The Khanate of Astrakhan was a Tatar rump state of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

. The khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the area adjacent to the mouth of the

Volga river The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, around the modern city of

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

. Its khans claimed patrilineal descent from Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of

Jochi Jochi (; ), also spelled Jüchi, was a prince of the early Mongol Empire. His life was marked by controversy over the circumstances of his birth and culminated in his estrangement from his family. He was nevertheless a prominent Military of the ...

and grandson of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

. Mahmud bin Küchük established the Khanate in the 1460s. The capital was the city of Xacitarxan, also known as

in Russian chronicles. Its territory included the Lower

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

valley and the Volga Delta, including most of what is now Astrakhan Oblast and the

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

land on the right bank of Volga in present-day Kalmykia. To the south was the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

, to the east the Nogai Horde, and to the west Nogais who were theoretically subjects of the Crimean Khanate.

Before the Khanate

The area was a natural center since it was the intersection of the north–south trade route down the Volga to Persia and the east–west trade route north of the Caspian. From the sixth century it was populated by various Turkic-speaking tribes. They formed two states: Old Great Bulgaria () and the Khazars (c. 650–969). Following the Mongol conquest the western steppe broke off and became the

(c. 1240–1502). In the fifteenth century parts of the Horde broke off as follows: 1438:

Khanate of Kazan The Khanate of Kazan was a Tatar state that occupied the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, and parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan; ...

, 1441: Khanate of Crimea, 1466: Astrakhan, 1480:

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The steppe remnant ended in 1502 and steppe peoples around Astrakhan became the Nogai Horde.

Demography and society

Most of the population of the Astrakhan khanate were Astrakhan Tatars and Nogais. Merchants carried on a transit trade between Muscovy,

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, and the Transcaucasus region. The nobility consisted of feudal ranks, which were, from highest to lowest: the khan,

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

s, begs, and morzalar. The rest of the population were known as ''qara xalıq'', ('black people', or more accurately in Old Turkic, "great creation" implying 'the creatures at large" or common folks, when "qara" stood for "big" and "great" not just black, and "aq" (white), stood also for delicate, small, dainty etc.), the standard Turkic designation for commoners. The state religion was

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

. With its conquest by the Russians in 1556,

was largely replaced by Russian Orthodox Christianity, though the region to this day is home to a Sunni Muslim minority. The Kalmyks are largely Buddhist.

History

The Astrakhan khanate is poorly documented. According to Frank "The dates and activities of these rulers are faintly represented in the sources, when they are represented at all." About all we have is an imperfect khan list with uncertain regnal dates and a few military and diplomatic events and traveler's reports. The capital was Xacitarxan, which the Russians called Astrakhan, 12 km north of modern

. After the conquest, the town and name were moved to the present location. The khanate is said to have been founded in 1466, but did not become fully separate from the Golden Horde until the Horde's end in 1502. In 1459 the Golden Horde ruler Küchük Muhammad died and power was split between his sons Ahmed Khan bin Küchük, the man who lost Russia in 1480, and Mahmud bin Küchük who was based around Astrakhan. The khanate was founded either by Mahmud or his son Qasim I. The khans of Astrakhan were all descended from Mahmud or his brother Ahmed. It was visited by Ambrogio Contarini in 1476. Howorth (only) says it was besieged by Ahmed and Ibak Khan some time before 1480. The Russian Wikipedia (only) says it was besieged by Ibak's brother and the Nogais in 1492. It was twice briefly occupied by Crimea ( Mehmed I Giray in 1523 and Sahib I Giray in 1549). The khanate traditionally had military and diplomatic relations with Crimea, the Nogais and sometimes the Circassians. Diplomatic contact with Moscow began in 1532 or earlier. About this time Moscow was expanding east toward Kazan which it conquered in 1552. It also was gaining the power to exert force down the Volga between Kazan and Astrakhan, something that is not explained in the sources. In 1551, Yamghurchi of Astrakhan made a nominal submission to Moscow. He soon changed sides and allied with Crimea and the Nogais. Russia sent 30,000 troops against him. In 1554 he fled the town and Russia imposed its client Dervish Ali Astrakhani who soon began intriguing with the Crimeans. Russia sent more troops and occupied Astrakhan in 1556, proceeding to destroy the largest slave market on the Volga.Janet Martin, Medieval Russia:980-1584, (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 356 In 1558, Astrakhan was moved 12 km south to its present location. In 1569, the Ottomans were unable to capture Astrakhan.

Notes

References

Sources