National Geographic History - USA (2020-03)

prince. When they try to tie Dionysus up, the ropes fall away. The helmsman warns that he must be a god, but the pirates take no ...

THE FIFTH GREAT KHAN Kublai Khan’s portrait was painted after his death in 1294 and hangs in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, ...

KUBLAI KHAN’S REALM Grandson of the feared Genghis Khan, Kublai completed the Mongol conquest of China, founded the Yuan dynasty ...

60 MARCH/APRIL 2020 KUBLAI’S CAPITAL Kublai made his capital city in Dadu, now called Beijing. The restored red Drum Tower (abov ...

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 61 ritual that would give him unshakable legitima- cy. After consulting his advisers, Kublai decided ...

VICTORIES AND DEFEATS kublai khan used military expertise to grow his empire—even before he took complete control of it. His eld ...

(^2) Southern China Following Kublai’s accession as khan, the long war to conquer the Southern Song culminated in the Mongol vic ...

BRIDGEMAN/ACI ARTIST LIU guandao, also known by the name Zhongxian, was a prominent painter known for his technical skill and re ...

other faiths, including Islam, and employed Chinese tutors so that Kublai could learn the lo- cal traditions and the foundations ...

ARTISTIC RETREAT When Kublai Khan conquered China’s Song Dynasty, many loyalists withdrew from public life to focus on art. One ...

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68 MARCH/APRIL 2020 The war was long and grueling. Knowing Ku- blai’s strength lay in the fast Mongol cavalry at- tacks over ope ...

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 69 ures—such as his attempted invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281, or successes such as the con- que ...

THE SOCIAL LADDER (^1) Mongols In the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols controlled the central government. To assist them in administrat ...

(^3) Tibetans Although Kublai was careful to respect Chinese traditions, he had a strong preference for Tibetan Buddhism and app ...

SCIENCE MEETS FICTION Photographed in 1880, Jules Verne was one of the first authors to combine adventure with science. Opposite ...

JULES VERNE Inspired by 19th-century scientific progress, Jules Verne coupled technology with the adventure story to create a bl ...

Despite not being much of a traveler himself, Verne unleashed the adventurousness and ver- satility of his own imagination to de ...

REVOLUTIONARY INSPIRATION? Eugène Hagnauer’s painting shows a bloody episode in Paris during the brief revolution of 1848. Despi ...

a charming one,” Nadar was a writer, impresario, and photographer. He was also, perhaps, one of the first men to truly understan ...