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Jan 1, 1190
Temujin begins to unite the discursive Mongol clans
One of the many khans, or chieftains, called Temujin began to conquer and unite the nomadic Mongol tribes. Due to their need to compete for resources and living in a desolate enviroment, the Mongols were very tough, strong people. -
Jan 1, 1200
The Mongols emerge under Temujin.
In the early 1200's the Mongols gradually emerged from the steppes in Mongolia and began conquering Central Asia. The picture shown is the besiegement of a Middle Eastern city. The small black banner above the trebuchet is a Mongolian symbol of wartime. These banners also come in white, the white banners are raised by Mongolians while at peace. These banners are still used today. -
Jan 1, 1207
Genghis Khan begins a bloody conquest to conquer Asia.
The self-appointed leader Genghis Khan rampages through Asia for 20 years, taking city after city and creating many enemies. As the Mongols passed through different regions and cities, they would often adopt the strategies of they people they conquered, which made them even more deadly. For example, the Mongols adopted siege warfare from the Turks, where one faction would sit outside of a walled city and attempt to wait out another. -
Jan 1, 1210
Temujin succeeds in creating a unified Mongol group.
Temujin forms the Mongol Empire and rises to the throne as Genghis Khan, or the "Universal leader." Genghis Khan created a strict military, his forces were remarkably mobile and merciless. His army traveled in divisions of 10,000 and could be discribed as mobile cities. -
Jan 1, 1227
Genghis Khan's empire is split into four Khanates, or regions.
Genghis Khan's heirs divided the empire into four regions, each governed by a different heir, in addition to the Great Khan, who controlled the whole empire. The khanates included the Khanate of the Great Khan, The Khanate of the Golden Horde, The Khanate of Chagatai and the IIkhanate. The Golden Horde Khanate, which is the yellow region on the map, had the task of conquering Russia, and under Kublai Khan, they layed waste to Kiev. -
Jan 1, 1227
Genghis Khan dies, halting his conquest across Asia.
After conquering much of Asia, Genghis Khan dies in 1227. One of the things the Khan says to his sons on his deathbed was "With heaven's aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world. That task is left for you." -
Jan 1, 1235
Kublai Khan begins the great conquest of China.
Kublai Khan begins a conquest to defeat the resilient Song rulers in southern China. The Song, a dynasty located in southern China was a large obstacle in Kublai's way, the Song forces consistantly warded off the Mongol's advances -
Jan 1, 1260
Kublai Khan becomes the great khan of the Mongol empire.
Kublai Khan becomes the supreme ruler of the Mongol empire and is determined to complete the conquest of China. -
Jan 1, 1278
Venetians Marco Polo and his father travel to China to trade.
Venetian Marco Polo caught the attention of Kublai Khan on a trip to trade in China, the emperor then sent Polo around China to experience its splendor and have successful trading. -
Jan 1, 1279
Kublai Khan succeeds in conquering China and begins Yuan dynasty.
Only 19 years after Kublai Khan is named the Great Khan, he defeats the last Song ruler and makes the Mongols the first foriegn people to control all of China. After conquering China Kublai Khan greatly limited the Chinese's power and discouraged individual friendships amongst Mongols and Chinese. Even so, Kublai Khan also tried to gain the loyalty of his new Chinese subjects by moving the capital to China and building a Chinese palace. -
Jan 1, 1294
Kublai Khan dies.
Following several disasterous military defeats to Japan and Southeastern Asia, Kublai Khan dies. The picture shows the Mongol extent at the time of his death. During the Mongol's attempted invasion of Japan, storm pummeled the Mongol forces and gave the Japanese the upperhand, the Japanese then referred to the wind as Kamikaze, or "divine wind". -
Jan 1, 1295
Marco Polo returns to Italy and is captued during a Venetian battle with Genoa.
While imprisoned, Marco Polo told a fellow prisoner of his adventures in Yuan China. The prisoner then wrote the stories down and later pulished them as a book. Polo's stories about Chinese efficiency and opulency would later fascinate many Europeans and become a huge success. -
Jan 1, 1300
Black Death rises.
During the 1300's the Black Death or Bubonic Plague wiped out much of Europe and, with the addition of the silk road, the Black death spread to Asia and the Middle East. -
Jan 1, 1368
Rebels defeat the last Mongols and the surviving Mongols flee to Machuria.
The peasant Zhu Yuanzhang, with his army, defeats the last Yuan Mongols, starts the Ming dynasty and takes the name Hongwu, meaning "vastly martial". Hongwu then strived to reintroduce peace and prosperity to China by lowering taxes and reviving the Chinese values and practices that were suppressed by the Mongols. -
Jan 1, 1398
Hongwu dies.
After holding much power and restoring China's confucian principles, helping trade to grow and improving the civil service exmination system, the first Ming leader, Hongwu, dies. Pictured is the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, where Hongwu is buried. -
Jan 1, 1402
After a brief scramble for power, Yonglo becomes the Ming emperor.
Yonglo, Hongwu's son, becomes the next Ming emperor and sponsors seven voyages to and around the Inidan sea. Yonglo did this to demonstrate China's growing naval power. Amlost immediatly after being crowned, Yonglo began the construction of the Forbidden Kingdom, a palace set aside for his royal family that exists today. -
Jan 1, 1405
Fleets of Chinese boats start to saill all across the Indian ocean.
These 300-ship expeditions were led by a Chinese Muslim admiral Zheng He. The fleets mainly consisted of junks, or small trading boats, but the were a few large treasure ships that could be up to 400 feet long. The junks sailed during the Ming periods are still used today, although they have evolved into more efficient watercraft. -
Jan 1, 1433
Hongxi, Yonglo's successor, ends the voyages.
Hongxi ends the voyages because he thought the resources could be used more efficiently in different areas of the Ming dynasty. -
Jan 1, 1500
American and European goods reach China.
Goods like corn and sweet potatoes increased the stability in Ming China. As the population steadily grew, industries and cities grew as well, Chinese industries like porcelain and silk flourished. Pictured are some of the trade routes used to transport these goods. -
Jan 1, 1500
The Ming dynasty begins to restrict outside interaction.
The cancelation of further voyages was the beginning of a Ming movement to isolate China. The foreigners could only trade at a few Chinese ports, at specific times. The Ming disliked the influence of the new Christian missionaries and American products. Chinese smugglers began to appear. -
Jan 1, 1550
Mongols pose as a renewed threat.
The Euopeans weren't the only people to show up in China during the 1500's, the Ming also had to fend the Mongols off. In order to improve defense, the mind refortified the Great Wall of China, a wall built in the northern part of China which defended multiple dynasties and empires from nomadic-peoples like the Mongols. -
Jan 1, 1575
The Ming begin their gradual decent in popularity.
In the late 1500's several incompetant and corrupt rulers came to throne and weakened the Ming government. Also, as defense efforts increased, taxes increased, too. -
Matteo Ricci arrives in China.
Matteo Ricci, a Italian Jesuit Priest came to China and gradually gained the Ming's respect. Eventually, Ricci entered the Ming court where he taught European ideas, science and Mathmatics. Ricci was very careful to gain acceptance in China, he learned the language and respected Chinese customs and values. -
High defense taxes and crop failures lead to rebellions in Ming China.
In the early 1600's crop failures coupled with high defense taxes drove some Ming citizens to rebellion -
The Manchu people overthrow the Ming dynasty.
The Manchu people take advantage of Ming China's economic turmoil and overthrow the government. The Manchu create the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty. -
Kangxi comes to power.
Kangxi created prosperity for China by lowering taxes for peasants and also expanding his empire. Kangxi enjoyed the company of Jesuit priests as they were highly educated and gave him insight to technologic advancements in Europe. -
Qing writings gain popularity.
The Qing writer Cao Zhan wrote the novel "Drean of the Red Chamber" which would later have universal success and considered China's greatest novel. -
Qianlong, Kangxi's son, begins his reign.
Qianlong brought the Qin dynasty to its height by expanding the empire with additions of Tibet, Taiwan and Mongolia. Also, China's population grew to over 300 million. -
Kangxi's reign comes to an end.
After many years supporting the arts and literature, Kangxi's status as an emperor ends. During his reign, Kangxi had supported the Ming's governmental system and used many arts of it. However, Chinese were separate from the Manchu in that the Chinese weren't allowed to marry Manchu people. Also, Chinese men had to wear the Manchu's hairstyle, shaved in the front with a queue, or braid in the back. -
Lord George Mcartney
Lord George Mcartney, a British official came to China to negotiate the expansion of trade. The Qing saw the European products that Mcartney brought as inferior and also disliked his lack of respect for the Chinese emperor. Mcartney refused to Kowtow before the emperor, knowtowing is where a person bows before the emperor and touches their head to the floor nine times.
