<P> Nogai and Konchi, the khan of the White Horde, established friendly relations with the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate . Political disagreement among contending branches of the family over the office of great khan continued, but the economic and commercial success of the Mongol Empire continued despite the squabbling . </P> <P> Major changes occurred in the Mongol Empire in the late 1200s . Kublai Khan, after having conquered all of China and established the Yuan dynasty, died in 1294, and was succeeded by his grandson Temür Khan, who continued Kublai's policies . At the same time, the Toluid Civil War, along with the Berke--Hulagu war and the subsequent Kaidu--Kublai war greatly weakened the authority of the great khan over the entirety of the Mongol Empire and the empire fractured into autonomous khanates, including the Yuan dynasty and the three western khanates (the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate). All of them became functionally autonomous; only the Ilkhanate remained loyal to the Yuan court but endured its own power struggle, in part because of a dispute with the growing Islamic factions within the southwestern part of the empire . </P> <P> After the death of Kaidu, the Chatagai ruler Duwa initiated a peace proposal and persuaded the Ögedeids to submit to Temür Khan . In 1304, all khanates approved a peace treaty and accepted Yuan emperor Temür's supremacy . This established the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty over the western khanates . While this supremacy based on nothing like the same foundations as that of the earlier Khagans (such as the continued border clashes among them) and each of the four khanates continued to develop separately and function as different states, the nominal supremacy did last for a few decades . </P> <P> Nearly a century of conquest and civil war was followed by relative stability (Pax Mongolica), and international trade and cultural exchanges flourished between Asia and Europe . Communication between the Yuan dynasty in China and Ilkhanate in Persia further encouraged trade and commerce between east and west . Patterns of Yuan royal textiles could be found on the opposite side of the empire adorning Armenian decorations; trees and vegetables were transplanted across the empire; and technological innovations spread from Mongol dominions towards the West . Pope John XXII was presented a memorandum from the eastern church describing the Pax Mongolica: "...Khagan is one of the greatest monarchs and all lords of the state, e.g., the king of Almaligh (Chagatai Khanate), emperor Abu Said and Uzbek Khan, are his subjects, saluting his holiness to pay their respects ." However, while the four khanates continued to interact with one another well into the 14th century, they did so as sovereign states and never again pooled their resources in a cooperative military endeavor . </P>

The major reason for the decline of the mongol empire was