Far East Kingdoms

Khans of Astrakhan (Tartars)
AD 1465 - 1557

Mongol Tribes All Modern States Central Asia China Korea

The Mongols appear to have been born out of an amalgam of native Turkic and Tungusic groups in north-eastern Central Asia and East Asia. The famous Mongol foundation epic, the Secret History of the Mongols, states that the Mongols reached the steppe from over the 'Tengis' - the sea or lake - twenty-two generations before the birth of 'Chingiz Khan' in AD 1162.

This famous figure, Chingiz Khan, was the first of the 'Great Khans' of the Mongol empire. His death in 1227 created the basis for the empire's later sub-division, something which increasing internal feuding would ensure. In 1246, Batu Khan converted his territories into a khanate which became known as the Blue Horde. His brothers did the same to form the White Horde and the Shaibanids. In 1378 the weakened blue and white hordes were reunited as a single Golden Horde.

The Tarter khanate of Astrakhan was formed in the mid-fifteenth century out of the disintegrating Golden Horde. One of many splinter states, it occupied territory on the north-western shore of the Caspian Sea, bordered to the north and east by the aggressive and normally hostile Nogai Horde (the Nogay or Nogais), with the newly-created Kazan khanate on the eastern side of the Volga, and the Crimean khanate to the west, inland from the Caspian coastal area.

Holding a small area of territory around the mouth of the Volga, the Astrakhan khanate was supposedly (but not necessarily) formed by Mahmud, the son of Kuchuk Muhammad. Both he and his father were rulers of the Golden Horde during its last years, when it was being torn to pieces by rival claimants and by the formation of independent khanates out of its territory.

For some years Mahmud had contended for power against Ahmad, his own brother, but in 1465 he gave up the fruitless conflict and instead carved out his own independent khanate from former Golden Horde holdings. Opposing theories suggest that it was Mahmud's son Qasim who founded the khanate, or that it may not have been independent at all until the 1502 fall of the Great Horde (a diminished remnant of the Golden Horde).

Being one of the horde's key locations - and its new capital - Astrakhan was then viewed as the titular inheritor of the horde's prestige and status. None of these theories can be proven satisfactorily but they offer a powerful and creditable alternative.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan: His Triumph and his Legacy, Peter Brent (Book Club Associates, 1976), from The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction, Morris Rossabi (Oxford University Press, 2012), from Josafa Barbaro & Ambrogio Contarini: Travels to Tana and Persia, Henry E J Stanley (Ed, Hakluyt Society Series No 49, 1873), from An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, Peter B Golden (1992), from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, Enlarged and Improved, Volume 3, from The Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition), C E Bosworth, E van Donzel, B Lewis, & Ch Pellat (Eds), from Crimean Tatars, H B Paksoy, and from External Links: Encyclopaedia.com, and World of Royalty, and Origins of the Volga Tatars, and Tatar.net (dead link).)

1465 - 1466

Son of Kuchuk Muhammad. Former khan of the Golden Horde.

1466

Mahmud Astrakhani is generally believed to found a state at Astrakhan during the disintegration of the Golden Horde. However, some scholars prefer to acclaim his son, Qasim, as the actual founder of a fully independent khanate, perhaps, as an autonomous division of the Golden Horde.

In fact, Astrakhan itself is one of the centres of the Golden Horde following the destruction of the former capital at Saray, and it may remain so until the horde's dissolution in 1502.

The Mongol empire created by Chingiz Khan gradually broke up over the course of three hundred years until, by around AD 1500, it had fragmented into several more-or-less stable khanates which vied for power and influence, while fending off the Ottoman empire to the south and Moscow state to the north (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1466 - 1490

Son. Founder of the khanate?

1474 - 1475

Ambrogio Contarini is a Venetian diplomat and merchant who, during his travels, records his adventures throughout the east as a form of travelogue. As the envoy of Venice, he has been visiting the royal Persian court at Isfahan in 1474 in pursuit of a military alliance with the dominant White Sheep emirate against the mutually hostile Ottomans.

The talks are largely fruitless so, in 1475, Contarini begins a circuitous return which must by necessity avoid the Ottomans. The task is even more difficult because, at the start of 1475, they conquer Caffa and the Crimean khanate. The latter remains an Ottoman vassal to its very end.

Contarini travels through Derbent in Dagestan and visits Astrakhan to be able to access the Volga and a return to Europe via Moscow state. He notes the paucity of trade in the city despite the presence of Russian, Tatar, Persian, Transcaucasian, and Central Asian merchants.

The White Sheep emirate, or Ak Qoyunlu confederation, at its height controlled a great area of territory, stretching from Azerbaijan in the north to the Persian Gulf and eastern Iran (click or tap on map to view full sized)

The city has never fully recovered from being sacked by Timur around 1391. The region as a whole is politically unstable and trade is crippled by extortion and administrative corruption.

1490 - 1504

Brother.

1491

The Crimean khanate apparently seizes all of the Great Horde's horses, and encourages Moscow to deliver the death blow as a result. Both Moscow and the Ottomans dispatch forces which include Russian cavalry, Tartars, and Janissaries.

This causes part of the horde to secede in November 1491 which goes on to form the Sibir khanate, while the remainder is routed by its enemies. Khan Murtada Beg may be weakened by this but he clings on to power for a further eight years (and his son, Aq Köbek, goes on to seize the Astrakhan khanate in 1532).

1502 - 1504

Much of the Great Horde's people and horses are captured by the khan of Crimea and are forcibly relocated to Crimea itself. It is not clear whether this is a repetition of the events of 1491 or a separate event.

Tartars of the Crimean khanate fight Cossacks from the Ukrainian steppe, a scene which would be repeated many times over the course of the khanate's three hundred year-plus existence

Shaykh Ahmad flees with about four thousand horsemen. While he attempts to come to amicable terms, first with Moscow and then the khan of Astrakhan, the Nogais kick him out in 1504. Ahmad is forced to flee again, trying negotiation with Poland and then with the Ottomans at the former Genoese fortress of Mauro Castro.

The Great Horde effectually disintegrates. However, Shaykh Ahmad's son, Qasim, succeeds as ruler of the Astrakhan khanate in 1504, with the help of the Nogais. The Mongol heartland continues to survive farther east under the Northern Yuan.

1504 - 1532

Son of Khan Shaykh Ahmad (Great Horde). Deposed & killed.

1532

Aq Köbek is responsible for deposing and killing Qasim, and ending his long reign (Qasim's son, Yadigar Muhammad briefly rules as the last khan of the Kazan).

However, during his own time as khan, Aq Köbek apparently puts in place a treaty or agreement which, for the time being, guarantees the independence of Astrakhan from the Crimean khanate and the Nogais.

With the loss of China, the Mongols gradually returned to the old ways over the course of several generations of feuding and jostling for control

1532 - 1534

Son of Mortaza Beg of the Great Horde. Usurper. Deposed.

1534 - 1538

Son of Abd al Karim.

1538 - 1541

Likely related, but highly uncertain. Not always listed.

1541 - 1544

Restored. Deposed.

1544

With the help of the Nogais, Aq Köbek is deposed for a second and final time by his own nephew, Yaghmurchi. Aq Köbek's son, Mustafa Ali, goes on to become ruler of the Kasim khanate in 1584.

1544 - 1554

Son of Berdibeg Khan. Defeated, fled, and killed.

1547

The city of Astrakhan is briefly seized by Sahib Giray I of the Crimean khanate, but it would seem that Yaghmurchi is able to recover and return to restore his own rule on the city.

By now, though, members of the Genghisid ruling family (descendants of the 'Great Khans') are thinking of leaving the city, to migrate to the other side of the Caspian Sea where they can join the Shaibanids at Bukhara.

Under Russian rule trade flourished in Astrakhan, sitting as it did on one of the prime east-west trade routes - the city is shown in this print in the sixteenth century

1554 - 1555

The Russians under Ivan IV attack the khanate. Yaghmurchi is defeated at the Battle of Xacitarxan (Astrakhan) and is forced to flee across the River Terek to the south, in Dagestan, close to the Caucus Mountains.

In 1555 he is killed, either by the Russians, or by the Nogais, or by his own successor (sources conflict). The Russians and Nogais have already ensured that their own candidate to rule Astrakhan, Darwish Ali, is able to seize control. As a grandson of Shaykh Ahmad, the last khan of the Great Horde, he at least has some claim to the position.

1554 - 1557

Russian vassal. Last khan. Conquered by Russians.

1556 - 1557

Having temporarily been dethroned in 1555 by the Nogais, Darwîsh Alî had quickly been returned to Astrakhan with the support of the Russians. Despite his perilous position he begins to resist Russian and pro-Russian support and/or interference. He introduces a garrison of Turks into Xacitarxan (Astrakhan) and the end result is that the city is besieged by the Russians in 1556.

The short-lived Kazan khanate was conquered by the resurgent Rus under the leadership of Ivan IV just over a century after Ulugh Muhammad had founded it

Ivan IV burns the city, forcing the Astrakhan khanate to surrender. Darwîsh Alî flees to continue a guerrilla struggle against the Russians but to no avail. Admitting defeat he heads north-eastwards to the town of Azov while Astrakhan is incorporated into Russia's growing 'Czarate of all the Russias'.