Tatar Invasion Disintegration of the Golden Horde






The Golden Horde, 1241-1390



The Kipchak Turks or Tatars took possession of the steppe lands along the lower Volga and Don, and set up the KHANATE OF THE GOLDEN HORDE. It remained subject to the MONGOL EMPIRE until late into the 13th century. It was the time of the PAX MONGOLICA, benefitting trade and opening the opportunity for MARCO POLO to venture to China and back. Late in the 13th century, dispute between the Khanate of the Golden Horde and the ILKHANATE of Persia arose, and contributed to the Empire's breakup under Kublai Khan..
Capital of the Khanate of the Golden Horde was SARAI, located on the lower Volga. The steppe lands, including old Volga Bulgaria, were under direct Tatar administration. The principalities of Russia were subject to the Khan's rule, but the Tatars left them in office, as long as his orders were obeyed and taxes paid. The Tatars were tolerant towards the Greek Orthodox religion of the Russians. In ca. 1340, the Golden Horde converted to ISLAM. Soon afterward, in 1346, the BLACK DEATH appeared, on Crimea reaching the Genoese outposts, via Genoese trading ships finding it's way to the heart of Europe.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Encyclopedic description from infoplease
Rambaud on the Mongol Conquest of the Kievan Rus' Principalities, by shsu
The Mongol Invasion of Europe, by Erik Hildinger
The Golden Horde, from Library of Congress, Country Studies : Mongolia
The Umdet ul=ahbar and the Turkic Narrative Sources for the Golden Horde and the Later Golden Horde, by Uli Schamiloglu (Central Asian Studies) a survey of literature from the Golden Horde
Timeline Kipchaks, by Zakiev M. Z. Sakaliba
DOCUMENTS The Tatar Invasion of 1241, from the Annals of Jan Dlugosz, 15th century, by IM Publications
A 1243 description of the Tatars, from Medieval Sourcebook
REFERENCES Colin McEvedy, The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, London : Penguin, without year
Charles J. Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde : The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History, reprint 1987


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on July 7th 2005

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