• Born: c.
  • Died:
  • Birthplace: ?
  • Best known as:

    Founder of the Mongol Dynasty in China

4 good links

  1. Kublai Khan

    Brief summary with a list of his achievements

  2. The Mongols in World History

    Great comprehensive resource from Columbia University

  3. Kublai Khan Rules China

    From a larger site on China and Asia

  4. Coleridge's <i>Kubla Khan</i>

    Full text of the famous poem plus a few notes

Kublai Khan Biography

The grandson of marauding conqueror Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan is famous as the founder of the Yuan or Mongol Dynasty of China. Kublai Khan centralized taxes and administration, improved agriculture, and established a famously splendid court at Cambaluc (now Beijing). He also welcomed foreign traders, including the traveler Marco Polo. He was immortalized in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1816 poem Kubla Khan, which begins "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree."

Extra credit:

Kublai Khan is no relation to actress Madeline Kahn (1942-1999).

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