Who took over the empire after Kublai Khan died? How did he know him?

    After Kublai Khan killed himself from drinking and starvation someone just had to take over. This person was very  important to Kublai Khan because they were both venetian travelers. His name  was Marco Polo and he traveled all through out Italy, Asia, and China and thats how he met Kublai just going all over the world even though back then they thought the world was flat and you would just fall off and never be seen again. I thought people were supposed to be SMART back then!