Russia and China began throwing off Mongol rule at almost the same time.
In 1368 rebels drove the Mongols from Beijing and founded the Ming dynasty; twelve years later Dmitry Donskoy defeated Mamai at Kulikovo.
The events
- Founding of the Ming dynasty1368 · Nanjing. Rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang drove out the Mongols and proclaimed the Ming dynasty with its capital at Nanjing. The Ming ruled China for nearly three centuries, rebuilding the Great Wall and raising the Forbidden City in Beijing.
- Battle of Kulikovo1380 · Kulikovo Field. Forces of the Russian principalities led by Grand Prince Dmitry of Moscow defeated the army of the Horde warlord Mamai. The victory raised Moscow's standing as the centre for uniting the Russian lands and earned Dmitry the name Donskoy.
More amazing facts
- 1362 Until 1362 English courts spoke French.
- 1370 · 1941 "Tamerlane" means "Timur the Lame", and his skeleton confirmed it. In 1941 anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov found injuries to the right leg and arm and reconstructed Timur's face from his skull.
- 1373 · 1386 · 1943 An alliance made in the 14th century was invoked in the Second World War. In 1943 Portugal, citing its treaties with England of 1373 and 1386, let the British use bases in the Azores.
- 1377 · 1450 Korean monks printed the Jikji with movable metal type in 1377, some 70 years before Gutenberg's press.
- 1377 The first quarantine lasted thirty days, not forty.
- 1377 Robin Hood first appears as the hero of songs known to a lazy priest.