Astrakhan Khanate

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Khanate of Astrakhan
حاجی‌ترخان خانلیغی‎
1466–1556
Darwish Ghali
History 
• Established
1466
• Russian conquest
1556
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Golden Horde
Tsardom of Russia
Kalmyk Khanate
Today part ofRussia

The Khanate of Astrakhan (

Volga river, around the modern city of Astrakhan. Its khans claimed patrilineal descent from Toqa Temür,[1] the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan
.

Caspian sea, to the east the Nogai Horde, and to the west Nogais who were theoretically subjects of the Crimean Khanate
.

Before the Khanate

The area was a natural center since it was the intersection of the north–south trade route down the Volga to Persia and the east–west trade route north of the Caspian. From the sixth century it was populated by various

Russia. The steppe remnant ended in 1502 and steppe peoples around Astrakhan became the Nogai Horde
.

Demography and society

Most of the population of the Astrakhan khanate were

Transcaucasus
region.

The nobility consisted of feudal ranks, which were, from highest to lowest: the

begs, and morzalar
. The rest of the population were known as qara xalıq, ('black people', or more accurately in Old Turkic, "great creation" implying 'the creatures at large" or common folks, when "qara" stood for "big" and "great" not just black, and "aq" (white), stood also for delicate, small, dainty etc.), the standard Turkic designation for commoners.

The state religion was

Sunni Muslim
minority. The Kalmyks are largely Buddhist.

History

class=notpageimage|
Location of the Astrakhan Khanate and main Asian polities c. 1500

The Astrakhan khanate is poorly documented. According to Frank "The dates and activities of these rulers are faintly represented in the sources, when they are represented at all." About all we have is an imperfect khan list with uncertain regnal dates and a few military and diplomatic events and traveler's reports. The capital was Xacitarxan, which the Russians called Astrakhan, 12 km north of modern Astrakhan. After the conquest, the town and name were moved to the present location.

The khanate is said to have been founded 1466

expanding east toward Kazan which it conquered in 1552. It also was gaining the power to exert force down the Volga between Kazan and Astrakhan, something that is not explained in the sources. In 1551, Yamghurchi of Astrakhan made a nominal submission to Moscow. He soon changed sides and allied with Crimea and the Nogais. Russia sent 30,000 troops against him. In 1554 he fled the town and Russia imposed its client Dervish Ali Astrakhani who soon began intriguing with the Crimeans. Russia sent more troops and occupied Astrakhan in 1556, proceeding to destroy the largest slave market on the Volga.[3] In 1558, Astrakhan was moved 12 km south to its present location. In 1569, the Ottomans were unable
to capture Astrakhan.

See also

Notes

  1. Kypchak language
    .

References

  1. ^ Welsford 2012, p. 37.
  2. ^ In 1466, Mahmud bin Küchük sent a letter to the sultan claiming the area as his patrimony (Frank, page 253). This may be the source of the 1466 date.
  3. ^ Janet Martin, Medieval Russia:980-1584, (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 356

Sources

  • Henry Hoyle Howorth (1880) History of the Mongols, part 2, pp. 349–362.
  • Allen J. Frank (2009) Cambridge History of Inner Asia, pp. 253–255.

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