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Kublai Khan’s Early Life

The Mongols were a nomadic clan from the regions around present-day Mongolia. After uniting the individual nomadic tribes on the Mongolian plateau, Genghis Khan went on to conquer large portions of central Asia and China.

By the time Genghis’ grandson Kublai was born in 1215, the Mongol empire stretched from the Caspian Sea east to the Pacific Ocean.

That same year, the Mongols had captured the northern China capital city of Yen-ching (modern-day Beijing), forcing the royal family to flee south.

Kublai was the fourth and youngest son of Genghis’ son Tolui and a woman named Sorkhotani Beki, who was a Nestorian Christian princess of the Kereyid Confederacy.

Kublai and his brothers were largely raised by their mother, an intelligent and tolerant woman who dedicated herself to her sons’ careers.

Little is known about Kublai’s childhood, but he and brothers were taught the art of warfare at a young age.

Kublai was reportedly adept in Mongolian traditions, ha

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo, Translated by Thomas Wright, 1854.

Of the Tartar armies, and the manner in which they are constituted—of their order of marching—of their provisions—and their mode of attacking the enemy

When one of the great Tartar chiefs proceeds on an expedition, he puts himself at the head of an army of a hundred thousand horse, and organises them in the following manner. He appoints an officer to the command of every ten men, and others to command an hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand men, respectively. Thus ten of the officers commanding ten men take their orders from him who commands a hundred; of these, each ten, from him who commands a thousand; and each ten of these latter, from him who commands ten thousand.

By this arrangement each officer has only to attend to the management of ten men or ten bodies of men; and when the commander of these hundred thousand men has occasion to make a detachment for any particular service, he issues his orders to the commanders of ten thousand to furnis

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