Emperor of the seas : Kublai Khan and the making of China
Weatherford, Jack, 1946-2024
Book
Genghis Khan built a formidable land empire, but he never crossed the sea. Yet by the time his grandson Khublai Khan had defeated the last vestiges of the Song empire and established the Yuan dynasty in 1279, the Mongols controlled the most powerful navy in the world. How did a nomad come to conquer China and master the sea? Based on ten years of research and a lifetime of immersion in Mongol culture and tradition, Emperor of the Seas brings this little-known story vibrantly to life. Khublai Khan is one of history's most fascinating characters. He brought Islamic mathematicians to his court, where they invented modern cartography and celestial measurement. He transformed the world's largest land mass into a unified, diverse and economically progressive empire, introducing paper money. And, after bitter early setbacks, he transformed China into an outward looking sea-faring empire.
Main title:
Emperor of the seas : Kublai Khan and the making of China / Jack Weatherford.
Author:
Weatherford, Jack, 1946-, author
Imprint:
London : Bloomsbury Continuum, 2024.©2024.
Collation:
x, 357 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), maps ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781399417747 (paperback)9781399417730 (hardcover)9781399417693 (ebook)9781399417709 (pdf)
Dewey class:
950.22092950.22
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2291676