The Qasim Khanate (also called ''Qasimov'', ''Kasimov'', or ''Kasim''), also known as the Tsardom of Kasimov (), was a Tatar-ruled

khanate A khanate ( ) or khaganate refers to historic polity, polities ruled by a Khan (title), khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. Khanates were typically nomadic Mongol and Turkic peoples, Turkic or Tatars, Tatar societies located on the Eurasian Steppe, ...

which existed from 1452 until 1681 on the territory of the Russian state. It was located within modern-day

Ryazan Oblast Ryazan Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Ryazan, which is also the oblast's largest city. Geography Ryazan Oblast ...

with its capital at Kasimov, in the middle course of the

Oka River The Oka (, ; ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, ...

. It was initially in the sphere of influence of the Grand Principality of Moscow and then was dependent on the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

. The khanate was established in the lands which Grand Prince

Vasily II of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich (; 10 March 141527 March 1462), nicknamed the Blind or the Dark (), was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1425 until his death in 1462. He succeeded his father, Vasily I, only to be challenged by his uncle Yuri of Zveni ...

() presented in 1452 to the

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. ...

prince Qasim Khan (), son of the first Kazan khan Olug Moxammat.

History

Origins

The original populations were the Volga Finnic tribes of the Meshchyora,

Muroma The Volga Finns are a historical group of peoples living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzyas, Erzya and the Mokshas, Moksha (commonly grouped together as Mordvins) ...

and

Mordvins Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; ; no equivalents in Moksha language, Moksha and Erzya language, Erzya) is an official term used in Russia and the Soviet Union to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928. Names While Robert Gordon ...

. The lands were originally under the influence of

Kievan Rus Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of Russ ...

' and

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate) was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now Europea ...

. Local tribes were tributaries of Russian princes. Later, the area was incorporated into

Vladimir-Suzdal The Principality of Suzdal, from 1157 the Grand Principality of Vladimir, commonly known as Vladimir-Suzdal, or simply Suzdalia, was a medieval principality that was established during the disintegration of Kievan Rus'. In historiography, the ...

. In 1152, Grand Prince

Yuri Dolgoruky Yuri I Vladimirovich (; ; c. 1099 – 15 May 1157), commonly known as Yuri Dolgorukiy (, ) or the Long Arm, was a Monomakhovichi prince of Rostov and Suzdal, acquiring the name ''Suzdalia'' during his reign. Noted for successfully curbing t ...

founded Gorodets-Meshchyorskiy. After the

Mongol invasions The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

, the territory was incorporated into the territory 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 ...

. Turkic settlers appeared in those areas, and most of them accepted

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

under the influence from the

Volga Bulgars Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate) was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now Europea ...

. The semi-independent principality of Mishar Yurt was founded by Mohammad Shirin beg. From 1393, the area became part of the Grand Principality of Moscow. After the battle of Suzdal in 1445, Olug Moxammad claimed to return those lands to the

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

. According to some historians, such as Khudyakov, Vasily executed the claim and Moxammat's son Qasim was crowned as a ruler of the Meshchyora lands. The area and capital were renamed after him. Another version is that Qasim came into Russian service and was granted those lands to create a

buffer state A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...

between Moscow and the

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; ...

. The establishment of the khanate is dated to no later than 1456. From the beginning, its khans governed the khanate's territory, but was then under Russian control from the 1530s. Most historians say that the Russians began to interfere in its internal affairs and then introduced elements of a subordinate administration. A permanent representative with the rank of ''

okolnichy Okolnichy (, ) was an old Russian court official position. According to the ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'', directives on the position of ''okolnichy'' date back to the 14th century. Judging by the Muscovite records from the 16th a ...

'' was established in November 1542. In 1552, its rulers began to be offered large estates in the districts of Kasimov and Yelatma. From the second half of the 16th century, the Russian army reduced the number of detachments from Kasimov.

Later history

Qasim khans with their guard participated in all of Moscow's raids into

(1467–1469, 1487, 1552). Qasim claimed the throne of the

in 1467 and was supported by Ivan III, but the failure of the Russo-Kazan War of 1467–1469 caused him to return to his possessions. Daniyal () was involved in various military campaigns led by Ivan III. From 1486, the descendants of

Ulugh Muhammad Ulugh Muhammad or Muhammad Khan (1405–1445; Chagatai, Volga Türki, and Persian: الغ محمد; Kypchak: محمد خان; written as Ulanus by orientalists) was a medieval Tatar statesman, Gengisid, Khan of the Golden Horde (before 1436) ...

were replaced with representatives of the Giray dynasty. Nur Devlet, a Russian ally, made dynastic claims to the throne of Kasimov, which allowed the Russian government to exert pressure of the policies of the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

Şahğäli Shah-Ali ( Volga Türki and Persian: شاه علی, or Shahghali; ; ; also known as Shig-Aley; ; 1505–1567) was a khan of the Qasim Khanate and the Khanate of Kazan. He ruled the Qasim Khanate for much of his life and three times tried to ru ...

(1515–1567) was three times crowned as

Kazan khan Kazan Khan (22 June 1972 – 12 June 2023) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films. He was best known for his villain roles. Career Kazan made his acting debut in the year 1992 with Tamil f ...

with the aid of Muscovy. After the conquest of Kazan, the self-government of the khans was abolished and the khanate came to be governed by Russian voyevodas. However, khans still reigned. One of the khans,

Simeon Bekbulatovich Simeon Bekbulatovich (; born Sain-Bulat; died ) was a Russian statesman of Tatar origin who briefly served as the figurehead ruler of Russia from 1575 to 1576. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan. He was born into a Muslim family and served as ...

, was baptised and proclaimed as the grand prince of Russia in 1574. He never really reigned and was used for a short period by Russian tsar

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

as a figurehead ruler without any real power. During the reign of Sayed Borhan khan (1627–1679), Russia began a policy of

Christianization Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

. Begs, who had a status equal to

boyars A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russian nobility, Russia), Boyars of Moldavia and Wallach ...

, were switched to Serving Tatars, equal to

Dvoryans The Russian nobility or ''dvoryanstvo'' () arose in the Middle Ages. In 1914, it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members, out of a total population of 138,200,000. Up until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian noble estates staffed ...

. This policy provoked a Tatar revolt in 1656. After the death of khanbika (queen) Fatima Soltan in 1681, the Khanate was abolished.

Population

The land was inhabited mainly by

, some of them as well as other Volga Finnic peoples like the Meshchyora and

have been assimilated by

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

and became

Mishar Tatars The Mishar Tatars (endonyms: мишәрләр, мишәр татарлары, ''mişärlär, mişär tatarları''), previously known as the Meshcheryaki (мещеряки), are the second largest subgroup of the Volga Tatars, after the Kazan Tat ...

. Later, the land was settled by the

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

. Some

Kazan Tatars The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars (; ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to the Idel-Ural, Volga-Ural region of European Russia, western Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are the second-largest ethni ...

resettled to Qasim lands, and were called ''Qasim Tatars''. Most of the Qasim Tatars served at the khan's palace or served in the khan's military. This group had been assimilated into the Mishar Tatars, but nearly 1,000 Qasim Tatars are still living in the city of Kasimov. The noble families were the Manghyt (Manğıt), Arghyn (Arğın), Jalair (Cälair), Qipchaq (Qıpçaq). Moscow's administrators elected the khans from ruling families of the Tatar khanates:

, the

, and the Siberia Khanate.

References

Bibliography

* (e-book). * * * *

External links

List of Qasim rulers
{{Coord missing, Russia States and territories established in 1452 States and territories disestablished in 1681 Tatar states Mongol rump states 1681 disestablishments History of Ryazan Oblast