Everything about The Ilkhan totally explained
The
Ilkhanate, also spelled
Il-khanate or
Il Khanate ("il" in all cases;
Ch: 伊兒汗國, ), was one of the four
khanates within the
Mongol Empire during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was centered in
Persia (Ch:波斯), including present-day
Iran,
Iraq,
Afghanistan,
Turkmenistan,
Armenia,
Azerbaijan,
Georgia,
Turkey, and western
Pakistan. It was based, originally, on
Genghis Khan's campaigns in the
Khwarezmid Empire in
1219-
1224, and founded by Genghis's grandson,
Hulagu Khan.
Hulagu
After the
Battle of Köse Dağ in
1243, the Mongols occupied Anatolia, and the
Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm became a vassal of what would later become the Ilkhanate Mongols.
The founder of the Ilkhanate dynasty was
Hulagu Khan, grandson of
Genghis Khan and brother of both
Möngke Khan and
Kublai Khan. Taking over from Baiju in
1255 or
1256, he'd been charged with subduing the Muslim kingdoms to the west "as far as the borders of Egypt." This occupation led the Turkmens to move west into
Anatolia to escape from the Mongolian tribes.
Hulagu then returned to the Persian heartland and established his dynasty. His expedition towards Egypt, however, was halted in
Palestine in 1260 by a major defeat at the
Battle of Ain Jalut at the hands of the
Mamluks of Egypt.
Early Ilkhanate
The term
il-Khan means "subordinate
khan" and refers to their initial deference to
Möngke Khan as
great khan and ultimate sovereign of the entire empire. Hulagu's descendants ruled
Persia for the next eighty years, beginning as shamanists, then Buddhists and ultimately converting to Islam. However, the Ilkhans remained opposed to the
Mamluks (who had defeated both Mongol invaders and crusaders), but were never able to gain significant ground against them, eventually being forced to give up their plans to conquer
Syria, and their stranglehold over their vassals the Sultanate of Rum and the Armenian kingdom in
Cilicia. This was due to the hostility of the khanates to the north and east – the
Chagatai khanate in Mughulistan and the
Blue Horde of
Batu threatened the Ilkhanate in the Caucasus and Transoxiana, preventing expansion westward. Even under Hülagü's reign, the Ilkhanate was engaged in open warfare in the
Caucasus with the Mongols in the Russian steppes.
Franco-Mongol alliance
Many attempts towards the formation of a Franco-Mongol alliance were made between the courts of
Western Europe and the
Mongol Empire (primarily the Ilkhanate) in the 13th and 14th centuries, starting from around the time of the
Seventh Crusade. United in their opposition to the
Muslims (mainly the Mamluks), the Ilkhanate and the Europeans were still never able to satisfactorily combine their forces against their common enemy.
Conversion to Islam
In the period after Hulagu, the Ilkhans increasingly adopted
Tibetan Buddhism. Christian powers were encouraged by what appeared to be a favoring of
Nestorian Christianity but this probably went no deeper than their traditional evenhandedness. Thus the Ilkhans were markedly out of step with the Muslim majority they ruled.
Ghazan, shortly before he overthrew
Baydu, converted to
Islam and his official favoring of Islam coincided with a marked attempt to bring the regime closer to the non-Mongol majority. Christian and Jewish subjects lost their equal status with Muslims and again had to pay the poll tax. Buddhists had the starker choice of conversion or expulsion.
In foreign relations, the conversion to Islam had little to no effect and Ghazan continued to fight the Mamluks for control of Syria. For the most part, Ghazan's policies continued under his brother
Öljeitü despite suggestions that he might begin to favor the
Shi'a brand of Islam after he came under the influence of Shi'a theologians
Al-Hilli and
Maitham Al Bahrani. Öljeitü succeeded in conquering
Gilan on the Caspian coast and his magnificent tomb in
Soltaniyeh remains the best known monument of Ilkhanid rule in Persia.
Disintegration
After
Abu Sa'id's death in 1335, the khanate began to disintegrate rapidly, and split up into several rival
successor states, most prominently the
Jalayirids. The last of the obscure Ilkhan pretenders was assassinated in
1353.
Timur later carved a state from the Jalayirids, ostensibly to restore the old khanate.
The historian
Rashid al-Din wrote a
universal history for the khans around 1315 which provides much material for their history.
Ilkhanid Dynasty rulers
Post-Ilkhanate rulers
After the Ilkhanate, the regional states established during the disintegration of the Ilkhanate raised their own candidates as claimants.
Arpa Ke'ün (1335-1336)
Musa (1336-1337) (puppet of 'Ali Padshah of Baghdad)
Muhammad (1336-1338) (Jalayirid puppet)
Sati Beg (1338-1339) (Chobanid puppet)
Sulayman (1339-1343) (Chobanid puppet, recognized by the Sarbadars 1341-1343)
Jahan Temur (1339-1340) (Jalayirid puppet)
Anushirwan (1343-1356) (non-dynastic Chobanid puppet)
Ghazan II (1356-1357) (known only from coinage)
Claimants from eastern Persia (Khurasan):
Togha Temür (c. 1338-1353) (recognized by the Kartids 1338-1349; by the Jalayirids 1338-1339, 1340-1344; by the Sarbadars 1338-1341, 1344, 1353)
Luqman (1353-1388) (son of Togha Temür)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ilkhan'.
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