Ilkhanate

Ilkhanate ایل خانان
1256–1335[1]
The Ilkhanate under Ghazan
Status	Administrative region of Mongol Empire (1256–1259) Independent Khanate (1260–1335)
Capital	Maragheh (1256–1265) Tabriz (1265–1306) Soltaniyeh (1306–1335)
Common languages	Persian (lingua franca, official, administration, documents)[2] Middle Mongol (ruling dynasty, documents)[3] Arabic[4] Turkic[5]
Religion	Shamanism, Nestorianism, and Buddhism (1256–1295) Islam (1295–1335)
Government	Abu Sa'id
Area
1310 est.[6][7]	3,750,000 km2 (1,450,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Mongol Empire Abbasid Caliphate Nizari Ismaili state Sultanate of Rum Kingdom of Georgia Qutlugh-Khanids Ayyubid dynasty Salghurids Anatolian beyliks Jalayirids Chobanids Muzaffarids Kartids Sarbadars Injuids Mihrabanids Eretnids Kingdom of Georgia Anatolian beyliks Mamluks Sutayids

The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate, also known as the Ilkhanids (Persian: ایلخانان, romanized: Īlkhānān), and known to the Mongols as Hülegü Ulus (lit. 'people or state of Hülegü'),^[8] was a Mongol khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm was officially known as the Land of Iran or simply Iran.^[9][10] It was established after Hülegü, the son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan, inherited the West Asian part of the Mongol Empire after his brother Möngke Khan died in 1259.

The Ilkhanate's core territory lies in what is now part of the countries of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. At its greatest extent, the Ilkhanate also included parts of modern Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, part of modern Dagestan, and part of modern Tajikistan. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, converted to Islam. In the 1330s, the Ilkhanate was ravaged by the Black Death. The last ilkhan, Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, died in 1335, after which the Ilkhanate disintegrated.

The Ilkhanid rulers, although of non-Iranian origin, tried to advertise their authority by tying themselves to the Iranian past, and they recruited historians to present the Mongols as heirs to the Sasanian Empire (224–651).^[11]

Definition

According to the historian

Origin

When

To the west,

Hulagu fell ill in February 1265 after several days of banquets and hunting. He died on 8 February and his son Abaqa succeeded him in the summer.[28]

Middle period (1265–1291)

Upon

During Arghun's reign, he actively sought to combat Muslim influence, and fought against both the Mamluks and the Muslim Mongol emir Nawruz in Khorasan. To fund his campaigns, Arghun allowed his viziers Buqa and Sa'd-ud-dawla to centralize expenditures, but this was highly unpopular and caused his former supporters to turn against him. Both viziers were killed and Arghun was murdered in 1291.^[29]

Religious shift (1291–1316)

Ghazan converted to Islam under influence of Nawrūz and made Islam the official state religion. Christian and Jewish subjects lost their equal status and had to pay the jizya (minority religion tax). Ghazan gave Buddhists the starker choice of conversion or expulsion and ordered their temples to be destroyed; though he later relaxed this severity.^[32] After Nawrūz was deposed and killed in 1297, Ghazan made religious intolerance punishable and attempted to restore relations with non-Muslims.^[33][34]

In terms of foreign relations, the Ilkhanate's conversion to Islam had little to no effect on its hostility towards other Muslim states, and conflict with the Mamluks for control of Syria continued. The Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar, the only major victory by the Mongols over the Mamluk Sultanate, ended the latter's control over Syria for a few months.

For the most part, Ghazan's policies continued under his brother Öljaitü despite suggestions that he might begin to favor Twelver Shi'ism after he came under the influence of the theologians al-Allama al-Hilli and al-Bahrani.^[36]

Öljeitü, who had been baptised in Christianity as an infant and had flirted with Buddhism, eventually became a Hanafi Sunni, though he still retained some residual shamanism. In 1309–10, he became a Shi'ite Muslim.^[37] An Armenian scribe in 1304 noted the death of "benevolent and just" Ghazan, who was succeeded by Khar-Banda Öljeitü, "who too, exhibits good will to everyone." A colophon from 1306 reports the conversion of Mongols to Islam and "they coerce everyone into converting to their vain and false hope. They persecute, they molest, and torment," including "insulting the cross and the church".^[34] Some of the Buddhists who survived Ghazan's assaults made an unsuccessful attempt to bring Öljeitü back into Buddhism, showing they were active in the realm for more than 50 years.^[38]

The conversion of Mongols was initially a fairly superficial affair. The process of establishment of Islam did not happen suddenly. Öljeitü's historian Qāshāni records that Kutlushah, after losing patience with a dispute between Hanafi and Shafi'i Sunnis, expressed his view that Islam should be abandoned and Mongols should return to the ways of Genghis Khan. Qāshani also stated that Öljeitü had reverted for a brief period. As Muslims, Mongols showed a marked preference for Sufism, with masters like Safi-ad-Din Ardabili often treated with respect and favour.^[39]

Disintegration (1316–1357)

Öljaitü's son, the last Ilkhan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, was enthroned in 1316. He was faced with rebellion in 1318 by the Chagatayids and Qara'unas in Khorasan, and an invasion by the Golden Horde at the same time. An Anatolian emir, Irenchin, also rebelled. Irenchin was crushed by Chupan of the Taichiud in the Battle of Zanjan-Rud on 13 July 1319. Under the influence of Chupan, the Ilkhanate made peace with the Chagatais, who helped them crush the Chagatayid revolt, and the Mamluks. In 1327, Abu-Sai'd replaced Chupan with "Big" Hasan.^[40] Hasan was accused of attempting to assassinate the khan and exiled to Anatolia in 1332. The non-Mongol emirs Sharaf-ud-Din Mahmud-Shah and Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad were given unprecedented military authority, which irked the Mongol emirs. In the 1330s, outbreaks of the Black Death ravaged the Ilkhanate and both Abu-Sai'd and his sons were killed by 1335 by the plague.^[41] Ghiyas-ud-Din put a descendant of Ariq Böke, Arpa Ke'un, on the throne, triggering a succession of short-lived khans until "Little" Hasan took Azerbaijan in 1338. In 1357, Jani Beg of the Golden Horde conquered Chupanid-held Tabriz for a year, putting an end to the Ilkhanate remnant.^[42]

Franco-Mongol alliance

The courts of Western Europe made many attempts to ally with the Mongols, primarily with the Ilkhanate, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, starting from around the time of the Seventh Crusade in the mid-13th century. (Western Europeans were collectively called Franks by Muslims and Asians in the era of the Crusades.) Despite their shared opposition to the Muslims, primarily the Mamluk Sultanate, no formal alliance ever was concluded.^[43]

Government

Map of the Ilkhanate in the Catalan Atlas (1375), with depiction of the ruler. The Ilkhanate flag appears over many cities: .^[44]

In contrast to the China-based Yuan dynasty, who excluded the native population from gaining control of high offices, the Ilkhanate ruled their realm through a Central Asian-Persian ("Tajik") administration in partnership with Turco-Mongol military officers. Not all of the Persian administrators were Muslims or members of the traditional families that had served the Seljuqs and Khwarazmians (e.g, the

The Ilkhanate rulers, who were keen to increase their autonomy, supported their Persian bureaucrats' promotion of the traditional Iranian idea of kingship. The Persian concept of monarchy over a territorial empire, or more specifically, the "Kingship of the Land of Iran" (pādshāhi-ye Irān-zamin), was easily sold to their Mongol masters by these bureaucrats. A lasting effect of the Mongol conquests was the emergence of the "national state" in Iran during the Ilkhanate era.[46]

The Ilkhanate Mongols remained nomadic in their way of life until the end of the dynasty. Their nomadic routes covered central

In 1330, the annexation of Abkhazia resulted in the reunification of the Kingdom of Georgia. However, tribute received by the Il-Khans from Georgia sank by about three-quarters between 1336 and 1350 because of wars and famines.^[48]

Legacy

The emergence of the Ilkhanate had an important historical impact in

The title Ilkhan resurfaced among the Qashqai nomads of southern Iran in the 19th century. Jan Mohammad Khan started using it in 1818/19, and this was continued by all the following Qashqai leaders. The last Ilkhan was Nasir Khan, who in 1954 was pushed into exile after his support of Mohammad Mosaddegh. When he returned during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he could not regain his previous position and died in 1984 as the last Ilkhan of the Qashqai.^[55]

• 
  Ilkhanate, Lampas with phoenix, silk and gold, Iran or Iraq, 14th century.
• 
  Ilkhanate, Lampas textile, silk and gold; second half of 14th century.
• 
  1305 letter of the Ilkhan Mongol Öljaitü (official square red stamp of the Ilkhanate).
• 
  Seal of Ghazan

Ilkhans

History of the Mongols
Timeline History Rulers Nobility Culture Language Mongols 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 Chagatai Khanate 1225-1340s Moghulistan 1346-1462 Turpan Khanate 1487-1660? Yarkent Khanate 1514-1705 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 (in India) 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
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History of Iran
Prehistoric period BCE / BC Baradostian culture c. 36,000–18,000 Zarzian culture c. 20,000–10,000 Shulaveri–Shomu culture c. 6000–5000 Zayandeh River Culture c. 6th millennium Dalma culture c. 5th millennium
Proto-Elamite	3200–2700
Jiroft culture	c. 3100–2200
Lullubi Kingdom/Zamua	c. 3100-675
Elam	2700–539
Marhaši	c. 2550-2020
Oxus Civilization	c. 2400–1700
Akkadian Empire	2400–2150
Kassites	c. 1500–1155
Avestan period	c. 1500–500
Neo-Assyrian Empire	911–609
Urartu	860–590
Mannaea	850–616
Zikirti	750-521
Saparda	720-670