The Yuan (/jun/) dynasty (Mongolian: ' , '; Chinese: ; pinyin: Yun

Cho), officially theGreat Yuan (Chinese: ; pinyin: D Yun) or the Great Yuan Great Mongol
State (Mongolian: Dai n Yeke Mongghul Ulus, , Ikh Yuan ls
[1]
) was the empire
established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan. Although the Mongols had ruled
territories which included today's northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan
officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Chinese style.
[2]
His realm was by this point isolated
from the other khanates and controlled only most of present-day China and its surrounding areas
including modern Mongolia.
[3]
It was the first foreign dynasty to rule all of China and lasted until 1368,
after which its remnants in Mongolia were known as the Northern Yuan. Almost none of the
Mongolian Emperors of the Yuan mastered the Chinese language, using instead their native
language and Mongolian and'Phags-pa script.
[4]

The Yuan is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and as an imperial Chinese dynasty.
In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song
dynasty and preceding the Ming dynasty. Although the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, he
placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty
as Taizu.
In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai Khan also claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme over the
other successor khanates: theChagatai, the Golden Horde, and the Ilkhanate. As such, the Great
Yuan Empire was also sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, although
this claim of the emperors of the Yuan dynasty was at times recognized by the western khans, their
subservience was merely nominal and they each continued their own separate development