Blue horde

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The term Blue Horde ( Tatar : Qüq Urda , Mongolian : Qöq Orda ) describes a Mongolian khanate on the Volga . This was subordinate to the direct descendants of Batu Khan († 1255) and his brothers.

However, the color designation was not clear in the course of history, so that the related Siberian khanate is sometimes referred to as the Blue Horde. In the western sources, however, the above assignment dominates.

history

The Blue Horde was founded in the course of the 13th century when Mongols and parts of the Turkic peoples allied with them settled on the course of the Volga. It became the most important part of the later Golden Horde due to the direct rule over the Russian principalities .

The progenitor of the dynasty was Dschötschi , the eldest son of Genghis Khan († 1227). Jötschi had been " Khan over the forest peoples and the western lands " since around 1207 and his sphere of influence included western Siberia and the areas of the Caspian Sea in the course of the Mongol conquests (e.g. 1223 Battle of the Kalka ). His second eldest son, Batu , succeeded him ( Ordas renounced it ) and led military campaigns in the areas of the Kievan Rus in 1236-40 . He then settled on the Volga and formed his own horde, the Blue Horde, while the eastern half remained under the rule of his older brother Orda.

Under Batu's successors, this so-called Blue Horde on the Volga was single-mindedly built up to become the dominant power and since then its history has differed from that of the White Horde Ordas and Scheibanis in Siberia. The princes of the Blue Horde had sovereignty over all parts of the "Ulus Dschötschi" until around 1357/59.

The first economic center of the empire was Bolgar on the Volga. This was on the Kama River - below today's Kazan - and had previously been the capital of the Volga Bulgarian Empire. In the 1240s Batu settled on the lower reaches of the Volga and founded the city of Sarai , which was then the capital of the Blue Horde for a long time. From 1342 the new or Berke-Sarai founded by Berke became the capital of the Blue Horde. Both cities were at the junctions of major traffic routes. In the 70s and 80s of the 13th century, extensive minting began on the lower reaches of the Volga, displacing those from the central reaches of the Volga ( Bolgar and others) and competing with those from the Black Sea region (Crimea).

For a while, the rulers tried to maintain the old nomadic traditions. So they only resided in their palaces in winter, while in the summer months they lived in yurts in the vast Russian steppes.

Soon after Batu's death (1255), his younger brother Berke († 1267) asserted himself as ruler. Berke became the first Islamic Khan of the Blue Horde, broke away from the Great Khan and in 1261 entered into a political-economic alliance with the Mamluk Empire in Egypt, which lasted well into the 14th century. Batu Khan's grandsons Möngke Timur and Tuda Möngke also adopted Islam in the 1270s, but it wasn't until the 14th century that it finally became established in the country under Uzbek Khan .

After Dschani Beg's death in 1357, there were throne disputes, that is, the khans changed every one or two years and Batu's descendants died around 1360 after various assassinations. Emirs like Mamai went into business for themselves, and the Siberian horde also tried to establish its candidates on the Volga. Analogously, other parts of the empire broke away, especially Russia under Dmitri Donskoi (1380 Battle of the Kulikowo Pole ). It was not until 1380 that the Blue Horde - now under the rule of the Toqtamish - was (re) united with the other Tatar khanates. The Russians called this entire Mongolian area the " Golden Horde " because of its wealth . This name should finally replace the former territorial designations such as "Blue Horde", "White Horde", "Ulus Kipchak" or "Ulus Dschötschi".

The Khans of the Blue Horde until 1359

Remarks

  1. The coins can be found online at www.zeno.ru.