Chinese History 1100-1500

The Yuan Dynasty only lasted for a little less than a century in China, but has captured the imagination of western historians mainly because it was during this period of Mongol ascendancy that China was first "discovered" by Europe. In part this was a natural consequence of the Mongol invasions, which would extend out of Asia into eastern Europe, sacking the German city of Breslau in 1241 and advancing towards Vienna until news of the death of Ogedei Khan (who was himself the designated political heir of Genghis Khan) leading ultimately to Mongol withdrawal from Europe. To a certain degree, the establishment thirty years later of the Mongol-run Yuan Dynasty in China by Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai represented part of the larger geopolitical effects across all Asian and Europe resulting from the Mongol's establishment of the largest land-empire in history. But the idea of Europe's "discovery" of...
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