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Khanate of Astrakhan | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1466–1556 | |||||||||||||||
 Astrakhan Khanate in 1466–1556 | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Astrakhan (Xacitarxan) | ||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Chagatai language,Kypchak | ||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Kipchak languages | ||||||||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||||||||
| Government | Khanate | ||||||||||||||
| Astrakhan Khan | |||||||||||||||
• 1466 | Makhmud Astrakhan | ||||||||||||||
• 1554–1556 | Darwish Ghali | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Established | 1466 | ||||||||||||||
• Russian conquest | 1556 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Russia | ||||||||||||||
TheKhanate of Astrakhan was aTatarrump state of theGolden Horde. The khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the area adjacent to the mouth of theVolga river, around the modern city ofAstrakhan. Itskhans claimed patrilineal descent from Toqa Temür,[1] the thirteenth son ofJochi and grandson ofGenghis Khan.
Mahmud bin Küchük established the Khanate in the 1460s. The capital was the city ofXacitarxan, also known asAstrakhan in Russian chronicles. Its territory included the LowerVolga valley and theVolga Delta, including most of what is nowAstrakhan Oblast and thesteppeland on the right bank of Volga in present-dayKalmykia. To the south was theCaspian Sea, to the east theNogai Horde, and to the westNogais who were theoretically subjects of theCrimean 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 variousTurkic-speaking tribes. They formed two states:Old Great Bulgaria (c. 632–668) and theKhazars (c. 650–969). Following the Mongol conquest the western steppe broke off and became theGolden Horde (c. 1240–1502). In the fifteenth century parts of the Horde broke off as follows: 1438:Khanate of Kazan, 1441:Khanate of Crimea, 1466: Astrakhan, 1480:Russia. Thesteppe remnant ended in 1502 and steppe peoples around Astrakhan became theNogai Horde.[citation needed]
Most of the population of the Astrakhan khanate wereAstrakhan Tatars andNogais. Merchants carried on a transit trade betweenMuscovy,Kazan,Crimea,Central Asia, and theTranscaucasus region.[citation needed]
The nobility consisted of feudal ranks, which were, from highest to lowest: thekhan,sultans,begs, andmorzalar. The rest of the population were known asqara 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.[citation needed]
The state religion wasSunni Islam. With its conquest by the Russians in 1556,Sunni Islam was largely replaced by Russian Orthodox Christianity, though the region to this day is home to aSunni Muslim minority. The Kalmyks are largely Buddhist.[citation needed]
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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 imperfectkhan list with uncertain regnal dates and a few military and diplomatic events and traveler's reports. The capital wasXacitarxan, which the Russians called Astrakhan, 12 km north of modernAstrakhan. After the conquest, the town and name were moved to the present location.[citation needed]
The khanate is said to have been founded in 1466,[2] but did not become fully separate from the Golden Horde until the Horde's end in 1502. In 1459 the Golden Horde rulerKüchük Muhammad died and power was split between his sonsAhmed Khan bin Küchük, the man who lost Russia in 1480, andMahmud bin Küchük who was based around Astrakhan. The khanate was founded either by Mahmud or his sonQasim I. The khans of Astrakhan were all descended from Mahmud or his brother Ahmed. It was visited byAmbrogio Contarini in 1476. Howorth (only) says it was besieged by Ahmed andIbak 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 andSahib 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 wasexpanding 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 clientDervish Ali Astrakhani who soon began intriguing with the Crimeans. Russia sent more troops andoccupied Astrakhan in 1556, proceeding to destroy the largestslave market on the Volga.[3] In 1558, Astrakhan was moved 12 km south to its present location. In 1569,the Ottomans were unable to capture Astrakhan.
