Chagatai Khanate

Chagatai Khanate Цагаадайн Хаант Улс Tsagadaina Khaanat Ulus
1225 – 1340s (Whole) 1340s–1370 (Western) 1340s–1680s (Eastern)
The Chagatai Khanate (green), c. 1300.
Status	Nomadic empire Division of the Mongol Empire
Capital	Almaliq, Qarshi
Common languages	Mongolian,[1] Chagatai language[2][3]
Religion	Shamanism Buddhism Tengrism Sunni Islam (later) Naqshbandi[citation needed]
Government	Semi-elective monarchy, later hereditary monarchy
Khan
• 1225–1242	Chagatai Khan
Legislature	Kurultai
Historical era	Late Middle Ages
• Chagatai Khan inherited part of Mongol Empire	1225
• Death of Chagatai	1242
• Chagatai Khanate split into Western Chagatai Khanate and Moghulistan	1340s
• End of the western empire	1370
• End of the eastern empire	1680s
Area
1310 or 1350 est.[4][5]	3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
Currency	Coins (dirhams, Kebek, and pūl)
Preceded by Succeeded by Mongol Empire Western Chagatai Khanate Moghulistan Timurid Empire Afaq Khoja Dzungar Khanate

The Chagatai Khanate (Mongolian: Tsagadaina Khaanat Ulus/Цагаадайн Хаант Улс) was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate^[6][7] that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan,^[8] second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants and successors. Initially it was a part of the Mongol Empire, but it became a functionally separate khanate with the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259. The Chagatai Khanate recognized the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty in 1304,^[9] but became split into two parts in the mid-14th century: the Western Chagatai Khanate and the Moghulistan Khanate.

At its height in the late 13th century, the Khanate extended from the Amu Darya south of the Aral Sea to the Altai Mountains in the border of modern-day Mongolia and China.^[10]

The khanate lasted in one form or another from 1220s until the late 17th century, although the western half of the khanate was lost to Timur's empire by 1370. The eastern half remained under Chagatai khans, who were, at times, allied or at war with Timur's successors, the Timurid dynasty. Finally, in the 17th century, the remaining Chagatai domains fell under the theocratic regime of Afaq Khoja and his descendants, the Khojas, who ruled Xinjiang under Dzungar and Manchu overlordships consecutively.

Formation[edit]

Genghis Khan's empire was inherited by his third son, Ögedei Khan, the designated Khagan who personally controlled the lands east of Lake Balkhash as far as Mongolia. Tolui, the youngest, the keeper of the hearth, was accorded the northern Mongolian homeland. Chagatai Khan, the second son, received Transoxiana, between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers (in modern Uzbekistan) and the area around Kashgar. He made his capital at Almaliq near what is now Yining City in northwestern China.^[11] Apart from problems of lineage and inheritance, the Mongol Empire was endangered by the great cultural and ethnic divide between the Mongols themselves and their mostly Islamic Iranian and Turkic subjects.

When Ögedei died before achieving his dream of conquering all of China, there was an unsettled transition to his son Güyük Khan (1241) overseen by Ögedei's wife Töregene Khatun, who had assumed the regency for the five years following Ögedei's death. The transition had to be ratified in a kurultai, which was duly celebrated, but without the presence of Batu Khan, the independent-minded khan of the Golden Horde.^[12] After Güyük's death, Batu sent Berke, who maneuvered with Tolui's widow, and, in the next kurultai (1253), the Ögedite line was passed over for Möngke Khan, Tolui's son, who was said to be favorable to the Church of the East.^[13] The Ögedite ulus was dismembered; only the Ögedites who did not immediately go into opposition were given minor fiefs.^{[nb 1]}

In the book The Travels of Ibn Battuta we see Ibn Battuta had made his way to the camp of Tarmashirin who was the current Mongol Sultan and descendent of Jengiz Khan. When he arrived the king had called over Ibn Battuta to his tent and they had both treated each other respectfully and Kindly. The king had asked about his journeys through major cities such as Mecca and Jerusalem and Ibn Battuta had answered back. During the hour of prayer the Sultan had called for the priest to wait for him before starting prayer, yet the priest didn't wait for the prayers were for god not the Sultan and the Sultan had arrived late. The Sultan began to interact with his people and Ibn Battuta saw that he was loved and respected by his people. The Sultan had given Ibn some money and sent him off on his journey once more. Yet the Sultan had broken some of the rules to stay as Sultan and was later overthrown and killed by one of his cousins.^[15]

Chagatai modern day is located in parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

The Chagatai Khanate after Chagatai[edit]

Chagatai died in 1242, shortly after his brother Ögedei. For nearly twenty years after this the Chagatai Khanate was little more than a dependency of the Mongol central government, which deposed and appointed khans as it pleased. The cities of Transoxiana, while located within the boundaries of the khanate, were administrated by officials who answered directly to the Great Khan.^[16]

This state of subservience to the central government was ended during the reign of Chagatai's grandson Alghu (1260–1266), who took advantage of the Toluid Civil War between Kublai Khan and Ariq Böke by revolting against the latter, seizing new territories and gaining the allegiance of the Great Khan's authorities in Transoxiana.^[17] Most of the Chagatayids first supported Kublai but in 1269 they joined forces with the House of Ögedei.^[18]

Alghu's eventual successor, Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq (1266–1271), who expelled Kublai Khan's governor in Xinjiang soon came into conflict with the Ögedite Kaidu, who gained the support of the Golden Horde and attacked the Chagatayids.^[19] Baraq was soon confined to Transoxiana and forced to become a vassal of Kaidu.^[20] At the same time, he was at odds with Abaqa Khan, the Ilkhan, who ruled his Ilkhanate in Iran. Baraq attacked first, but was defeated by the Ilkhanate army and forced to return to Transoxiana, where he died not long after.^[21]

The Chagatai Khanate and its neighbors in the late 13th century

The next several Chagatayid khans were appointed by Kaidu,^[22] who maintained a hold upon the khanate until his death. He finally found a suitable khan in Baraq's son Duwa (1282–1307), who participated in Kaidu's wars with Kublai khan and his successors of the Yuan dynasty.^[23] The two rulers also were active against the Ilkhanate.^[24] After Kaidu's death in 1301, Duwa threw off his allegiance to his successor. He also made peace with the Yuan dynasty and paid tributes to the Yuan court; by the time of his death the Chagatai Khanate was a virtually independent state.^[25]

Fall[edit]

Duwa left behind numerous sons, many of whom became khans themselves. Included among these are Kebek (1309, 1318–1326), who instituted a standardization of the coinage and selected a sedentary capital (at Qarshi), and Tarmashirin (1326–1334), who converted to Islam and raided the Delhi Sultanate in India. Tarmashirin, however, was brought down by a rebellion of the tribes in the eastern provinces, and the khanate became increasingly unstable in the following years. In 1346 a tribal chief, Amir Qazaghan, killed the Chagatai khan Qazan Khan ibn Yasaur during a revolt.^[26]

The Chagatai Khanate split into two parts in the 1340s.^[27] In Transoxiana in the west, the mostly Muslim tribes, led by the Qara'unas amirs, seized control. In order to maintain a link to the house of Genghis Khan, the amirs set several descendants of Chagatai on the throne, though these khans ruled in name only and had no real power. The eastern part of the khanate, which had been largely autonomous for several years as a result of the weakening power of the khans, meanwhile became independent under the Chagatayid Tughlugh Timur. This eastern portion (most of which was known as "Moghulistan") was, in contrast to Transoxiana, primarily inhabited by Mongols and largely followed Buddhism and Mongolian shamanism.

The two halves of the Chagatai Khanate were briefly reunited in the 1360s by Tughlugh Timur, who invaded Transoxiana twice and attempted to establish his authority there. Following his death in 1363 his successors ruled only over the east, while control of Transoxiana was contested by two tribal leaders, Amir Husayn (the grandson of Qazaghan) and Timur or Tamerlane. Timur eventually defeated Amir Husayn and gained mastery over Transoxiana (1369–1405). Like his predecessors, Timur maintained a puppet khan on the throne to legitimatize his rule, but his khans were members of the house of Ögedei rather than descendants of Chagatai.^[28] After he died in 1405 his successors, the Timurids, are also reported to have had their own shadow khans until the mid-15th century.

The eastern half of the khanate remained in the hands of the descendants of Tughlugh Timur for several centuries, although it was itself split into multiple successor states in the 1500s. The last independent Chagatai Khanate, the Yarkent Khanate, was conquered by the Dzungar Khanate in the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr from 1678–1680.

Lineage[edit]

See also[edit]

History of the Mongols
Timeline · History · Rulers · Nobility Culture · Language · Proto-Mongols
States Mongol khanates IX-X Khereid Khanate X-1203 Merkit Khanate XI–XII Tatar Khanate IX – XII Naiman Khanate -1204 Khamag Mongol Khanate X-1206 Mongol Empire 1206-1368 Yuan dynasty 1271-1368 Khitan Sultanate 1220s-1306 Chagatai Khanate 1225-1340s Moghulistan 1346-1462 Golden Horde 1240-1502 Ilkhanate 1256-1335 Chobanids 1335-1357 Jalairid Sultanate 1335-1432 Injuids 1335-1357 Northern Yuan dynasty 1368-1691 Timurid Empire 1370–1507 Kara Del 1383-1513 Four Oirat 1399-1634 Arghun dynasty 1479-1599 Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Kalmyk Khanate 1630-1731 Khoshut Khanate 1640s-1717 Dzungar Khanate 1634-1758 Bogd Khaganate 1911-1924 Mongolian People's Republic 1924–1992 Mongolia 1992-present
Mongolia portal
v t e

• List of Chagatai khans
• List of Mongol states
• List of medieval Mongol tribes and clans
• Division of the Mongol Empire

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

• Media related to Chagatai Khanate at Wikimedia Commons