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1207 CE

This year falls in the High and Late Middle Ages (c. 1000–1500 CE). Trade grows across Eurasia, and in the thirteenth century the Mongols build the largest connected land empire in history. The Black Death kills a large share of the people of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa from the 1340s, and the era closes with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the first European voyages to the Americas.

Within fifteen years

Civilization · High and Late Middle Ages · Mongol EmpireMongol Empire1206–1368The Mongol Empire was the largest connected land empire in history. Genghis Khan united the steppe tribes in 1206, and his heirs conquered from China to Europe. It split into rival khanates and faded by 1368.

Ruler · High and Late Middle Ages · FranceLouis IX1214–1270King of France from 1226 to 1270, born in 1214, canonized as Saint Louis in 1297. He led two crusades, was captured in Egypt on the first, and died of disease outside Tunis on the second. At home he reformed royal justice and built the Sainte Chapelle in Paris to house holy relics.

Ruler · High and Late Middle Ages · ChinaKublai Khan1215–1294Mongol Khagan from 1260 and first emperor of China's Yuan dynasty, 1215 to 1294. He completed the Mongol conquest of China, ending the Song dynasty in 1279. His court at Khanbaliq, modern Beijing, hosted Marco Polo, whose account carried the wealth of China to European readers.