Kaidu

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Kaidu or Qaidu, (1230 - 1301) was the son of Güyük Khan, a maternal grandson of Ögedei Khan and a great-grandson of Genghis Khan and Börte. He administered part of western China during the 13th century (Yuan Dynasty), and opposed the rule of his cousin, Kublai Khan.

In 1260, Marco Polo described Yarkand, part of the area under Kaidu as "five days' journey in extent; that its inhabitants were mostly Muslim although there were also some Nestorian and Jacobite Assyrians; and that it had plenty of food and other necessities, "especially cotton."

Kaidu controlled eastern Turkestan (modern Xinjiang Uighur) and, for a time, much of Mongolia proper, including Karakorum, the former capital of the Mongol Empire. Since about 1263, when Kublai Khan was liquidating the rebellion of his own brother Ariq Boke, Kaidu would be waging almost continuous warfare for more than 30 years against Kublai and his successors, without ever managing to overthrow their might. By 1269 he had himself recognized by some Mongol tribes and chieftains as their rightful Khan, but eventually fell in 1301, when defeated near Karakorum and killed during a desperate flight.

Medieval chroniclers often mistranslated Kadan as Kaidu, mistakenly placing Kaidu at the Battle of Legnica. Kadan was the brother of Güyük, and Kaidu's uncle.^[1]