Far East Kingdoms

Khans of the Grey Horde (Shaibanid Empire)
AD 1500 - 1598

The Shaibanids were Özbegs (Uzbeks), a Turkic tribal people whose leaders were descended from Shiban, son of Jochi Khan of the Golden Horde. By the fifteenth century, they lived in the region of Turkestan, which covered eastern Scythia, Transoxiana, and Greater Khorasan. Today the heartland of this region is formed by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

In 1450, the Shaibanid Uzbegs came to prominence when their leader, Mohammed Shaibani, aided the Timurid prince, Abu Sa'id, to capture Samarkand and the Timurid crown. Following the further fracturing of Timurid territories in 1469, the Shaibanids became more and more of a threat. Just half a century after aiding the Timurids, Mohammed Shaibani overthrew the last of them, taking Samarkand in 1501 and Farghana in 1505. The latter region included a small Timurid principality, and its heir, Babur, was forced to move to Kabul and then India, where he founded the Moghul empire.

1227 - ?

Shiban / Shayban

Son of Jochi of the Golden Horde. Founder of the Shaibanids.

1227

Shiban is too young when his father dies to gain any territories himself, despite being one of Juchi's sub-commanders of the White Horde. Instead, his descendants, the Shaibanids, carve out their own territory in the fifteenth century in Turkestan when they conquer Transoxiana and Khorasan.

1246

The election of Guyuk Khan as Great Khan confirms Batu Khan's fears, so he consolidates his territories to the north of the Caspian Sea and establishes a capital at Sarai Batu (Old Sarai). He converts his territories into a khanate (the equivalent of a kingdom) which becomes known as the Blue Horde. Batu's brothers, Orda and Shiban had also participated in his European campaign, and they now form their own khanates. Orda's khanate, located to the east of the Blue Horde, becomes known as the White Horde, while Shiban's khanate is the relatively obscure Shaibanids. Although both the Blue Horde and White Horde are in effect independent, they still acknowledge the suzerainty of the great khan.

1450 - 1451

Abu Sa'id is one of the claimants for the Timurid crown. After failures in Samarkand and Bukhara, he conquers much of Shaibanid Turkestan in 1450, and in June 1451 takes Samarkand with the aid of the Shaibanid Uzbeks under Mohammed Shaibani, who remains allied to him for his lifetime.

1500 - 1510

Mohammed Shaibani / Shaybani

Former military supporter of the Timurids.

1501 - 1507

Following the Shaibanid conquest of Transoxiana, Khorasan is now threatened. Its ruler does nothing initially, although one of his princes, Babur of Farghana, attempts to fight back. Finally deciding to mobilise in 1506, Husayn dies before he can achieve anything, and the crown is disputed between his sons. Babur withdraws to Kabul to continue the fight but without success until his supporter, the Safavid shah of Persia, takes Samarkand and adjoins it to his own Persian kingdom.

1508 - 1510

Mohammed Shaibani carries out a number of raids to the north against the Kazakh khanate, but is killed on one of them in 1510, bringing the prominence of his short-lived empire to an end.

1510 - 1531

Kochkunju

1531 - 1534

Muzzaffaruddin Abu-Sa'id

1534 - 1539

Abu'l-Ghazi Ubaidullah

1539 - 1540

Abdullah I

1540 - 1552

Abdul-Latif

1552 - 1556

Nawruz Ahmad

1556 - 1561

Pir Mohammed I

1561 - 1583

Iskander

1564 - 1566

Uzbek princes who had been part of the Timurid forces which had invaded India with Babur and who are descended from Mohammed Shaibani himself, support a rival claimant to the Moghul throne and as a result are defeated and killed.

1583 - 1598

Abdullah II

1598

Abdul-Mu'min

1598

Pir Mohammed II

1598

Uzbek power is on the decline, and their territory is occupied by the khanates of Khiva and then Bukhara.