Northern Yuan in the context of "Great Khan"

The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai (Emperor Shizu or Setsen Khan), the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In Chinese history, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty.

Although Genghis Khan's enthronement as Khagan in 1206 was described in Chinese as the Han-style title of Emperor and the Mongol Empire had ruled territories including modern-day northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Han style, and the conquest was not complete until 1279 when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yamen. His realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including modern-day Mongolia. It was the first dynasty founded by a non-Han ethnicity that ruled all of China proper. In 1368, following the defeat of the Yuan forces by the Ming dynasty, the Genghisid rulers retreated to the Mongolian Plateau and continued to rule until 1635 when they surrendered to the Later Jin dynasty (which later evolved into the Qing dynasty). The rump state is known in historiography as the Northern Yuan.

Dayan Khan (/ˈdaɪən xɑːn/; Mongolian: Даян Хаан [ˈtajɴ ˈχaːɴ]), born Batumöngke (Middle Mongol: [b̥atʰʊ̆møŋkʰĕ], Modern Mongol: [paʰtmɵŋx]; Chinese: 巴圖蒙克 Bātúméngkè; 1472–1517) was a khagan of the Northern Yuan dynasty, reigning from 1480 to 1517. During his rule, he reunited the Mongols under Chinggisid supremacy. His reigning title, "Dayan", means "the whole" or "long lasting" in Mongolian language as he was the longest reigning khagan of the unified Mongols.

Dayan Khan eliminated Oirat and the great Khan of chagatai Altnaa power and abolished the taishi system used by both local and foreign warlords. Dayan Khan's victory at Dalan Tergin reunified the Mongols and solidified their identity as Chinggisid people. His decision to divide the six tumens of Eastern Mongolia as fiefs for his sons created decentralized but stable Borjigin rule over the Mongolian Plateau for a century.

Grand Preceptor, also referred to as Grand Master, was the seniormost of the Three Ducal Ministers or Excellencies, the top three civil positions of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The other two were Grand Tutor and Grand Protector. The titles and duties of these positions changed over time. The title of Grand Preceptor was revived during the later parts of the Han dynasty, notably by Dong Zhuo, then Chancellor of State.

It was also used by the Northern Yuan as a title for powerful nobles who were not part of the Chinggisid lineage.

The Later Jin, officially known as Jin or the Great Jin, was a Jurchen-led royal dynasty of China and a khanate ruled by the House of Aisin-Gioro in Manchuria, as the precursor to the Qing dynasty. Established in 1616 by the Jianzhou Jurchen chieftain Nurhaci upon his reunification of the Jurchen tribes, its name was derived from the earlier Jin dynasty founded by the Wanyan clan which had ruled northern China in the 12th and 13th centuries.

In 1635, the lingering Northern Yuan dynasty under Ejei Khan formally submitted to the Later Jin. The following year, Hong Taiji officially renamed the realm to "Great Qing", thus marking the start of the Qing dynasty. During the Ming–Qing transition, the Qing conquered Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty and various Southern Ming claimants and loyalists, going on to rule an empire comprising all of China, stretching as far as Tibet, Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Taiwan until the 1911 Revolution established the Republic of China.

The Qing dynasty in Inner Asia was the expansion of the Qing dynasty's realm in Inner Asia in the 17th and the 18th century AD, including both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, both Manchuria (Northeast China) and Outer Manchuria, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

Wars were fought primarily against the Northern Yuan (before 1636) and the Dzungar Khanate (1687–1758). Even before the conquest of China proper (see Transition from Ming to Qing), the Manchus had established the Later Jin dynasty that controlled Manchuria (modern Northeast China as well as Outer Manchuria) and Inner Mongolia, with the latter being previously controlled by the Northern Yuan under Ligdan Khan.