The Golden Horde

The situation in Batu’s ulus was for a long time dominated by antagonism to the Il-Khan empire. For more than a century the rulers of the Golden Horde, or Kipchak Khanate, tried to occupy the Caucasus and advance into Iran. This led to an anti-Persian alliance with Egypt. In the economic field, too, relations between the Golden Horde and Egypt developed remarkably, and a flourishing sea trade carried goods between the two countries. Artisans and artists came from Egypt to the khan’s court at Sarai Batu on the lower Volga, so that Egyptian influence can be found in many of the works of art and architecture of the Golden Horde empire.

The religious situation differed very much from that in Iran, although both Mongol empires were eventually converted to Islam, which favoured the amalgamation of Turks and Mongols. In Iran, Islam was the religion of the subjugated population, but at the same time Nestorianism and Buddhism were powerful rivals. In southern Russia, however, Nestorianism had never played a prominent role, and Buddhism was practically nonexistent. This religious vacuum facilitated the adoption of Islam, and the native shamanism of the Mongols was soon supplanted by the new creed. The khans, on the other hand, observed tolerance toward the Orthodox church of their Russian subjects. The patriarchs enjoyed a number of privileges not unlike those granted by the khans in China. This noninterference in Russian religious life later proved a major political factor because the Orthodox church assumed a national function under the foreign rulers, not unlike that of the Orthodox clergy in Greece and the Balkan countries under Turkish rule, when the Christian religion and nationalism were closely allied.

The various Russian city-states and princedoms remained under Mongol rule; the khans contented themselves with levying tribute that was collected by specially appointed basqaq (“officials”). An important consequence of Mongol rule was the gradual transfer of Russian national life from Kyiv to Moscow. There were contacts with western Europe, but they were mostly of an economic nature. The republic of Genoa had as early as 1267 established a trade post at Kaffa (Feodosiya) in Crimea. In spite of several local incidents Genoese merchants continued their activities for a long time in the Golden Horde empire. Relations with Byzantium were mostly friendly, and Mongol rulers even occasionally sent armies to assist the emperors of Constantinople in their wars against Bulgaria. The Mongols themselves were deeply affected by their surroundings. The majority of their subjects in the steppe regions of southern Russia were Turkic (Kumans, Kipchaks, etc.), and this strong Turkic element led comparatively soon to the disappearance of distinctively Mongol features. The Mongol language was given up in favour of other Turkic languages, and continuous intermarriage resulted finally in the formation of a new Islamic population, the Tatars of Russia. In addition to Turkic and Mongol elements, there was in the Tatar population an admixture of other indigenous populations such as the Volga Bulgars and the Volga-Finnish peoples.

Under Mengü Temür (1267–80), Berke’s successor, the Golden Horde khanate became virtually independent of the great khan Kublai in Beijing. Under his successors, actual power rested with Nogay, a prince who had distinguished himself in several campaigns and had united the eastern Tatars against the authority of the central court. His pretensions finally led to war and his defeat in 1299 by the legitimate khan Toqtu (1290–1312). Under Öz Beg (Uzbek; 1312–42) the political power of the empire reached its peak, and Islamic culture flourished under the energetic ruler whose name survives to this day in that of Uzbekistan. He also granted to Ivan I of Moscow the title of grand duke for his services as a collector of tribute from the Tatars, a measure which strengthened the predominance of Moscow in Russia. The later rulers of the Horde were confronted with a new problem on their frontiers when the Ottoman Turks reached the Dardanelles in 1354. This not only weakened their maritime ties with Egypt but also cut the khanate off from the Mediterranean and thereby from southern Europe.

This growing isolation did not prevent the khans from making several attempts to advance toward the south. Jani Beg (1342–57) defeated the Persians and took Tabriz in 1357, but his early death prevented the consolidation of the Horde in Azerbaijan; the Caucasus also was given up. Another dangerous enemy of the khanate was the grand duchy of Lithuania, which for some time occupied large parts of Ukraine. The last khan of the Golden Horde who was undisputed ruler over the whole territory was Tokhtamysh (1378–95). He joined forces with the White Horde, an agglomeration of clans in western Siberia which had been led by the descendants of Orda, Batu’s eldest brother. Tokhtamysh also renewed the vassalage of the Moscow princes but shortly afterward met a new enemy in Timur (Tamerlane). The latter’s campaigns in south Russia brought no lasting results but weakened the political and military power of the Horde.

The later history of the Mongols, or rather of the Tatars, in Russia followed a course similar to that of the other Islamic Mongol empires: internal struggles and feuds, disintegration, and finally division into independent states. Meanwhile, the Moscow kingdom emerged as a major power, and the history of the Tatars became a part of Russian history. In the mid-15th century there remained, apart from the remnants of the Golden Horde, three khanates: those of Astrakhan, Kazan, and the Crimea. Only these three survived into the 16th century. In 1783 the last Genghisid ruler in Europe, the Crimean khan Shahin Girai, was deposed by the Russians. The long contact between Russia and the Tatars had its effect upon both nations. For Russia, Tatar influence has been an important factor in many fields. Loanwords from Mongolian and other Turkic languages are not infrequent in Russian, and the financial, political, and military organization of medieval Russia showed many Tatar elements.

Assessment

Among historic effects of the Mongol campaigns, not only the destruction of ancient civilizations like that of Khwārezm or of the Tangut state of Xi Xia should be remembered. All the conquered regions and states underwent a social, ethnic, and linguistic transformation through Mongol domination. On the other hand, Mongol imperialism for some time during the 13th and 14th centuries favoured contact between east and west, and many elements of material culture were transmitted from eastern Asia to the west and vice versa. At this time Europe and Asia had closer commercial and cultural contacts than ever before, and the age of maritime exploration was inaugurated in Europe by the attempts to reach by sea the fabulous eastern countries that Marco Polo and other travelers described after their journeys through the Mongol empires.