Early Life
Kaidu was the son of Kashin a grandson of Ögedei Khan and a great-grandson of Genghis Khan and Börte. His mother's name was Shabkana Khatun from the Bekrin (Mekrin) tribe of mountaineers that were "neither Mongols, nor Uighurs".
In 1260, Marco Polo described Yarkand, part of the area under Kaidu as "five days' journey in extent"; that its inhabitants were mostly Muslim although there were also some Nestorian and Jacobite Assyrians; and that it had plenty of food and other necessities, "especially cotton." Since about 1260, when Kublai Khan was warring with his own brother Ariq Böke, who was proclaimed Great Khan at Karakorum, Kaidu began to have major conflicts with Kublai and his ally, the Ilkhanate.
Meanwhile, Kublai's supporter and Chagatayid Khan Alghu ravaged the lands of Kaidu, forcing him to make an alliance with Berke, khan of the Golden Horde.
Read more about this topic: Kaidu
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your friends know that you did not take a cheerful view of their capacity, their conduct, or their position; and a robust candour never waited to be asked for its opinion.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
—Bible: New Testament, Ephesians 4:1-3.