Ilkhanate

Ilkhanate ایلخانان
←   ←   ← 1256–1335 ↓
Ilkhanate at its greatest extent
Capital		Maragha (1256–1265) Tabriz (1265–1306) Soltaniyeh (1306–1335)
Languages		Persian[1] Mongolian[1]
Religion		Shamanism and Buddhism (1256–1295) Islam (1295–1335)
Government		Monarchy
Ruler
-	1256–1265	Hulagu Khan
-	1316–1335	Abu Sa'id
Legislature		Kurultai
History
-	Established	1256
-	Disestablished	1335
Area
-	1310 est.	3,750,000 km² (1,447,883 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Mongol Empire Khwarazmian dynasty Abbasid Caliphate Muzaffarids Kartids Eretnids Chobanids Injuids Sarbadars Jalayirids Mamluks
Today part of		Iran  Azerbaijan  Armenia  Afghanistan  Turkey  Turkmenistan  Pakistan  Iraq  Georgia  Syria  Tajikistan  Russia

Timeline · History · States

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History of Iran
ANCIENT PERIOD
Proto-Elamite 3200–2700 BCE
Elam 2700–539 BCE
Mannaeans 850–616 BCE
IMPERIAL PERIOD
Median Empire 678–550 BCE
(Scythian Kingdom 652–625 BCE)
Achaemenid Empire 550–330 BCE
Atropatene 320s BC – 3rd century AD
Seleucid Empire 312–63 BCE
Parthian Empire 247 BCE – 224 CE
Sasanian Empire 224–651
MEDIEVAL (EARLY ISLAMIC) PERIOD
Umayyad Caliphate 661–750
Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258
Minor dynasties of northern Iran
Dabuyids 642–760	Bavandids 651–1349
Masmughans of Damavand 651–760	Paduspanids 665–1598
Justanids 791–974
Alids of northern Iran 864–14th century
Iranian Intermezzo 821–1062
Tahirid dynasty 821–873	Samanid dynasty 819–999
Saffarid dynasty 861–1002	Ziyarid dynasty 930–1090
Sallarid dynasty 919–1062	Sajid dynasty 889/890–929
Buyid dynasty 934–1062	Ilyasids 932–968
Ghaznavid Empire 977–1186
Kakuyids 1008–1141
Ghurid dynasty 1011–1215
Nasrids 1029–1236
Great Seljuq Empire 1037–1194
Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231
Atabegs of Yazd 1141–1319
Mihrabanids 1236–1537
Kurt dynasty 1244–1396
Ilkhanate Empire 1256–1335
Chobanid dynasty 1335–1357	Muzaffarid dynasty 1335–1393
Jalayirid dynasty 1336–1432	Sarbadars 1337–1376
Afrasiyab dynasty 1349–1504
Timurid Empire 1370–1405
Qara Qoyunlu 1406–1468	Timurid dynasty 1405–1507
Agh Qoyunlu 1468–1508	Kia'i dynasty 1389–1592
EARLY MODERN PERIOD
Safavid Empire 1501–1736
(Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729)
Afsharid Empire 1736–1747
Zand dynasty 1760–1794	Afsharid dynasty 1747–1796
Qajar Empire 1796–1925
MODERN PERIOD
Pahlavi dynasty 1925–1979
Interim Government 1979–1980
Islamic Republic 1980–present
Related articles  Timeline of Iranian history Economic history Education history Military history Naval history
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The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate (Persian: ایلخانان‎, Ilkhanan; Mongolian: Хүлэгийн улс, Hulagu-yn Ulus), was a breakaway state of the Mongol Empire, which was ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu. It was established in the 13th century and was based primarily in Persia as well as neighboring territories, such as present-day Azerbaijan, and the central and eastern parts of present-day Turkey. The Ilkhanate was based, originally, on Genghis Khan's campaigns in the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219–1224, and was founded by Genghis's grandson, Hulagu Khan. In its fullest extent, the state expanded into territories which today comprise most of Iran, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, western Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan. The Ilkhanate initially embraced many religions, but was particularly sympathetic to Buddhism and Christianity. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, embraced Islam.

Definition

According to the historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Kublai granted Hulagu (Hulegu) the title of Ilkhan after his defeat of Ariq Böke. The term il-Khan means "subordinate khan" and refers to their initial deference to Möngke Khan and his successor Great Khans of the entire empire. The title "Ilkhan", borne by the descendants of Hulagu and later another Borjigin princes in Persia, does not materialize in the sources until after 1260.^[2]

Early Mongol rule in Persia

When Muhammad II of Khwarezm executed the merchants dispatched by the Mongols, Genghis Khan declared war on Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty in 1219. The Mongols overran the whole empire, occupying all major cities and population centers between 1219 to 1221. Persian Iraq was ravaged by the Mongol detachment under Jebe and Subedei, and they left the area in ruin. Transoxiana also came under Mongol control after the invasion. The undivided area west of the Transoxiana was the inheritance of Genghis Khan's Borjigin family.^[3] Thus, the families of the latter's four sons appointed their officials under the Great Khan's governors, Chin-Temür, Nussal and Korguz, in that region.

Muhammad's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu returned to Iran in c. 1224 after his exile in India. The rival Turkic states that were all that remained of his father's empire quickly declared their allegiance to him. He repulsed the first Mongol attempt to take Central Persia. However, Jalal ad-Din was overwhelmed and crushed by Chormaqan's army sent by the Great Khan Ögedei in 1231. During the Mongol expedition, Azerbaijan and the southern Persian dynasties in Fars and Kerman voluntarily submitted to the Mongols and agreed to pay tribute.^[4] To the west, Hamadan and the rest of Persia was secured by Chormaqan. The Mongols turned their attention to Armenia and Georgia in 1234 or 1236. They completed the conquest of the Kingdom of Georgia in 1238; however, the Mongol Empire began to attack the western parts of Greater Armenia which was under the Seljuks in the next year.

A Mongol horse archer in the 13th century.

In 1236 Ögedei was commanded to raise up Khorassan and proceeded to populate Herat. The Mongol military governors mostly made camp in the Mughan plain in what is now Azerbaijan. Realizing the danger posed by the Mongols, the rulers of Mosul and Cilician Armenia submitted to the Great Khan. Chormaqan divided the Transcaucasia region into three districts based on the Mongols' military hierarchy.^[5] In Georgia, the population were temporarily divided into eight tumens.^[6] By 1237 the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia, excluding Abbasid Iraq and Ismaili strongholds, and all of Afghanistan and Kashmir.^[7]

After the battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, the Mongols under Baiju occupied Anatolia, while the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Empire of Trebizond became vassals of the Mongols.^[8]

Güyük Khan abolished decrees issued by the Mongol princes that had ordered the raising of revenue from districts in Persia as well as offering tax exemptions to others in c. 1244.^[9]

In accordance with the governor Arghun the Elder's (Arghun agha) complaint, Möngke Khan prohibited ortog-merchants and nobles to abuse relay stations, yam (route), and civilians in 1251.^[10] He ordered a new census and decreed that each man in the Mongol ruled-Middle East must pay in proportion to his property. Persia was divided between four districts under Arghun. Möngke Khan granted the Kartids authority over Herat, Jam, Bushanj, Ghor, Khaysar, Firuz-Kuh, Gharjistan, Farah, Sistan, Kabul, Tirah, and Afghanistan.^[11]

First Ilkhan

Hulagu Khan, Genghis Khan's grandson and founder of the Ilkhanate.

The actual founder of the Ilkhanate dynasty was Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of both Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan. Möngke dispatched him to establish a firm Toluid control over the Middle East, and ordered him return to Mongolia when his task was accomplished.^[12] Taking over from Baiju in 1255 or 1256, he had 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. He established his dynasty over the southwestern part of the Mongol Empire that stretched from Transoxiana to Syria. He destroyed the Ismaili Nizari Hashshashins and the Abbasid Caliphate in 1256 and 1258 respectively. After that he advanced as far as Gaza, briefly conquering Ayyubid Syria.

Möngke's death forced Hulagu to return from the Persian heartland for the preparation of Khuriltai (selection of a new leader). He left a small force behind to continue the Mongol advance, but it was halted in Palestine in 1260 by a major defeat at the battle of Ain Jalut at the hands of the Mamluks of Egypt. Due to geo-political and religious issues and deaths of three Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, Berke declared open war on Hulagu in 1262 and possibly called his troops back in Iran. According to Mamluk historians, Hulagu might have massacred Berke's troops and refused to share his war booty with Berke.

Hulagu with his Christian queen Doquz Khatun

Hulagu's descendants ruled Persia for the next eighty years, tolerating multiple religions including Shamanism, Buddhism, and Christianity, ultimately adopting Islam as a state religion in 1295. However, despite this conversion, the Ilkhans remained opposed to the Mamluks (who had defeated both Mongol invaders and Crusaders). The Ilkhans launched several invasions of Syria, but were never able to gain and keep significant ground against the Mamluks, eventually being forced to give up their plans to conquer Syria, along with their stranglehold over their vassals the Sultanate of Rum and the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia. This was in large part due to civil war in the Mongol Empire, and the hostility of the khanates to the north and east. The Chagatai Khanate in Moghulistan and the Golden Horde threatened the Ilkhanate in the Caucasus and Transoxiana, preventing expansion westward. Even under Hulagu's reign, the Ilkhanate was engaged in open warfare in the Caucasus with the Mongols in the Russian steppes. On the other hand, the China-based Yuan Dynasty was an ally of the Ikhanate and also held nominal suzerainty over the latter for many decades.^[13][14]

Hulagu took with him many Chinese scholars, astronomers, and the famous Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi learned about the mode of the Chinese calculating tables from the scholars brought to Persia by the Mongols.^[15] The observatory was built on a hill of Maragheh.

Franco-Mongol alliance

Many attempts towards the formation of a Franco-Mongol alliance were made between the courts of Western Europe (West Europeans were collectively called Franks by Muslims and Asians in the Crusades era) and the Mongols (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.^[16]

Conversion to Islam

Circular piece of silk, Iran or Iraq, early 14th century

The Mongol ruler, Ghazan, studying the Qur'an.

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 by the Ilkhanate's rulers but this probably went no deeper than the Mongols' traditional even-handedness towards competing religions.^[17] 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 as a state religion coincided with a marked attempt to bring the regime closer to the non-Mongol majority of the regions they ruled. 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.^[18]

In foreign relations, the Ilkhanate's conversion to Islam had little to no effect on the regime's hostility towards the other Muslim states and Ghazan continued to fight the Mamluks for control of Syria. But the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, which was the Mongols' only major victory over the Mamluks, ended his control over Syria, though this lasted but a few months. 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.^[19] 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

Map showing the political situation in southwest Asia in 1345, ten years after the death of Abu Sa'id. The Jalayirids, Chobanids, Muzaffarids, Injuids, Sarbadars and Kartids took the Ilkhanate's place as the major powers in Iran.

After Abu Sa'id's death in 1335, the Ilkhanate began to disintegrate rapidly, and split up into several rival successor states, most prominently the Jalayirids. Hasar's descendant Togha Temür, who was the last of the obscure Ilkhan pretenders, was assassinated by Sarbadars in 1353. Timur later carved a state from the Jalayirids, ostensibly to restore the old khanate. The historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani wrote a universal history for the khans around 1315 which provides much material for their history.

Legacy

The emergence of the Ilkhanate had an important historical impact in the Middle Eastern region. The establishment of the unified Mongol Empire had significantly eased trade and commerce across Asia. The communications between the Ilkhanate and the Yuan Dynasty headquartered in China encouraged this development.^[20][21]

The Ilkhanate also helped to pave the way for the later Persian Safavid dynastic state, and ultimately the modern country of Iran. Hulagu's conquests had also opened Iran to Chinese influence from the east. This, combined with patronage from his successors, would develop Iran's distinctive excellence in architecture. Under the Ilkhans, Iranian historians also moved from writing in Arabic, to writing in their native Persian tongue.^[22]

The rudiments of double-entry accounting were practiced in the Ilkhanate; merdiban was then adopted by the Ottoman Empire. These developments were independent from the accounting practices used in Europe.^[23] This accounting system was adopted primarily as the result of socio-economic necessities created by the agricultural and fiscal reforms of Ghazan Khan in 1295-1304.

Ilkhans

House of Hulagu (1256–1335; Ilkhanate Mongol kings)

• Hulagu Khan (1256–1265)
• Abaqa Khan (1265–1282)
• Ahmad Tegüder (1282–1284)
• Arghun (1284–1291)
• Gaykhatu (1291–1295)
• Baydu (1295)
• Mahmud Ghazan (1295–1304)
• Muhammad Khodabandeh (Oljeitu) (1304–1316)
• Abu Sa'id Bahadur (1316–1335)

After the Ilkhanate, the regional states established during the disintegration of the Ilkhanate raised their own candidates as claimants.

House of Ariq Böke

• Arpa Ke'ün (1335–1336)

House of Hulagu (1336–1357)

• 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 Temür (1339–1340) (Jalayirid puppet)
• Anushirwan (1343–1356) (Chobanid puppet)
• Ghazan II (1356–1357) (known only from coinage)

House of Hasar

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 and the protege of Timur)

Family tree (House of Hulagu)

See also

• List of Mongol states
• List of medieval Mongol tribes and clans
• Full list of Iranian Kingdoms
• Sarbadars, the famous political movement of the Ilkhanid era of Persia.
• Hazaras

References

• Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-4671-9.
• C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, New York, 1996.
• Kadoi, Yuka. (2009) Islamic Chinoiserie: The Art of Mongol Iran, Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art, Edinburgh. ISBN 9780748635825.
• R. Amitai-Preiss: Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War 1260–1281. Cambridge, 1995.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ilkhanate.

• Ilkhanids Dynasty Mongolian dynasty
• Encyclopedia Iranica. Contains more information on the Ilkhanate.
• Contains a searchable database for Ilkhanid coins

Notes

v t e Iran topics   History Pre-Islamic Prehistory 3200–550 BCE Proto-Elamite civilization (3200–2800 BCE) Elamite dynasties (2800–550 BCE) Bactria-Margiana Complex (2200–1700 BCE) Kingdom of Mannai (10th–7th century BCE) Median Empire (728–550 BCE) 550 BCE– 224 CE Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) Seleucid Empire (330–150 BCE) Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BCE) Parthian Empire (248 BCE –  224 CE) 224–557 CE Kushan Empire (30–275 CE) Sassanid Empire (224–651 CE) Hephthalite Empire (425–557 CE) Islamic 637 – 1055 Patriarchal Caliphate (637–651) Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) Tahirid dynasty (821–873) Alavid dynasty (864–928) Saffarid dynasty (861–1003) Samanid dynasty (819–999) Ziyarid dynasty (928–1043) Buyid dynasty (934–1055) 975 – 1432 Ghaznavid Empire (975–1187) Ghurid dynasty (1011–1215) Seljuk Empire (1037–1194) Khwarezmid dynasty (1077–1231) Ilkhanate (1256–1335) Kartids dynasty (1231–1389) Muzaffarid dynasty (1314–1393) Chupanid dynasty (1337–1357) Jalayerid dynasty (1339–1432) 1370 – 1925 Timurid Empire (1370–1506) Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans (1375–1468) Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans (1378–1508) Safavid Empire (1501 – 1722 / 1736) Hotaki dynasty (1722–1729) Afsharid dynasty (1736–1750) Zand Dynasty (1750–1794) Durrani Empire (1794–1826) Qajar Dynasty (1794–1925) Modern 1925 – 1979 Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979) Iran Constituent Assembly, 1949 1953 coup d'état Iranian Revolution (1979) Interim Government Islamic Republic History (1979–) Khuzestan conflict Embassy siege (1980) Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988) Iranian pilgrim massacre (1987) Iran Air Flight 655 shootdown (1988) PJAK insurgency Balochistan conflict Syrian conflict See also Ancient Iran Iranian Cultural Continent Indo-Iranians languages Jiroft civilization Aryans Persian peoples Iranian peoples Kings of Persia Military history Years in Iran   Geography Cities list Earthquakes Iranian Azerbaijan Iranian Balochistan Iranian Kurdistan Iranian plateau Islands Mountains Provinces Wildlife   Politics General Censorship Constitution Persian Constitutional Revolution Elections 2009 presidential Green Revolution Foreign relations Human rights LGBT Judicial system Military Army Air Force Navy Ministry of Intelligence Nuclear program UN Security Council Resolution 1747 Political parties Principlists Propaganda Reformists Terrorism Allegations of state terrorism White Revolution (1963) Women's movement Councils Assembly (or Council) of Experts Expediency Discernment Council City and Village Councils Guardian Council Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) Supreme National Security Council Officials Ambassadors President Provincial governors Supreme Leader   Economy General Bonyad (charitable trust) Brain drain Companies automobile manufacturers Corruption Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Economic history Economic Reform Plan Energy Environmental issues Foreign direct investment Intellectual property International oil bourse International rankings Iran and the WTO Labor and tax laws Main economic laws Middle East economy Milad Tower and complex Military equipment manufactured Military exports Nuclear program UN Security Council Resolution 1747 Privatization Rial (currency) Space Agency Supreme Audit Court Tehran Stock Exchange Sectors Agriculture fruit Banking and insurance Banks Central Bank Electronic banking Construction Industry Mining Petroleum Anglo-Persian Oil Company Telecommunications Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) Transport airlines metro railways shipping Tourism State-owned companies Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Places Asalouyeh industrial corridor Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone Kish Island Free Trade Zone Research centers   Society Demographics Languages Persian (Farsi) Armenian Azerbaijani Indo-Iranian Iranian languages Peoples Iranian citizens abroad Ethnic minorities Armenians Chinese people Iranian Azerbaijanis Koreans Persian Jews Religion Islam Bahá'í persecution Christianity Zoroastrians persecution minorities Other Education higher science scientists and scholars universities Brain drain Health care International rankings Nationality Water supply and sanitation Women Culture Architecture Achaemenid architects Art modern and contemporary Blogs Calendar Persian New Year (Nowruz) Chador Chicago Persian antiquities crisis Cinema Crown jewels Cuisine Folklore Intellectual movements Iranians Iranology Islam Islamization Literature Media news agencies student newspapers Mythology National symbols Imperial anthem Opium consumption Persian gardens Persian names Philosophy Public holidays Scouting Sport football Music Folk Heavy metal Pop Rap and hip-hop Rock and alternative Traditional Ey Iran Other Anti-Iranianism Tehrangeles Category Commons Portal WikiProject