KUBAN, a territory in s. Russia, at the foot of the Caucasus range of mountains, in Ciscaucasia, 36,251 sq.m.; pop. '71, 672,224. It is the land of the Kuban Cossacks, numbering nearly half a million, who arc governed by a lieutenant-general, with capital Yekaterinodar, on the Black sea.
KiJBLAI KHAN (called by the Chinese Cm-Tsou), more properly K U tILAI K HAN, the khagan or grand khan of the Mongols, and emperor of China. was the grandson of Genghis Khan 1 h rough his fourth son, Tuly Khan. Being ordered by his then khagan of the Mongols, to subjugate the Corea and China, Kfiblai Khan, availing himself of an application made by Si Tsong of the Song dynasty to aid him in expelling the Mantclifts, entered China (1260) with an immense army, drove out these Tartars (or Kin dynasty), and took possession of north China. Khan, who was an able and energetic prince, adopted the Chinese mode of civilization, 'and endented himself to his subjects by his attention to men of letters, and the favors which he bestowed on the memory of their foriner renowned monarchs. In 1279 he completed the ruin of the Song
dynasty by invading and subduing southern China, and founding a new dynasty—that of the Yuen (the first foreign race of kings that ever ruled in China). From 1259 KAI)lei Khan had been the khagau of the Mongols, so that his dominions now extended from the Frozen ocean to the strait of Malacca, and from the Corea to Asia Minor—:n extent of territory the like of which had never before, and has never since, been governed by any one monarch. Marco Polo visited his court. Irritated by the failure of an expedi tion against Japan, he indemnified himself by the conquest of _HanleIlium and other dis tricts; but soon after died at Pekin iu1294. The grand dukes of Russia were among his tributaries.