Division of the Mongol Empire

The gradual fragmentation of Mongol imperial rule into rival khanates, including the Yuan dynasty, Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and Ilkhanate.

Toluid Civil War: A war of succession among Toluid princes that began in 1260 and split the Mongol ruling house. Its outcome established rival great khans and made imperial unity increasingly difficult to restore.
Yuan dynasty: The Mongol-ruled Chinese dynasty founded by Khubilai Khan in 1271. It became the eastern imperial center after Khubilai established his court in China.
Genghis Khan: The Mongol ruler who unified Mongol tribes and founded the empire in the early thirteenth century. His conquests and family succession arrangements created the imperial domains later ruled by separate branches.
Pax Mongolica: A period of relative stability and exchange across parts of Eurasia under Mongol rule. Political division changed the conditions that had supported long-distance movement and exchange.
Mongol succession: The customs and political contests through which Mongol rulers selected successors. Disputed succession repeatedly set branches of the ruling family against one another.
Golden Horde: The Mongol-led polity that ruled much of the western Eurasian steppe from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. It governed the empire’s western steppe territories as a largely autonomous khanate.
Mongol Empire succession crisis of 1241: The political uncertainty after Ögedei Khan’s death, which delayed selection of his successor. The crisis exposed how a ruler’s death could disrupt coordination across the empire.
Mongol invasions of Japan: Two attempted Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281, launched by the Yuan dynasty. The campaigns show how the eastern Mongol court pursued its own imperial ambitions.
Khubilai Khan: The Mongol ruler who founded the Yuan dynasty and ruled China from 1271. His court’s priorities and imperial title widened the divide with western Mongol rulers.
Chagatai Khanate: A Central Asian Mongol khanate named for Genghis Khan’s son Chagatai. Its rulers controlled the central lands separating eastern and western Mongol domains.

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Möngke KhanRelated: His death triggered a succession struggle that weakened central authority.