The founding of the Ilkhanate in 1256 was a major event in the history of the Middle East and of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanate was the khanate of the Mongol world that ruled over Persia, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, and parts of Anatolia, and it was the westernmost of the four major khanates of the Mongol world. The Ilkhanate was founded by Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the brother of Kublai Khan, and it was one of the most important states in the medieval Middle East.
The founding of the Ilkhanate was the culmination of a long process of Mongol expansion into the Middle East. The Mongols had been attacking the Islamic world since the 1220s, and the founding of the Ilkhanate marked the establishment of a major Mongol state in the region. The Ilkhanate was a major factor in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Middle East for the next century.
The Campaign of Hulagu
The founding of the Ilkhanate was the result of a major military campaign launched by Hulagu Khan. Hulagu was sent by his brother Möngke Khan to conquer the Islamic world, and the campaign was launched in 1253. The campaign was a major military undertaking, and it was carried out by a Mongol army of perhaps 100,000 to 150,000 men.
The campaign was directed against the major Islamic states of the Middle East, including the Abbasid Caliphate, the Seljuk Sultanate, and the Ayyubid Sultanate. The campaign was a major success, and the Mongols quickly conquered most of the Middle East. The campaign culminated in the sack of Baghdad in 1258, which marked the end of the Abbasid Caliphate and the establishment of the Ilkhanate.
The Establishment of the Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate was established in 1256, when Hulagu was proclaimed as the il-khan, or “subordinate khan,” of the Mongol Empire in Persia. The title “il-khan” was a recognition of the fact that the Ilkhanate was a subordinate khanate of the central empire, and the title was a major innovation in the Mongol political tradition.
The establishment of the Ilkhanate was a major political event, and it marked the formal creation of a major Mongol state in the Middle East. The Ilkhanate was based on a synthesis of Mongol and Persian administrative traditions, and it was a major factor in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Middle East for the next century.
The most important of the early Ilkhans was Hulagu himself, who ruled from 1256 to 1265. Hulagu was a major military commander, and he consolidated the Ilkhanate through a series of major campaigns against the remaining Islamic states of the Middle East. Hulagu was also a major patron of culture, and he sponsored a number of major artistic and literary projects.
The Ilkhanate and the Other Khanates
The Ilkhanate was one of the four major khanates of the Mongol Empire, and it was the khanate most directly engaged with the Islamic world. The Ilkhanate was connected to the other khanates by shared descent and shared customs, but it was increasingly separated by religion, language, and political interest.
The most important of the relations of the Ilkhanate with the other khanates was the long series of wars with the Golden Horde. The Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde were rivals for control of the Caucasus, and the two khanates fought a long series of wars in the region in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The wars were often fought through proxy states, and they were a major factor in the political life of the Middle East.
The Ilkhanate was also closely connected to the Yuan Dynasty in China. The Yuan Dynasty was the khanate of the imperial heartland, and the two khanates were connected by shared descent and shared political traditions. The connection was particularly strong in the early years of the Ilkhanate, and the two khanates cooperated on a number of major diplomatic and military initiatives.
The Significance of the Founding
The founding of the Ilkhanate was a major event in the history of the Middle East and of the world. The Ilkhanate was the first major Mongol state in the Middle East, and it was the model for the subsequent Mongol states in the region. The Ilkhanate was also a major factor in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Middle East for the next century, and it was a major source of the cultural and political traditions of the modern Middle East.
The founding of the Ilkhanate was also significant for what it tells us about the Mongol world. The Mongols were able to project their power across most of Eurasia, and they were able to establish major states in a wide range of regions. The founding of the Ilkhanate is a reminder that the Mongol world was a major political and cultural reality, and that the Mongol world had a profound impact on the regions that it touched.
Sources
- George Lane, Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-Century Iran (London, 2003).
- Linda Komaroff, ed., The Legacy of Genghis Khan (New York, 2002).
- Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West (London, 2005).