Kublai Khan

1215 – 1294

Kublai Khan was the founder and first emperor of the Yuan dynasty of China, ruling from 1271 until his death in 1294, and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He completed the Mongol conquest of Song China, which took more than four decades of warfare and is estimated by historians to have caused tens of millions of deaths through combat, famine, and forced relocation. His subsequent invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 ended in catastrophic naval defeats, with much of his fleet destroyed by typhoons.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM