Nogai Horde

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The Nogai Horde was the Tatar horde that controlled the Caucasus Mountain region after the Mongol invasion. The Nogai Horde developed as a synthesis of Turkic Kipchaks with the Mongols who conquered them. Their descendants today are known as the Nogais.

Their khanate, named after Nogai Khan (d. 1299) and established by Edigu (d. 1419), included the regions extending from the Volga to Irtish Rivers, and from the Caspian Sea towards the Aral Sea. Its capital was the city of Saraycik, located along the Yaik (Ural) River which was the eastern border of their territory, separating them from the Kirghiz-Kazakhs.

The main element of the Khanate's people was composed of Kipchak groups, just as in the Crimean, Astrakhan and Siberia Khanates. Among these tribes, the Mangit people -- supposedly a Mongol tribe that had become Turks -- had a privileged status.

Pursuant to the submission of the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates to Russia (1552-1557), the Nogay Khanate was divided into several entities. Those in the north of the Caucasus were called "Küçük Orda" (Small Horde), and those within the environs of Emba Lake were called "Altiul Ordası". Those who remained under the domination of Ismail Khan were united under the collective name of the "Great Nogay Horde", and recognised the domination of Ivan IV (1555-1557).

Later, the Nogais were supplanted to Dagestan. In the 17th century, Kalmyks were settled in former Nogay Horde lands, and this area is still known as Kalmykia.