–300 BC
Chandman culture 700–300 BC
Pazyryk culture 600–300 BC
Ancient period
Xiongnu 209 BC–93 AD
Xianbei state 93–234
Rouran Khaganate 330–555
Göktürks (First, Eastern, and Second Turkic Khaganates) 555–630
682–744
Xueyantuo 628–646
Tang protectorate 647–682
Uyghur Khaganate 744–840
Liao dynasty 907–1125
Medieval period
Mongol khanates 9th–12th century
Khamag Mongol 1130–1206
Mongol Empire 1206–1368
Yuan dynasty 1271–1368
Northern Yuan 1368–1635
Oirat Confederation 1399–1634
Dzungar Khanate 1634–1757
Qing dynasty 1691–1911
Modern period
National Revolution 1911
Bogd Khaganate 1911–1919
Chinese occupation 1919–1921
People's Revolution (Soviet intervention in Bogd Khanate) 1921
1921–1924
People's Republic 1924–1992
Democratic Revolution 1990
Modern Mongolia 1990–present
Part of a series on the
History of China
History of China in Chinese characters and seal script
Prehistoric
Yellow, Yangtze, and Liao civilization
Ancient
  • Xia (c. 2070 – c. 1600 BCE)
  • Shang (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BCE)
Late Shang (c. 1250 – c. 1046 BCE)
  • Zhou (c. 1046 – c. 256 BCE)
Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE)
Eastern Zhou (771–256 BCE)
Spring and Autumn (c. 770 – c. 476 BCE)
Warring States (475–221 BCE)
Imperial
  • Qin (221–207 BCE)
  • Han (206 BCE – 220 CE)
Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BCE)
Western Han (202 BCE – 9 CE)
Xin (9–23 CE)
Eastern Han (25–220 CE)
Wei, Shu, and Wu
  • Jin (266–420)
   
Western Jin (266–316)
Eastern Jin (317–420)
  • Sui (581–618)
   
Northern Song (960–1127)
Southern Song (1127–1279)
Modern
   
Related articles

The Yuan dynasty (Chinese: 元朝; pinyin: Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan[10] (Chinese: 大元; pinyin: Dà Yuán; Mongolian: ᠶᠡᠬᠡ
ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ
ᠤᠯᠤᠰ, Yeke Yuwan Ulus, literally "Great Yuan State"),[note 4] was a Mongol-led conquest dynasty of imperial China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division.[note 2] It was established by Kublai (Emperor Shizu or Setsen Khan), the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In Chinese history, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty.

Although Genghis Khan's enthronement as Khagan in 1206 was described in Chinese as the Han-style title of Emperor[note 3][6] and the Mongol Empire had ruled territories including modern-day northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Han style,[13] and the conquest was not complete until 1279 when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yamen. His realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including modern-day Mongolia.[14] It was the first dynasty founded by a non-Han ethnicity that ruled all of China proper.[15]: 312 [16] In 1368, following the defeat of the Yuan forces by the Ming dynasty, the Genghisid rulers retreated to the Mongolian Plateau and continued to rule until 1635 when they surrendered to the Later Jin dynasty (which later evolved into the Qing dynasty). The rump state is known in historiography as the Northern Yuan.

After the division of the Mongol Empire, the Yuan dynasty was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven. The dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty and accorded him the temple name Taizu.[note 3] In the edict titled Proclamation of the Dynastic Name issued in 1271,[8] Kublai announced the name of the new dynasty as Great Yuan and claimed the succession of former Chinese dynasties from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the Tang dynasty.[8] Some of the Yuan emperors mastered the Chinese language, while others only used their native Mongolian language, written with the 'Phags-pa script.[17]

Kublai, as a Khagan (Great Khan) of the Mongol Empire from 1260, had claimed supremacy over the other successor Mongol khanates: the Chagatai, the Golden Horde, and the Ilkhanate, before proclaiming as the Emperor of China in 1271. As such, the Yuan was also sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, even though the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was recognized by the western khans in 1304, their subservience was nominal and each continued its own separate development.[18][19][page needed]

  1. ^ Walter Koh, ed. (2014). "China under Mongol Rule: The Yuan dynasty" (PDF). China Symposium.
  2. ^ Tan Qixiang; et al. (1987). 《中国历史地图集》 [The Historical Atlas of China] (in Simplified Chinese). SinoMaps Press. Vol. 7. ISBN 978-7-5031-1844-9.
  3. ^ Rossabi 1994, pp. 436–437.
  4. ^ Rossabi 1988, p. 77.
  5. ^ Andrew West, ed. (21 December 2006). "'Phags-pa Script: Description". BabelStone. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  6. ^ a b Song Lian (1976) [1370]. "太祖本紀 [Chronicle of Taizu]". 《元史》 [History of Yuan] (in Literary Chinese). Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju. 元年丙寅，帝大會諸王群臣，建九游白纛，即皇帝位於斡難河之源。諸王群臣共上尊號曰成吉思皇帝。"
    "In the first year, on the bingyin day, the emperor greatly assembled the many princes and numerous vassals, and erected his nine-tailed white tuğ banner, assuming the position of Emperor of China at the source of the Onon river. And the many princes and numerous vassals together bestowed upon him the reverent title Genghis Huangdi.
  7. ^ Yang Fuxue (杨富学) (1997). 回鹘文献所见蒙古"合罕"称号之使用范围 [The scope of use of Mongolian "Khagan" title found in Old Uyghur literature]. 内蒙古社会科学 [Inner Mongolia Social Sciences] (5). 甘肃敦煌研究院. S2CID 224535800.
  8. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Proclamation1271 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 499. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference CivilSociety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ" (in Mongolian). Монголын түүхийн тайлбар толь. 2016.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference GreatYuan1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Mote 1994, p. 624.
  14. ^ Atwood, Christopher Pratt (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4671-3.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference San was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Eberhard, Wolfram (1971). A History of China (3rd ed.). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 232. ISBN 0-520-01518-5.[page needed]
  17. ^ Franke, Herbert (1953). "Could the Mongol emperors read and write Chinese?" (PDF). Asia Major. Second series. 3 (1). Academica Sinica: 28–41.
  18. ^ Saunders, John Joseph (2001) [1971]. The History of the Mongol Conquests. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-8122-1766-7.
  19. ^ Grousset, René (1939). L'empire des steppes: Attila, Gengis-Khan, Tamerlan [The Empire of Steppes] (in French).


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).