Northern Yuan dynasty: A Visual History

The Northern Yuan was the Mongol regime that continued after the Ming expelled the Yuan from China in 1368. Based on the Mongolian plateau, it claimed to be the legitimate Yuan dynasty and fought the Ming for generations, most spectacularly capturing the Ming emperor at Tumu in 1449 under the Oirat leader Esen. Dayan Khan reunited the Mongols around 1500 and Altan Khan besieged Beijing in 1550 and brought Tibetan Buddhism to Mongolia. The last khan, Ligdan, died in 1634 and his son submitted to the Manchus in 1635.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Northern Yuan dynasty. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Approximate reach of Northern Yuan authority

Highly variable; nominal claims were larger than effective control.

Timeline of the Northern Yuan dynasty

1. 1368
   Flight from DaduToghon Temur retreats to the steppe.
2. 1388
   Buir LakeMing victory; the Kublaid line loses control.
3. 1449
   Tumu CrisisEsen captures the Ming emperor.
4. 1480
   Dayan KhanReunification of the eastern Mongols.
5. 1550
   Altan Khan raids Beijing
6. 1578
   Title of Dalai Lama bestowed
7. 1634
   Ligdan Khan dies
8. 1635
   Submission to the ManchusThe Yuan seal handed over.

Retreat and revival

Toghon Temur, the last Yuan emperor of China, fled to Shangdu and then Karakorum. Ming expeditions burned Karakorum in 1380 and destroyed a Mongol army at Buir Lake in 1388. Genghisid khans were then puppets of rival factions until the Oirat (western Mongol) leader Esen united the steppe, and in 1449 annihilated a Ming army and captured the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu, though he could not take Beijing.

Dayan and Altan

Batu Mongke, Dayan Khan (about 1480-1517), a direct descendant of Kublai, defeated the Oirats and reunited the eastern Mongols under his sons. His grandson Altan Khan raided Ming China for decades, besieged Beijing in 1550, extracted trading rights and in 1578 gave the title Dalai Lama to the Gelug leader Sonam Gyatso, sealing Mongolia's conversion to Tibetan Buddhism.

The end

Ligdan Khan (1604-1634) tried to reimpose central authority as the Manchus rose in the east; most Mongol tribes preferred submission to Nurhaci and Hong Taiji. Ligdan died of smallpox in 1634 on his way to Tibet, and his son Ejei surrendered the Yuan imperial seal in 1635. Hong Taiji used it to proclaim the Qing dynasty in 1636, claiming Genghis's legacy.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Yuan dynasty (1271 to 1368)
• Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644)
• Mongol Empire (1206 to 1368)
• Dzungar Khanate (1634 to 1758)
• Qing dynasty (1636 to 1912)
• First Portuguese Empire (1415 to 1663)

Wars of the same era and region

• Manchu conquest of China (1618 to 1683)
• Japanese invasions of Korea (Imjin War) (1592 to 1598)
• Conquests of Timur (1370 to 1405)
• Mongol invasions and conquests (1206 to 1368)

8 surprising things about the Northern Yuan dynasty

1. The Ming emperor captured at Tumu in 1449 was released a year later, kept under house arrest by his brother, and regained the throne in a coup.
2. 'Dalai' is Mongolian for ocean; the title was Altan Khan's gift, and the Third Dalai Lama's two predecessors were named retrospectively.
3. The Fourth Dalai Lama was Altan Khan's great-grandson, the only Mongol to hold the office.
4. The Great Wall as rebuilt by the Ming was largely a response to the Northern Yuan.
5. The Yuan imperial seal handed to the Manchus in 1635 was said to be Kublai's, and the Qing used it to claim the Mongol succession.
6. Esen was assassinated in 1455 shortly after taking the khan title himself, which non-Genghisids were not supposed to do.
7. Karakorum, the old Mongol capital, was burned by the Ming in 1380 and never recovered.
8. The Northern Yuan lasted almost three times as long as the Yuan rule of China.

Sources

• Northern Yuan Wikipedia
• Mongolia: The Mongols after the fall of the Yuan Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Altan Khan Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Christopher Atwood, Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire (2004) Facts on File

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