The Ilkhanate was established in 1256, when Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, was proclaimed as the il-khan, or “subordinate khan,” of the Mongol Empire in Persia. The date 1256 is conventionally used to mark the beginning of the Ilkhanate, and the dynasty lasted until 1335, when it collapsed after a long succession crisis.
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 Background to the Establishment
The background to the establishment was the long process of Mongol expansion into the Middle East. The Mongols had been attacking the Islamic world since the 1220s, when they had conquered the Khwarezmian Empire. The Mongols had also attacked the Seljuk Sultanate and the Ayyubid Sultanate, and they had established a major presence in the Middle East.
The establishment of the Ilkhanate was the culmination 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 Establishment of the Ilkhanate
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 proclaimed in 1256, when Hulagu was formally recognized as the il-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 title was originally meant to indicate that the Ilkhan was subordinate to the great khan, but the Ilkhanate was, in practice, a fully independent state.
The establishment of the Ilkhanate was a major innovation. 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 and who consolidated the Ilkhanate through a series of major campaigns against the remaining Islamic states of the Middle East.
The Significance of the Establishment
The establishment 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 establishment 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 establishment 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.
The Long-Term Impact
The long-term impact of the Ilkhanate was significant. The Ilkhanate was a major factor in the political, cultural, and economic life of the Middle East for almost a century, and it was a major source of the cultural and political traditions of the modern Middle East. The Ilkhanate was also a major patron of Islamic culture, and the Ilkhanate was a major center of the arts, literature, and science in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.
The Ilkhanate also had a major impact on the political life of the Middle East. The Ilkhanate was a major enemy of the Mamluk Sultanate, and the two powers fought a long series of wars in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The Ilkhanate was also a major ally of the Christian Crusader states, and the alliance was a major factor in the politics of the Levant. The Ilkhanate was, in this sense, a major player in the political life of the medieval Middle East, and its impact is still felt in the region today.
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).