1260: Kublai Khan (忽必烈) became the khagan

 

Kublai Khan 忽必烈 [Zane Archives]

 

Kublai Khan (reign 1260–1294) was the grandson of Genghis Khan. In 1260, he succeeded his older brother Mongke and became the fifth khagan of the Mongol Empire; however, with the empire's fragmentation, his power was mostly limited to the boundary of the Yuan Dynasty which he founded ten years later.