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Golden Horde Khanate

Type Object Region Volga River basin Time c. 1240–1502

The Golden Horde was the Jochid Mongol khanate established on the Volga–Dnieper steppe after Batu's western campaign in the 1240s, ruling most of Eas…

Timeline

  1. c. 1236–1251Lower Volga · RussiaBetween 1236 and 1242 Batu led his army to conquer the Russian principalities and Bulgaria, establishing Sarai on the lower Volga as the political center; Jochi's descendants held the khanship hereditarily, forming a system of northwestern khanates independent of the Great Khan.
  2. 1257–1312Sarai Berke · Lower VolgaKhan Berke reigned from 1257 to 1266, founding Sarai Berke as his capital; the Berke–Hulegu rivalry between brothers with the Ilkhanate shaped the khanate's foreign policy, while the court still maintained a pluralistic religious order coexisting shamanism and Islam.
  3. 1313–1320Sarai · Golden HordeAfter acceding in 1313, Özbeg Khan converted to Islam and promoted the khanate's Islamization, strengthening central suzerainty over the Russian principalities; in the 1310s Sarai became a trade center linking the Black Sea, the Caspian, and the northern lands.
  4. c. 1430–1502Eastern European steppe · Eastern EuropeIn the 15th century the Golden Horde split into the Great Horde, Nogai, Crimea, and other khanates; the Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually threw off tributary status, and in 1502 the Crimean khan destroyed the Great Horde, ending the Golden Horde as a unified political entity.

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