The Golden Horde was the westernmost and longest-lasting of the four major khanates into which the Mongol Empire was divided. Founded by Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, in the aftermath of the Mongol invasion of Europe in the 1240s, the Golden Horde ruled over the Russian principalities, the Volga basin, the Caucasus, and parts of Central Asia for more than two and a half centuries. The Horde left a deep imprint on the political, cultural, and economic life of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and its legacy is still visible in the modern world.
The Golden Horde was the khanate of the Russian steppe. It was based on the lower Volga, where the khans maintained a shifting capital, first at Sarai Batu (Old Sarai) and later at Sarai Berke (New Sarai), and it controlled the trade routes that connected the Russian principalities to the rest of the Mongol world. The Horde collected tribute from the Russian principalities and intervened periodically in their internal affairs, but it generally allowed the Russian princes a substantial degree of autonomy in return for their cooperation.
The Founding of the Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was the creation of Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the son of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan. Jochi had died before his father, and the question of his succession had been a source of tension within the imperial family. Genghis Khan divided Jochi’s territories, called the Ulus Jochi, between Batu and another grandson, Orda, and the two branches of the Jochid family ruled the western and eastern parts of the ulus respectively. The descendants of Orda ruled the White Horde; the descendants of Batu ruled what would become the Golden Horde.
The Golden Horde was the major beneficiary of the Mongol invasion of Europe in the 1240s. Batu, who led the invasion, emerged from the campaigns as the most powerful prince in the western part of the empire, and he used his new position to establish a major state on the lower Volga. The Horde was organized along the lines of the original Mongol Empire, with a decimal military structure, a Yassa-based legal system, and an imperial administration that drew on the experience of the conquered peoples. The Horde was, however, more politically decentralized than the original empire, and the khans ruled with the assistance of a council of tribal leaders that had more power than its counterpart in the original empire.
The Sarai Cities
The capital of the Golden Horde was the city of Sarai, located on the lower Volga. The first Sarai, called Sarai Batu or Old Sarai, was founded by Batu Khan in the 1240s, and it became one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities of the medieval world. The city was a major center of trade, with merchants from all over Eurasia — Italians, Greeks, Armenians, Persians, Chinese, and others — visiting the city to conduct business. The city was also a major center of Islamic learning, particularly after the conversion of the Horde to Islam in the early fourteenth century.
The second Sarai, called Sarai Berke or New Sarai, was founded by Berke Khan, the first Muslim khan of the Horde, in the 1260s. New Sarai was located slightly upstream of Old Sarai, and it was a larger and more impressive city than its predecessor. The city was home to a number of major Islamic institutions, including a number of madrasas and mosques that were major centers of learning. The city was a major center of the slave trade, and the markets of New Sarai were a major source of slaves for the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire.
The Sarai cities were major centers of economic activity in the medieval world. The cities were connected to the rest of the Mongol world by the yam postal system, and they were important nodes in the trade routes that connected the Russian principalities to the rest of Eurasia. The cities were also major centers of manufacturing, particularly of textiles, metalwork, and pottery. The pottery of the Golden Horde, with its distinctive blue-and-white decoration, was exported throughout the Mongol world and is still a valuable collector’s item.
The Tribute System
The Golden Horde ruled the Russian principalities through a system of tribute collection that became increasingly elaborate over time. The system required the Russian princes to travel to Sarai, or to a designated deputy, to receive a patent (the yarlyk) authorizing them to rule their principalities. In return, the princes were required to pay tribute (the vykhod) in the form of furs, silver, and other goods, and to provide military service to the khan when required.
The tribute system was a major source of income for the Horde, and the Russian principalities became increasingly dependent on the tribute economy. The system also had important political effects: it created a hierarchy of Russian princes, with the prince who received the yarlyk from the khan being recognized as the senior prince among the Russians, and it gave the khan a powerful tool for intervening in Russian political affairs. The most famous example of khanic intervention was the so-called “Standing on the Ugra” of 1480, in which the Golden Horde khan Akhmat and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III faced each other across the Ugra River and eventually, after a tense standoff, the khan withdrew without a battle. The standoff is traditionally taken as the end of Mongol rule over Russia.
The Conversion to Islam
The Golden Horde was initially a polytheistic and shamanist state, drawing on the religious traditions of the Mongol heartland. The conversion of the khan and the ruling class to Islam was a gradual process that took place over the course of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The first Muslim khan of the Horde was Berke, who converted in the 1250s; the conversion of the mass of the population was a much slower process, and large parts of the Horde remained non-Muslim until the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.
The conversion of the Horde to Islam had important political and cultural effects. The Horde became a major patron of Islamic culture, and the cities of Sarai became major centers of Islamic learning. The Horde also became a major ally of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, with which it shared a common interest in opposing the Ilkhanate in Persia. The alliance between the Golden Horde and the Mamluks was one of the defining features of late medieval Middle Eastern politics, and it had a major impact on the balance of power in the Islamic world.
The Decline of the Golden Horde
The Golden Horde entered a long period of decline in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The decline was caused by a combination of internal divisions, the rise of new regional powers, and the gradual exhaustion of the tribute economy. The Horde split into a number of smaller khanates in the mid-fifteenth century, including the Crimean Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Khanate of Astrakhan, and the Khanate of Sibir. The Horde was further weakened by the rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which gradually became the dominant power in the northern steppe.
The final blow came in 1502, when the Crimean Khanate, with the support of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, conquered the last remnant of the Golden Horde. The conquest marked the end of the Golden Horde as a political entity, but the successor khanates — the Crimean Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Khanate of Astrakhan, and the various Kazakh and Uzbek states — continued to rule the steppe for centuries afterward. The Crimean Khanate in particular remained a major power until the late 18th century, when it was finally absorbed by the Russian Empire (in 1783, under Catherine the Great).
Sources
- Marie Favereau, The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World (Cambridge, MA, 2021) — the best modern single-volume treatment.
- Charles J. Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History (Bloomington, 1985) — the standard scholarly treatment.
- David Morgan, The Mongols (2nd ed., Oxford, 2007), ch. 5.
- Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410 (London, 2005).
- István Vásáry, Cuman and Tartar Warriors in the Mongol World (London, 2005) — on the Turkic peoples under Mongol rule.