Golden Horde

Timeline

1. 1242–1256Lower Volga · Lower VolgaAfter completing his western campaigns, Batu established a khanate on the Kipchak steppe, with Sarai as its capital, ruling over the Russian principalities and extending his influence toward the Ilkhanate and the Chagatai Khanate.
2. 1260–1264Sarai · Golden HordeDuring the Mongol Empire's great khan succession crisis of the 1260s, the Golden Horde supported Ariq Böke's faction, confronting Kublai Khan and his eastern allies, reflecting the political autonomy of the khanates after the empire's division.
3. 1262–1266Sarai · Golden HordeKhan Berke embraced Islam and promoted the Islamization of the khanate's court, waging war against Hulegu of the Ilkhanate over religious and territorial disputes, reshaping relations between the steppe khanate, West Asia, and the Russian principalities.
4. 1270–1502East European Plain · Russian principalitiesThe Golden Horde long controlled the Russian principalities through investiture and tribute collection; after the 14th century it split internally into branches such as the White Horde and Blue Horde, and by the 15th–16th centuries was gradually replaced by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Crimean Khanate.