Far East Kingdoms

Khans of the Great Horde (Kipchak Khanate)
AD 1466 - 1502

Mongol Tribes All Modern States Central Asia China Korea

It was 'Chingiz Khan' who became the first of the 'Great Khans' of the Central Asian Mongol empire. His death in AD 1227 created the basis for the later sub-division of the empire in the form of ulus (inheritances). The four sub-divisions of the empire remained politically united under the great khan, but their existence established the basis of future independent Mongol kingdoms even while the great khans focussed on what is now Mongolia and on Yuan dynasty China.

The rest was governed by the other sons of Chingiz. The north-western section was handed to the family of the deceased Jochi, with this taking the form of the Golden Horde in its original thirteenth century format. Jochi's son subsequently inherited the easternmost section of this ulu as the White Horde (between Lake Balkhash and the Volga), with Batu leading the western section as the Blue Horde. Chagatai Khan (the second son) inherited Mughulistan, while Tolui governed the Il-Khanate.

With the collapse in leadership of the Blue Horde in 1357 and then a devastating defeat in battle in 1387, it was Toqtamish Khan who reunited it with the White Horde, forming a greater Golden Horde in the process. His efforts produced a resurgent Mongol presence in the western steppe, and his defeat of the same Muscovites who had effectively destroyed the Blue Horde delayed their own eventual independence by at least a generation.

Although the name 'Golden Horde' was contemporary, it was also known by other names, including the 'Kipchak Khanate'. The use of 'Golden Horde' is much more frequent amongst modern scholars, whilst 'Kipchak Khanate' was the much more usual appellation for contemporary rulers.

The Golden Horde suffered greatly from internal dissent and fragmentation during the fifteenth century. When the Kazakh khanate and Astrakhan khanate were created in 1465 and 1466 respectively, it sounded the death knell for the once-powerful horde. Its diminished remnant became the Great Horde, clinging to its steppe-living existence between the Dnieper and the Yaik (roughly on the border between modern Russia and Kazakhstan).

The capital was at Sarai, and the diminished horde continued to claim continuity from - and the authority of - the Golden Horde. By the 1470s, its lack of military power to back up that claim was now evident, with the Nogais to the north of the Caspian Sea especially aggressive in their hostility towards the horde. With this threat lying to their east and the growing power of Poland to the west, the horde's days were numbered.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, 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 International Orders in the Early Modern World: Before the Rise of the West, Yongjin Zhang, Shogo Suzuki, & Joel Quirk, from the New World Encyclopaedia, from Crimean Tatars, H B Paksoy, from The Origins of Northern China's Ethnicities, Zhu Xueyuan (Beijing 2004), from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from Genghis Khan, Paul Ratchnevsky (Thomas Nivison Haining, Trans & Ed, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991), 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), and from External Links: Turcology and Linguistics, Éva Ágnes Csató (with editors), text by Peter B Golden, and The Shaping of the Cuman-Qïpchaqs, Peter B Golden, and Origins of the Volga Tatars, and Tatar.net (dead link), and The True Origin of the Mongols?, John Man (Oxford Alumni, 28 July 2020), and Encyclopaedia.com, and World of Royalty.)

1466 - 1481

Last khan of the Golden Horde. Killed by the Siberian khan.

1468

Following the death of the powerful Abu'l-Khayr Khan of the Shaibanids, khan of Sibir, the clan appears to divide and struggle for control and supremacy there. This serious factional split witnesses a westwards migration towards Transoxiana of one group - under Shah Budagh of the Shaibanids - where it adopts the name Uzbek (Özbeg) after its famous former Blue Horde ruler, Uzbeg Khan (1313-1341).

The River Ob in Siberia generally marked the eastern border of the later khanate of Sibir which was formed out of this Mongol territory, while the Shaibanids migrated southwards to found a khanate of their own

The rise of another powerful leader from their ranks, Mohammed Shaibani, towards the end of the century witnesses the growing strength of these Shaibanid Uzbeks. That faction which remains behind in Siberia now dominates the khanate of Sibir.

1480

In alliance with the khans of Crimea, Ivan III refuses tribute to the Great Horde. The horde, now allied to Lithuania, attempts an invasion of Moscow's territory but this fails. The independence of Moscow is confirmed.

1481

Ahmad Khan is killed by the Nogais. His son, Shaykh Ahmad, succeeds him, but dissention by other sons of Ahmad Kahn causes conflict within the Great Horde, which only serves to weaken it.

1481 - 1498

Son.

1481 - 1499

Rival. Ultimately successful, briefly.

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.

Ivan III of Moscow tears up the Mongol demand for tribute in front of his own court and the Mongol messengers, ending once and for all Mongol dominance over the Rus

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. Murtada Khan 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).

1499 - 1502

Restored.

1500 - 1501

The Great Horde is defeated by the Kabardinians and is in a poor condition by this stage. Harried from pillar to post it is now reported to be located near the Kuban region on the north-east coast of the Black Sea.

By 1501 Shaykh Ahmad Khan has led the horde to the northern side of the River Don. At this point they number approximately twenty thousand, but this number is falling constantly as people drop out of the group during its ongoing migraton.

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 stable khanates (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1502

Much of the Great Horde's people and horses are captured by the khan of Crimea and are forcibly relocated to Crimea itself, while Shaykh Ahmad flees with about four thousand horsemen. It is not clear whether this is a repetition of the events of 1491 or a separate event.

While Shaykh Ahmad attempts to come to amicable terms first with Moscow and then with 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 (later Akkerman, and at Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi on the Black Sea coast near Odesa in what is now Ukraine).

He apparently ends his days as a prisoner of the Lithuanians in Vilnius. By then the Great Horde is but a memory. However, his son, Qasim, succeeds as ruler of the Astrakhan khanate in 1504, and the Mongol heartland continues to survive farther east as the Northern Yuan.

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