13th Century

Events in the 13th Century 6

• 300 BC – 1279 Chola dynasty (South India) A great maritime and temple-building power The Cholas of the Tamil south were one of the longest-ruling dynasties in history, rising from the Sangam age to a medieval maritime empire that projected naval power across the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia. They built magnificent temples such as the Brihadeeswarar at Thanjavur and patronised bronze sculpture and Tamil literature.
• 651 – 1501 Islamic Persia — caliphates, Seljuks and Mongols Centuries of Islamic rule and a Persian cultural flowering After the conquest, Persia was ruled successively by the Arab caliphates, Persian and Turkic dynasties, the Seljuk Turks, and — devastatingly — the Mongols under Genghis Khan and Hulagu in the 13th century. Yet this era produced a brilliant Persian cultural renaissance: the poetry of Ferdowsi, Rumi, Hafez and Omar Khayyam, and advances in science and mathematics.
• 907 – 1279 Five Dynasties & Song Dynasty Gunpowder, printing, compass — China leads the world in technology The Song dynasty oversaw an economic and technological revolution. Gunpowder weapons, movable type printing (Bi Sheng, 1040), and the magnetic compass were all developed or perfected during this period. China's population reached 100 million. Despite never matching the Tang's military power and eventually losing northern China to the Jurchen Jin dynasty, the Song's commercial economy and urban culture were the most sophisticated in the world.
• 1185 – 1333 Kamakura period Rise of the samurai and the first shogunate Minamoto no Yoritomo established Japan's first shogunate at Kamakura, beginning nearly seven centuries of military rule under the samurai class while emperors reigned but no longer governed. The period saw the spread of Zen Buddhism and, famously, the repulse of two Mongol invasions aided by the "kamikaze" divine winds.
• 1206 – 1526 Delhi Sultanate Three centuries of Indo-Islamic rule in the north The Delhi Sultanate was a succession of five Muslim dynasties — Mamluk, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi — that ruled much of northern India for over three centuries. It introduced Persian administration and Indo-Islamic architecture, and repelled the Mongols, before falling to Babur at Panipat in 1526.
• 1271 – 1368 Yuan Dynasty — Mongol rule under Kublai Khan China conquered by the Mongols — Marco Polo arrives Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, completed the Mongol conquest of China and founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271. The Mongols connected China to the largest contiguous land empire in history, facilitating trade and cultural exchange across Eurasia. Venetian merchant Marco Polo visited Kublai Khan's court around 1275 and his account introduced China's wonders to European readers. The Yuan dynasty was overthrown by Chinese peasant rebel Zhu Yuanzhang in 1368.