The Golden Horde

[willhj]

Hi all, can anybody give me some information on the Golden Horde, which cities they ruled over, and what is left to be seen of them these days? I am a student trying to write an essay on things to see in the area of the Golden Horde, and I'm finding it quite difficult to find information on any buildings or remains left behind by them.
Thnaks,
Will.

[mastodon]

first off, the "golden horde" and many other hordes came from the waning power of the mongol-tartar warlords of rus. quarrels over sucessions and the extreme difficulty of maintaining anykind of centralized authority over far-flung nomadic tribes led to the formation of such hordes.

the golden horde established its capital at sarai on the lower volga. this is close to where the khazars ruled the steppe. the golden horde, with a little help from some russian princes, hung around until the middle of the 15th century strong enough to maintain its grip on the oka-volga mesopatamia. only one pince of moscow raised a stink against the tartars. grand prince dmitry took advantage of internal friction in the ranks of the tartars. in the late 14th century dmitry met mamai khan in open battle on the upper don and completely routed the tartars. but 2 years later, the favor was returned by another kahn.

i can't give you many specifics because my memory is shady, but here are some works to consider [if you can find them]:

1. the mongols and russia - george vernadsky
2. history of russia - alfred rambaud
3. the mongols in russia - jeremiah curtin

[chenastan]

Two regions: Kazan and Kirim (Crimea) was the nomadic camp where the Tatars (Mongols and their Turkic allies) pitched camp. They were scourges of this world. Really at that time no settled power can stop them. They raided villages only for women and slaves even up to the 18th century under the premise of an Islamic Jihad. They worked hand in hand with their Ottoman Turkish cousins. That is why today both Tatars and Turks are still much hated and rightfully demonized in the Eastern European Christian pysche.

Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Batu Khan, Timurlang, Toktamish Khan, Girey Khans, Sultan Suleyman, etc. were all murderers and rapists of white Europeans.

That is why Russians to this day do not have good and trusting relations with Oriental peoples in general.

[Yu_Jing]

As for remain buildings of Golden Horde. On the late phase this state was separated into three main khanats in European Russia: Kazan Khante, Astrakhan Khanate (the both were located on the Volga river banks) and Crimea Khanate (Now it is Ukraine). I don't know about Astrakhan, but there are kremlin and some mosques left in Kazan city. There are some remains of tartar architecture in Bakhchisarai, Crimea peninsula.

Tartars were nomadic people and didn't develop any architectural style. Their buildings design on the late period were influented by muslim architecture of Persia and Russian architecture.

[cowgirl_imuk]

Originally posted by willhj
Hi all, can anybody give me some information on the Golden Horde, which cities they ruled over, and what is left to be seen of them these days? I am a student trying to write an essay on things to see in the area of the Golden Horde, and I'm finding it quite difficult to find information on any buildings or remains left behind by them.
Thnaks,
Will.

HI,
My education background is MA in Islamic art and archaeology.
Golden Hord fought against Il-Khanid another branch of the Mongols in Iran who became Muslim later. Because of Il-Khan, Golden Hord cooperated to Mamluk in Egypt was also enemy of Il-Khan. HOwever, the true reason why they cooperated to Golden Hord was probably as the main course of Turkis soliders, called mamluks.
culture under the Golden horde flourished as same as Il-Khanid. Gold cup, ceramics, tiles....... motifs were really influenced by chinoiserie, chinese influenece. Since the Miongols set up their power in Iran, the huge Eurasia was connected to China directly. And chinese cultural influence was brought in Iran then spread all over the Islamicate. It defind later Islamic art decoration. Ops. you want to know about Golden Horde.

I recomand you to read books by David Morgan. He used to teach in School of Oriental and African studies.
1.The Mongols,backwell 1990
2.Medieval Persia 1040-1797

Other like books by Ruven Amati
There is a bood book on Islamic history by Hodgson.

I strongly believe the story about murderes and rapists of all European whites is too subjective for academic essay.

Good luck on your essay.
Thaks

[chenastan]

I heard that Hulagu Khan's right hand minister was a Chinese man by the name of Bolad Ching Sang? And, that he may have introduced paper currency into Middle East and Europe patterned after the traditional Chinese one (chao). In Ilkanid Persia, they needed a feasible source of tax income, so Bolad Ching Sang devised this method. I heard the Iranian and Azerbaijani word for printing is still "chap?" At that time, the grand Mongol ruler Kublai Khan had the habit of dispersing, exiliing and exchanging the native administration, foot soldiery, siege engineers, tax collectors, artists, musicians, scientists and doctors to far away parts of the large Mongol empire. So, you had Middle Easterners going to China, while Chinese were sent to Middle East, Russia, etc. That was how gunpowder reached the West.

The Tatar words for tea (chai), pulling noodles (laman), steamed dumplings (manti) and noodle sticks (fentior) are all derivatives from the same Chinese words.

The Mongol-Tatar rule of China and Iran was quite different compared to how they ruled Russia and Eastern Europe. They were able to assimilate and civilize to a large extent with the former, but they kept their savage ways vis-a-vis the latter because they encountered a different type of society.

[chenastan]

Also, I heard that during Batu Khan's reign as well as Bayazid, Toktamish among others,---there were Chinese quarters in the cities of Moscow and Novgorod among others.
Most probable these Chinese were tax collectors, craftsmen and merchants working under the Altun Orda (Golden Horde). Whether they got absorbed into the Russian/Ukrainian or Tatar/Muslim ethnos--I do not know for sure. Probably both depending on the profits.