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Historical thread1181–1299

Asia, Africa and the Americas in the 13th century

The world beyond the Mongol campaigns and the wars of Europe: the Delhi Sultanate and the Mali Empire, the stone temples of Angkor and the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, the rise of Majapahit and of the Solomonic dynasty, the founding of Cusco and the Ancestral Puebloan departure from Mesa Verde.

12 events · 5 regions · Southeast Asia and Oceania, Latin America, Africa, South Asia, North America

The 13th century has been called the Mongol age, yet most of humanity went about its own life and knew nothing of the campaigns of Genghis Khan and his grandsons. This thread gathers events that lie outside the stories of the Mongol conquests, Rus’ and Europe but took place in the same decades: in northern India the Delhi Sultanate arose and grew strong, in West Africa Sundiata founded the Mali Empire, in Ethiopia the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela were carved, and later the Solomonic dynasty came to power.

In Southeast Asia Jayavarman VII built Angkor Thom, the last great capital of the Khmers, and at the end of the century the kingdom of Majapahit arose on Java, which had fought off Kublai’s fleet. In the Andes, according to tradition, Manco Cápac founded Cusco, the seed of the future Inca Empire, while in the American Southwest a long drought forced the Ancestral Puebloans to leave their settlements at Mesa Verde. The eruption of Samalas in 1257 is a reminder that all these societies shared a single climate.

Many dates here are approximate: they rest on oral tradition, late chronicles, inscriptions, and archaeological and natural records such as tree rings and ice cores. Where sources disagree, dates are given as ranges, and the descriptions explain where they come from.

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Events

Key participants

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): 13th century
  2. Wikipedia (Russian): XIII век
  3. Levtzion N. Ancient Ghana and Mali. — London: Methuen, 1973.
  4. Jackson P. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  5. Coedès G. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. — Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1968.
  6. Taddesse Tamrat. Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270–1527. — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.

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