The Great Ruler, Kublai Khan

1
The Great Ruler, Kublai Khan
English I, Louise S. McGehee School
(Dowling)
2005
2
Mongol Empire

• Empire was first divided into four different
  sections called khanates.
• Each was ruled by a single khan, and all were
  overruled by a Great Khan.
• Ghengis Khan was elected the first Great Khan
  in 1206 (Hooker).

(1865)
(Arts)
3
Ghengis Khan

• Grandfather of Kublai Kahn
• First to unify the divided Mongol tribes
• Built a small, very structured army that was
  able to defeat huge armies (Hooker)
• Army was known for great horsemen
• Elected Great Khan in 1206
• Died in 1277 (Ghengis)

Ghengis Khan
(Ghengis)
4
Physical Descriptions- Kublai Khan

• Wore long elaborate robes

• Had a long beard

(Dowling)

• Had keen Mongolian features

5

Kublai Khan Takes OverThe Beginning of a Dynasty

• In 1260, Kublai Khan became the Great Khan.
• In 1264 he moved the capital from Mongolia to
  Cambuluc, present day Beijing (Hooker).

Map of China
(China)
(Dowling)
6
Yuan Dynasty

• In 1271 Kublai Khan named his dynasty the Yuan
  Dynasty.
• A few years after he named the dynasty, he
  captured all of China.
• He gradually adopted Chinese political ideas
  and built a strong central government.
• He eventually became an absolute ruler (Hooker).

(Arts)
7
Xanadu
Marco Polo

• Kublai Khan created a summer capital in
  Shangdu, commonly referred to as Xanadu.
• He built a magnificent summer home for himself
  there called Xanadu (Hooker).
• In 1275, Marco Polo visited this palace and
  created many reports about it.
• These reports made Europeans more interested in
  the east.
• This palace was inspiration for a famous poem
  by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Dowling).

(Dowling)
8
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• 1772-1834
• Englishman
• As he was reading about the palace in Xanadu,
  he took two grains of opium and fell asleep.
• When he woke up, he wrote the poem about the
  dream he had (Xanadu).

(Samuel)
9
Kubla Khan
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan  A stately
pleasure-dome decree  Where Alph, the sacred
river, ran  Through caverns measureless to man
 Down to a sunless sea (Xanadu 1-5).
Written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798
Published in 1816 (Xanadu)
10
Modern Links- Mysteries
?
Still today historians are trying to find out if
the writings of Marco Polo are true, and they
will probably never know.
It is a big mystery where Kublai and his
grandfather, Genghis Khan, are buried.
11
The Myth of the Kamikaze
Kublai Khan tried to get Japan to pay tribute to
him many times, and he sent armies to invade
Japan twice.
Both times the troops were repelled, not by
Japanese troops, but mysterious storms that
killed many of Kublais soldiers and destroyed
his boats.
The Japanese called these storms kamikaze which
means divine wind (How).
12
Works Cited
"Arts of Asia." The Minneapolis Institute of
Arts. 5 January 2005. lt http//www.artsmiaorg/arts
- of-asia/china/maps/mongol-map.cfm gt. China Map
Index. Index-China.com. 2002. Tagalder. 6
January 2005. lthttp//www.index-china.com/index-
english/china_map_index.htmgt . Dowling, Mike.,
"The Electronic Passport to Marco Polo."
Mr.Dowling. 2001. Mike Dowling. 5 January 2005.
lt http//www.mrdowling.com/613-marcopolo.htmlgt  "G
enghis Khan on the Web." Isidore of Seville. Ed.
Tim Spalding.2004. 5 January 2005. lt
http//www.isidore-of-seville.com/genghis/
gt. Hooker, Richard. "The Mongolian Empire The
Yuan." Washington State University. 2003. Board
of Regents. 5 January 2005. lthttp//www.wsu.edu/
dee/CHEMPIRE/YUAN.HTMgt .
13
Works Cited

• How Did a 'Divine Wind' Save Japan 700 Years
  Ago? Unexplained Mysteries. 16
• August 2004. Unexplained Mysteries V7. 9 January
  2005. lthttp//www.unexplained-mysteries.com/discl
  aimer-privacy.shtmlgt .
• Samuel Taylor Estese Coleridge. Calisota
  Online. Ed. Gilles Maurice. 30 April 2001.
  Duckhunt. 5 January 2005. http//goofy313g.free.
  fr/calisotaonline/exist/coleridge.html .
• Theiss, Mike. Key Largo Lightning Storm Photos.
  Eye In the Tropics. 2004. Storm photographer. 9
  January 2005. http//www.mthurricane.com/Thunders
  torm_083002.htm.
• Xanadu. Burkes Backyard. Ed. Don Burke. 2004.
  C.T.C. Production. 4 January2005.
  lthttp//www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2004/archives/2
  004/inthegarden3/treesand _palms/xanadugt.
• Xanadu. The Samuel Taylor Coleridge Archive. 5
  October 1999. Marjorie A. Tiefert. 3 January
  2005.http//etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridgepo
  ems/
• Kubla_Khan.html .gt.