Golden Horde

Golden Horde اولوغ اولوس‎
1242–1502[1]
Flag during the reign of Öz Beg Khan as shown in Dulcert's 1339 map (other sources claim that the Golden Horde was named for the yellow banner of the khan)[2]
Territories of Golden Horde as of 1300
Status	Nomadic empire Division of the Mongol Empire (until 1313/68)
Capital	Sarai (Western wing, later overall) Sighnaq (Eastern wing)
Common languages	Middle Mongol[a][3] Kipchak Turkic[b][3][4]
Religion	Tengrism Shamanism Nestorianism Tibetan Buddhism (1240s–1313) Islam (1313–1502)
Government	Semi-elective monarchy, later hereditary monarchy
Khan
• 1226–1280	Orda Khan (White Horde)
• 1242–1255	Batu Khan (Blue Horde)
• 1379–1395	Tokhtamysh
• 1459–1465	Mahmud bin Küchük (Great Horde)
• 1481–1502	Sheikh Ahmed
Legislature	Kurultai
Historical era	Late Middle Ages
• Established	1242
• Blue Horde and White Horde united	1379
• Disintegrated into Great Horde	1466
• Great Stand on the Ugra River	1480
• Sack of Sarai by the Crimean Khanate	1502[1]
Area
1310[5][6]	6,000,000 km2 (2,300,000 sq mi)
Currency	Pul, som, dirham[7]
Preceded by Succeeded by Mongol Empire Cuman-Kipchak Confederation Volga Bulgaria Uzbek Khanate Qasim Khanate Genoese Gazaria Astrakhan Khanate Kazakh Khanate Crimean Khanate Siberian Khanate Nogai Horde Khanate of Kazan
^ Official language since the inception of the Golden Horde, used in chancery. ^ Especially the western Kipchak dialects, this language spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Black Sea steppe who were non-Mongol Turks, and those in the Khan's army. Shift from Mongol to Turkic occurred in the 1350s, or earlier, also used in chancery.

The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus (Turki/Kypchak: اولوغ اولوس‎; lit. 'Great State'),^[8] was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire.^[9] With the division of the Mongol Empire after 1259, it became a functionally separate khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or as the Ulus of Jochi,^[a] and it replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.^[10]

After the death of Batu Khan (the founder of the Golden Horde) in 1255, his dynasty flourished for a full century, until 1359, though the intrigues of Nogai instigated a partial civil war in the late 1290s. The Horde's military power peaked during the reign of Uzbeg Khan (1312–1341), who adopted Islam. The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak extended from Siberia and Central Asia to parts of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube in the west, and from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea in the south, while bordering the Caucasus Mountains and the territories of the Mongol dynasty known as the Ilkhanate.^[10]

The khanate experienced violent internal political disorder known as the Great Troubles (1359–1381), before it briefly reunited under Tokhtamysh (1381–1395). However, soon after the 1396 invasion of Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire, the Golden Horde broke into smaller Tatar khanates which declined steadily in power. At the start of the 15th century, the Horde began to fall apart. By 1466, it was being referred to simply as the "Great Horde". Within its territories there emerged numerous predominantly Turkic khanates. These internal struggles allowed Moscow to formally rid itself of the "Tatar yoke" at the Great Stand on the Ugra River in 1480, which traditionally marks the end of Mongol rule over Russia.^[11] The Crimean Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate, the last remnants of the Golden Horde, survived until 1783 and 1847 respectively, when they were conquered by the expanding Russian state.

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