Exploration & Expansion in the 13th century

71 sourced entries, 1200 CE to 1299 CE, oldest first. Also see Exploration & Expansion across every century or everything else in the 13th century.

• 1200February 17 – Al-Adil I, Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, Jerusalem, and parts of the Jazira takes control of Egypt, and is recognized as sultan of the Ayyubid Empire. During his reign, he promotes trade and good relations with the Crusader States. His son Al-Kamil becomes the effective ruler (viceroy) of Egypt.source
• 1201Spring – A treaty is signed between the Crusade leaders and Venice. Doge Enrico Dandolo agrees to manufacture a fleet capable of transporting the Crusader army to the Levant, and to provide provisions for 33,500 men and 4,500 horses, for the price of 85,000 silver marks while Venice will also take half of whatever the expedition conquers. As part of this deal the Venetians will provide – at their own expense – sufficient ships to carry the Crusader forces, plus 50 galleys to defend it.source
• 1202The Almohad fleet expels the Banu Ghaniya from the Balearic Islands.source
• 1202Summer – The Crusader army, encamped on the island of San Niccolo di Lido, between the Venetian Lagoon and the Adriatic Sea, is threatened by Doge Enrico Dandolo to keep them interned unless full payment is made as agreed in 1201. As the Crusaders wait on the Lido for men to arrive, they also use up food supplies that Venice has agreed to supply. Dandolo faces a financial catastrophe, having halted Venice's commerce for a year to prepare the expedition. The Crusader lords can offer Dandolo only 51,000 silver marks.source
• 1203April 20 – The Crusader army evacuates Zara (modern Zadar) and sets sail to Corfu; Boniface of Montferrat and Doge Enrico Dandolo stay behind to await Prince Alexios Angelos. After a brief pause at Durrës (modern Albania), the fleet reaches Corfu. Meanwhile, news of its approach (through spies) has reached Emperor Alexios III Angelos at Constantinople. He gives order to strengthen the city walls and the fortifications.source
• 1203May – June – The Crusader fleet rounds Greece and stops at Negroponte (modern-day Halkis), where the local authorities submit to Alexios Angelos. Encouraged by this, the Crusader leaders send him and several ships to extend his authority over the neighboring island of Andros. Mid-June, the Crusader fleet sails from Greece to Abydos, where it enters the Dardanelles.source
• 1203August–October – Alexios IV leads a Crusader expedition (some 6,000 men) to extend his central-government control, against the fugitive Alexios III in Thrace. Meanwhile, a Crusader fleet operates in the Sea of Marmara in support of the Thracian campaign. The Crusaders seize several towns, including Adrianople, while Alexios escapes and withdraws to Macedonia.source
• 1203The Oeselians ravage Danish Scania. The returning pirates later skirmish with the German settlers of Riga, near Visby in Gotland.source
• 1209King Philip II of France ("Augustus") grants a "conduit" to merchants, going to the Champagne fairs (a trade fair organized in different towns of the County of Champagne), guaranteeing the safety of their travel – as any attempt made against them – is now to be considered a crime of lèse-majesté (an offense against the king). The decision increases again the appeal of the fairs to merchants from Italy and the Low Countries.source
• 12101210–1211 – Shazi creates the Pen Box, from Persia (Iran) or Afghanistan (it is now kept at Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).source
• 1211John sends a gift of herrings to nunneries in almost every shire, despite his status as an excommunicant.source
• 1212The Teutonic Order builds Bran Castle in the Burzenland (modern Romania) as a fortified position at the entrance of a mountain pass through which traders can travel. The Teutonic Knights build another five castles, some of them made of stone. Their rapid expansion in Hungary makes the nobility and clergy, who are previously uninterested in those regions, jealous and suspicious.source
• 1217December – King John I of Jerusalem leads an expedition into Lebanon. On December 3, he undertakes fruitless assaults on Muslim fortresses and on Mount Tabor. Meanwhile, the Crusader army under Andrew II wanders across the Jordan Valley and up the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. During the occupation, Andrew spends his time collecting alleged relics. By the end of December, supplies run out, and the crusaders retreat to Acre.source
• 1222Livonian Crusade – The Danish fail in their attempt to conquer Saaremaa Island from the Estonians.source
• 1225March 23 – Prince Richard of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III of England, and his uncle William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, depart England on with 77 warriors on an expedition to fight in Aquitaine in France, and soon land at Bordeaux, then on to capture La Rochelle. As the expedition progresses, Richard's expedition captures La Réole and Bergerac by November.source
• 1228The first evidence is uncovered of the use of the Knights Templar as cashiers by King Henry III of England, to safely transfer important sums to the continent, using letters of exchange. This shows that large transfers could take place across Europe, even before the emergence of important networks of Italian merchant-bankers.source
• 1228The Transylvanian town of Reghin is first mentioned, in a charter of King Andrew II of Hungary.source
• 1229September 5 – A Catalan-Aragonese expeditionary army under King James I (the Conqueror) embarks with 155 ships, 1,500 knights and 15,000 men from Tarragona, Salou, and Cambrils, in southern Catalonia. He sets sail to conquer Majorca. On December 31, James finally conquers the island from the Almohad ruler, Abu Yahya.source
• 1229October 13 – King Henry III calls for an army to be assembled at Portsmouth to be transported to Normandy to regain lost territories from the French. A large army of knights turns up ready to go but not enough ships have been provided. Henry blames Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent for the fiasco and in his rage will have killed him if Ranulf of Chester has not intervened. This marks the beginning of the rift between Henry and Hubert de Burgh. Meanwhile, the expedition is postponed until mid-1230.source
• 1232The northern French city of Troyes issues its first recorded life annuities, confirming the trend of consolidation of local public debts initiated in 1218, by the neighboring city of Reims.source
• 1236King Kalinga Magha ("the Tyrant") is expelled from Polonnaruwa to Jaffna, capital of the Jaffna Kingdom (located in modern Sri Lanka).source
• 1236The Mongols under Batu Khan, eldest of Jochi, sweep across Central Asia. They settle in the Russian steppe, curtailing the power of the Kievan Rus', extracting tribute from their neighbors, and disrupting their relationship with the Byzantine Empire.source
• 1237Cölln, twin city of the later built Alt-Berlin, is founded on the Fischerinsel. The town becomes a trade center, which is linked with Magdeburg and Frankfurt an der Oder.source
• 1239September 1 – Barons' Crusade: A Crusader force (some 1,500 knights) under King Theobald I of Navarre arrives at Acre. At a council of local barons – most prominently Walter IV of Brienne, Odo of Montbéliard, Balian of Beirut, John of Arsuf, and Balian of Sidon – plans are made to prepare an expedition against the Ayyubids in Egypt. Later, Theobald is joined by some Crusaders from Cyprus.source
• 1239Autumn – King Béla IV of Hungary allows some 40,000 Cumans, pagan nomads fleeing the Mongols, to settle in Hungary between the rivers Danube and Theiss, after their leader, Köten, has promised to convert to Christianity.source
• 1240Alexander Nevsky quarrels with the nobles (boyars) and merchants of Novgorod, probably about peaceful trade with the westerners. He is banished, along with his mother, wife and his druzhina to take up residence in the region around Moscow, a minor town on the western border of the Grand Principality of Vladimir.source
• 1242May – Isabella of Angoulême, mother of Henry III, persuades him to mount an expedition to retake Poitou. On May 20, Henry arrives at Royan and joins the rebelling French nobles – forming an army (some 30,000 men). Louis IX exchanges letters with Henry to resolve the conflict, but the dispute escalates further.source
• 1247The Egyptian fleet (some 20 galleys) confronts the Crusader ships led by Baldwin of Ibelin at Ascalon. But before contact is made, it is caught in a sudden Mediterranean storm. Many of the Muslim ships are driven ashore and wrecked; the survivors sail back to Egypt.source
• 1247Summer – King Henry I ("the Fat") sends a Cypriot squadron of 8 galleys with 100 knights led by Baldwin of Ibelin, to Acre. With the support of the Italian colonists, they fitted out 7 more galleys and some 50 lighter ships, to relieve the siege at Ascalon – which is now blockaded by the Egyptian fleet.source
• 1248August 25 – Louis IX departs from Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles with a French expeditionary force (some 10,000 men) transported by 100 ships. An English detachment (some 5,000 men) under William Longespée the Younger, grandson of King Henry III, and his mistress Ida de Tosny follows close behind with 36 transport ships.source
• 1249May 13 – King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") assembles a Crusader fleet of 120 transports and embarks an army (some 15,000 men) at Limassol. Unfortunately, a storm scatters the ships a few days later. On May 30, Louis sets sail to Egypt – only a quarter of his forces sails with him, the others make their way independently to the Egyptian coast. Finally, the royal squadron arrives off Damietta on June 4 aboard Louis' flagship the Montjoie. The king's advisers urges a delay until the rest of his transports arrive before attempting to disembark, but Louis refuses.source
• 1249Summer – Second Swedish Crusade: A Swedish expedition led by Birger Jarl subjugates the province of Tavastia – securing Swedish power in Finland. As a part of the Treaty of Lödöse Birger marries off his 11-year-old daughter Rikissa to Haakon the Young, ruler and eldest son of King Haakon IV of Norway.source
• 1249Winter – William of Villehardouin tours the Peloponnese and selects sites for new fortifications such as Grand Magne and Leuktron. At Mystras (ancient Sparta), he builds a fortress and a palace.source
• 1250July 22 – Egyptian politician Bahaa el-Din bin Hanna appointed Vizier of Egypt as the first vizier in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.source
• 1252July – The settlement of Stockholm in Sweden is founded, by Birger Jarl.source
• 1252The Lithuanian city of Klaipėda (Memel) is founded by the Teutonic Knights.source
• 1252Thomas Aquinas travels to the University of Paris, to begin his studies there for a master's degree.source
• 1253May – Louis IX of France ("the Saint") dispatches William of Rubruck from Constantinople on a missionary journey to Karakorum to seek an alliance against Syrian and Egyptian Muslims.source
• 1254January 4 – William of Rubruck, Flemish missionary and explorer, is received courteously with an embassy at Karakorum. He is given an audience with Möngke Khan, who is loaded with gifts and letters from Louis IX.source
• 1254April 24 – Louis IX and his family sail from Acre to France. His boat is nearly wrecked off the coast of Cyprus and later nearly destroyed by fire. In July, the royal party arrives at Hyères in Provence.source
• 1254The Rhenish League, a confederation of trading cities, is established in the Rhineland, Western Germany. The league (or Städtebund) comprises 59 cities.source
• 1255The Teutonic Knights in Prussia found Königsberg (modern-day Kaliningrad) and name it in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia.source
• 1256October – Mongol forces led by Baiju Noyan (operating under Hulagu Khan's command) win a victory over Kaykaus II, Seljuk ruler of the Sultanate of Rum, and capture Anatolia. Kaykaus flees to the Byzantine court where he seeks refuge at Constantinople. The Empire of Trebizond fearing a potential punitive Mongol expedition, becomes a vassal state and is forced to pay a tribute tax every year in gold and silk.source
• 1257The pagan Karelians start a destructive expedition to Sweden in which King Valdemar requests Alexander IV to declare a crusade against them. This leads to the Third Swedish Crusade to Finland (1293–95).source
• 1260Croatia is divided into two sub-regions ruled by ban: the Croatian region on the south and Slavonian region on the north, by King Béla IV of Hungary.source
• 1263July – Scottish–Norwegian War: King Haakon IV of Norway ("the Old") assembles a fleet (some 120 warships), and sets sail to defend the Hebrides, in an attempt to reassert Norwegian sovereignty over the Western Isles of Scotland. Haakon stops at the Isle of Arran, where in August negotiations are started with the 21-year-old King Alexander III of Scotland. The talks are prolonged by the Scots until the autumn storms begin.source
• 1265Kublai Khan sends a delegation to Japan, which loots islands along the way.source
• 1266Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, father and uncle of Marco Polo, reach the Mongol capital Khanbaliq (modern-day Beijing), setting the stage for Marco's famous expedition 5 years later. Kublai Khan sends the Polos back with a message, requesting that Pope Clement IV dispatch western scholars to teach in the Mongol Empire; however, this request is largely ignored.source
• 1268The town of Guta is founded (currently Kolárovo, Slovakia).source
• 1269September – An Aragonese contingent under King James I ("the Conqueror") sails from Barcelona to the Holy Land but is caught in a storm and badly damaged. One squadron reaches Acre, but later returns to Catalonia.source
• 1271The 17-year-old Marco Polo departs from Venice with his father and uncle Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, to set off for Asia to meet the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan (the grandson of Genghis Khan) at his court in Beijing, China. They sail across the Mediterranean Sea and travel overland, crossing Armenia, Persia and the Pamir Mountains.source
• 1272May 22 – King Hugh III of Cyprus ("the Great") signs a peace with Sultan Baibars, Mamluk ruler of Egypt, at Caesarea. The Kingdom of Jerusalem is guaranteed for 10 years the possession of its present lands, which consists mainly of the narrow coastal plain from Acre to Sidon, together with the right to use without hindrance the pilgrim-road to Nazareth. The County of Tripoli is safeguarded by the peace treaty.source
• 1273January 22 – Sultan Muhammad I (or Ibn al-Ahmar) suffers fatal injuries after falling from his horse near the city of Granada during a minor military expedition. He is succeeded by his son Muhammad II, who becomes ruler of the Emirate of Granada. Muhammad enters negotiations with King Alfonso X ("the Wise") to make peace with Castile, but he refuses to grant a truce to the Banu governors (arraeces) of Málaga and Guadix in Andalusia.source
• 1274Nichiren, Japanese priest and philosopher, enters exile on Mount Minobu. He leads a widespread movement of followers in Kantō and Sado mainly through his prolific letter-writing.source
• 1275May 13 – Marinid forces led by Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq land in Spain upon a call from Muhammad II, ruler of Granada. With a fleet of 20 ships organized at Ceuta, some 5,000 men are transported from Alcázar Seguir to Tarifa without meeting any significant Christian opposition. The Maranids raid as far as the towns of Vejer de la Frontera and Jerez.source
• 1275Rabban Bar Sauma, Chinese Nestorian monk, embarks on a pilgrimage from China to Jerusalem. He travels to Hotan, Kashgar, Taraz and Khorasan (modern Afghanistan).source
• 1280The ancestors of the Māori people from eastern Polynesia become the first human settlers of New Zealand.source
• 1281October 18 – Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos is excommunicated by Pope Martin IV without any warning or provocation. Martin authorizes Charles I, king of Sicily, to make a Crusade against Michael, who has re-established his rule in Constantinople. Charles prepares an expedition in Sicily and assembles a fleet of 100 ships, and 300 more in Naples, Provence, and the Greek territories, which carry some 8,000 cavalrymen.source
• 1281Guy of Dampierre, count of Flanders, licenses the first Lombard merchants to open a changing business in his realm.source
• 1282July – Alfonso X of Castile allies himself with Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq, ruler of the Marinid Sultanate, who crosses the straits and establishes a camp at Zahara de la Sierra, in southern Spain. Alfonso offers the Castilian royal crown of his father and grandfathers as a pledge of re-payment of a loan. Out of pity, Abu Yusuf gives him 100,000 gold dinars.source
• 1282August 30 – Peter III of Aragon, traveling with his fleet on a military expedition against Tunis, ends up in the Sicilian town of Trapani, after being asked by the inhabitants of Palermo to help in the fight against Charles I.source
• 1283June 29 – Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq sets out for a punitive expedition and marches from Córdoba to Jaén and Úbeda, and then northwards through difficult terrain. On the third day after crossing al-burt, the Marinid forces attack Montiel (a fortress belonging to the Order of Santiago) and Almedina.source
• 1287May 14 – Nayan, Mongol prince of the Borjigin clan, revolts against the rule of Kublai Khan. Kublai leads a punitive expedition against Nayan in Manchuria and defeats his forces on July 16.source
• 1287Winter – Two unidentified 'merchants' travel from Alexandria to Cairo to warn Qalawun of the economic dangers posed by Genoese domination in the eastern Mediterranean, which leaves the Mamluk trade at their mercy. Qalawun accepts the invitation to intervene, and breaks the truce with Tripoli.source
• 1287An Aragonese fleet raids the Tunisian Kerkennah Islands in the Gulf of Gabès.source
• 1291Spring – The brothers Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi, Italian explorers and merchants from Genoa, embark with two galleys intending to reach India and establish a trade route to Italy. They sail along the coast of present-day Morocco after passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. They may have followed the African coast as far as Cape Non before being lost at sea.source
• 1292The Vaghela dynasty in Gujarat (located along the western coast of India) is subjugated by the Deccan Seuna (Yadava) dynasty of Daulatabad.source
• 1293Kublai Khan sends a fleet to the islands of Southeast Asia, including Java.source
• 1297August 22 – Edward I of England leads an expedition to Flanders. He moves with an army (some 8,000 men) supported by 800 knights to Ghent and makes the city his base of operations in Flanders.source
• 1297Summer – Edward I of England orders a punitive expedition against the rebellious Scots. At Roxburgh, an army of some 9,000 men (including 2,000 cavalry) led by John de Warenne is assembled. Meanwhile, William Wallace leaves the forest of Selkirk with reinforcements and turns his attention north of the River Forth.source
• 1299William Wallace accompanied by a Scottish retinue goes abroad to France on a diplomatic mission, evidently to canvas support for the kingship of John Balliol.source