The Blue Horde ( Mongolian: ''Хөх орд/khökh ord''; Tatar: ''Күк Урда/Kük Urda''; Turkish: ''Gök Ordu'') was a crucial component of the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

established after

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 ...

's demise in 1227. Functioning as the eastern part of the split

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 ...

, it contrasted with the White Horde's western segment (see the Turkic cardinal system), adhering to the Mongolian and Turkic tradition of cardinal direction colors.

The problem of identifying the color of the hordes

In historiography, there are contradictory uses of the color terminology in medieval sources.

The Eastern part of the Golden Horde

According to the traditional point of view in Russian chronicles, the Blue Horde is seen as the eastern part of the

, which was being found in the allegiance on west, and which was being governed by the descendants of Orda Khan. After the succession struggle of Batu's line in the 1360's, known as the "Great Troubles", the authority of both parts of the Golden Horde was passed to the eastern Jochids. According to Russian chronicles, the Blue Horde was located to the east of the Volga and is mentioned twice: the first time in connection with the great troubles, which was completed by the accession of Tokhtamysh ("tsar from blue horde"), and the second – with the invasion of Timur in 1395.

The Western part of the Golden Horde

According to the less popular and alternative point of view, the Blue Horde, on the contrary, corresponds to the western part of the Jochid Ulus (Golden Horde). This opinion is based on the literal movement to information of Persian composition of the XV century "Muntakhab atm-tavarikh- namu" by Muin ad-Din Natanzi (in the contemporary literature it still there is "by the anonymous author Of iskandera"). It is said after story about the administration of the Golden Horde khan Toqta () in this work: "After him, the ulus 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 ...

was divided into two parts. Those, which relate to the left wing, i.e., the limits of ulug]-taga, Sekiz-yagacha and Karatala to the limits of Tuysena, environments of Jend and Barchkenda, were affirmed after the descendants ogai and they began to be called by the sultans of Ak-Horde; however, the right wing, which includes Ibir-Sibir, Russian, Libka, Ukek, Madzhar, Bulgar, Bashgird and Srai-Berke, was given to descendants okhta and they named them the sultans of Blue Horde. However, as showed the contemporary studies, they are in all probability incorrectly understood, since in the Persian tradition blue and white colors indicate the opposite sides of light in comparison with the Turkish and the Mongolian.

One of the parts of Eastern part of the Golden Horde

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, this conventional is the third point of view, according to which the division into White and Blue Hordes' relates only to the eastern part of the Jochid Ulus. Accordingly, the Blue Horde is understood as

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was ...

of Shiban, another son of Jochi, which located between the right wing of gold horde and the horde of Orda Khan (in the territory of modern western Kazakhstan).

Foundation

Batu Khan effectively founded the Blue Horde upon the withdrawal from Europe in 1242 and by 1245, Sarai, the capital of the Blue Horde had been founded on 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 ...

. At the same time, the eastern lands of the

were administered by Batu's older brother Orda, and these came to be known as the White Horde. Batu asserted his control over the Russian principalities after sacking the cities of Vladimir in 1238 and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

in 1240, forcing them to pay annual tribute and accept his nominations as princes.

Golden Age

The Blue Horde stretched from the Ural River to the mouths of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and the Carpathian. It exacted tribute from most of the Russian principalities and carried raids as far west as Poland and as far south as Iran and Bulgaria. Starting with the conversion of Berke to Islam, the Blue Horde made a traditional alliance with the Mamluks of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

against their common rival, the Il-Khans. From the 1280s until 1299, the Blue Horde was effectively under the control of two khans, the legitimate khans and Nogai Khan, a warlord and kingmaker, who made an alliance with the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and invaded countries bordering the Blue Horde, particularly in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. Nogai's pre-eminence was ended by the assertion of the legitimate Khan Toqta, and the Blue Horde reached the apex of its power and prosperity during the reigns of Uzbeg Khan (Öz Beg) and his son Jani Beg in the middle of the 14th century, when it intervened in the affairs of the disintegrating

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

Fall

The Blue Horde remained strong from its foundation (around 1240) until the 1350s. Problems in the west of the horde led to the eventual losses of Wallachia, Dobruja, Moldavia and the western Ukraine and the vassal principalities west of

, losing those lands to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

after being defeated by its army in the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The death of Jani Beg led to the Blue Horde entering into a prolonged civil war, with concurrent khans fighting each other and holding no real power. At the same time, Mamai turned kingmaker in the Blue Horde. During this time, Vasily I of Moscow took advantage of the infighting and stopped paying tribute to the Horde, though the Horde still carried out some attacks on Moscow such as a raid in 1408. It was not until the coming of Tokhtamysh that the concurrent khans were removed. He united the Blue Horde with his own White Horde and created the

in 1380. The Blue Horde merged into both the other hordes, yet never really went away until finally the Golden Horde was defeated.

Notes and references

Additional reading

Boris Grekov Boris Dmitrievich Grekov (; – 9 September 1953) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet historian noted for his comprehensive studies of Kievan Rus and the Golden Horde. He was a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (19 ...

and Alexander Yakubovski, "''The Golden Horde and its Downfall''". * George Vernadsky, "''The Mongols and Russia''".