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Mahmud Yalavach

Type Figure Region Central Asia Time c. 1180–1254 Also known as Mahmud Yalavach (Ma He Mu Ya La Wa Chi)

Mahmud Yalavach (c.?–1254), a Khwarazmian Sogdian Muslim merchant-administrator favored by Genghis Khan and Ögedei after the Mongol conquest of Centr…

Timeline

  1. c. 1220–1230Transoxiana · TransoxianaAfter the fall of Khwarazm, Yalavach and his son Mas'ud advised Genghis Khan on city administration and were entrusted, together with resident darughachis, with managing Central Asia's cities and fields, answerable directly to the Great Khan.
  2. 1231–1240Khojand · KhojandAfter Ögedei ascended the throne he ordered the Western Regions to be taxed by household; Yalavach abolished extra levies and corvée, introduced household registration and systematic taxation (including qubchur and qalan), and in 1338 reported to Ögedei during the sieve-makers' revolt of Tarabi in Bukhara, doing his best to protect the city from retaliatory massacre.
  3. 1240–1254Yanjing · YanjingChagatai unilaterally annexed parts of his district, provoking conflict; after Ögedei mediated, Yalavach was transferred out of the Western Regions in 1241, with his son Mas'ud taking over administration. Yalavach went to Yanjing to manage Han affairs with Liu Min, controlled finances in the 1240s, still took part in harsh-rule governance early under Möngke, and died at Yanjing in 1254.

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