SALADIN

EGYPT/SYRIA
​(r.1174-1193)

• leader of the Muslims in the Third Crusade
• captured Jerusalem in 1187 and reconquered most of the crusader outposts for Islam

MARCO POLO

VENICE
(1254–1324)

• Venetian merchant and traveler whose accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade

KUBLAI KHAN

MONGOL EMPIRE/CHINA (YUAN DYNASTY)
(r.1260–1294)

• ​Grandson of Genghis Khan, fifth emperor of the Mongol Empire and founder of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China.

FERDINAND AND  ISABELLA

NORMANY/ENGLAND
F (r.1479–1516) I(r.1474–1504)

• became king and queen of a united Spain after centuries of Islamic domination
  
• made Spain a strong Christian nation under the Spanish Inquisition
  
• provided funding to overseas exploration, notably Christopher Columbus.

RICHARD I (THE LIONHEART)

ENGLAND
​(r.1189–1199)

• launched the Third Crusade to retake Jerusalem after it fell to Muslim forces in 1187
• reclaimed Acre, but could not take Jerusalem

GENGHIS KHAN

MONGOL EMPIRE
(r.1206–1227)

• real name is Temujin who united the Mongol tribes into an unstoppable fighting force as a strategic genius
• created the largest single land empire in history expanding from the Sea of Japan in Asia to Hungarian Plains in Eastern Europe

JOAN OF ARC

FRANCE
(1412–1431)

• ​​French peasant girl, heroine and military leader who rallied French troops at the Siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years War to resist the English
• captured and executed by the English for witchcraft

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