The political history of the golden horde. The "yoke" of the Golden Horde: what it really was
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In the middle of the XIII century. as a result of conquest campaigns on the territory of Eurasia, one of the Mongolian states was formed - Ulus Jochi. It included the steppe areas of Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Eastern Europe to the Danube. These areas were called Desht-i-Kshchak (Kypchak steppe). In addition, a number of settled regions with old urban centers became part of the state: the North Caucasus, Crimea, Moldova, Volga Bulgaria, Central Asian regions to the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, part of Khorezm. Russia was in a dependent position.
Later, the state of Ulus Jochi began to be called the Golden Horde among the Russians. This name stuck in the historical literature. Initially, it meant "golden tent" (the headquarters of the khan).
In its development, the Golden Horde went through several stages: becoming(1242-1266); flourishing(1267-1359); decline(from 60s to 80s. XlVe.), when the Horde ruled only within the Volga region.
One of notable features Horde from its very foundation is that it was the bearer of two economic systems - nomadic steppe and urban craft and trade. This determined the originality of the Golden Horde social system. At the first stage of its existence, the Horde considered areas with a sedentary population and urban centers as the object of periodic predatory campaigns. Only in the second half of the XIII century. The Mongol aristocracy began to lean towards the policy of patronage of the settled lands and cities, helped to restore the economy and turn the conquered territories into objects of systematic taxation.The change in the policy of the Golden Horde aristocracy to a certain extent was facilitated by the liberation of Ulus Jochi from the power of the head of the Chingizid empire - the great kaan. It is noteworthy that it was the Jochid khans in the 1270s. the first of the rulers of the Mongolian states began to mint coins in their own name.
Freed by the end of the XIII century. from the highest imperial power, the Golden Horde rulers reduced the payment of tribute to Mongolia, the funds remained in their own treasury. Since that time, intensive growth of cities begins in the main region of the Golden Horde - in the steppe lower reaches of the Volga. If in the middle of the XIII century. the main cities of the Horde were Bolgar, Khorezm (Urgench), Crimean cities, i.e. centers in the marginal settled lands, then in the XIV century. so it becomes A barn in the Itil (Volga) delta, practically in the center of the vast possessions of Ulus Jochi.
On the Lower Volga, where new cities were built, floodplain lowlands, convenient for agriculture, and steppe expanses, for nomads and pastures, were favorably combined. The weak population made it possible to develop them more quickly than the traditional nomadic territory of the Kypchak population. Here, the most important East European trade route, the Volga, crossed with caravan routes from the Black Sea region, Central Asia and Mongolia. The control of the Golden Horde authorities was established over the trade routes.
The Golden Horde cities were placed on the places of nomadic khan's headquarters- the "hordes" themselves. A rudiment of an old nomadic life, she was a characteristic element of the Golden Horde social system. The Khan Horde was the main capital, the political center of Ulus Jochi. Even in the XIV century, when there were many large and rich cities in the Golden Horde, the khan could often be found wandering in the horde. Barn also served as the capital, the political center of the state, but shared it with the horde, being at the same time the main economic, cultural and religious center of the country.
The Golden Horde cities were built primarily as administrative centers - outposts of the khan's power in the conquered territory. Cities arose at the behest of the khans. The heyday of the cities fell on the period of strong khan power, and the decline coincided with the time of its weakening. Cities were built historically fast terms. This was facilitated by the fact that the grandiose conquests of the Mongols caused a massive flow of prisoner slaves. Slaves were used initially as builders of new cities, and later as their population, as forced townspeople. Gradually, artisan slaves freed themselves from slavery, turning into feudally dependent people living under the tutelage of their owners, but with their own home. Slave labor was transformed into the labor of a feudal dependent population. The Golden Horde cities did not appear as a result of long-term economic development in places of traditional settlement, but arose "instantly" in areas deprived of long-term settlement. In a short time - second half of XIII - beginning of XIV century- along the banks of the Volga and its tributaries from the middle reaches to the delta, a whole chain of Golden Horde settlements grew. Archaeological materials record at least 75 settlements. Most of them are poorly studied, so there is no reason to attribute all places with the Golden Horde layers to urban centers, however, the scope of construction is impressive, especially since, in addition to the Volga region, Golden Horde settlements arise in Western Siberia, in the North Caucasus, in the Don region, in the Crimea, in the Dnieper region, in Moldova ... It is noteworthy that everywhere, even in the old settlement areas, near the pre-Mongol cities, the Golden Horde settlements have no previous cultural stratification. City centers in the Lower Volga region were Barn- the capital of Ulus Jochi (now Selitrennoe settlement, 100 km above Astrakhan on the Volga channel - Akhtuba), New Barn(Tsarevskoe settlement near Volgograd), in which in the 40s. XIV century. the capital was moved, Vodyanskoe settlement(40 km above Volgograd), Uvek(near Saratov), Haji Tarkhan(Astrakhan), etc.
The Golden Horde cities, even the capital centers, have been deprived of defensive fortifications. Only in the 1360s, during the period of unrest and civil strife, a ditch was dug around the cities and a rampart was poured. However, they can hardly be called fortifications in the full sense of the word: there were no structures on the ramparts. Consequently, in the Golden Horde cities, initially and consciously, one of the most important (if not the main) functions was excluded - defensive, which was a consequence of the confidence of the khan's power in its strength. The early Horde cities probably consisted of a group of manor castles, to which were attached the courtyards of slaves and half-slaves - builders and artisans driven from the occupied lands. During the heyday of the Horde, individual castles turned into city estates with adjoining artisan quarters. Public places appear in these cities - mosques and minarets, baths, state craft workshops, mints, etc. Cities and individual estates are being improved, provided with water, sewerage, roads.
Residential buildings in the Golden Horde cities clearly demonstrate the social ranking of residents.
The lowest rung of the social ladder was occupied by slaves and half-slaves. They lived together in large rectangular or oval dugouts. These dwellings had earthen beds (sufas) along two or three walls and an entrance in the form of a narrow staircase. They were heated with braziers. The area of the dugouts is 11-32 sq. m.
There have been cases of rebuilding large dugouts into houses with landscaping elements, when chimneys-kans were laid in sufs, connected to a furnace-furnace, round tandoor ovens were installed for baking flat cakes, a toshnau was made - a device for washing.
Such reconstructed or initially improved dugouts of a smaller size (9-15 sq. M.) Served as dwellings for an individual family of semi-free or poor free citizens. The poor also lived in one-room houses, partially buried in the ground. These houses had wooden walls plastered with clay.
Ground-level one-room square-plan houses ranging from 10 to 50 sq. m with wooden or mud brick walls could be the dwellings of poor families, servants or dependent people. The buildings were often part of a complex of wealthy estates. They had all the elements of improvement inside the premises. In sufas, double or triple lines of chimneys were arranged. Sometimes several one-room buildings were connected to multi-room houses. This trend led to the fact that later they began to immediately erect multi-room buildings, brick and wood, formed by several interconnected houses, usually with individual entrances.
The dwellings of the Golden Horde aristocracy were large multi-room houses, which often were real palace complexes. Huge buildings up to 570-580 sq. m were erected from wood, raw or burnt bricks. The floor was lined with burnt bricks, sometimes irrigated. The sufas of the central hall had multichannel kana. A swimming pool was arranged in the center. The walls of the central halls were painted on white plaster and decorated with tiled panels. On the sides of the hall there were living, storage, utility rooms, there were special children's rooms. Sometimes the house had up to 10 or more rooms. The living quarters were whitewashed and sometimes painted. Special rooms were set aside for a toshnau, usually with a brick floor, tandoors, and a home mill. There were patios.
The central entrances were architecturally decorated. For glazing, gypsum gratings were inserted into the windows. The doors were decorated with ornamented alabaster platbands. The roofs of such houses may have been covered
tiled.
A bathhouse, houses for servants and guards, workshops of artisans were placed near the palace. The area of the estates reached 10,000 square meters. m, possibly more. Inside the estates, there was always a well, sometimes a pool. In front of the palace, open platforms with walls of burnt bricks were sometimes made. In the courtyards of the houses there were tandoors, open or under awnings. There are household pits, including grain ones. Gardens were fenced off on large estates. The estates were fenced off with walls of houses, blank facades facing the street, and adobe fences. In the summertime, light tents - yurts - were set up in the courtyard.
Stationary yurt-like structures are found in urban areas. The yurts were lined with fragments of burnt bricks (they are preserved). In yurts, they find accumulations of coal from open hearths and partially paving the floor with burnt bricks.
In cities identified improvement elements... Ditches were dug along the city streets - ditches with running water. In the quarters of the ordinary part of the population, there were public wells and large quarter water bodies were built in the squares. The used water was discharged through wooden drainage pipes.
In the development of the Golden Horde cities, an important place was occupied by religious buildings and public baths. According to written data, there were 13 cathedrals and many other mosques in Sarai, built in conjunction with minarets.
Public baths consisted of several rooms: an extensive heated dressing room with an adobe floor and a sufa, washrooms with underfloor heating and water supply through ceramic pipes. The water was discharged through an underground drain. In the lounges, the visitor could cool off after washing. Such baths were intended for ordinary citizens. In buildings for the more privileged, they were of a larger area (up to 200 square meters or more) - a fountain was arranged in the dressing room, additional rooms were equipped. In addition to the public baths, there were manor baths, their basic structural elements are similar.
Burial buildings- the mausoleums were of different types, one-chamber and two-chamber. They were often decorated, including mosaics. Along with the ground ones, there were underground mausoleums.
The Golden Horde cities were large craft centers... The forms of organizing handicraft production were varied: individual workshops with a narrow specialization and a small volume of products; estate workshops in which the work was carried out for the owner; large production facilities, in which dozens of craftsmen were united into one manufactory belonging to a noble owner; finally, of course, there were state-owned factories, such as mints.
The most developed was pottery.
Glazed or glazed ceramics are the brightest and most characteristic manifestation of the civilization and culture of the Golden Horde city. The irrigation vessels were made of clay and kapshna (silica mass mixed with glue, which was filled in a special form). In ceramics, syncretism and multicomponent inherent in the Golden Horde urban culture are well manifested. The technology of glazed ceramics in the Golden Horde took shape under the influence of three powerful currents: Iranian-Central Asian, Byzantine-East Caucasian and Far Eastern.
The forms of glazed ceramics are varied, but in terms of species they are limited. Most of the bowls in different versions with a ring tray. There are also plates, pot-shaped vessels, one-handled jugs, bottles, lamps, flasks, inkpots. The specific limitation of glazed dishes is repeatedly compensated by the ornamental variety. The polychrome range of painting was provided by applying a green, blue or brown contour of the pattern to a white, less often light turquoise background and coloring the details of the ornament with blue dots and turquoise spots. The ornamentation is extremely diverse, combining plant (most often a lotus flower or shamrock), geometric, less often zoomorphic (waterfowl or winged centaur) elements, complemented in some cases by ornaments in the form of Arabic ligature.
Red clay and less often gray clay ceramics very diverse: tableware (jugs, plates, bowls, pots, pans, cups), household items (lamps, piggy banks, whistles, toys), containers (amphorae, hums), technical items (pipes, tiles, jugs for water-lifting wheels ). To decorate the dining room with red-clay and gray-clay tableware, a stamp, a cut, sometimes molded ornament was used.
Ceramic products. A special type of production by the Golden Horde ceramists is the production of mosaics and majolica, which were widely used in architectural decoration. The outer surfaces of buildings were covered with mosaics, panels were made from them, friezes, cornices, etc. were decorated. The basis of the mosaics was formed by carved individual elements of the ornament from ceramic tiles, which were usually covered with an opaque glaze - ultraviolet, white, blue, red, yellow. The peculiarity of the Golden Horde mosaics was that the mosaic elements were additionally decorated with patterns of gold foil on a red base. Majolica - ceramic tiles with a full floral or geometric pattern on the surface.
Architectural decor supplemented by terracotta elements with stamped ornaments, carved plaster window bars, overlays on individual parts of buildings. The Golden Horde architectural decor developed under the influence of Iranian and East Caucasian (Azerbaijani) impulses.
Complex in technology glass making represented by numerous finds - vessels, jewelry, window glass - and traces of production. A workshop for the production of beads, pendants, rings and bracelets was discovered in Sarai, which indicates local production and narrow specialization of artisans. The forms of glass vessels are varied: bottles, jugs, glasses, goblets, bowls. The bluish or greenish window glass looked like flat discs. The products of the Golden Horde glassmakers and the composition of glass find broad analogies in workshops in different countries, mainly in Central Asia.
The iron-making craft in the Lower Volga cities has not been specially studied, but its products are known from archaeological materials. The Golden Horde blacksmiths produced various tools - axes, chisels, adzes, sickles, shovels, saws, anvils, hoes; weapons - swords and sabers, daggers, darts, arrowheads of various types, including Mongolian arrows with a slot ("whistling"); items of horse equipment - arched stirrups, bits, horseshoes; household items - locks and keys to them, armchairs, nails, crutches, staples, etc.
As in the Volga Bulgaria, in the Golden Horde cities from the XIV century. produced cast iron, from which boilers were made, axle bushings for carts. An iron forge with 79 nozzle holes was discovered in New Saray. This amount was necessary to continuously supply air and reach the melting point of iron.
In New Saray, two estates were opened bone carving workshops. The assortment of products of bone carvers was limited - mainly knife handles, linings, pommels, rings for drawing bowstrings, bone arrows, punctures, koposushki, ornamented lamellar linings for quivers and caskets were also produced.
Workshops of artisans for processing non-ferrous metals and jewelers who worked with gold and silver have been excavated in several Golden Horde cities. The artisans mastered all the technological methods - casting, including the splash casting method, soldering, stamping, chasing, and engraving.
Non-ferrous metals, including silver and gold, made a lot of jewelry (earrings, bracelets, rings and rings), clothing details (buckles, belt plaques, onlays and bells), household items (dishes, mirrors, buttons, bronze locks in the form of animal figures, candlesticks and lamps, miniature vessels). The shapes of objects (especially jewelry) were varied. They were often ornamented, most often by engraving. Cast bracelets with lion masks at the ends, bronze and gold, are magnificent. In most cases, the outer side of the mirrors was decorated with geometric and floral designs; images of animals running in a circle; scenes of a lion hunt; images of a fox and grapes - the plot of an ancient fable.
Toreutics, along with glazed ceramics, is an area of artistic craft, where the highest skill and degree of culture of the Golden Horde artisans were most clearly manifested. Silver vessels - cups, bowls, jugs - were covered with the finest engraving. An interesting group of gold and silver vessels with handles in the form of dolphins and dragons, sometimes with rings in their mouths, almost always with a thin wire decoration along the ridge.
The Golden Horde cities were created by the khan's power on the trade routes, which initially turned them into the most important centers of international trade and places of lively internal bargaining... Khans and aristocrats patronized trade, which brought in large profits. There were merchant associations with the participation of aristocrats who organized large-scale caravan trade. The state authorities ensured postal services and road safety.
International trade in the Golden Horde cities was largely transit and consumer. Imports were larger than exports. In the cities of the Lower Volga region, goods flocked from the east and west, from the north and south: porcelain and jewelry, glass and metal dishes, jewelry and weapons, silk and brocade, wood, spices and incense. All these goods either went to the needs of the Golden Horde nobility, or were supplied in bulk to other countries, thereby carrying out an extensive medieval exchange of goods. There is evidence of the existence of permanent merchant offices in the Golden Horde cities.
The finds of trading tools are ubiquitous and numerous: scales of the "pharmacy" type and parts from them, steelyards, weight weights. The Golden Horde weights are bronze, prismatic six- and eight-sided or multifaceted. Cylinders or rosette-like thick plates also served as weights. Usually the Golden Horde weights did not have a multiplicity designation.
The intensity of market relations was facilitated by the Golden Horde coinage, organized by the first khans in Bolgar, and later transferred to the cities of the Lower Volga region and other Horde centers. The Golden Horde coin was in circulation in many countries, primarily in the subject territories.
A large number of coin hoards are known, found both at the sites and far from them. The latter were probably buried by merchants near the route of the road at times of danger. There are very large treasures - up to 30 thousand silver coins. A huge number of coins, mainly copper ones, are found in the cultural layer of the Golden Horde settlements. In addition to silver and copper coins, rod-shaped "boat-shaped" silver ingots were circulating in the circulation of the Golden Horde, and gold coins are also found.
Section of geology for the study of the laws of the formation of modern sedimentary rocks.
Paleogeography is a science that studies physical and geographical conditions, their dynamics, sources (factors) of this dynamics - climate change, tectonic movements - on the Earth's surface in the geological past.
History of the Golden Horde.
Formation of the Golden Horde.
Golden Horde got its start as a separate state in 1224, when Batu Khan came to power, and in 1266 finally withdrew from the Mongol Empire.
It should be noted that the term "Golden Horde" was coined by the Russians, and many years after the Khanate disintegrated - in the middle of the 16th century. Three centuries earlier, these territories were called differently, and there was no single name for them.
Lands of the Golden Horde.
Genghis Khan, Batu's grandfather, divided his empire equally between his sons - and in general, its lands occupied almost an entire continent. Suffice it to say that in 1279 the Mongol Empire stretched from the Danube to the coast of the Sea of Japan, from the Baltic to the borders of present-day India. And these conquests took only about 50 years - and a large part of them belonged to Batu.
Dependence of Russia on the Golden Horde.
In the XIII century, under the onslaught of the Golden Horde, Russia surrendered... True, it was not easy to cope with the conquered country, the princes strove for independence, so from time to time the khans made new campaigns, devastating cities and punishing the disobedient. This went on for almost 300 years - until in 1480 the Tatar-Mongol yoke was finally thrown off.
Capital of the Golden Horde.
The internal structure of the Horde did not differ much from the feudal system of other countries. The empire was divided into many principalities, or uluses, ruled by small khans, which were subordinate to one great khan.
Capital of the Golden Horde during the time of Batu was in the city Saray-Batu, and in the XIV century was transferred to Saray-Berke.
Khans of the Golden Horde.
The most famous khans of the Golden Horde- these are those from which Russia suffered the most damage and devastation, among them:
- Batu, from which the Tatar-Mongol name began
- Mamay defeated at the Kulikovo field
- Tokhtamysh, who went on a campaign to Russia after Mamai, to punish the rebels.
- Edigei, who made a devastating raid in 1408, shortly before the yoke was finally thrown off.
The Golden Horde and Russia: the fall of the Golden Horde.
Like many feudal states, in the end, the Golden Horde collapsed and ceased to exist due to internal turmoil.
The process began in the middle of the XIV century, when Astrakhan and Khorezm separated from the Horde. In 1380, Russia began to raise its head, defeating Mamai on the Kulikovo field. But the Horde's biggest mistake was the campaign against the empire of Tamerlane, which dealt a fatal blow to the Mongols.
In the 15th century, the Golden Horde, once strong, split into the Siberian, Crimean and Kazan Khanates. Over time, these territories were subject to the Horde less and less, in 1480, Russia finally came out of the yoke.
Thus, years of existence of the Golden Horde: 1224-1481. In 1481, Khan Akhmat was killed. This year is considered to be the end of the existence of the Golden Horde. However, it completely disintegrated under the rule of his children, at the beginning of the 16th century.
History always amazes those studying it with the universal scale of actions performed by individuals, but sometimes entire states are able to thrill almost half a continent, and then simply disappear from the face of the earth, sink into oblivion, or into another, no less interesting place. Starting from the thirteenth century, when our territories were still full of scattered principalities, all the vast steppes from the Lord of Veliky Novgorod, and right up to Southeast Asia, as well as from the blue Danube to the blue Sea of Japan, occupied a magnificent, powerful, like life itself and which seemed completely indestructible, the state of Ulus Jochi, or simply - the Golden Horde.
She entered the Mongol Empire and already at the very beginning of the twenties of the fourteenth century converted to Islam, having already managed to spoil the nerves of all the surrounding peoples at that time. It is imperative to discuss the formation of the Golden Horde briefly, as well as the time of its existence and the reasons for the collapse, and perhaps it will become clearer what happened in those troubled and unimaginably difficult times.
Formation of the Golden Horde: date, founder, development
The entire territory occupied by the Mongol Empire was a single country, so powerful and rich that the neighbors trembled at the mere mention of it, or of its ruler. If we talk about O the formation of the Golden Horde, it is not so easy to determine the year for certain, however, in about 1224 the almighty Great Mongol, Khan, with the authentic name Genghis Khan, decided to divide his own empire among his sons, rightly believing to provide them in this way with everything they need, from glory and power, to countless treasures. Thus, to the question of who founded the state of the Golden Horde, there is a quite detailed answer. It is clear that one of the parts was received by the offspring of the brilliant ruler, a young man nicknamed Jochi Batu.
It is this boy, put by his father at the head of the new state, and is mentioned in the Russian chronicles, under the name Batu, it is he who is considered the founder of the notorious Golden Horde. Moreover, he could not even imagine that all his deeds and achievements would be destroyed and destroyed precisely through the fault, albeit involuntary, of Jochi, the eldest of the family, who, after the death of his father, supported the candidacy of the great khan Mongke, who was the son of Tolui, that is , the power was simply given to another dynasty, which certainly could not have been foreseen by anyone, even Genghis Khan himself. But all this will be much later, and at the very beginning, the founder of the Golden Horde Batu (Batu) decided that he wanted to found an independent khanate, that is, to get out from under the wing of the Mongol Empire.
It turns out that independence and independence was obtained, and, consequently, the Golden Horde was founded in 1266, when formal belonging to the Mongol Empire had already lost its relevance, its influence was weakening day by day, and the newly-minted khan had the opportunity to grab a good piece of common pie and enjoy it to the fullest. Moreover, several victorious campaigns, which Batu Khan made during his reign, brought him not only fame and money, but also new lands, after which he settled in the lower Volga region, where his capital was built. It was much more convenient to manage from there, because the tribute that the Rusichs and other peoples paid at that time flocked there.
Regional division: what territory included the Golden Horde and where was its capital
Khan Batu took up the rule of the new state very zealously, he wanted complete independence, and at the same time, he decided to start expanding his own controlled territories. As already mentioned, he triumphantly went to the West, annexing more and more lands to his ulus, forcing them to pay tribute in a certain amount. Moreover, labels and letters were issued only to the principalities loyal to the Horde, the recalcitrant were ruthlessly destroyed, and from the mere mention of the Horde, any person, from the Danube to the Sea of Japan, was thrown into a shiver. It was Jochi Batu who annexed new lands to his lands, and at the time of his heyday he owned just colossal areas.
- A huge part of modern Russia, with the exception of Siberia, as well as the Far East and the Far North.
- Almost all of Ukraine, which did not enter into battles with the khanate at all.
- Enslaved and groaning under the yoke of the Horde, nearby Kazakhstan.
- Part of Turkmenistan, as well as Uzbekistan.
Moreover, Batu Khan, and later his descendants, were not very worried about the management of Ancient Russia. They preferred to leave everything as it is, because the country lived its own life, the fields continued to be cultivated, and the artisans still did the whole thing, and the rulers themselves simply took off the tribute, and lived for their own pleasure, sometimes organizing campaigns and excursions, for greater exacerbation, so that they were afraid and did not take it into their heads to raise their heads. Moreover, Batu's young son, whose name was Ulagchi, who, according to other sources, was actually his grandson (the son of Batu's son, Sartak), also soon gave his soul to God, and Batu's brother Berke sat on the throne.
Moreover, the almost three-hundred-year rule of the Tatar-Mongol Khanate resulted in very significant consequences for Ancient Russia, which, however, was to be expected. The culture was in complete decline, the economy was falling apart, and some crafts were simply completely lost. Degradation flourished, and to be honest, most likely it was the notorious Tatar-Mongol invasion and the long yoke that followed it that threw the development of Russia back three hundred years ago, which is why it lagged behind the order of the more developed countries of Western Europe in the future. , where neither Genghis Khan himself, nor his son Baty, together with all his descendants, somehow did not dare to poke their heads, and, for some completely incomprehensible reasons.
Intersno
It should be clarified that the Golden Horde did not include the lands conquered by Batu Vladimir-Suzdal lands, Kiev, with all its territories, and other Russian principalities. Moreover, they were assigned to the Grand Duke Yaroslav, who was the brother of Yuri Vsevolodovich, who was killed by the Mongols, and had a vassal dependence on the Horde Khan, that is, in fact, they did not belong to the state.
Magnificent Saray-Batu: the capital of the Golden Horde
By and large, nothing more was required, and the backgammon captured by the host of Tatar-Mongolian troops regularly paid tribute, ensuring the welfare and prosperity of both the khan himself and his state. It was decided to build the capital, too, closer to the conquered peoples, so that it would be more convenient to engage in robberies and skim the cream. There are two answers to the question of which city was the capital of the Golden Horde, and both of them are correct, since there were actually two options, but more on that later.
It is also worth talking about the device, which was different for the Golden Horde. Divided initially into small khanates, that is, uluses, whose borders were completely unstable and constantly changing, it was also a kind of large empire, subordinate to a single ruler, who settled not far from Astrakhan.
- The first capital of the Golden Horde was called Sarai-Batu and it existed while Batu was alive. In literal translation, it can be translated as the Old Palace, but the city had a different name. For example, it was called Saray al-Makhrusa, that is, the Palace Harnim by God, or simply Sarai I. Moreover, the capital of the golden horde, Saray, was only eight dozen kilometers north of Astrakhan, in the area of the modern village, under the name of Selitrenny, which is in the Kharabalinsky region. The first mention of this magnificent city refers to the manuscripts of the famous Franciscan monk named Rubruk, dating back to 1254, although it appears to have been founded about five years earlier. It must be said that the troops of Ivan the Terrible destroyed the city, already back in 1556, when the decline and degradation had already devoured the once great Horde.
Entertaining
It is worth considering that the population of Saray Batu was extremely diverse. The Byzantines and Russians, Mongols and Bulgars, Alans, Kipchaks, Circassians and many other nationalities lived here successfully. Moreover, they lived in isolated communities, and did not interfere with each other's private lives. In the city built of bricks, the water supply and sewerage system were fully functioning, glass was blown here, cut into bone, cut diamonds, smelted and processed metals, forged noble swords, in general, life was in full swing.
- The second capital of the notorious Golden Horde was a city called the New Palace, or Saray-Berke. He also had several other names, for example, Saray al-Jedid, which actually meant New Saray. Information about this city is already quite scattered and there are several independent versions about where exactly it could be located, as well as at what time it existed, since it was destroyed to the ground. According to one of the versions, or rather, hypotheses, an ancient city was located above the left branch of the great Russian Volga river, called Akhtuba, in the Volgograd region. It is believed that the city stood only sixty-three years, after which its trace was lost. However, other historians, for example, V.L. Yegorov, believe that such a city did not exist at all, and the evidence indicates that this is just a different name for Sarai-Batu.
Amazing coincidences: the coat of arms of the Golden Horde and the hidden legacy of the Tatar-Mongol yoke
It is worth starting from afar and saying that much of what we do not even know about can be attributed precisely to the legacy left to us by the omnipotent Horde, who have successfully sunk into oblivion. Moreover, many facts remain in the shadows, either on purpose, or simply by accident are hushed up. The Russian historian Vadim Deruzhinsky believes that the emblem of the Golden Horde, a two-headed bird, or rather an eagle, turned out to be the most striking example of such a phenomenon. Official history believes that Tsar Ivan III introduced this coat of arms as a symbol of the Russian Empire, when he entered into a marriage-deal with the Byzantine princess Sophia Palaeologus, but it must be clarified that many centuries before this, this strange mutant bird was minted on the coins of the Horde , which were found by archaeologists. They really exist and can be personally seen in museums.
However, this is not all, and if you understand thoroughly, then you can dig up information for good scientific work, because the Horde had a different coat of arms, which later quite successfully migrated to the notorious cap of the infamous Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, as well as to the Bukhara orders, flags and the coat of arms of Tajikistan and so on. Another coat of arms was called Tamga, and was represented by three golden petals connected together, like a trident.
Briefly about the fall and devastation: the reasons for the collapse of the Golden Horde
It is also worth figuring out who defeated the Golden Horde, how did it happen that the khanate, keeping half the world in check, suddenly wilted, as they say now, despondent, and then completely crumbled into dust, leaving behind almost no traces of its former greatness. The last legitimate khan, named Janibek, died in 1357, and a real squabble for power broke out in the country, and for a period of only four years on the throne, as many as twenty-five newly-minted rulers managed to warm up until Mamai came to power.
Moreover, it was this war for the throne that became the main reason for the collapse of the great and mighty Golden Horde. At first, Khorezm separated completely, completely ceasing to obey, followed by Astrakhan, and for complete happiness the Lithuanians also seized the lands over the Dnieper. In 1380, the irreparable happened, which became the last point in the history of the Horde, the khan's troops suffered a crushing defeat inflicted by Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy on the Kulikovo field. After that, the Tatar-Mongol troops were still trying to somehow restore their influence, made separate raids, but they no longer dared to engage in open battle. By the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Horde had completely disintegrated, and already in 1480, Russia ceased to be in vassal dependence. After another twenty to thirty years, the state called the Golden Horde completely ceased to exist.
History in brief: answers to questions
The year the Golden Horde was founded?
Who founded the state of the Golden Horde?
Khan Batu
Capital of the Golden Horde?
Saray Batu
What lands were not included in the Golden Horde?
The Vladimir-Suzdal lands conquered by Batu, Kiev, with all its territories, and other Russian principalities.
Who defeated the Golden Horde?
Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field in 1380
When did the Horde finally disintegrate?
§13. Cities, culture of the Golden Horde
Features of the formation and characteristic features of the Golden Horde culture. The Golden Horde was one of those countries of the medieval world where one of the highest levels of development of civilization, material and spiritual culture was achieved. And this is no coincidence.
The centralized state, which was the Golden Horde, numerous cities, extensive trade relations with the outside world created the most favorable conditions for the development of culture. Many Golden Horde rulers sought to attract prominent scientists, theologians, poets, educated people from distant countries to the court, and provided them with patronage. Such patrons in the state of the Jochi Dovs were the khans Berke, Uzbek and Janibek. Here are some testimonies from contemporaries. Berke earned respect for himself by "spreading Islam among all his people, building mosques and schools in all his domains, bringing scientists and lawyers closer to him and making friends with them." Uzbek built in Sarai "a madrasah for science, (because) he is very devoted to science and its people." Janibek "showed great respect to scientists and everyone who was distinguished by knowledge, ascetic deeds and piety." In addition, the possibilities of the lands conquered and subordinate to the Golden Horde were used.
The urban culture of the Golden Horde is alloy traditions artisans from various countries, conquered by the Mongols. It contains features of Chinese and Central Asian art, elements of house-building borrowed from Central Asia, the Caucasus and Rus, the traditions of crafts of the Crimea, Khorezm and Volga Bulgaria. So, along the Great Silk Road, the main achievements of Chinese civilization easily penetrated into the Horde cities. During their excavations, archaeologists find Chinese mirrors, porcelain dishes, bone products with images of birds and dragons, cast iron cauldrons, Chinese silk, etc.
Country of cities. To date, more than 100 cities of the Golden Horde are known. The largest were Barn, Barn al- Jedid and Crimea (Solkhat).
Some of the cities were located in the sedentary agricultural regions of the Middle Volga region, Crimea, Khorezm. Some of them, especially the Bulgar ones, suffered greatly during the Mongol conquests, but experienced their rebirth during the reign of Uzbek. A significant part of the cities arose practically from scratch, in the steppes, at the behest of the Haws, who sought to demonstrate the power and organization of their uluses.
In the middle of the 13th century, the first capital of the state was founded by Khan Batu Barn or Saray al-Mah-rusa (The God-Protected Palace). Its majestic ruins (Selitrennoe settlement) are located on the Lower Volga, in the Kharabalinsky district of the Astrakhan region. It was a giant city, the size of which amazed its contemporaries. Ibn Battuta, an Arab traveler of the XIV century, visited the city and left the following record about it: “The city of Saray is one of the most beautiful cities that has reached an extraordinary size, on a flat land, crowded with people, with beautiful bazaars and wide streets. Once we rode out on horseback with one of his elders, intending to go around him and find out the extent of it. We lived at one end of the city and left in the morning, and reached the other end only in the afternoon ... Once we walked across it, went and returned in half a day, and all this is a continuous row of houses, where there are no empty places or gardens ... It has 13 mosques for the cathedral service ... In addition, there are a lot of other mosques. " Ibn Battuta did not exaggerate anything. Indeed, the city occupied a huge territory (about 10 sq. Km) and it took at least a day to go around it in a circle, including the suburbs.
Sarai was home to about 75 thousand people. Among them were Mongols, Kipchaks, Alans, Circassians, Russians, Byzantines. But in the words of Ibn Battuta, “each nation lives in its own area separately; there is their bazaar. "
Against the background of other, especially Western European, medieval cities, Saray was distinguished by an extremely high level of improvement. Here water supply and sewerage systems were laid from ceramic pipes. Inhabitants took drinking water from fountains connected to the source by means of irrigation ditches.
Beautiful palaces and public buildings were built of baked bricks, and the houses of ordinary residents were built of raw materials and wood. Living rooms in wealthy houses were heated with hot air from a stove, which was fed through chimney ducts located under the floor. Warm suf beds stood against the walls. Stone and clay carvings, pottery tiles served as decorations for houses and structures. A beautiful swimming pool with running water was made in one of the premises.
There were many rich houses in Sarai. Some of them have survived almost in their original form until the 16th century, when the Moscow Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich ordered them to be broken and “to make the city of Astrakhan”.
The barn was also a major craft center. Whole neighborhoods in the city were occupied by potters, metallurgists, jewelers; workshops for the manufacture of glazed dishes and various architectural details. Artisans lived in the nearby simple houses; slaves huddled in dugouts, whose hands created all this wealth. Their houses were usually not heated, in the cold season they were heated by braziers or bonfires.
Existed for a little over 60 years Barn al- Jadid or New Sarai (Tsarevskoe settlement south of Volgograd) the second capital of the Golden Horde. The city was founded in the XIV century. Khan Uzbek and destroyed in 1395 by the troops of Timur.
New Saray was famous for dozens of mosques, noisy bazaars, where you could meet merchants from many near and distant countries. On the site of these bazaars, dozens, even hundreds of coins can be found today, scattered right on the ground. Craftsmen worked in numerous workshops. The architecture of the buildings attracted the eye. The walls of the houses of wealthy citizens were faced with clay slabs. These slabs were covered with colored glazes with a plant design in the form of large leaves and flowers on curling stems, as well as with Arabic inscriptions in white paints on a blue background. Ditches were built along the streets, connected by a network of canals with artificial reservoirs or wells. The underground drainage system in the form of pipes made of hollowed tree trunks diverted the groundwater from the structures. Archaeologists have also excavated numerous ditches along the streets.
The third city in terms of importance, population and wealth of the Golden Horde was Crimea. It was located in the center of the Crimean peninsula, on the southern coast of which Greek, Armenian and Italian merchants, Genoese and Venetians, lived. The transformation of the Crimea (or Solkhat, as the Genoese called it) into a large administrative and economic center of the peninsula is connected precisely with the rapid flourishing of Genoese trade, which occurred during the reign of Uzbek. One of the most beautiful buildings in Crimea was the madrasah of Khan Uzbek. There was a fountain next to it, where water from a source located on the nearest ridge was supplied through ceramic pipes.
Among the most famous cities were also Hud- zhitarkhan (modern Astrakhan), Ukek (the remains are located not far from the present-day Saratov), Mokhsha (in the Penza region), Majar (in the Stavropol Territory), Ackerman(modern. Belgorod-Dnestrovsky) and some others. All of them experienced a rise in the XIV century and practically ceased to exist in the first half of the XV century.
The world of urban culture. The center of this culture was the capital of the Golden Horde. Already under Berke Khan, the barn “became the focus of science and a mine of blessings, and in a short time it has accumulated a good and healthy share of scientists and celebrities, literary men and artisans, and all kinds of honored people” (Ibn Arabshah).
Not only in Sarai, but also in other cities of the country, a wide network of various educational institutions was created. Prominent theologians, scholars and writers, including people from the well-known centers of the Muslim East, taught here. So, for a long time, large religious figures lived in Bolgar. Khoja Hasan ibn- Omar al- Bulgarians, a native of Ganja (Azerbaijan), Abu Mosstar ibn- Mahmoud al- Qazvini, refugee from Iran, Gosam ibn- Malik al- Margiani from Fergana and others.
Many scholars and poets were fluent in several languages and wrote their works in Turkic, Arabic and Persian. But the written culture developed mainly in the Kypchak language, which is very close to modern Tatar. The official khan labels, masterpieces of the Golden Horde literature, are written in this language: « Khosrow and Shirin " Kotba (1342), iNahjel- faradis Mahmud Bulgarians (1358), Jum- juma- sultan " Hisama Kyatiba (1369), « Gulistan bit turks» Saif Barns (1391).
When writing, the Arabic alphabet was used. The most prominent places of public buildings - domes, high portals and doors were decorated with beautiful inscriptions in Arabic script, sayings from the Koran, verses of oriental poets. They wrote on paper with metal pens, wrote on dishes, jewelry and household items. Literacy was widespread among the common people.
The flourishing period of culture in the Golden Horde did not last long. With the crisis of the state that began in the second half of the 14th century, it entered a period of decline. Many representatives of the enlightened part of society are leaving the country. The Middle East becomes the center of Islamic science and culture.
Questionsandtasks
1. Name the largest cities of the Golden Horde. How did they differ from Western European cities, cities of Russia? 2. What facts indicate that the Golden Horde cities were actively involved in international trade? 3. Can you imagine the ethnic composition of the population of the Golden Horde cities? 4. What types of handicraft production were developed in the cities of the Golden Horde? 5. Can it be argued that Saray, New Saray, Crimea and other large cities were cultural centers of the Golden Horde? Justify your answer. 6. What factors contributed to the development of the culture of the Golden Horde? 7. Make a story about the architecture of the Golden Horde cities. 8. In what language did the written culture develop in the Golden Horde? What does this language have to do with the modern Tatar language? 9. On the basis of what facts do historians claim that literacy was widespread among the common people in the Golden Horde? 10. Name the most outstanding literary works and their authors of the Golden Horde period. 11. Traits and achievements of what cultures were represented in the culture of the Golden Horde? Can we say that this culture was synthetic?
Introduction. 2
1. Cities of the Golden Horde and the economic geography of the state. 4
3. The Volga region. 12
Conclusion. 22
List of used literature .. 23
Introduction
The history of nomadic peoples, their tribal associations and states, as well as relationships with sedentary neighbors has attracted the attention of researchers since ancient times. The study of various nomadic communities, based on the complex involvement of sources, has recently made it possible to prepare a number of fundamental works on this complex problem.
The questions of the historical geography of nomadic unions and states make it possible to give a clearer idea of them not only in time, but also in space. Possessions of nomads are often presented as unmeasured expanses of endless steppes without landmarks familiar to the settled inhabitants. This picture changes dramatically when the historical and geographical analysis of the entire complex of known sources.
The state territory and its internal structure gains clarity; border lines are outlined, settled settlements appear in the steppes, the movements of nomads acquire a strict pattern associated not only with natural, but also with social characteristics of society. The present work is devoted to clarifying these aspects in relation to the Golden Horde.
The economic geography of the cities of the Golden Horde is an independent problem, for the successful disclosure of which a more in-depth archaeological study of numerous settlements of the 13th-14th centuries is necessary.
In chronological terms, the abstract covers a period clearly limited by two dates, which are of key importance not only for the political history of the Golden Horde, but also for the territorial-geographical assessment of the state. The first date - 1243 - fixes the beginning of the formation of a new Mongol state in the steppes between the Danube and Irtysh, the supreme power in which belonged to the house of the Jochids. The second date - 1395 - is the milestone that finally convinced contemporaries of the complete collapse of the military-political doctrine of the Genghisids and the inconsistency of the idea of creating a world empire.
In the abstract, we will consider only a small part of the cities of the Golden Horde, on the study of which we can draw a conclusion about what contribution the Golden Horde cities made to the development of civilization.
1. The cities of the Golden Horde and the economic geography of the state
For the historical geography of the Golden Horde, the issue of cities is of particular importance, since it is closely related to a number of other important problems. Their appearance among the Mongols in the XIII-XIV centuries. was dictated by quite definite political and economic aspects of the development of the state.
Determining the number of cities and finding out their distribution over the vast territory of the state makes it possible to judge the degree of the spread of settled life, shed light on some aspects of the internal administrative and political structure, answer a number of questions related to the economy (identifying trade and craft centers, caravan routes, etc. ). Undoubtedly, the economic geography of the Golden Horde deserves a separate chapter, however, the information available in the sources about it is very scanty and scarce, and, moreover, for the most part is closely linked with urban life. All this allows us to combine two aspects of historical geography into a single complex.
The territory of the Golden Horde at the present time is no longer presented in the form of endless steppe spaces, entirely inhabited by nomads, where only occasionally there are small settled settlements.
Archaeological research carried out in recent years has largely supplemented the information about the Golden Horde cities contained in written sources. Along with this, numismatics data and preserved medieval geographical maps make it possible to concretize the materials obtained during excavations and to identify archaeological sites with specific settlements. Since ancient times, the Caspian and Black Sea steppes were the habitat of nomads and before the arrival of the Mongols they did not know a developed urban planning culture. Several cities that appeared here during the times of the Khazar Kaganate, in their appearance "very much resembled an ordinary nomadic camp."
At the beginning of the XIII century. these steppes were a huge nomadic island, surrounded on all sides by the sedentary civilizations of Russia, Volga Bulgaria, Khorezm, the North Caucasus and Crimea.
The new state established here in 1243 changed the existing picture in a short time. True, in the 40s the situation remained the same: the Mongols at first used for their own purposes the cities that existed before their arrival, which were located quite far from the steppe spaces proper. The most striking example in this respect is the Great Bulgar, where the minting of the first Golden Horde coins began.
Plano Carpini, who traveled in 1246-1247. the entire Golden Horde from west to east and back, did not meet a single city or village on his way in the steppes. Six years later, Rubruk also visited this place, whose travel notes speak of the revitalized urban planning activity of the Mongols in the steppes themselves. He reports that he found on the left bank of the Don a settlement inhabited by Russians, "who transport ambassadors and merchants on boats." This settlement was organized by order of Batu himself. Further Rubruk notes that he was informed about the existence of another similar village downstream of the river, "where the ambassadors are ferried in the winter."
On the right bank of the Volga, the travelers found another village inhabited by Russians and Saracens, who were responsible for transporting ambassadors across the river. If the location of two settlements on the Don can still be determined only presumably, then the settlement seen by Rubruk on the Volga is identified with the Vodyansk settlement near the town of Dubovka, Volgograd Region. The emergence of three settlements at once on the largest rivers marks not only the beginning of urban development in the steppes, but also the laying of a new trade route that provided the necessary amenities for merchant caravans. Returning from Mongolia in the fall of 1254, Rubruk visited the capital of the Golden Horde, founded by Batu Khan, the city of Sarai. His message is the earliest evidence of the existence of this city. A trade route led to the new capital, for which crossings were arranged across the Don and Volga. The fact that at that time it was already intensively used by foreign merchants is clearly evidenced by the arrival of the Italians of the Polo brothers to the Great Bulgar. Rubruk was also told that Batu's eldest son, Sartak, was building a new village with a large church on the right bank of the Volga. It is rather difficult to establish its exact location from the words of Rubruk, but based on the context, we can conclude that it was located below modern Volgograd. This village, apparently, was supposed to play the role of the administrative center of the ulus that belonged to Sartak.
The information provided by Rubruk depicts the very initial stage of the development of urban planning in the Caspian and Black Sea steppes. Extremely characteristic in this respect is the traveler's remark that building houses among the Mongols is considered a profitable occupation.
Significant changes in the urban planning policy of the Mongols took place during the reign of Berke, the formal impetus for which was the introduction of a new religion in the state - Islam. The cities of the Golden Horde, and first of all the capital, take on an "oriental" appearance, being built up with monumental buildings of mosques, minarets, madrasahs, caravanserais, etc. The artisans from all the enslaved countries gathered in the Golden Horde brought with them architectural canons and construction techniques, tested over the centuries, tested building materials and their production technology. A huge number of prisoners taken into slavery made it possible to carry out construction in a short time and on a large scale.
The Khans who ruled after Berke did not pay so much attention to the construction of new cities, being content with the existing ones and their development. However, the general development and requirements of the internal economic and political life of the state entered a phase when it was no longer possible to stop these processes. The indifference of the khans Mengu-Timur, Tuda-Mengu, Tulabuga and Tokta, who ruled after Berke, (who refused to support Berke's course of introducing the Muslim religion) to the expansion of existing cities and the foundation of new cities could only somewhat slow down their growth, but not stop it.
Urban planning and architecture flourished during the reign of Khan Uzbek and Janibek, who succeeded him. The time of their reign is characterized by the growth of the territory of cities and the emergence of a significant number of new settlements. The largest of them was Saray al-Jedid (New), founded by Uzbek in the early 30s of the XIV century. and later became the capital. The appearance in this period of cities and smaller settlements, large in size, leads to the emergence in the steppes of vast sedentary regions stretching for tens of kilometers. The Volga coast is almost entirely built up with cities, towns and villages. Along the left bank of the river. Akhtuba (from its very source to Sarai al-Jedid and beyond) appears a continuous strip of settlement, consisting of small towns, villages and castles of the aristocracy, surrounded by cultivated fields. An area equally significant in terms of territory arises in the place of the closest convergence of the Volga and Don. In some places, small craft settlements grow up, apparently based next to the natural raw materials they need.
In the last years of Janibek's rule, and especially under his heir Birdibek, there is a gradual decline in urban planning and its abrupt termination with the beginning of internal strife in the 60s-70s of the XIV century.
With the accession of Tokhtamysh, feudal strife ceased, but even after that city life continued to slowly fade. The final blow to the Golden Horde cities was inflicted in 1395-1396. Timur. After that, the overwhelming majority of them remained in ruins among the steppes: there were no craftsmen, no funds for their restoration.
Based on the above and the data of archaeological research, the following stages of urban planning in the Golden Horde can be distinguished:
1. The period of restoration and use of old cities that existed before the arrival of the Mongols - 40s of the XIII century.
2. The beginning of urban planning in the steppes during the reign of Batu - the first half of the 50s of the XIII century.
3. The rise of urban planning under Burke - from the mid-50s to the mid-60s of the XIII century.
4. A period of slower urban growth - from the 70s of the XIII century. until the beginning of the second decade of the XIV century.
5. The flourishing of urban development under Uzbek and Dzhanibek - from the second decade to the 60s of the XIV century.
6. Fading and decline of urban planning - from the 60s of the XIV century. before 1395
Each of these periods reflects the main line of political and economic development of the Golden Horde at a certain stage in its history. The initial stage of the emergence of cities has a pronounced political specificity of the formation and ordering of the internal administrative system of the state, without which its existence as an integral organism would be impossible. In the further growth of individual cities and the general expansion of their network, economic factors associated with the development of foreign and domestic trade, handicraft production and the formation of certain economic and economic regions come to the fore. The life of the overwhelming majority of the Golden Horde cities was interrupted in a very short time - almost simultaneously, during Timur's second campaign against the Golden Horde. Suffice it to say that only two cities on the territory of the Caspian steppes were not destroyed - Saray (on Akhtuba) and Saraichik (in the Urals).
It is rather difficult to apply a chronological approach to the issues of the geography of the cities of the Golden Horde at the present time, since the dates of the emergence of only a small number of them are more or less precisely known. Therefore, in a specific consideration of cities, it is most convenient to divide the territory of the state into several conditional historical and geographical regions. Each of them, to a certain extent, also possesses economic characteristics inherent in emu. A regional description of all known settlements of the Golden Horde will be made from its western border in an eastern direction.
2. Crimea
The entire Tauride Peninsula, which received the name Crimean from the time the Golden Horde was established here, was under the rule of the Mongols. However, its territory was quite clearly subdivided into steppe regions inhabited by nomads, and a mountainous part with the southern coast, where only a sedentary population lived in cities and villages. This part of the peninsula enjoyed a certain political autonomy and had its own government. Ethnically, most of the population of the southern coastal cities of Crimea were Greeks, followed by Armenians, Alans and Genoese. The economic interest of the Mongols in the development of Genoese trade in the Crimea served as a certain guarantee of the preservation of their autonomy, although the Golden Horde khans repeatedly undertook military expeditions against the Italian colonies.
The city of Crimea. Its remains are located on the site of the modern city of Stary Krym. The Golden Horde name of the city (Crimea) is known from written sources and coins minted in it. The Genoese called the city Solhat. Rubruk, who traveled through these places from Sudak in 1253, does not mention anything about him. The first coins issued in Crimea by Khan Mengu-Timur date back to 1267 by the 60s of the XIII century. The first written mention of the city in Arab sources, where it is said that it is inhabited by the Kipchaks, Alans and Russians, also belongs. Thanks to the rapid flourishing of the Genoese trade and the nearby Kafa, Crimea is rapidly turning into a major trade and handicraft center. Ibn Batuta, who visited it in the 30s of the XIV century, reports that it is a large and beautiful city, from which a road leads into the interior of the state with stations located on it at regular intervals for changing horses. From the time of its foundation until the end of the 15th century. Crimea was the administrative center of the entire peninsula. Archaeological research has confirmed the development and high culture of the city in the XIII-XIV centuries. Some of the monumental buildings from this period have been partially preserved to our time. The destruction of the city and its decline are associated with the campaign of Timur in 1395.
The city of Kyrk-Er. Its remains are now known as Chufut-Kale and are located not far from Bakhchisarai. Throughout the XIII century. the city was an autonomous feudal possession, semi-dependent from the Golden Horde. In 1299 it was destroyed by the troops of Nogai, after which its autonomy was eliminated and it became one of the Golden Horde cities of the peninsula. In the 15th century, after the decline of the Crimea, the administrative center of Gireev was moved to Kyrk-Er for some time. This is evidenced by the khan's labels and Russian diplomatic documents. Subsequently, after the emergence of Bakhchisarai (XVI century), Kyrk-Er finally lost its significance.
Other cities of the peninsula did not legally belong to the Golden Horde, but their actual dependence on the Mongols, both in terms of political and economic, was very high. On the other hand, the Sarai khans were interested in the activities of the Italian trading colonies, which represented an important link in relations between the East and Western Europe. Without a description of these settlements, the picture of urban life on the Crimean peninsula will be clearly incomplete.
Vospo (Kerch). In the XIII century. this settlement was abandoned and did not play any significant role in the life of the peninsula. Visited him in the 30s of the XIV century. Ibn Batuta reports about it very briefly, mentioning only the church that existed here. Around the same time, the Venetians, who were later replaced by the Genoese, established themselves in Vosoro. The role of this settlement in the economic life of the peninsula was extremely small.
Cafe. The modern city of Feodosia. Until the 60s of the XIII century. was a small village. In 1266 the Mongols allowed the Genoese to establish a trading colony here, which in the XIV century. became the administrative center of all Genoese possessions in the Northern Black Sea region. In the middle of the XIV century. the city is fortified with powerful stone walls and towers that have replaced wooden ones. Visited here in the 30s of the XIV century. Ibn Batuta reports that the city was large, emphasizing that there were "up to 200 military and cargo ships, small and large" in the harbor. From here furs, leather, silk, expensive fabrics, oriental spices, dyes were exported to Western Europe. Slaves were a special export item. According to Ibn Batuta, the main population of the city was made up of Christians (Genoese, Greeks, Armenians), but besides them, Muslims lived here, who had not only mosques, but also their own judge. The Genoese city existed until 1475, when it was captured by the Ottomans: by this time there were only 300 Genoese, and the bulk of the population consisted of Greeks and Armenians. Along with trade in the Cafe, various types of handicraft production were widely developed.
Chembalo (Balaklava). Until the middle of the XIV century. this city with a very convenient harbor belonged to the principality of Theodoro. In the 50s of the XIV century. it was captured by the Genoese, who immediately began to build a fortification here. The inclusion of Chembalo in Kafa's domain extended its control to the entire Crimean south coast and significantly undermined trade competition from the rulers of Theodoro. The main role assigned to the new fortress was to limit the commercial and political activities of the princes of Theodoro in the western part of the peninsula. This is confirmed by the attacks of the Genoese on another port of the Theodorites - Calamita.
Theodoro. The capital of a small principality of the same name in western Crimea; its remains are on the Mangup mountain. In order to maintain their power, the owners of the principality had to maneuver between the Mongols and the Genoese, the latter being, apparently, a great danger. Despite this, the city and the principality existed until 1475, when the Ottomans invaded Crimea.
The described settlements of the southern coastal strip of the Crimean Peninsula include only large cities. In addition to them, along the entire length of the coastline, there were a significant number of small and medium-sized settlements, villages and castles, which in the XIV century. were also in the possession of the Genoese. A.M. Berthier-Delagarde numbered 32 such points from Kafa to Cembalo. All of them constituted the rural area of the colonial cities, the population of which was engaged in agriculture.
The port cities of the peninsula remained the most important points of transit international trade during the XIII-XIV centuries. As for the Golden Horde city of Crimea, its role in trade operations decreased slightly in the XIV century. in connection with the emergence of a more convenient transit center at the mouth of the Don - Azak, where the Italian trading post was also settled. Its appearance significantly shortened the path to Kafa, which now passed not through the steppes, but through the Sea of Azov.
3. Volga region
This vast region, stretching from north to south from the Kama region to the Caspian coast, throughout the history of the Golden Horde played an important role in its political and economic life. It was caused not only by the emergence of the administrative center of the entire state here, but also by the existence of the longest trade artery - the Volga, which connected areas of the forest and steppe zones that were very dissimilar in their economic potential. The Volga region with good reason can be considered the center of the state's urban planning culture. The first Golden Horde cities, founded by the Mongols themselves, arose here; here new architectural forms and decorative and design techniques were born and developed, which arose on the basis of the alloy and synthesis of the most diverse cultural and historical traditions. Finally, there was the largest number of settlements of the Golden Horde of various sizes. The northern part of the region under consideration included the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria, where town planning had developed and established traditions that originated long before the Mongols appeared here. The repeated ruin of the Bulgar state by the Mongols led to the natural decline and disappearance of some ancient cities. Others throughout the XIII century. survived a period of gradual restoration and development and in the next century turned into large trade and craft centers, known far beyond the Volga region. Here, in the Golden Horde period, completely new cities appear, which testifies not only to the economic and political shifts that took place in this area, but also to the geographical movements of local centers caused by them.
It is most convenient to describe the Golden Horde cities of the Volga basin from the top downstream of the river, starting from the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria, where in the XIII-XIV centuries. a number of Bulgar cities that existed before the arrival of the Mongol conquerors were restored. It should be noted that the described area was a zone of continuous settlement with numerous settlements of various sizes, the total number of which is close to 35 archaeological sites identified to date.
Bulgar city. The former capital of the Volga Bulgaria. After the Mongol conquest, in the initial period of the history of the Golden Horde, the city was assigned the role of one of the important political and economic centers of the state. This is evidenced by the message of Marco Polo and the beginning of the issue of the first Golden Horde coins here. Long-term archaeological work on the study of the remains of the Bulgar gave the most diverse evidence of the flourishing of the city in the XIV century. It was to this period that various monumental public buildings of stone and brick (baths, mosques, minarets, etc.) were erected here.
The Arab chronicler testifies that the city was an important center of international trade, which was constantly visited by oriental merchants. The radius of action of local merchants was also not limited to the nearest district - they embarked on distant expeditions to Chulyman. Along with trade, various handicraft production (metallurgical, jewelry, pottery, bone-cutting, leatherworking, construction) has received the widest development. Bulgar's suburban port Aga-Bazar turned into a bustling trade center where merchants from Russia, from the Near and Middle East and from Western Europe met.
The decline of the city begins in the 60s of the XIV century. and is associated with general internal unrest in the state. During the reign of Tokhtamysh, Bulgar did not manage to return the past greatness and significance; the final desolation of the city occurs at the beginning of the 15th century. and is associated with the transfer of the political center of local lands to the north, to the right bank of the Kama.
Djuketau city. It was founded by the Bulgars long before the arrival of the Mongols, who destroyed it. The restoration of the city led to the fact that in the XIV century. in this region it becomes one of the major political centers along with Bulgar. Dzhuketau (Russian name Zhukotin) was located on the left bank of the river. Kama, 4 km from the modern city of Chistopol, Tatarstan.
In the economic life of the city, apparently, its trade relations with the Urals were of particular importance. Archaeological studies have revealed a not very thick, but rich in finds layer of the late 13th-14th centuries.
Bilyar town. Its remains are located near the modern village. Bilyarsk Tatarstan, on the river. Bilyarka. Before the arrival of the Mongols, it was the largest city of the Volga Bulgaria, but in the Golden Horde time it lost its former significance, although coins were minted here for some period. City boundaries XIII-XIV centuries. decreased significantly compared to the previous century.
The city of Suvar. It was founded by the Bulgars and before the arrival of the Mongols it was one of the major cities of their state. Its remains are located near the village of Tatar town of Tatarstan. In the Golden Horde era, the city was partially restored, but it no longer played its former economic and political role.
Kashan city. The remains of the city are located on the right bank of the Kama near the village. Shuran Laishevsky district of Tatarstan. On the basis of archaeological research, the existence of the city dates back to the XII-XIV centuries. Kashan was the third largest city in the region (after Bulgar and Bilyar), representing one of the administrative centers of the Kama right bank. The final desolation of the city dates back to the end of the XIV century.
The city of Kremenchuk. It was located on the right bank of the river. Kama near the village. Russians Kirmeni Mamadyshsky district of Tatarstan. A Bulgar city founded before the appearance of the Mongols. The highest prosperity of Kremenchuk belongs to the Golden Horde time. The city existed throughout the entire XIV century, its desolation dates back to the very end of this century.
Settlement Iski-Kazan. It consists of two archaeological sites - the Urmatsky settlement and the Kamaevsky settlement, which were one settlement, which received the popular name of Old Kazan (Iski-Kazan). The remains of the city are located on the river. Kazanka, near the village. Kamaevo, Vysokogorskiy district of Tatarstan. The settlement arose here before the appearance of the Mongols, but its flourishing dates back to the second half of the XIII - the middle of the XIV century. Judging by the archaeological finds, the city during this period was a developed trade and craft settlement, which played a prominent role in the region of the Kama right bank.
Barskoenaruskinskoe settlement and settlement. They are located near the village of Barskoye, Enaruskino, Aksubaevsky district of Tatarstan. They make up a single urban complex (the area of the settlement is over 30 thousand square meters, settlements - over 600 thousand square meters), which reached its greatest development in the XIV century. Judging by the area of the settlement, it was one of the significant urban centers of the region. The ancient name of the city is unknown
Kokryatskoe settlement. Located on the right bank of the river. Ducks, near the village. Kokryat Staromoynsky district of the Ulyanovsk region. It is the remains of one of the most significant cities in the region (the area of the settlement exceeds 700 thousand square meters. M). The ancient name of the city is not known exactly, presumably the chronicle Tukhchin is located here.
Kazan. One of the late Golden Horde cities, the emergence of which was caused by a number of internal political processes that took place in the state in the second half of the XIV century. Finding out the date of the foundation of Kazan is of particular importance for understanding the historical and geographical changes that took place on the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria during the events of the "Great Zamyatnya".
That is why it is necessary to consider the issue comprehensively, analyzing all existing versions. According to one of them, the city appeared at the end of the 12th century, according to the other - under the Golden Horde Khan Batu (1242-1255); the third relates its occurrence to the second half of the XIV century. To this it should be added that sometimes the foundation of modern Kazan is associated with the time of the aforementioned Iski-Kazan. The archaeological monument, which received the name Iski-Kazan in the oral folk tradition, is located 45 km from modern Kazan, i.e. is an independent city, the date of foundation of which is not related to the time of Kazan.
It is interesting in connection with the discussed issue of the emergence of Kazan in the XII century. consider also the general political situation in which the Bulgar state was at that time. According to the chronicles, throughout this century the Russian princes undertook a number of major campaigns against Bulgaria, which ended with the capture and destruction of the Bulgar settlements and cities. The largest of them belong to 1120, 1172 and 1184. One of the organizers of the active anti-Bulgar policy was Andrei Bogolyubsky, in connection with which some researchers note the interest of the Bulgars in the elimination of this prince and their support for the conspiracy against him.
Such an active anti-Bulgarian orientation of Russian policy in the XII century. led to the fact that the main territory of the Volga Bulgaria was in the Trans-Kama region and its expansion went exclusively to the south. This was noted by A.P. Smirnov and is confirmed by the archaeological research of the Predkamye by N.F. Kalinin, who came to the conclusion about the development of the Predkamye by the Bulgars mainly in the XIII-XIV centuries. The latest data of R.G. Fakhrutdinov do not contradict this, testifying to the very weak population of the Bulgars in the 12th century. river basin Kazanka.
One of the characteristic indicators of the perceivedness of military strikes from the north for the Bulgars is the transfer to the XII century. the capital of the state from Bulgar to Bilyar, 162) located in the depths of the Bulgar land and away from the Volga, along which Russian troops usually came.
The sparse information of the sources makes it possible to judge about the intense internecine struggle within the Volga Bulgaria itself. This is evidenced by the involvement of the Polovtsy by one of the Bulgar princes as accomplices in the struggle against another feudal lord. The constant threats of attacks from the north and internal strife in no way contributed in the XII century. the development of significant territories by the Bulgars on the right bank of the Kama and especially along the Volga. During this period, the development of the ancestral Kama lands could be carried out by them only in areas significantly distant from the Volga, the coast of which was very uneasy militarily.
When considering this issue, materials of medieval cartography are also of interest. One of the most detailed maps of this area, compiled in the middle of the XIV century. by the Italian merchants Pitsigani, locates the Bulgar cities exclusively in the Trans-Kama region and along the course of the Kama. To the north of the Kama, on the banks of the Volga, there is only one city - Kostroma. Kazan is absent both on the map of the Catalan atlas of 1375, and on the Fra-Mauro map of the early 15th century.
From the above, it follows with certainty that the foundation of Kazan in the XII century. is not confirmed either by sources or by analysis of the political situation of that time. There are no direct reports in written sources about the attribution of the emergence of Kazan to the reign of the Golden Horde Khan Batu.
During the reign of Batu, a gradual revival of city life really begins, the development of which was interrupted by the Mongol invasion. Batu founded his capital on the Lower Volga - Saray; in the steppes, especially at the crossings over large rivers, small settlements appear, inhabited by Russians and Bulgars driven here. However, the initial period of Batu's reign is characterized not by the establishment of new ones, but by the restoration of old cities in connection with the urgent need to create a sedentary administrative center of the state as soon as possible. This center Batu temporarily chose the Bulgar city, where the minting of the first Golden Horde coins began. Since that time, the city has developed rapidly, which is confirmed by written and archaeological sources. Bulgar XIII-XIV centuries was a recognized international trade center on the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria; there was no second center similar to it in this area of the Volga.
Lack of convincing arguments in favor of the emergence of Kazan in the XII or XIII centuries. reduces the essence of the issue to the most accurate concretization of the time of the foundation of the city during the XIV century. Its undisputed existence in the XIV century. confirmed by reliable chronicle evidence. The earliest of them is contained in the Rogozhsky chronicler under 1391 when describing the campaign of the ushkuiniks who plundered Dzhuketau and Kazan. This message is repeated in the Simeon Chronicle and the Moscow Code of 1479. Kazan appears for the second time in the Novgorod IV Chronicle under 1395 when describing a large campaign of Russian troops, accompanied by the defeat of Bulgar, Djuketau, Kazan, Kremenchuk. Thus, in the last decade of the XIV century. Kazan appears to be a fortress or a city, the importance of which could no longer be underestimated by the Russian troops.
For the arrangement of his residence and the administrative center of possessions, the then ruling Khan Khasan chose a place not far from the mouth of the present-day Kazanka River, 120 km north of Bulgar. The founding of the city here had two undeniable advantages for that time. First, the city received along the river. Kazanka exit to the Volga and actually was on it. Secondly, he was invisible from the Volga, as he was at a distance of several kilometers from it. There is no second place just as convenient and meeting such requirements in this area of the Volga left bank.
The new city, founded by Prince Hasan in 1370, received the name of its founder. This custom was widespread among the Volga Bulgars.
Somewhat later, in the process of the formation of the Tatar language, the name of the city of Khasan was transformed into the now familiar Kazan.
One can also mention an extremely interesting stone tombstone found near Kazan and dated presumably to the end of the 13th century. Its text is largely corrupted, the date is erased, but the surviving scraps allow us to read that "this is the burial place of the great and noble ruler, the assistant to the sovereigns, the revered emir ... the victorious ... pride of the family ... and faith, the shadow of the Lord of the worlds Hasan -back son of Mir-Mahmud ". In this epitaph, in addition to the name, attention is drawn to the words "assistant to the rulers", since Hasan really was a vassal of Muhammad-Sultan, and through him Mamai. The elaboration and splendor of the title of the epitaph, as well as the use of the title "emir", is characteristic precisely for the second half of the 14th century, when official paperwork and titling necessarily proceeded from the Arab-Persian traditions. Some technical features of its execution also testify in favor of this date. for example, crisp rectangles of lines separated by clean stripes.
In general, the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria during the XIII-XIV centuries. was an area of continuous settlement with numerous villages and small towns, a significant part of which has been identified at the present time. The economic significance of this region was also increased by the fact that established trade routes for the supply of furs from the Urals, the Vyatka basin and the northern Volga converged here. Numerous and varied Russian goods flocked here, where oriental merchants were waiting for them.
We have considered far from all the cities of the Golden Horde. There were many cities and settlements on the territory of modern Bashkiria, Chuvashia. It should be noted that their total number was undoubtedly greater than what has now been revealed. Certain areas of this vast region have not yet been sufficiently studied archaeologically; some of the settlements are known only by mentions, without any minimal descriptions.
The particular significance of the Volga in the development of the economy of that time was that it was not only an intrastate route that united separate uluses of the Golden Horde. Large and constant international transportation of goods was carried out along it, connecting the European north with the south. The traditional export items of the north (furs, linen, honey, wax, Bulgarian leather of special dressing, etc.) were in constant demand not only in the Golden Horde, but also far beyond its borders. Lower Volga region at the end of the XIII-XIV centuries. was the most important hub of international transit trade, where two streams of a wide variety of goods merged. One of them came from the north, the second from the east. Russian, Golden Horde, Eastern and Western European merchants constantly met here, developing mutually beneficial relations and in many ways contributing to the prosperity of the Volga cities.
Conclusion
The historical geography of the Golden Horde is a rather multifaceted topic, and an in-depth study of it will still require considerable efforts. One of the sides of this development is connected with the most conspicuous issue of the Golden Horde expansion, which was of a constant and vital character for the ruling class.
Clarification of various historical and geographical aspects of the existence and development of the cities of the Golden Horde, of course, is of an auxiliary character in the study of this state. However, the consideration of such issues in many respects makes it possible to deepen and detail the course of political history and economic development. The versatility of geographic realities covers, in fact, all the main components that make up the concrete-formal side of the existence of the state, and not only its internal state at a certain time, but also the nature of relationships with neighbors and the resulting mutual influence. In this respect, the historical geography of the Golden Horde provides a fairly diverse material.
The cities of the Golden Horde served as trade havens for merchants from many countries. Caravans from Iran, Iraq, Persia, China and others passed along the "silk" road of the Golden Horde. Also, these cities served as a kind of exchange point. Naturally, such a circumstance forced the ruling elite to think about protecting their cities. Therefore, most of these cities were fortified fortresses.
The culture of urban planning has brought to the world wonderful monuments of the construction of mosques, cathedrals, fortresses. The city has become a symbol of prosperity, beauty and wealth.
List of used literature
1. Ballaud F.V. Old and New Sarai are the capitals of the Golden Horde. - Kazan, 1993 .-- 414 p.
2. Cities of the Volga region in the Middle Ages. Medieval monuments of the Volga region. - M., 1996 .-- 522 p.
3. Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. The Golden Horde and its fall. - M., 1990, - 404 p.
4. Nasonov A.N. Mongols and Russia. - M., 2000 .-- 612 p.
5. Safargaliev M.G. The collapse of the Golden Horde. - Saransk, 2000, - 216 p.
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