In Asia, the Mongols continued its expansion their territories. Kublai Khan moved his capital to present-day Beijing and renamed his empire the Yuan Dynasty, reflecting the new eastward focus of the empire. The Yuan Dynasty conquered the Southern Song Dynasty of China by the end of the decade. By this time the Mongols had subjugated most of continental Asia. The conquest of Southern Song witnessed the first use of firearms in war. The western Ilkhanate established a capital at Tabriz, in present-day Iran. The Mongols were able to quell the Sambyeolcho Rebellion in Korea and defeat the Nakhi and Pagan Empires, but failed an attempted invasion of Japan in 1274. Marco Polo reached Kublai Khan's summer court Shangdu by 1275, and stayed with the court for over 20 years.
The Mamluk sultanate of Egypt continued to expand its territory and dodge two crusades -- the Eighth Crusade never reached its intended target, and the Ninth rapidly became a failure. The sultan Baibars was successful in expanding his territory as far north as the Sultanate of Rüm in Anatolia, east into Syria, and south into MakurianNubia. After Baibars died in 1277, his successor Qalawun continued expansionist policies.
European culture witnessed the arrival of several important scientific works in translation from centuries-old Arabic sources, including Alhazen's work on optics and Al-Razi's medical works. The two major surveys of the Englishcensus known as the Hundred Rolls were conducted. Thomas Aquinas completed his seminal work Summa Theologica late in 1273, and died in 1274. Leadership of the Catholic Church attempted to address the East-West Schism of the church through the Second Council of Lyons, but despite apparent success the effort was ultimately doomed to fail. In Japan, Nichiren continued to lead a life that would come to be revered in Nichiren Buddhism.
In North America, a severe 23-year drought began in the Grand Canyon area, which would eventually force the local Anasazi people to emigrate from the region.
1274 - November - The diet at Nuremberg orders that all crown estates seized since the death of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor be restored to Rudolph I of Germany; almost all European rulers agree, with the notable exception of King Otakar II of Bohemia, who had benefited greatly by conquering or otherwise coming into possession of many of those lands.
1275 - Eleanor de Montfort is captured by pirates in the employ of Edward I of England to prevent her marriage to Llywelyn the Last, prince of Wales; she is used as a bargaining chip over the coming years in Edward's attempts to subjugate Llywelyn and Wales.
1275 - Scottish forces defeat the Manx of the Isle of Man in a decisive battle, firmly establishing Scottish rule of the island.
1274 - Pope Gregory X decrees that conclaves (meetings during which the electors have no contact with the outside) should be used for papal elections, reforming the electoral process which had taken over three years to elect him.
1275 - April 22 - The first of the Statutes of Westminster are passed by the Englishparliament, establishing a series of laws in its 51 clauses, including equal treatment of rich and poor, free and fair elections, and definition of bailable and non-bailable offenses.
1274 - November 20 - The Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan attempts the first of several invasions of Japan; after capturing outlying islands, the Yuan forces are repulsed on the main island at the Battle of Bun'ei by amassed Japanese warriors and a strong storm which batters their forces and fleet. Credit for the storm — called a kamikaze, or divine wind — is given by the Japanese to the god Raiden.
1277 - Leaders and some 50,000 citizens of the Southern Song Dynasty of China become the first recorded inhabitants of Macau, as they seek refuge from the invading forces of the Yuan Dynasty.
1277 - In Japan, a 20 kilometer stone wall defending the coast of Hakata Bay in Fukuoka is completed; it is built in response to the attempted invasion by the Yuan Dynasty in 1274.
1279 - A diplomatic party of the Yuan Dynasty sent by Kublai Khan to Japan is killed by Japan's regent Hōjō Tokimune, leading to a second invasion attempt by the Mongols in 1281.
1270 - August 25 - King Louis IX of France dies while besieging the city of Tunis, possibly due to poor quality drinking water.
1270 - October 30 - The siege of Tunis and the Eighth Crusade end by an agreement between Charles I of Sicily (Louis IX's brother) and the sultan of Tunis.
1270 - The ancient city of Ashkelon is captured from the crusader states and utterly destroyed by the Mamluk sultan Baibars, who goes so far as to fill in its important harbor, leaving the site desolate and the city never to be rebuilt.
1279 - Mamluk sultan Baraka Khan and emir Qalawun of Egypt invade Armenia; a revolt in Egypt while they are away forces Baraka to abdicate and allows Qalawun to become sultan.
South Asia
1270 - The independent state of Kutch is founded in present-day India.
1276 - A severe 23-year drought begins to affect the Grand Canyon area, eventually forcing the agriculture-dependent Anasazi culture to migrate out of the region.
Culture
Science, literature, and industry
1270 - Witelo translates Alhazen's 200-year-old treatise on optics, Kitab al-Manazir, from Arabic into Latin, bringing the work to European academic circles for the first time.
1270 - December - Crucial aspects of the philosophy of Averroism (itself based on Aristotle's works) are banned by the Catholic church in a condemnation enacted by papal authority at the University of Paris. A second condemnation follows in 1277.
1278 - An edict by Pope Nicholas III requires all Jews to attend conversion sermons.
Buddhism
1271 - September 12 - According to the followers of Nichiren Buddhism, the sect's founder, Nichiren, reaches a turning point known as hosshaku kempon as he discards his identity as a mortal priest and begins to reveal himself as a reincarnation of the Buddha.
1278 - The earliest known written copy of the Avesta, a collection of ancient sacred PersianZoroastrian texts previously passed down orally, is produced.