`  == Fall of the Khaganate == There is a major fallacy in this article that disturbingly repeats itself all over the encyclopedia, to claim that the Mongol Khaganate fell in 1368. There is i believe a serious misunderstandings of what the mongol empire was and what was not, certainly the sources tough incredibly abundant in the internet, are not clear in key concepts like: what was the Mongol Empire and what it was a Mongol Emperor?.  Editors of the encyclopaedia have repeated all over Wikipedia the affirmation that the Mongol Khaganate fell in 1368, that is with the loss of China to the Chinese Ming Dynasty, but to say that the Mongol Khagan authority was dependent on his suzerainty over the Heavenly kingdom is to interpret Mongol history through alien eyes. If to be the Khagan of the Mongols meant to be Emperor of China then certainly we should have to reconsider our view of Genghis Khan as a Mongol Emperor, he would be then by this Sinocentric view a mere tribal chief.   The Mongol Kublayds were certainly traditional Chinese Sons of Heavens (Huángdì or ``Emperor`` in English language) but at the same time they were the Khagans of the Empire of Genghis Khan, it was a personal union. The Kublayds were the overlords of the other hordes in Persia, central asia, southern Russia not because they were Emperors of China but because they were the recognized heirs of the Genghis Khan. Therefore after 1368 the descendants of Genghis were certainly not Huángdì of China but they still were the Khagans of the Mongols, that's why the Mongol Empire did not fall in 1368. So the establishment of the Ming Dynasty does not in any way mean the end of the Mongol Empire, only of Mongol rule in China.   So, it comes the question of date. For a Mongol aristocrat to be Khagan of the Mongol he should have certain requisites: first to have a very strong claim of descent from the Great Genghis, then he should have the recognition of the Mongol nobles, and lastly the symbols of authority like the Imperial Seal. I can not say for certain if the Khagans after 1370 met this requisites but even if they didnt then that would mean that the last Khagan would have been Ukhaantu Khan who died in 1370, making 1370 and not 1368 the end of the Empire. Of course we know that after Ukhaantu's death he was succedeed by other Khagans so the next date to take in consideration would be 1634 and the death of Ligdan Khan. Ligdan was a legitimate descendant of Genghis Khan but his strong centralizing policies alienated the Mongolian nobility and his former vassals deserted him to the ore benign Manchues. When he died of smallpox in 1634 the Manchu Khan, Hong Taiji, sent an expedition to find Ligdan's family and they captured Ligdan's son, Ejei Khan, and the Imperial Seal of the Mongols in 1635.   From this comes two questions, was Ejei enthroned as Khagan of the Mongols? if so then to be a legitimate Khagan did they have to do a special type of ritual (say like a coronation ceremony) like the kings of Europe or the Emperor of China? or did the death of the Khagan made his heir presumptive automatically the new Khagan?, if there existed such a ritual and Ejei performed it then he would be the Khagan in 1635 when he surrendered to the Manchu and the end of the Empire would be in 1635, but if he didnt did such ritual or he wastn considered the Khagan automatically afther the death of his father then the end of the Empire would be in 1634 when his father died.     :The same kind of question obviously had occurred in the past. Indeed, there may be several possible options regarding the end year of the Mongol Empire, and certainly more than the options listed above (i.e. 1368, 1370, 1634, 1635). 1368 is not the only option, but indeed a reasonable one, thus supported by many academic sources. The most important thing is not whether Kublayds had became Son of Heaven or not, but the status of the Empire as a whole. The Mongol Empire began to split in the 1260s, and the four major divisions (Yuan, Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate) actually had their own development traces (and may be fighting with each another for example). However, since Yuan was later regarded as the normal suzerain of the other three khanates, it may be still possible to talk about a single Mongol Empire, even though it is pretty much notional (and the inter-khanates wars were still frequent). After 1368 however, even such notional overlordship did no longer exist, and some khanates like Ilkanate already fell earlier or became splitted. Indeed, remnants of some khanates (e.g. of Yuan and Golden Horde) still lasted for