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when did the mongol empire end

The Mongol Empire is usually considered to have ended in 1368 , when the Ming dynasty drove the Mongol Yuan dynasty out of China and captured the capital Khanbaliq (modern Beijing).

Why 1368 is the common date

Historians often treat the Mongol Empire as the unified empire founded by Genghis Khan and ruled by his heirs over a single, loosely integrated system stretching from China to Eastern Europe. Once this broke into separate khanates (like the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate, and Yuan dynasty), the “empire” in the strict sense was already weakening.

  • By the second half of the 14th century , most of these pieces had effectively dissolved or become independent successor states.
  • The Yuan dynasty in China fell in 1368 , when the Ming forces expelled the Mongols to the north; many scholars treat this as the formal end of the Mongol Empire as a world empire.

But there’s some debate

Specialists sometimes argue for different “end” dates depending on what they count as part of the empire.

  • Some point to the fragmentation into separate khanates in the 13th–14th centuries as the real end, even before 1368.
  • Others follow the fate of later Mongol successor states (like remnants of the Golden Horde or Northern Yuan), which survived in some form into the 15th–16th centuries and beyond, but these are usually seen as successor khanates rather than the original, united empire.

Quick Scoop (short answer)

  • If you need one clear date for “when did the Mongol Empire end?” the standard answer is: 1368. ✅
  • After that, there were still Mongol-ruled states, but the vast, unified Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and his immediate successors was gone.

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