Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus (lit. 'Great State' in Kipchak Turkic),[8] was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire.[9] With the division of the Mongol Empire after 1259, it became a functionally separate khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or as the Ulus of Jochi,[a] and it replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.[10]
This article is about the Mongol khanate established in the 13th century. For other uses, see Golden Horde (disambiguation).
Great Stateاولوغ اولوس
Ulug Ulus
Ulug Ulus
- Nomadic empire
- Division of the Mongol Empire (until 1313/68)
- Tengrism
- Shamanism
- Nestorianism
- Tibetan Buddhism (1240s–1313)
- Islam (1313–1502)
Semi-elective monarchy, later hereditary monarchy
1242
1379
1466
1480
1502[1]
6,000,000 km2 (2,300,000 sq mi)
After the death of Batu Khan (the founder of the Golden Horde) in 1255, his dynasty flourished for a full century, until 1359, though the intrigues of Nogai instigated a partial civil war in the late 1290s. The Horde's military power peaked during the reign of Uzbeg Khan (1312–1341), who adopted Islam. The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak extended from Siberia and Central Asia to parts of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube in the west, and from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea in the south, while bordering the Caucasus Mountains and the territories of the Mongol dynasty known as the Ilkhanate.[10]
The khanate experienced violent internal political disorder known as the Great Troubles (1359–1381), before it briefly reunited under Tokhtamysh (1381–1395). However, soon after the 1396 invasion of Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire, the Golden Horde broke into smaller Tatar khanates which declined steadily in power. At the start of the 15th century, the Horde began to fall apart. By 1466, it was being referred to simply as the "Great Horde". Within its territories there emerged numerous predominantly Turkic khanates. These internal struggles allowed Moscow to formally rid itself of the "Tatar yoke" at the Great Stand on the Ugra River in 1480, which traditionally marks the end of Mongol rule over Russia.[11] The Crimean Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate, the last remnants of the Golden Horde, survived until 1783 and 1847 respectively, when they were conquered by the expanding Russian state.
Disintegration and succession
Khanate of Sibir (1405)
The Khanate of Sibir was ruled by a dynasty originating with Taibuga in 1405 at Chimgi-Tura. After his death in 1428, the khanate was ruled by the Uzbek khan Abu'l-Khayr Khan. When he died in 1468, the khanate split in two, with the Shaybanid Ibak Khan situated in Chimgi-Tura, and the Taibugid Muhammad at the fortress of Sibir, from which the khanate derives its name.[131]
Uzbek Khanate (1428)
After 1419, the Golden Horde functionally ceased to exist. Ulugh Muhammad was officially Khan of the Golden Horde but his authority was limited to the lower banks of the Volga where Tokhtamysh's other son Kepek also reigned. The Golden Horde's influence was replaced in Eastern Europe by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who Ulugh Muhammad turned to for support. The political situation in the Golden Horde did not stabilize. In 1422, the grandson of Urus Khan, Barak Khan, attacked the reigning khans in the west. Within two years, Ulugh, Kepek, and another claimant Dawlat Berdi, were defeated. Ulugh Muhammad fled to Lithuania, Kepek tried to raid Odoyev and Ryazan but failed to establish himself in those regions, and Dawlat took advantage of the situation to seize Crimea. Barak defeated an invasion by Ulugh Beg in 1427 but was assassinated the next year. His successor, Abu'l-Khayr Khan, founded the Uzbek Khanate.[132]
Nogai Horde (1440s)
By the 1440s, a descendant of Edigu by the name of Musa bin Waqqas was ruling at Saray-Jük as an independent khan of the Nogai Horde.[133]
Khanate of Kazan (1445)
Ulugh Muhammad ousted Dawlat Berdi from Crimea. At the same time, the khan Hacı I Giray fled to Lithuania to ask Vytautas for support. In 1426, Ulugh Muhammad contributed troops to Vytautas' war against Pskov. Despite the Golden Horde's greatly reduced status, both Yury of Zvenigorod and Vasily Kosoy still visited Ulugh Muhammad's court in 1432 to request a grand ducal patent. A year later, Ulugh Muhammad lost the throne to Sayid Ahmad I, a son of Tokhtamysh. Ulugh Muhammad fled to the town of Belyov on the upper Oka River, where he came into conflict with Moscow. Vasily II of Moscow attempted to drive him out but was defeated at the Battle of Belyov. Ulugh Muhammad became master of Belyov. Ulugh Muhammad continued to exert influence on Moscow, occupying Gorodets in 1444. Vasily II even wanted him to issue him a patent for the throne, but Ulugh Muhammad attacked him instead at Murom in 1445. On 7 July, Vasily II was defeated and taken prisoner by Ulugh Muhammad at the Battle of Suzdal. Despite his victory, Ulugh Muhammad's situation was pressed. The Golden Horde was no more, he had barely 10,000 soldiers, and thus could not press the advantage against Moscow. A few months later he released Vasily II for a ransom of 25,000 rubles. Unfortunately, Ulugh Muhammad was murdered by his son, Mäxmüd of Kazan, who fled to the middle Volga region and founded the Khanate of Kazan in 1445.[134] In 1447, Mäxmüd sent an army against Moscow but was repelled.[135]
Crimean Khanate (1449)
In 1449, Hacı I Giray seized Crimea from Ahmad I, and founded the Crimean Khanate.[135] The Crimean Khanate considered its state as the heir and legal successor of the Golden Horde and Desht-i Kipchak, called themselves khans of "the Great Horde, the Great State and the Throne of the Crimea".[136][137]
Qasim Khanate (1452)
One of Ulugh Muhammad's sons, Qasim Khan, fled to Moscow, where Vasily II granted him land that became the Qasim Khanate.[135]
Kazakh Khanate (1458)
In 1458, Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan led 200,000 of Abu'l-Khayr Khan's followers eastwards to the Chu River where Esen Buqa II of Moghulistan granted them pasture lands. After Abu'l-Khayr Khan died in 1467, they assumed leadership over most of his followers, and became the Kazakh Khanate.[138]
Genetics
A 2016 study analyzed the DNA of 5 skeletons in Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia dated between 1130–1250 AD, which are believed to be members of the Mongol Golden Family based on contextual evidence.[178] The male individuals possibly associated with the Golden Family belonged to the West Eurasian paternal haplogroup R1b-M343, while one male of commoner status belonged to R1a.[179][180] Four of the skeletons belonged to the East Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups D4 and CZ.[181] All the skulls dated from Tavan Tolgoi graves were anthropologically Mongoloid. Despite their East Asian physical appearance, their genealogical admixture reveals a admixture of East Asian and Caucasian ethnic groups which was attributed to inter-racial marriages between Mongolian plateau females and male migrants from Europe; however the authors could not determine when and how these intermarriages took place but it was likely to have existed through generations of intermixing through their ancestors, before the existence of the Golden family.[182]
The study proposed multiple theories as to how the bodies were related to the Golden Family. The Tavan Tolgoi bodies could have been product of marriages between the female lineage of Genghis Khan’s Borjigin clan and the male lineage of either the Hongirad clans or the Ongud. The Ongud were a tribe that may have originated in West Asia and were descended from the Shatuo Turks, suggesting that they may have had a Caucasoid appearance based on the fact they were carriers of haplogroup R1b. Contemporary records from the Later Tang (923–937 AD) described some male Shatuo Turks as having deep set eyes with whiskers as well as slim bodies with light complexion.[183][184] Many Ongud were resettled in the Golden Horde as administrators. Authors suggested that the Genghis Khan’s male lineage may have had some Caucasoid-specific genetic features because of descriptions in Rashid al-Din Hamadani's "Compendium of Chronicles" written in the 14th century. The bodies could have been related to Genghis Khan's male lineage, which they propose had R1b. It is also possible the bodies were related to Genghis Khan's relatives or his generals who were not part of the male-lineage Borjigin clan.[185]
These authors noted that there is a close link between the current day distribution of haplogroup R1b and the spread of the Mongol Empire, especially in the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate; and that the descendants of the Tavan Tolgoi specimens are now located mainly in West Eurasia, rather than Mongolia.[186] A close association was observed between haplogroup R1b-M343 and the descendants of the Golden Horde, with a high frequency of R1b-M343 among Bashkirs and Eastern Russian Tatars, implying they may be direct descendants of the Tavan Tolgoi specimens. However R1b is largely absent from Mongolia, which the authors propose may have been caused by mass migration of Golden Family members and the Ongud to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, or massacres of Borjigin members there while West Eurasia was relatively safe.[187][188]
A 2018 genetic study published in Nature examined the remains of two males buried in the Ulytau District in Kazakhstan c. 1300.[189][190] One male, who was a Buddhist member of the Golden Horde army, was of East Asian ancestry and carried paternal haplogroup C3[191] and the maternal haplogroup D4m2.[192] The other male, who was of West Eurasian (European) ancestry, was a carrier of the paternal haplogroup R1[193] and the maternal haplogroup I1b.[194] According to the authors, this could suggest assimilation of distinct ethnic groups in to the Golden Horde, however he could also be servant or slave.[195]