The year was 1281. Kublai Khan, the Mongol conqueror, had established the Yuan dynasty in China just ten years before. Anxious to expand his territory, he set his sights on Japan. Kublai Khan had tried to invade the Japanese islands once before, in 1274, but that attempt ended in disaster. This new invasion was to be so devastating that the Japanese samurai would not stand a chance. After all, the Mongols were putting some 4,400 ships and 140,000 men into the fight.
The 1281 invasion turned out to be an even bigger catastrophe for the Mongols than the earlier calamity. As the Mongol navy attempted to land on Japan’s shores, a massive typhoon pummeled the ships for two days straight. The typhoon became known as kamikaze, or “divine wind.” Now it appears that the ships sunk by the kamikaze have been found, buried beneath several feet of sand, off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. Archaeologists have found hundreds of artifacts and the hull of a ship that measured 20 meters (almost 66 feet). The artifacts helped to identify the ship as a Mongol vessel. There are no plans to salvage the hull at this time. It has been covered by a net for protection.
To some extent, the disaster may have been Kublai Khan’s own fault. A 15th-century Korean chronicle tells that the Mongol emperor was in such a hurry to build his gigantic armada that he reused some riverboats. Those flatbottomed boats were fine for use on the quiet rivers, but totally unsuitable as oceangoing ships. Without curved keels to avoid capsizing, the riverboats were no match for the kamikaze, and thus carried thousands of men to the bottom of the sea.
Image credit: © Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy
Related Links
- Kublai Khan’s Kamikaze Ships Possibly Found
Read about the undersea archaeological find at this site.
(Source: CNN, October 27, 2011) - Divers Find 13th-Century Wreck from Kublai Khan’s Mongol Invasion Fleet That Was Destroyed by “Divine” Typhoon
View a map, underwater photos, and an illustration of what a Mongol ship may have looked like.
(Source: Daily Mail Online, October 26, 2011) - Wreck from Kublai Khan’s Lost Fleet Found Off Japan
This site provides details and context about the Mongol invasions of Japan.
(Source: The History Blog, October 26, 2011)
i loved the how it provide many details that takes about fansting history story that i just reard
1281 invasion turned out to be an even bigger catastrophe for the Mongols than the earlier calamity. As the Mongol navy attempted to land on Japan’s shores, a massive typhoon pummeled the ships for two days straight.
1281 invasion turned out to be an even bigger catastrophe for the Mongols than the earlier calamity. As the Mongol navy attempted to land on Japan’s shores, a massive typhoon pummeled the ships for two days straight.
Prior Proper Planning, people!
Prior Proper Planning, people!
This story is very interseted and gives you more curiosity on ther informatrion. And iots incredible how all of a sudden a typhoon comes out of no where
I saw a funny video of him
It says that the typhoon pummeled them for 2 days straight and it was called Kamikaze, and kamikaze’s typhooned america in 1941. hmm… interesting.
Pretty interesting (:
this was all in mulan!!!!!!!!!
INTERESTING