The Travels of Marco PoloBook of the Marvels of the World (Italian: Il Milione, lit. 'The Million', deriving from Polo's nickname "Emilione"), in English commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo, is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Italian explorer Marco Polo. It describes Polo's travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295, and his experiences at the court of Kublai Khan. The book was written by romance writer Rustichello da Pisa, who worked from accounts which he had heard from Marco Polo when they were imprisoned together in Genoa.
Marco PoloMarco Polo (ˈmɑrkoʊ_ˈpoʊloʊ, ˈmaɾko ˈpolo, ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo; 1254 8 January 1324) was an Italian merchant, explorer and writer from the Republic of Venice who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, 1300), a book that described to Europeans the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China in the Yuan Dynasty, giving their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan and other Asian cities and countries.
KarakorumKarakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, Kharkhorum; Mongolian Script:, Qaraqorum; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of modern-day Mongolia, near the present town of Kharkhorin and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu Monastery, which is likely the oldest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. They are in the upper part of the World Heritage Site Orkhon Valley.
Ögedei KhanÖgedei Khagan (also Ogodei; 1186 – 11 December 1241) was second khagan of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun. Born in 1186 AD, Ögedei fought in numerous battles during his father's rise to power. After being granted a large appanage and taking a number of wives, including Töregene, he played a prominent role in the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire.
TekuderAhmed Tekuder (Mongolian: Tegülder, meaning “perfect”; تکودر) (c. 1246 10 August 1284), also known as Sultan Ahmad (reigned 1282–1284), was the sultan of the Persian-based Ilkhanate, son of Hulegu and brother of Abaqa. He was eventually succeeded by his nephew Arghun Khan. Tekuder was born c. 1246 in Mongolia to Hulagu and Qutui Khatun from Khongirad tribe as his seventh son. His birth date is not mentioned elsewhere but according to sources he died aged 37, therefore his birth year must have been around 1246 or 1247.
OiratsOirats (Ойрад, Oirad, ɔiˈrɑt) or Oirds (Ойрд, Oird; Өөрд; 瓦剌), also formerly Eluts and Eleuths (厄魯特, Èlǔtè), are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia. Historically, the Oirats were composed of four major tribes: Dzungar (Choros or Olots), Torghut, Dörbet and Khoshut. The minor tribes include: Khoid, Bayads, Myangad, Zakhchin, Baatud. The modern Kalmyks of Kalmykia on the Caspian Sea in southeastern Europe are Oirats.
GaykhatuGaykhatu (Mongolian script:; Гайхат) was the fifth Ilkhanate ruler in Iran. He reigned from 1291 to 1295. His Buddhist baghshi gave him the Tibetan name Rinchindorj (རིན་ཆེན་རྡོ་རྗེ) which appeared on his paper money. He was born to Abaqa and Martai khatun (daughter of Chigu Noyan of Khongirad and Tümelün bekhi, sister of Musa) in c.1259. He was living in Jazira during Tekuder's reign and had to flee to Arghun in Khorasan after Qonqurtai's execution in 1284.
Mongol invasions and conquestsThe Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastation as one of the deadliest episodes in history. In addition, Mongol expeditions may have spread the bubonic plague across much of Eurasia, helping to spark the Black Death of the 14th century. The Mongol Empire developed in the course of the 13th century through a series of victorious campaigns throughout Eurasia.
Mongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, extending northward into parts of the Arctic; eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent, attempted invasions of Southeast Asia, and conquered the Iranian Plateau; and westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.
SemuSemu () is the name of a caste established by the Yuan dynasty. The 31 Semu categories referred to people who came from Central and West Asia. They had come to serve the Yuan dynasty by enfranchising under the dominant Mongol caste. The Semu were not a self-defined and homogeneous ethnic group per se, but one of the four castes of the Yuan dynasty: the Mongols, Semu (or Semuren), the "Han" (Hanren in Chinese, or all subjects of the former Jin dynasty, Dali Kingdom and Koreans) and the Southerners (Nanren in Chinese, or all subjects of the former Southern Song dynasty; sometimes called Manzi).
