MAPS OF HISTORY · The Mongol Empire · ALL CHAPTERS · Shangdu (Xanadu)
Turning point · The Mongol Empire, 1206–1294
Shangdu (Xanadu)
1256 — Khubilai builds a summer capital on the grass frontier between steppe and sown — the balancing point of his whole reign. Marco Polo will describe its gilded palace; Coleridge will dream it into English. From here Khubilai claims the khanate in 1260, by Chinese-style acclamation.
This is one scene of Chapter 10 — Khubilai and the Song in The Mongol Empire, 1206–1294.
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