Kublai Khan

Timeline

1. 1221–1230Mongol Empire heartland · Mongolian PlateauBorn in 1215 into Tolui's household, between 1221 and 1230 he received a traditional Mongolian education in horsemanship and archery and in the rituals of the princes on the steppe under his mother Sorghaghtani's direction, laying the family background for his later role in governing the Central Plains.
2. 1231–1250Mongolian Plateau · Mongolian PlateauAfter Tolui's death in 1232 he followed his mother in maintaining the Tolui line's power under Ögedei's reign; from the 1240s he came into contact with Confucian scholars and Buddhist monks of the Central Plains, gradually building his understanding of Central Plains culture.
3. 1251–1259Jingzhao · ShaanxiAfter Möngke's accession in 1251 he was enfeoffed and given overall military and civil command of the Central Plains south of the Gobi, implementing military-agricultural colonies and civil reforms in Xingzhou, Jingzhao and elsewhere; after Möngke's death in 1259 he proclaimed himself khagan at Kaiping and contested the throne with Ariq Böke.
4. 1260–1294Dadu · North ChinaHe became great khagan in 1260, in 1271 adopted the name Great Yuan from the phrase 'Great is the Qian principle' in the Book of Changes, completed unification by destroying the Southern Song in 1279, and implemented the provincial system, postal relay stations and Sino-foreign exchange, inaugurating nearly a century of Yuan rule.