Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) of China was the easternmost part of the vast Mongol Empire (stretching from East Asia to Eastern Europe), which became politically separated into four khanates beginning with the succession war in 1260. The Mongol leaders Genghis Khan, Ögedei Khan, Möngke Khan, and Hulagu Khan were able to conquer the Tangut Western Xia and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty in northern China, as well as invaded Korea under the Goryeo Dynasty, turning it into a vassal state that was ruled indirectly. The Mongols withdrew after Korean monarchs agreed to move its capital back to the mainland from Ganghwa Island.
It was the Mongol leader Kublai Khan who finally conquered the Southern Song Dynasty in 1279. Kublai was an ambitious leader who used Korean, Chinese, and Mongol troops to invade Japan on two separate occasions, yet both campaigns were ultimately failures.
The Yuan Dynasty Chinese and Mongols continued the maritime trading legacy of the Tang and Song dynasties. The Yuan Dynasty ship captain known as Wang Dayuan (fl. 1328-1339) was the first from China to travel by sea through the Mediterranean upon his visit to Morocco in North Africa. One of the diplomatic highlights of this period was the Chinese embassy to the Cambodian Khmer Empire under Indravarman III, led by the envoy Zhou Daguan (1266–1346) from the years 1296 to 1297. In his report to the Yuan court, Zhou Daguan described places such as Angkor Wat and everyday life of the Khmer Empire. It was during the early years of Kublai Khan's reign that Marco Polo (1254–1324) visited China, presumably as far as the previous Song capital at Hangzhou, which he described with a great deal of admiration for its scenic beauty.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Relations Of Imperial China