Golden Horde on what days. The history of the formation of the golden horde

Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi, Turk. Ulus - "Great State" listen)) is a medieval state in Eurasia.
AT Golden Horde 1224-1266 was in the composition.
AT 1266 under Khan Mengu-Timur Golden Horde gained complete independence, retaining only a formal dependence on the imperial center.
At the beginning 1320s Under Khan Uzbek, Islam became the state religion.
To middle of the 15th century The Golden Horde broke up into several independent khanates. The central part, nominally continued to be considered the supreme and retained the name “ Big Horde“, ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.

Golden Horde. XIII - XV centuries.

Name " Golden Horde” was first used in 1566 in an essay" Kazan history“When the single state itself no longer existed. Until that time, in all Russian sources, the word “ Horde” used without an adjective “ Golden“. FROM 19th century and the term " Golden Horde” is firmly entrenched in historiography and is used to designate the ulus of Jochi as a whole, or its western part with its capital in Saray.
In Russian chronicles the word " Horde” meant an army. Its use as a country name becomes constant from the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, until that time the term “ Tatars“. The Chinese called the Mongols " Tatars (tar-tar)“.
The Arab historian Al-Omari, who lived in the first half of the 14th century, defined the borders of the Golden Horde as follows: “ The borders of this state from the side of Jeyhun are Khorezm, Saganak, Sairam, Yarkand, Dzhend, Saray, the city of Madzhar, Azaka-Kaka, Akcha-Kermen, Kafa, Sudak, Saksin, Ukek, Bulgar, the region of Siberia, Ibir, Bashkird and Chulyman ...“.

Formation of Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde)

The division of the empire between his sons, brought about by 1224, is considered the occurrence Golden Horde(Ulusa Jochi). After Western campaign (1236-1242 years), headed by the son of Jochi Batu (in the Russian chronicles), the ulus expanded to the west and the Lower Volga region became its center.

AT 1251 in the capital Karakorum, a kurultai was held, where Mongke, the son of Tolui, was proclaimed great khan. , “ elder of the family” (aka), supported Khan Mongke and received full autonomy for his ulus. Opponents of the Jochids and Toluids from the descendants of Chagatai and Ogedei were executed, and the possessions confiscated from them were divided between Möngke and other Chingizids who recognized their authority.

Separation of the Golden Horde from the Mongol Empire

After his death, his son Sartak, who was at that time in Mongolia, at the court of Mongke Khan, was to become the legitimate heir. However, on the way home, the new khan suddenly died. A young son, Ulagchi, was proclaimed the new khan, but he died soon after.
The ruler of the ulus became (1257-1266), brother. Berke converted to Islam in his youth, but this did not lead to the Islamization of large sections of the nomadic population. The adoption of Islam allowed Burke to receive support from Central Asia, to attract educated Muslims to the service. During the reign of Berke, the Horde cities were built up with mosques, minarets, madrasahs, caravanserais. First of all, this refers to Sarai-Bat, the capital of the state, which at that time became known as Sarai-Berke. Highly educated immigrants from Iran and Arab countries began to be appointed to responsible government posts, which caused discontent among the Mongolian and Kypchak nomadic nobility. However, this dissatisfaction has not yet been expressed openly.

During the reign of the grandson of Mengu-Timur (1266-1282), Ulus Jochi became completely independent from the central government. In 1269, at a kurultai in the valley of the Talas River, Mengu-Timur, Borak Khan, Khaidu Khan recognized each other as independent sovereigns and entered into an alliance against the great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Khubilai, in case he tried to challenge their independence.
After the death of Mengu-Timur, a political crisis began in the country, connected with the name of the temnik Nogai. Nogai, one of the descendants, occupied the post of beklyarbek under Mengu-Timur, the second most important in the state. His personal ulus was located in the west of the Golden Horde (near the Danube). Nogai made education his goal own state and during the reign of Tuda-Meng (1282-1287) and Tula-Buga (1287-1291), he managed to subjugate a vast territory along the Danube, Dniester, Uzeu (Dnieper) to his power.
With the direct support of Nogai, Tokhta (1291-1312) was placed on the Sarai throne. At first, the new ruler obeyed his patron in everything, but soon, relying on the steppe aristocracy, he opposed him. The long struggle ended in 1299 with the defeat of Nogai, and the unity of the Golden Horde was again restored.

Rise of the Golden Horde

During the reign of Khan Uzbek (1313-1341) and his son Janibek (1342-1357), the Golden Horde reached its peak. In the early 1320s, Uzbek Khan proclaimed Islam the state religion, threatening "infidels" with physical violence. The rebellions of the emirs who did not want to convert to Islam were brutally suppressed. The reign of Uzbek Khan was distinguished by cruel reprisals. Russian princes, dependent on the khans, before leaving for the capital of the Golden Horde, wrote spiritual wills and paternal instructions to children in case of their death there. Several of them, in fact, were killed. Uzbek Khan built the city of Saray al-Jedid ( new palace), paid much attention to the development of caravan trade. Trade routes have become not only safe, but also well-maintained. The Golden Horde carried on a lively trade with the countries of Western Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, India, and China. After Uzbek Khan, his son Dzhanibek Khan ascended the throne, whom the Russian chronicles call “ kind “.

"Great trap".

FROM 1359 on 1380 more than 25 khans changed on the throne of the Golden Horde, and many uluses tried to become independent. This time in Russian sources was called " Great zamyatnya“.
AT 1357, even during the life of Janibek Khan, in the Ulus of Shiban, his Khan Ming-Timur was proclaimed. And the murder in 1359 of Khan Berdibek (son of Dzhanibek) put an end to the Batuid dynasty, which caused the appearance of various pretenders to the Sarai throne from among the eastern branches of the Jochids. Taking advantage of the instability of the central government, a number of regions of the Golden Horde for some time, following the Ulus of Shiban, acquired their own khans.
The rights to the Horde throne of the impostor Kulpa were immediately questioned by the son-in-law and at the same time the beklarbek of the murdered khan, the temnik Mamai. As a result, Mamai, who was the grandson of Isatay, an influential emir from the time of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in the western part of the Golden Horde, up to the right bank of the Volga. Not being Genghisides, Mamai did not have the right to the title of khan, therefore he limited himself to the position of beklarbek under the puppet khans from the Batuid clan.
Khans from Ulus Shiban, descendants of Ming-Timur, tried to gain a foothold in Sarai. They did not really succeed, the rulers changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The fate of the khans largely depended on the favor of the merchant elite of the cities of the Volga region, which was not interested in a strong khan's power.
Following the example of Mamai, other descendants of the emirs also showed a desire for independence. Tengiz-Buga, also the grandson of Isatai, tried to create an independent ulus in the Syr Darya. The Jochids, who rebelled against Tengiz-Buga in 1360 and killed him, continued his separatist policy, proclaiming a khan from among themselves.
Salchen, the third grandson of the same Isatai and at the same time the grandson of Khan Dzhanibek, captured Hadji Tarkhan. Hussein-Sufi, the son of Emir Nangudai and the grandson of Khan Uzbek, in 1361 created an independent ulus in Khorezm. In 1362, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd seized lands in the Dnieper basin.
The turmoil in the Golden Horde ended after Genghisid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Emir Tamerlane from Maverannakhr, in 1377-1380 first captured the uluses on the Syr Darya, defeating the sons of Urus Khan, and then the throne in Sarai, when Mamai came into direct conflict with the Moscow principality (defeat on Vozha in 1378). Tokhtamysh in 1380 defeated the remnants of the troops gathered by Mamai after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo on the Kalka River.

The reign of Tokhtamysh.

During the reign of Tokhtamysh (1380-1395), unrest ceased and the central government again began to control the entire main territory of the Golden Horde. In 1382, the Khan made a campaign against Moscow and achieved the restoration of tribute payments. After strengthening his position, Tokhtamysh opposed the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, with whom he had previously maintained allied relations. As a result of a series of devastating campaigns in 1391-1396, Tamerlane defeated the troops of Tokhtamysh on the Terek, captured and destroyed the Volga cities, including Sarai-Berke, plundered the cities of Crimea, etc. The Golden Horde was dealt a blow from which it could no longer recover.

The collapse of the Golden Horde

Since the sixties 14th century, from the time of Great Hush, important political change in the life of the Golden Horde. The gradual disintegration of the state began. The rulers of the remote parts of the ulus acquired actual independence, in particular, in 1361, the Ulus of Orda-Edzhen gained independence. However, until the 1390s, the Golden Horde still remained more or less a single state, but with the defeat in the war with Tamerlane and the ruin of economic centers, the process of disintegration began, accelerating from the 1420s.
In the early 1420s, a Siberian Khanate, in 1428 - Uzbek Khanate, in 1438 Kazan Khanate, in 1441 Crimean Khanate, in the 1440s arose Nogai Horde, in 1465 the Kazakh Khanate.

After the death of Khan Kichi-Mohammed, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single state.
The main among the Jochid states formally continued to be considered the Great Horde. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended unsuccessfully, and Rus' was finally freed from Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed during an attack on his headquarters by the Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde ceased to exist.

Administrative division of the Golden Horde.

According to the traditional structure of nomadic states, the Ulus of Jochi after 1242 was divided into two wings: right (western) and left (eastern). Right wing was considered senior and represented Ulus. The west of the Mongols was designated in white, so Ulus Batu was called White Horde (Ak Orda ). The right wing covered the territory of western Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, the Don and Dnieper steppes, Crimea. Its center was Sarai-Batu.
Left wing Ulus Jochi was in a subordinate position in relation to the right, and occupied the lands of central Kazakhstan and the valley of the Syrdarya River. The east of the Mongols was indicated in blue, so the left wing was called Blue Horde (Kok Orda ). The center of the left wing was Horde Bazaar. The eldest brother Orda-Edzhen became the khan there.
Wings, in turn, divided into uluses owned by other sons of Jochi. Initially, there were 14 such uluses.

Administrative-territorial reform of Uzbek Khan.

At first, the ulus division was unstable: possessions could be transferred to other persons and change their boundaries. At the beginning of the 14th century, Khan Uzbek carried out a major administrative-territorial reform.
Right wing of Ulus Jochi was divided into 4 large uluses: Barn, Khorezm, Crimea and Desht-i-Kypchak led by ulus emirs appointed by the khan ( ulusbeks). The main ulusbek was beklarbek. The next most important dignitary was vizier. The other two positions were occupied by especially noble or distinguished dignitaries. These four uluses (regions) were divided into 70 small tumens, headed by temniks.
The city became the capital of the Golden Horde Sarai-Batu(near modern Astrakhan). In the first half of the 14th century, the capital was moved to Shed-Berke(founded near modern Volgograd). Under Khan Uzbek, Sarai-Berke was renamed into Saray Al-Jedid.

Army of the Golden Horde.

The overwhelming majority of the Horde army was the cavalry, which used in battle the traditional tactics of fighting with mobile cavalry masses of archers. Its core was heavily armed detachments, consisting of the nobility, the basis of which was the guard of the Horde ruler. In addition to the Golden Horde warriors, the khans recruited soldiers from among the conquered peoples, as well as mercenaries from the Volga region, Crimea and the North Caucasus. The main weapon of the Horde warriors was a bow. Spears were also widespread, used by the Horde during a massive spear strike that followed the first strike with arrows. Of the bladed weapons, broadswords and sabers were the most popular. Crushing weapons were also widespread: maces, six-pointers, chasers, picks, and flails.
Swords were almost universally replaced by sabers. From the end of the 14th century, guns appeared in service. Horde warriors also began to use field fortifications, in particular, large easel shields-chapars. In field combat, they also used some military equipment, in particular, crossbows.

population of the Golden Horde.

The Golden Horde was inhabited by Turkic (Kipchaks, Volga Bulgars, Bashkirs, etc.), Slavic, Finno-Ugric (Mordovians, Cheremis, Votyaks, etc.), North Caucasian (Yases, Alans, Cherkasy, etc.) peoples. The small Mongolian elite very quickly assimilated among the local Turkic population. By the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV century. the nomadic population of the Golden Horde was called the ethnonym “ Tatars“.
The ethnogenesis of the Volga, Crimean, Siberian Tatars took place in the Golden Horde. The Turkic population of the eastern wing of the Golden Horde formed the basis of modern Kazakhs, Karakalpaks and Nogais.

Cities and trade.

The total number of Golden Horde cities reaches 150. The major centers of mainly caravan trade were the cities of Sarai-Batu, Sarai-Berke, Uvek, Bulgar, Khadzhi-Tarkhan, Beljamen, Kazan, Dzhuketau, Madzhar, Mokhshi, Azak (Azov), Urgench and others. .
The trading colonies of the Genoese in the Crimea (captainship of Gothia) and at the mouth of the Don were used by the Horde to trade in cloth, fabrics and linen, weapons, women's jewelry, jewelry, precious stones, spices, incense, furs, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain, timber, fish, caviar, olive oil and slaves.
From the Crimean trading cities, trade routes began, leading both to southern Europe and to Central Asia, India and China. Trade routes leading to Central Asia and Iran passed along the Volga. Through the Volgodonsk perevoloka there was a connection with the Don and through it with the Sea of ​​Azov and the Black Sea.
External and domestic trade relations were provided by the issued money of the Golden Horde: silver dirhams, copper pools and sums.

Rulers of the Golden Horde.

In the first period, the rulers of the Golden Horde recognized the supremacy of the great kaana (kagan) of the Mongol Empire.
Khans of the Golden Horde:
Jochi, son of Genghis Khan (1224-1227)
Batu (c. 1208-c. 1255), son of Jochi (1227-c. 1255), orlok (jehangir) Yeke Mongol Ulus (1235-1241)
Sartak, son of Batu (1255/1256)
Ulagchi, son of Batu (or Sartak) (1256-1257) under the regency of Borakchin-Khatun, Batu's widow
Berke, son of Jochi (1257-1266)
Mengu-Timur, son of Tukan, grandson of Batu (1266-1269)
Khans
Mengu-Timur (1269-1282), the first Khan of the Golden Horde, independent of the Mongol Empire
Tuda Mengu (1282-1287)
Tula Buga (1287-1291)
Tokhta (1291-1312)
Uzbek Khan (1313-1341)
Tinibeck (1341-1342)
Janibek (1342-1357)
Berdibek (1357-1359), the last representative of the Batu clan
Kulpa (August 1359-January 1360), impostor, posed as Janibek's son
Nauruz Khan (January-June 1360), impostor, pretended to be Janibek's son
Khizr Khan (June 1360-August 1361), the first representative of the Horde-Ejen family
Timur-Khoja Khan (August-September 1361)
Ordumelik (September-October 1361), the first representative of the Tuka-Timur clan
Kildibek (October 1361-September 1362), impostor, pretended to be Janibek's son
Murad Khan (September 1362-Autumn 1364)
Mir Pulad (autumn 1364-September 1365), the first representative of the Shibana clan
Aziz Sheikh (September 1365-1367)
Abdullah Khan (1367-1368)
Hassan Khan (1368-1369)
Abdullah Khan (1369-1370)
Muhammad Bulak Khan (1370-1372), under the regency of Tulunbek Khanum
Urus Khan (1372-1374)
Circassian Khan (1374-early 1375)
Muhammad Bulak Khan (beginning 1375-June 1375)
Urus Khan (June-July 1375)
Muhammad Bulak Khan (July 1375-late 1375)
Kaganbek (Aibek Khan) (late 1375-1377)
Arabshah (Kary Khan) (1377-1380)
Tokhtamysh (1380-1395)
Timur Kutlug (1395-1399)
Shadibek (1399-1407)
Pulad Khan (1407-1411)
Timur Khan (1411-1412)
Jalal ad-Din Khan (1412-1413)
Kerimberdy (1413-1414)
Kepek (1414)
Chocre (1414-1416)
Jabbar-Berdi (1416-1417)
Dervish Khan (1417-1419)
Kadyr-Berdi (1419)
Haji Muhammad (1419)
Ulu Muhammad (1419-1423)
Barak Khan (1423-1426)
Ulu Muhammad (1426-1427)
Barak Khan (1427-1428)
Ulu Muhammad (1428)
Kichi-Mohammed (1428)
Ulu Muhammad (1428-1432)
Kichi-Mohammed (1432-1459)

Beklarbeki:
Nogai, great-grandson of Jochi, beklarbek (1256-1267, 1280-1300)
Iksar (Ilbasar), son of Tokhta, beklarbek (1299/1300-1309/1310)
Kutlug-Timur, beklyarbek (about 1309/1310-1321/1322)
Alau, beklarbek Janibek
Mamai, beklarbek (1357-1359, 1363-1364, 1367-1369, 1370-1372, 1377-1380)
Edigei, son of Mangyt Baltychak-bek, beklyarbek (1395-1419)
Mansur-biy, son of Yedigey, beklyarbek (1419)
Naurus-biy, beklyarbek under Ulug-Mukhammed and Kichi-Muhammed.

The Golden Horde has long and reliably been associated with the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the invasion of nomads and the black streak in the history of the country. But what exactly was this public entity?

Start

It is worth noting that the name familiar to us today arose much later than the very existence of the state. And what we call the Golden Horde, in its heyday was called Ulu Ulus (Great Ulus, Great State) or (the state of Jochi, the people of Jochi) after Khan Jochi, the eldest son of Khan Temujin, known in history as Genghis Khan.

Both names quite clearly outline both the scale and the origin of the Golden Horde. These were very vast lands that belonged to the descendants of Jochi, including Batu, known in Rus' as Batu Khan. Jochi and Genghis Khan died in 1227 (possibly Jochi a year earlier), the Mongol Empire by that time included a significant part of the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Siberia, Rus' and Volga Bulgaria.

The lands captured by the troops of Genghis Khan, his sons and commanders, after the death of the great conqueror, were divided into four uluses (states), and it turned out to be the largest and most powerful, stretching from the lands of modern Bashkiria to the Caspian Gates - Derbent. The western campaign, led by Batu Khan, expanded the lands subject to him to the west by 1242, and the Lower Volga region, rich in beautiful pastures, hunting and fishing grounds, attracted Batu as a place for a residence. About 80 km from modern Astrakhan, Sarai-Batu (otherwise - Sarai-Berke) grew up - the capital of the Ulus of Jochi.

His brother Berke, who succeeded Batu, was, as they say, an enlightened ruler, as far as the then realities allowed. Berke, having adopted Islam in his youth, did not plant it among the subject population, but under him diplomatic and cultural ties with a number of eastern states significantly improved. The trade routes running by water and land were actively used, which could not but have a positive effect on the development of the economy, crafts, and arts. With the approval of the khan, theologians, poets, scientists, craftsmen came here, moreover, Berke began to appoint not noble fellow tribesmen, but visiting intellectuals to high government posts.

The era of the reign of the khans Batu and Berke became a very important organizational period in the history of the Golden Horde - it was during these years that the state administrative apparatus was actively formed, which remained relevant for many decades. Under Batu, along with the establishment of the administrative-territorial division, the possessions of large feudal lords took shape, a bureaucratic system was created and a fairly clear taxation was developed.

Moreover, despite the fact that the khan's headquarters, according to the custom of their ancestors, roamed the steppes for more than half a year along with the khan, his wives-children and a huge retinue, the power of the rulers was more unshakable than ever. They set the main policy line, so to speak, and solved the most important, fundamental questions. And the routine and details were entrusted to officials and the bureaucracy.

Berke's successor, Mengu-Timur, concluded an alliance with two other heirs of the empire of Genghis Khan, and all three recognized each other as completely independent, but friendly sovereigns. After his death in 1282, a political crisis began in the Ulus of Jochi, since the heir was very young, and Nogai, one of Mengu-Timur's main advisers, actively sought to obtain, if not official, then at least actual power. For some time he succeeded, until the matured Khan Tokhta got rid of his influence, which required resorting to military force.

Rise of the Golden Horde

Ulus Jochi reached its peak in the first half of the 13th century, during the reign of Uzbek Khan and his son Dzhanibek. Uzbek built a new capital - Sarai-al-Jedid, promoted the development of trade and quite actively planted Islam, not disdaining reprisals against recalcitrant emirs - governors of regions and military leaders. It is worth noting, however, that the bulk of the population was not obliged to profess Islam, this mainly concerned high officials.

He also very severely controlled the Russian principalities then subject to the Golden Horde - according to the Personal Chronicle, nine Russian princes were killed in the Horde during his reign. So the custom of the princes, summoned to the khan's headquarters for proceedings, to leave a will, found even more solid ground.

Khan Uzbek continued to develop diplomatic ties with the most powerful states at that time, acting, among other things, in the traditional way of monarchs - establishing family ties. He married the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, gave own daughter for the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich, and his niece - for the Egyptian sultan.

On the territory of the Golden Horde then lived not only the descendants of the soldiers of the Mongol Empire, but representatives of the conquered peoples - Bulgars, Polovtsians, Russians, as well as immigrants from the Caucasus, Greeks, etc.

If the beginning of the formation of the Mongol Empire and the Golden Horde in particular went mainly by an aggressive path, then by this period the Ulus of Jochi had turned into an already almost completely settled state, extending its influence to a significant part of the European and Asian parts of the mainland. Peaceful crafts and arts, trade, the development of sciences and theology, a well-functioning bureaucracy were one side of statehood, and the troops of the khans and emirs subject to them were another, no less important. Moreover, the militant Genghisides and the top of the nobility now and then conflicted with each other, making alliances and conspiracies. In addition, holding the conquered lands and maintaining the respect of the neighbors required a constant display of military force.

Khans of the Golden Horde

The ruling elite of the Golden Horde consisted mainly of the Mongols and partly of the Kipchaks, although in some periods educated people from the Arab states and Iran found themselves in administrative positions. As for the supreme rulers - khans - practically all the holders of this title or applicants for it either belonged to the Genghisides family (descendants of Genghis Khan), or were connected with this very extensive clan through marriage. According to custom, only the descendants of Genghis Khan could be khans, however, ambitious and power-hungry emirs and temniks (military leaders close in position to the general) continually sought to advance to the throne in order to seat their protege on it and rule on his behalf. However, after the murder in 1359 of the last of the direct descendants of Batu Khan - Berdibek - using the disputes and strife of rival forces for six months, an impostor named Kulpa, who pretended to be the brother of the late khan, managed to seize power. He was exposed (however, the whistleblowers were also interested in power, for example, the son-in-law and first adviser of the late Berdibek, temnik Mamai) and killed along with his sons - apparently, to intimidate potential applicants.

The Ulus of Shiban (western Kazakhstan and Siberia), which had separated from the Ulus of Juchi during the reign of Janibek, tried to establish its position in Saray-al-Jedid. The more distant relatives of the Golden Horde khans from among the eastern Jochid (descendants of Jochi) were actively engaged in the same. The result of this was a period of unrest, called in the Russian chronicles the Great Jail. Khans and pretenders succeeded each other one after another until 1380, when Khan Tokhtamysh came to power.

He descended in a straight line from Genghis Khan and therefore had quite legitimate rights to the title of ruler of the Golden Horde, and in order to reinforce the right by force, he entered into an alliance with one of the Central Asian rulers - Tamerlane, famous in the history of conquests. But Tokhtamysh did not take into account that a strong ally could become a most dangerous enemy, and after his accession to the throne and a successful campaign against Moscow, he opposed the former ally. This was a fatal mistake - Tamerlane in response defeated the Golden Horde army, captured Largest cities Ulus-Juchi, including Sarai-Berke, went through the "iron heel" of the Crimean possessions of the Golden Horde and as a result caused such military and economic damage, which was the beginning of the decline of the hitherto strong state.

Capital of the Golden Horde and trade

As already mentioned, the location of the capital of the Golden Horde was very advantageous in terms of trade. The Crimean possessions of the Golden Horde provided a mutually beneficial shelter for the Genoese trading colonies; sea trade routes from China, India, the Central Asian states and southern Europe also led there. From the Black Sea coast it was possible to get along the Don to the Volgodonsk portage, there by land way - to the Volga coast. Well, the Volga in those days, like many centuries later, remained an excellent waterway for merchant ships to Iran and the continental regions of Central Asia.

A partial list of goods transported through the possessions of the Golden Horde:

• fabrics - silk, canvas, cloth
• wood
• weapons from Europe and Central Asia
• corn
• jewels and gems
• fur and leather
• olive oil
• fish and caviar
• incense
• spices

Decay

Weakened over the years of unrest and after the defeat of Tokhtamysh, the central government could no longer achieve complete subjugation of all previously subject lands. The governors ruling in remote destinies seized the opportunity to almost painlessly get out from under the hands of the government of Ulus-Jochi. Even at the height of the Great Haunting in 1361, the eastern Ulus of Orda-Ezhena, also known as the Blue Horde, separated, in 1380 it was followed by the Ulus of Shiban.

In the twenties of the XV century, the process of disintegration became even more intense - the Siberian Khanate was formed in the east of the former Golden Horde, a few years later in 1428 - the Uzbek Khanate, ten years later the Kazan Khanate separated. Somewhere between 1440 and 1450 - the Nogai Horde, in 1441 - the Crimean Khanate, and later than all, in 1465 - the Kazakh Khanate.

The last Khan of the Golden Horde was Kichi Mukhamed, who ruled until his death in 1459. His son Akhmat took over the reins of power already in the Great Horde - in fact, only a small part of the vast Chingizid state.

Coins of the Golden Horde

Having become a settled and very large state, the Golden Horde could not do without its own currency. The economy of the state was based on a hundred (according to some sources, one and a half hundred) cities, not counting the many small villages and camps. For external and internal trade relations, copper coins were issued - pula and silver - dirhems.

Today, Horde dirhams are of considerable value to collectors and historians, since almost every reign was accompanied by the release of new coins. By the appearance of the dirham, experts can determine when it was minted. The pools, on the other hand, were valued relatively low, moreover, the so-called forced rate was sometimes set on them, when the coin was cheaper than the metal used for it. Therefore, the number of pools found by archaeologists is large, and their value is relatively small.

During the reign of the khans of the Golden Horde in the occupied territories, the turnover of their own, local money rather quickly disappeared, and Horde money took their place. Moreover, even in Rus', which paid tribute to the Horde, but was not part of it, pools were minted, however, differing in appearance and cost from the Horde. Sums were also used as means of payment - silver ingots, more precisely, pieces cut from a silver bar. By the way, the first Russian rubles were made in exactly the same way.

Army and troops

The main force of the Ulus-Jochi army, as before the creation of the Mongol Empire, was represented by cavalry "light in march, heavy in blow" according to contemporaries. The nobility, having the means for good equipment, made up heavily armed detachments. The lightly armed units used the technique of fighting horse archers - after inflicting significant damage with a volley of arrows, approaching and fighting with spears and blades. However, shock-crushing weapons were also quite common - maces, flails, six-blades, etc.

Unlike their ancestors, who managed with leather armor, at best reinforced with metal plaques, the warriors of Ulus Jochi for the most part wore metal armor, which speaks of the wealth of the Golden Horde - only the army of a strong and financially stable state can arm itself in this way. At the end of the XIV century, the Horde army even began to acquire its own artillery, which at that time very few armies could boast of.

culture

The era of the Golden Horde left no special cultural achievements to mankind. Nevertheless, this state was born as a capture by nomads of settled peoples. The own cultural values ​​of any nomadic people are relatively simple and pragmatic, since there is no way to build schools, create paintings, invent a way to make porcelain, or erect majestic buildings. But having moved to a largely settled way of life, the conquerors adopted many inventions of civilization, including architecture, theology, writing (in particular, the Uighur writing for documents), and a more subtle development of many crafts.

Russia and the Golden Horde

The first serious clashes between the Russian troops and the Horde belong approximately to the beginning of the existence of the Golden Horde as an independent state. At first, Russian troops tried to support the Polovtsy against a common enemy - the Horde. The battle on the Kalka River in the summer of 1223 brought defeat to the poorly coordinated squads of Russian princes. And in December 1237, the Horde entered the lands of the Ryazan region. Then Ryazan fell, followed by Kolomna and Moscow. Russian frosts did not stop the nomads hardened in campaigns, and at the beginning of 1238 Vladimir, Torzhok and Tver were captured, there was a rout on the Sit River and a seven-day siege of Kozelsk, which ended with its complete destruction - along with the inhabitants. In 1240, a campaign against Kievan Rus began.

The result was that the Russian princes who remained on the throne (and survived) recognized the need to pay tribute to the Horde in return for a relatively peaceful existence. However, it was not really calm - intriguing against each other and, of course, against the invaders, the princes, in the event of any incidents, were forced to appear at the khan's headquarters to report to the khan in their actions or inaction. By order of the khan, the princes had to bring their sons or brothers with them - as additional hostages of loyalty. And not all the princes and their relatives returned to their homeland alive.

It should be noted that the rapid seizure of Russian lands and the impossibility of overthrowing the yoke of the invaders came largely from the disunity of the principalities. Moreover, some princes managed to take advantage of this situation to fight rivals. For example, the Principality of Moscow was strengthened by annexing the lands of two other principalities as a result of the intrigues of Ivan Kalita, Prince of Moscow. But before that, the princes of Tver sought the right to a great reign by all means, including the murder of the previous Moscow prince right at the khan's headquarters.

And when, after the Great Recession, internal troubles began to increasingly distract the disintegrating Golden Horde from pacifying the recalcitrant principalities, the Russian lands, in particular, the Moscow principality, which had strengthened over the past century, began to increasingly resist the influence of the invaders, refusing to pay tribute. And most importantly, work together.

In the battle on the Kulikovo field in 1380, the united Russian troops won a decisive victory over the army of the Golden Horde led by the temnik Mamai, sometimes mistakenly called the khan. And although two years later Moscow was captured and burned by the Horde, the dominance of the Golden Horde over Russia was coming to an end. And at the beginning of the 15th century, the Great Horde also ceased to exist.

Epilogue

Summing up, we can say that the Golden Horde was one of the largest states of its era, born thanks to the militancy of nomadic tribes, and then disintegrated due to their desire for independence. Its growth and prosperity came during the reign of strong military leaders and wise politicians, but, like most invading states, it did not last long.

According to a number of historians, the Golden Horde had not only Negative influence on the life of the Russian people, but also unwittingly helped the development of Russian statehood. Under the influence of the culture of government brought by the Horde, and then to counteract the Golden Horde, the Russian principalities merged together, forming a strong state, which later turned into the Russian Empire.

Historians consider the year 1243 to be the beginning of the creation of the Golden Horde. At this time, Batu returned from an aggressive campaign in Europe. At the same time, the Russian prince Yaroslav first arrived at the court of the Mongol khan in order to have a label for reigning, that is, the right to lead the Russian lands. The Golden Horde is rightfully considered one of the largest powers.

The size and military power of the Horde in those years had no equal. Friendship with the Mongolian state was sought even by the rulers of distant states.

The Golden Horde stretched for thousands of kilometers, representing an ethnic mixture of the most diverse. The state included Mongols, Volga Bulgars, Mordovians, Circassians, Polovtsians. The Golden Horde inherited its multinational character after the conquest of many territories by the Mongols.

How was the Golden Horde formed?

In the vast steppes of the central part of Asia, tribes united under common name"Mongols". They had a property inequality, there was their own aristocracy, which drew wealth during the seizure of pastures and lands of ordinary nomads.

A fierce and bloody struggle was waged between individual tribes, which ended with the creation of a feudal state with a powerful military organization.

In the early 30s of the XIII century, a detachment of many thousands of Mongol conquerors went to the Caspian steppes, where the Polovtsy roamed at that time. Having previously conquered the Bashkirs and the Volga Bulgars, the Mongols began to seize the Polovtsian lands. These vast territories were taken over by the eldest son of Genghis Khan, Khan Jochi. His son Batu (Batu, his in Rus') finally strengthened his power over this ulus. In 1243, Batu made the stake of his state on the Lower Volga.

The political formation headed by Batu in the historical tradition subsequently received the name "Golden Horde". It should be noted that the Mongols themselves did not call it that. They called it "Ulus Jochi". The term "Golden Horde" or simply "Horde" appeared in historiography much later, around the 16th century, when nothing was left of the once powerful Mongol state.

The choice of a place for the control center of the Horde was made by Batu consciously. The Mongol Khan appreciated the dignity of the local and meadows, which were the best suited for the pastures that horses and livestock needed. The Lower Volga is a place where caravan routes crossed, which the Mongols could easily control.

The Horde is a phenomenon that has no analogues in history. At its core, the Horde is a union, an association, but not a country, not a locality, not a territory. The Horde has no roots, the Horde has no homeland, the Horde has no borders, the Horde has no titular nation.

The Horde was created not by the people, not by the nation, the Horde was created by one person - Genghis Khan. He alone came up with a system of subordination, according to which you can either die or become part of the Horde, and along with it, rob, kill and rape! That is why the Horde is a vzbrod, an association of criminals, villains and scoundrels, which have no equal. The Horde is an army of people who, in the face of fear of death, are ready to sell their homeland, their family, their surname, their nation, and, together with the Horde like him, continue to carry fear, horror, pain, to other peoples

All nations, peoples, tribes know what a homeland is, everyone has their own territory, all states were created as a council, veche, glad, as an association of a territorial community, but the Horde is not! The Horde has only a king - khan, who commands and the Horde fulfills his command. Who refuses to fulfill his command dies, who begs the Horde for life - receives it, but in return gives his soul, his dignity, his honor.

First of all, the word "horde".

The word "horde" denoted the headquarters (mobile camp) of the ruler (examples of its use in the meaning of "country" begin to be found only from the 15th century). In Russian chronicles, the word "horde" usually meant an army. Its use as the name of the country becomes constant from the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, until that time the term "Tatars" was used as the name. In Western European sources, the names “country of Komans”, “Komania” or “power of the Tatars”, “land of the Tatars”, “Tataria” were common. The Chinese called the Mongols "Tatars" (tar-tar).

So, according to the traditional version, a new state was formed in the south of the Euro-Asian continent (the Mongol state from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean - the Golden Horde, alien to the Russians and oppressing them. The capital is the city of Saray on the Volga.

Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi, self-name in the Turkic Ulu Ulus - "Great State") - a medieval state in Eurasia. In the period from 1224 to 1266, it was part of the Mongol Empire. In 1266, under Khan Mengu-Timur, it gained complete independence, retaining only a formal dependence on the imperial center. Since 1312, Islam has become the state religion. By the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde had split into several independent khanates; its central part, which nominally continued to be considered supreme - the Great Horde, ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.

Golden Horde ca. 1389

The name "Golden Horde" was first used in Rus' in 1566 in the historical and journalistic work "Kazan History", when the state itself no longer existed. Until that time, in all Russian sources, the word "Horde" was used without the adjective "golden". Since the 19th century, the term has been firmly entrenched in historiography and is used to refer to the Jochi ulus as a whole, or (depending on the context) its western part with its capital in Sarai. Read more → Golden Horde - Wikipedia.

In the actual Golden Horde and eastern (Arab-Persian) sources, the state did not have a single name. It was usually denoted by the term "ulus", with the addition of some kind of epithet ("Ulug ulus") or the name of the ruler ("Ulus Berke"), and not necessarily the current one, but also the one who reigned earlier.

So, we see, the Golden Horde is the empire of Jochi, the Jochi Ulus. Once an empire, there must be court historians. Their writings should describe how the world trembled from the bloody Tatars! Not all the same Chinese, Armenians and Arabs describe the exploits of the descendants of Genghis Khan.

Academician-Orientalist H. M. Fren (1782-1851) searched for twenty-five years - did not find, and today there is nothing to please the reader: “As for the Golden Horde narrative written sources proper, we have no more of them today than in the time of Kh. M. Fren, who was forced to state with chagrin: “In vain for 25 years I have been looking for such a special history of the Ulus of Jochi” ... ”(Usmanov, 1979, p. 5). Thus, there are no narratives about the affairs of the Mongol, written by "the filthy Golden Horde Tatars" yet in nature.

Let's see what the Golden Horde is in the view of A. I. Lyzlov's contemporaries. Muscovites called this horde golden. Its other name is the Great Horde. It included the lands of Bulgaria and the Trans-Volga Horde, “and on both countries of the Volga River, from the city of Kazan, it was not there yet, and to the Yaika River, and to the Khvalissky Sea. And there they settled and created many cities, which were called: Bolgars, Bylymat, Kuman, Korsun, Tura, Kazan, Aresk, Gormir, Arnach, Great Shed, Chaldai, Astarakhan ”(Lyzlov, 1990. p. 28).

Empire of Genghis Khan (1227) according to the traditional version

The state must have officials. They are, for example Baskaki. “The Baskaks, as if they were chieftains or elders,” A. I. Lyzlov explains to us (Lyzlov, 1990, p. 27). Officials have paper and pens, otherwise they are not bosses. It is written in textbooks that princes and priests (officials) were given labels to rule. But the Tatar officials, unlike modern Ukrainian or Estonian, learned the Russian language, that is, the language of the conquered people, in order to write documents issued to the poor fellows in “their” language. “Note… that… none of the Mongolian written monuments has survived; not a single letter, not a single label in the original has been preserved. Very little has come down to us in translations” (Polevoi, Vol. 2, p. 558).

Well, let's say, when they freed themselves from the so-called Tatar-Mongolian yoke, they burned everything written in Tatar-Mongolian to celebrate. Apparently this is for joy, you can understand the Russian soul. But the memory of the princes, their confidants, is another matter - people who are rooted, literate, aristocrats, now and then went to the Horde, lived for years (Borisov, 1997, p. 112). They had to leave notes in Russian. Where are these historical documents? And although time does not spare documents, it ages, but it also creates them (see the end of lecture 1 and lecture 3, the end of the paragraph “Birch bark letters”). Still, for almost three hundred years ... they went to the Horde. But there are no documents!? Here are the words: “Russian people have always been distinguished by inquisitiveness and observation. They were interested in the life and customs of other nations. Unfortunately, not a single detailed Russian description of the Horde has come down to us” (Borisov, 1997. p. 112). It turns out that Russian curiosity has dried up on the Tatar Horde!

The Tatar-Mongols made raids. They took people into captivity. Contemporaries of these events and descendants painted pictures of this sad phenomenon. Consider one of them - a miniature from the Hungarian chronicle "The Deportation of the Russian Full to the Horde" (1488):

Look at the faces of the Tatars. bearded men, nothing Mongolian. Dressed neutrally, suitable for any people. On their heads are either turbans or caps, exactly like those of Russian peasants, archers or Cossacks.

Theft of the Russian crowd to the Horde (1488)

There is an entertaining "memo" left by the Tatars about their campaign in Europe. On the tombstone of Henry II, who died in the Battle of Liegnitz, a “Tatar-Mongol” is depicted. In any case, this is how the drawing was explained to the European reader (see Fig. 1). Painfully, the "Tatar" looks like a Cossack or an archer.

Fig.1. Image on the gravestone of Duke Henry II. The drawing is given in the book Hie travel of Marco Polo (Hie comlete Yule-Cordier edition. V 1,2. NY: Dover Publ., 1992) and is inscribed: “The figure of a Tatar under the feet of Henry II, Duke of Silesia, Krakow and Poland, placed on the grave in Breslau of this prince, who was killed in the battle of Liegnitz, on April 9, 1241 ”(see: Nosovsky, Fomenko. Empire, p. 391)

Didn't they remember in Western Europe what the "bloodthirsty Tartars from the countless hordes of Batu" looked like!? Where are the Mongol-Tatar features of narrow-eyed, with a rare beard ... The artist confused the so-called "Russian" with the "Tatar"!?

In addition to "normative" documents, other written sources remain from the past. For example, from the Golden Horde, there were acts (labels) granted, khan's letters of a diplomatic nature - messages (bitiki). Although the Mongols, as true polyglots, used the Russian language for Russians, there are documents in other languages ​​addressed to non-Russian rulers ... In the USSR there were 61 labels; but historians, busy writing textbooks, by 1979 "mastered" only eight, and partially six more. There was (as it were) not enough time for the rest (Usmanov, 1979, pp. 12-13).

And in general, not only from Juchisva Ulus, but from the whole " great empire There are practically no documents left.

So what's the real story Russian empire declaring brotherhood, unity and kinship to about 140 peoples (

GOLD `HORD`(Altyn Urda) a state in northeastern Eurasia (1269–1502). In Tatar sources - Olug Ulus (Great Power) or Ulus Jochi named after the ancestor of the Jochi dynasty, in Arabic - Desht-i-Kipchak, in Russian - the Horde, the Kingdom of the Tatars, in Latin - Tartaria.

The Golden Horde was formed in 1207-1208 on the basis of the Jochi Ulus - the lands allocated by Genghis Khan to the son of Jochi in the Irtysh region and Sayano-Altai. After the death of Jochi (1227), by the decision of the all-Mongol kurultai (1229 and 1235), Khan Batu (son of Jochi) was proclaimed the ruler of the ulus. During the Mongol wars, by 1243, the Ulus of Jochi included the territories of Desht-i-Kipchak, Desht-i-Khazar, Volga Bulgaria, as well as Kiev, Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod, Galicia-Volyn principalities. By the middle of the XIII century, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Serbia were dependent on the khans of the Golden Horde.

Batu divided the Golden Horde into Ak Orda and Kok Orda, which were divided into left and right wings. They were divided into uluses, tumens (10 thousand), thousands, hundreds and tens. The territory of the Golden Horde was connected by a single transport system - the pit service, which consisted of pits (stations). Batu appointed his elder brother Ordu-ijen as the ruler of the Kok Horde, their other brothers and sons (Berke, Nogai, Tuka (Tukai)-Timur, Shiban) and representatives of the aristocracy received smaller possessions (destinies - il) within these uluses as suyurgals. The uluses were headed by ulus emirs (ulusbeks), at the head of smaller destinies - tumenbashi, minbashi, yozbashi, unbashi. They carried out legal proceedings, organized the collection of taxes, recruited troops and commanded them.

In the late 1250s, the rulers achieved a certain independence from the great kagan of the Mongol Empire, which was reflected in the appearance of the tamga of the Jochi family on the coins of Khan Berke. Khan Mengu-Timur managed to achieve complete independence, as evidenced by the minting of coins with the name of the khan and the kurultai of the khans of the uluses of Jochi, Chagatai and Ogedei in 1269, which demarcated their possessions and legitimized the collapse of the Mongol Empire. At the end of the 13th century, 2 political centers were formed in Ak Orda: Beklyaribek Nogai ruled in the Northern Black Sea region, Khan Tokta ruled in the Volga region. The confrontation between these centers ended at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries with the victory of Tokta over Nogay. The supreme power in the Golden Horde belonged to the Jochids: until 1360, the khans were the descendants of Batu, then - Tuka-Timur (with interruptions, until 1502) and the Shibanids on the territory of the Kok Horde and Central Asia. Since 1313, only Muslim Jochids could be khans of the Golden Horde. Formally, the khans were sovereign monarchs, their name was mentioned in Friday and holiday prayers (khutba), they sealed the laws with their seal. The executive body of power was the divan, which consisted of representatives of the highest nobility. four ruling clans - Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak. The head of the divan was the vizier - olug karachibek, he led the fiscal system in the country, was in charge of legal proceedings, internal and foreign affairs, and was the commander-in-chief of the country's troops. At the kurultai (congress), the most important state issues were resolved by representatives of 70 noble emirs.

The highest stratum of the aristocracy consisted of karachibeks and ulusbeks, the sons and closest relatives of the khan - oglans, sultans, then - emirs and beks; military class (chivalry) - Bahadurs (batyrs) and Cossacks. On the ground, taxes were collected by officials - darugabeks. The main population consisted of a taxable class - kara halyk, who paid taxes to the state or the feudal lord: yasak (main tax), different kinds land and income taxes, duties, as well as various duties, such as the supply of provisions to the troops and authorities (grand mala), yamskaya (ilchi-kunak). There were also a number of taxes on Muslims in favor of the clergy - gosher and zakat, as well as tribute and taxes on the conquered peoples and the non-Muslim population of the Golden Horde (jizya).

The army of the Golden Horde consisted of personal detachments of the Khan and the nobility, military formations and militias of various uluses and cities, as well as allied troops (up to 250 thousand people in total). The nobility made up the cadres of military leaders and professional soldiers - heavily armed cavalrymen (up to 50 thousand people). The infantry played a supporting role in the battle. Firearms were used in the defense of the fortifications. The basis of field combat tactics was the massive use of heavily armed cavalry. Her attacks alternated with the actions of horse archers, who hit the enemy from a distance. Strategic and operational maneuvers, envelopment, flank strikes and ambushes were used. The warriors were unpretentious, the army was distinguished by maneuverability, speed and could make long transitions without losing combat capability.

Major battles:

• the battle near the city of Pereyaslavl of Emir Nevryuy with Vladimir Prince Andrei Yaroslavich (1252);
• the capture of the city of Sandomierz by the troops of Bahadur Burundai (1259);
• the battle of Berke on the Terek River with the troops of the Ilkhan ruler of Iran Hulagu (1263);
• the battle of Tokta on the river Kukanlyk with Nogai (1300);
• the capture of the city of Tabriz by the troops of Khan Janibek (1358);
• the siege of the city of Bolgar by the troops of Beklyaribek Mamai and Moscow Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1376);
• Battle of Kulikovo (1380);
• the capture of Moscow by Khan Toktamysh, beklyaribek Idegey (1382, 1408);
• the battle of Khan Toktamysh with Timur on the Kondurcha River (1391);
• the battle of Khan Toktamysh with Timur on the Terek River (1395);
• the battle of Idegeya with Toktamysh and the Lithuanian prince Vitovt on the Vorskla River (1399);
• Battle of Ulug-Muhammad Khan.

There were more than 30 large cities on the territory of the Golden Horde (including the Middle Volga region - Bolgar, Dzhuketau, Iski-Kazan, Kazan, Kashan, Mukhsha). Over 150 cities and towns were centers of administrative power, crafts, trade, and religious life. The cities were managed by emirs and khakims. The cities were centers of highly developed crafts (iron-making, weapons, leather, woodworking), glass-making, pottery, jewelry production and trade with the countries of Europe, the Near and Middle East flourished. Transit trade was developed with Western Europe silk, spices from China and India. Bread, furs, leather goods, captives, and cattle were exported from the Golden Horde. Luxury goods, expensive weapons, fabrics, and spices were imported. In many cities there were large trade and craft communities of Jews, Armenians (for example, the Armenian colony in Bolgar), Greeks and Italians. The Italian city-republics had their trading colonies in the Northern Black Sea region (Genoese in Cafe, Sudak, Venetian in Azak).

The capital of the Golden Horde until the 1st third of the 14th century was Saray al-Mahrusa, built under Khan Batu. Inside the Golden Horde settlements, archaeologists have discovered entire handicraft quarters. From the 1st third of the 14th century, Sarai al-Jadid, built under Khan Uzbek, became the capital of the Golden Horde. The main occupation of the population was agriculture, gardening and stall breeding, beekeeping, and fishing. The population supplied food not only to themselves, but also supplied it for export.

The main territory of the Golden Horde is the steppes. The steppe population continued to lead a semi-nomadic life, engaged in cattle breeding (sheep and horse breeding).

For the peoples of the Golden Horde, the official and spoken language was the Turkic language. Later, on its basis, the Turkic literary language was formed - the Volga Turki. It created works of old Tatar literature: “Kitabe Gulistan bit-Turks” by Saif Sarai, “Muhabbat-name” by Khorezmi, “Khosrov va Shirin” by Kutba, “Nahj al-faradis” by Mahmud al-Sarai al-Bulgari. As a literary language, the Volga Turki functioned among the Tatars of Eastern Europe until the middle of the 19th century. Initially, office work and diplomatic correspondence in the Golden Horde were carried out in the Mongolian language, which was supplanted by Turkic in the 2nd half of the 14th century. Arabic (the language of religion, Muslim philosophy and jurisprudence) and Persian (the language of high poetry) were also widespread in the cities.

Initially, the khans of the Golden Horde professed Tengrism and Nestorianism, and among the Turkic-Mongolian aristocracy there were also Muslims and Buddhists. The first khan to convert to Islam was Berke. Then the new religion began to actively spread among the urban population. By that time, the population in the Bulgar principalities already professed Islam.

With the adoption of Islam, there was a consolidation of the aristocracy and the formation of a new ethno-political community - the Tatars, which united the Muslimized nobility. It belonged to the Jochid clan-clan system, was united by the socially prestigious ethnonym "Tatars". By the end of the XIV century, it was widely spread among the population of the whole country. After the collapse of the Golden Horde (1st half of the 15th century), the term "Tatars" denoted the military-service Turkic-Muslim aristocracy.

Islam in the Golden Horde became the state religion in 1313. The head of the clergy could only be a person from the family of Sayyids (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad from his daughter Fatima and Caliph Ali). The Muslim clergy consisted of muftis, muhtasibs, qadis, sheikhs, sheikh-masheikhs (sheikhs over sheikhs), mullahs, imams, hafiz, who carried out worship and legal proceedings in civil cases throughout the country. Schools (mektebs and madrasahs) were also under the jurisdiction of the clergy. In total, more than 10 remains of mosques and minarets are known on the territory of the Golden Horde (including in the Bolgar and Yelabuga settlements), as well as madrasahs, hospitals and khanakas (abodes) attached to them. An important role in the spread of Islam in the Volga region was played by Sufi tarikats (orders) (for example, Kubraviya, Yasaviya), which had their own mosques and khanaka. The state policy in the field of religion in the Golden Horde was based on the principle of religious tolerance. Numerous letters of khans to the Russian patriarchs on the release of all types of taxes and taxes have been preserved. Relations were also built with Armenian Christians, Catholics and Jews.

The Golden Horde was a country of developed culture. Thanks to an extensive system of mektebs and madrasahs, the population of the country was taught to read and write and the canons of Islam. At the madrasah there were rich libraries and schools of calligraphers, copyists of books. Objects with inscriptions and epitaphs testify to the literacy and culture of the population. There was an official historiography preserved in the writings of "Chingiz-name", "Jami at-tavarih" by Rashidaddin, in the genealogies of rulers and folklore tradition. High level reached the construction business and architecture, including white stone and brick building, stone carving.

In 1243, the Horde army undertook a campaign against the Galicia-Volyn principality, after which Prince Daniel Romanovich recognized himself as a vassal of Batu. Nogai's campaigns (1275, 1277, 1280, 1286, 1287) aimed to impose tribute and military indemnity on the Balkan countries and Poland. Nogai's campaign against Byzantium ended with the siege of Constantinople, the ruin of Bulgaria and its inclusion in the sphere of influence of the Golden Horde (1269). The war that broke out in 1262 in Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia continued intermittently until the 1390s. The heyday of the Golden Horde fell on the reign of the khans Uzbek and Dzhanibek. Islam was proclaimed the official religion (1313). During this period, on the crest of the economic upsurge, there was one system control of the empire, a huge army, stabilized borders.

In the middle of the 14th century, after a 20-year internecine war (“Great Zamyatnia”), natural disasters (drought, flooding of the Lower Volga region with the waters of the Caspian Sea), plague epidemics began the disintegration of a single state. In 1380, Toktamysh conquered the Khan's throne, defeated Mamai. The defeats of Toktamysh in the wars with Timur (1388–89, 1391, 1395) led to ruin. The reign of Idegei was marked by successes (the defeat of the troops of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt and Toktamysh on the Vorskla River in 1399, the campaign against Maverannahr in 1405, the siege of Moscow in 1408). After the death of Idegei in the battle with the sons of Toktamysh (1419), the unified empire collapsed, and Tatar states arose on the territory of the Golden Horde: the Siberian Khanate (1420), the Crimean Khanate (1428), the Kazan Khanate (1438). The last fragment of the Golden Horde in the Lower Volga region was the Great Horde, which collapsed in 1502 as a result of the defeat of the descendants of Khan Akhmad by the troops of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray.

The Golden Horde played a big role in the formation of the Tatar nation, as well as in the development of the Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Nogais, Uzbeks (Turks of Maverannahr). The Golden Horde traditions played a huge role in the formation of Muscovite Rus', especially in the organization state power, control system and military affairs.

Khans of Ulus Jochi and the Golden Horde:

• Jochi (1208-1227)
• Batu (1227-1256)
• Sartak (1256)
• Ulakchi (1256)
• Berke (1256–1266)
• Mengu-Timur (1266-1282)
• Tuda Mengu (1282–1287)
• Tula-Buga (1287–1291)
• Tokta (1291–1313)
• Uzbek (1313–1342)
• Tinibeck (1342)
• Janibek (1342–1357)
• Berdibek (1357-1339).

Khans of the period of the "Great Memory".