Toghon Temür

Toghon Temür took the throne in 1333 after years of succession fights following his father Kusala's death, spending his early reign under the shadow of powerful ministers like El Temür and Bayan until he orchestrated Bayan's ousting in 1340. Under minister Toqto'a, the court completed official histories of three predecessor dynasties, but the 1350s brought catastrophe: natural disasters and fiscal collapse ignited the Red Turban Rebellion in 1351. By 1368, the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang had founded the Ming dynasty and taken Khanbaliq, forcing Toghon Temür north to the Mongolian steppe where his remnant court - the Northern Yuan - continued to claim the emperorship of China. A devoted student of Tibetan Buddhism under successive Karmapas, he died at Yingchang in 1370, two years into exile, succeeded by his son Biligtü Khan.