The Mongol Khâns

Mongolian culture in most respects reflected the influence of China. For instance, there are Mongolian terms for the Chinese 60 year calendar cycle. On the other hand, significant other influences came into play. The writing system eventually adopted for Mongolian was the alphabet brought by Nestorian Christian missionaries into Central Asia, which was used to write other Altaic languages related to Mongolian, like Uighur and Manchu. This script is deficient in letters for vowels, which always made it an ambiguous way to write these languages. Under Soviet influence, Mongolian now is mostly written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

In religion, Mongolia also went its own way, adopting the Vajrayana Buddhism, or Lamaism, of Tibet. This may have contributed to the military decline of Mongolia, since a large part of the population committed to monasticism does not make for anything like the nation of fierce warriors that stormed across Asia in the 13th century. Thus, Manchu China conquered Mongolia for the first time in its history in 1696. It remained part of China until 1911, when the fall of the Manchus enabled the Mongols, like the Tibetans, to assert their independence.

The Chinese, however, enforced their claim to Mongolia by an invasion in 1919. This was successful, but with Soviet help the Chinese were driven out in 1921. Mongolian independence, at least from China, was henceforth under the protection of the Soviet Union. But this also, naturally, made Mongolia subject to Russian experiments in Communism. Stalin's collectivization of agriculture was extended to Mongolia, with the forced settlement of nomads. Many of them, consequently, moved to Chinese Inner Mongolia to escape. Since 1990, Mongolia, like other post-Soviet states, has been struggling to develop a normal life and government free of police state measures and Russian domination.

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Philosophy of History

Index

• Introduction
• The Conquests of Chingiz Khân, 1227
• The Great Khâns and the Yüan Dynasty of China
• The Grandsons of Chingiz Khân, 1280
• The Chaghatayid Khâns
  • Tuva or Bust!
• The Khâns of the Golden Horde
  • The Khâns of the Blue Horde
  • The Khâns of the White Horde
  • The Khâns of the Golden Horde
  • The Khâns of Kazan
  • The Khâns of Astrakhan
  • The Khâns of the Crimea
• The Il Khâns
  • The Jalâyirids, 1340-1432
  • The Qara Qoyunlu, 1351-1469
  • The Timurids, 1370-1500
  • The Aq Qoyunlu, 1396-1508
• Shibânid Özbegs, 1438-1599
• Kazakhs, 1394-1748
• Toqay Temürids, 1599-1758
• Mangıts of Bukhara, 1747-1920
• The East Turkestan Genocide
• The Mongolian Web Ring

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Philosophy of History

Map shows the conquests of Chingiz Khân as divided at his death among his four sons. Jochi, the eldest son had, however, already died; so his sector was actually divided between his own sons, Batu (the Blue Horde), Orda (the White Horde), and Shiban, later united into the Golden Horde, the most durable of the Mongol regimes. Tuli (Tolui), the youngest son, was given the homeland of Mongolia. And it was the sons of Tuli, after the conquest of Russia, who carried out the greatest subsequent conquests, of the Middle East and China.

The Great Khâns, the Yüan Dynasty, , of China, 1206-1368
Temüjin Chingiz Khân/Qaghan Genghis Khan T'ai Tsu	1182- Great Khân, 1206-1227
Chin Empire attacked, 1211-1216; Qara-Khitaï overthrown, 1217-1218; Khawarizm Shâh thrown out of Transoxania, 1219-1222; Hsi-Hsia overthrown, 1226-1227
Ögedei Khân T'ai Tsung	1229-1241
Khawarizm Shâh overthrown, 1231 Chin overthrown, 1230-1234
Töregene Khâtûn	regent, 1241-1246
Güyük Khân Ting Tsung	1246-1248
Oghul Ghaymish	regent, 1248-1251
Möngke Khân Hsien Tsung	1251-1259
Southern Sung invaded, 1257-1259
Qubilai Khân Shih Tsu	1260-1294
	1280
Southern Sung conquered, 1267-1279
Temür Öljeytü Khân Ch'eng Tsung	1294-1307
	1295
Qayshan Gülük Hai-Shan Wu Tsung	1307-1311
	1308
Ayurparibhadra Ayurbarwada Jên Tsung	1311-1320
	1312
Suddhipala Gege'en Shidebala Ying Tsung	1320-1323
	1321
Yesün-Temür Tai-ting Ti	1323-1328
	1324
Arigaba Aragibag T'ien-shun Ti	1328
Jijaghatu Toq-Temür Wen Tsung	1328-1329 1329-1332
	1330
Qoshila Qutuqtu Ming Tsung	1329
	1329
Rinchenpal Irinchibal Ning Tsung	1332-1333
Toghan-Temür Uqaghatu Qaghan Hui Tsung, Shun Ti	1333-1370
	1333
Mongols expelled from China, 1368
Northern Yüan, , Dynasty, Mongolia after the Yüan, 1368-1628
Ayushiridara Biliktü Qaghan Chao Tsung	1370-1379
Togus-Temür Usaqal Qaghan	1379-1389
Engke Soriktu	1389-1393
Elbek	1393-1400
Gun Timur	1400-1403
Oljei Timur	1403-1411
Delbeg	1411-1415
Eseku	1415-1425
Adai Qa'an	1425-1438
Esen Toghan Tayisi	1438-1440
Tayisung Qa'an	1440-1452
Chinese Emperor captured at T'u-mu, 1449
Esen Tayisi	1452-1455
Molon Khan Togus	1452-1454
Maqa Kurkis	1454-1463?
Mandughuli	1463?-1467
Bayan Mongke	1467-1470
civil war, 1470-c.1485
Dayan Khan	1479-1543
Altan Khan	1543-1583
Devastating raids into China, 1550; converted to Buddhism by the Dalai Lama, 1578
rebellion, Mongolia breaks up
Kudeng Darayisun	1547-1557
Tumen Jasaghtu	1557-1592
Sechen Khan	1592-1604
Ligdan Khan	1604-1634
Tumed
Senge Dugureng	1583-1587
Gartu	1587-?
Ombo Khan	?-1628
Manchurian conquest, 1628
Khalka
Layiqur	1580?-1637
Subadi Jasaghtu Khan	1637-1650
conquest of Tibet, 1642
Norbu Bishireltu Khan	1650-1657
Wangshugh	1657-1662
?	1662-1670
Chenggun	1670-1686
Shar-a	1686-1688
Manchurian occupation, 1688-1691
Tshedbanskyabs	1691-1732
Manchurian conquest, 1732
Complete Manchurian Conquest, c.1696 (1628-1732)

Genghis Khan (Chingiz or Chinggis, Khân or Khagan) believed that he had been given the dominion of the whole world. Although the Mongols, as far as we know, didn't have a tradition of believing such a thing, Genghis launched a campaign that came closer than any other such effort in history to realizing its goal. What Genghis accomplished himself was mostly to absorb kingdoms in Central Asia that most people would not have heard of anyway, but his sons and grandsons accomplished the conquests of China, Russia, Korea, Iran, and Iraq -- just to mention the most famous places. The abolition of the Islâmic Caliphate in Baghdad affected the whole subsequent history of Islâm. Devastating defeats were also inflicted on Poland, Hungary, and Turkey, but growing feuds between increasingly more estranged cousins began to divert energies from more distant permanent conquests. Sometimes, as in the invasions of Japan, extraordinary circumstances, in that case the "Divine Wind" (kami kaze) typhoons, foiled Mongol conquest. But the ultimate enemy of the Mongols was the Mongols themselves. Whereas the average length of a generation of European royalty from Charlemagne to Queen Elizabeth (about 40 generations) was nearly 30 years, the Mongol generations turned over in only about 20 years. The Chingizids tended to drink themselves to death; and once no longer centered on the steppe, they lost their military edge. Only the Golden Horde ("horde" from orda, "army") retained a steppe base and steppe culture, consequently lasting more than three centuries, rather than less than 90 years as with both the Ilkhâns in the Middle East or the Yüan Dynasty in China.

I had some problems with reconciling the Mongolian dates and names [The Mongols, David Morgan, Basil Blackwell, 1986, and The New Islamic Dynasties, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Edinburgh University Press, 1996, which do not give Chinese names] with the Chinese list of Yüan emperors [Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Harvard University Press, 1972, p. 1175, which does not give the Mongolian names]. This is now cleared up by Ann Paludan's Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors [Thames & Hudson, London, 1998, pp. 148-157]. Two Emperors did not reign long enough to be acknowledged by Chinese historians. Also, Chinese sources list Ming Tsung before Wen Tsung (or Wen Ti, in Mathews') because the second reign of the latter is counted. After Togus-Temür, I have only found a list of rulers for Mongolia in Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies -- though Gordon actually doesn't list Togus-Temür, but only "Biliktu," with slightly different dates. Now I discover that "Biliktu" refers to the brother and predecessor of Togus-Temür, Ayushiridara, whose name I had not seen at all peviously but I now see attested in the Nihon Kodaishi Daijiten, or Dictionary of Ancient Japanese History, on CD-ROM [2006], which provides the genealogy, and at the Chinaknowledge website of Ulrich Theobald -- the word "Qaghan," proper Mongolian for "Khân," is used in titles given by Theobald. Gordon's "Usaqal" then turns out to be Togus-Temür himself.

Altan Khan looks like the last vigorous and effective Mongolian ruler, striking blows against China that deeply discomfited the Ming government. Yet rebellions began early in Altan Khan's reign that he was never able to put down; and his direct successors rulled a state (Tumed) that simply shared in the breakup of the country. Mongolia would no longer be a threat to China, but Manchuria would soon conquer China (1644-1683) and Mongolia (1628-1732) as well. The most effective of the fragmented kingdoms seems to be that of Khalka. Since Mongol authority was asserted over Tibet in 1642, I assume that the Khans of Khalka were responsible. This gave the Manchus a pretext for claiming authority over Tibet after their conquest of Mongolia.

As noted above, classical Mongolian was written in an alphabet ultimately derived from the Syriac alphabet brought by Nestorian missionaries, as transmitted by way of Uighur and adopted under Genghis Khân. This was actually a poor way to write Mongolian, since such alphabets do not represent vowels. As it happens, Qubilai Khân requested that the Tibetan 'Phags-pa, a nephew of the Mongol Regent of Tibet, develop an alphabetic writing system for Mongolian. The system he developed was made official and compulsory in 1269. Despite the inadequacies of the Uighur alphabet, the system of 'Phags-pa did not catch on. Official documents using it survive, but the older script survived and returned to dominance until the Cyrillic alphabet was adopted in Communist Mongolia. With other post-Soviet states turning to traditional alphabets or the Latin alphabet, it would be a nice touch for Mongolia to revive the 'Phags-pa system.

The Chaghatayid or Jagataiïd Khâns of Mughulistân
Chaghatay/Jagatai	1227-1244
Qara Hülegü	1244-1246 1251-1252
Yesü Möngke	1246-1251
Orqina Khâtûn	1252-1260
Alughu	1260-1266
Mubârak Shâh	1266
Baraq Ghiyâth adDîn	c.1266-1271
Negübey	1271-1272
Buqa/Toqa Temür	1272-1282
Du'a, Duwa, Tuva	c.1282-1306
conquers domain of Qaidu, 1306
Könchek	1306-1308
Taliqu	1308-1309
Kebek	1309, c.1320-1326
Esen Buqa	1309-1320
Eljigedey	1326
Du'a Temür	1326
Tarmashîrîn 'Alâ' adDîn	1326-1334
Buzan	1334
Changshi	1334-1338
Yesün Temür	c.1338-1342
Muḥammad	c.1342-1343
Qazan	1343-1346
Danishmendji	1346-1358
Buyan Quli	1358
Shâh Temür	1359
Tughluq Temür	1359-1363

The Republic even issued stamps that came to the attention of the great physicist, and youthful stamp collector, Richard Feynman. The Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Russian Republic in the Soviet Union, claimed to contain the geographical center of the Continent of Asia, with a monument to mark the spot. It was also closed to foreigners. Nevertheless, Feynman spent the last few years of his life trying to arrange a trip there. Unfortunately, he died very shortly before permission for his visit arrived (1988).

As with some other derivatives of Mongol states, we discover that the modern Tuvan language (Tuvinian) is actually more closely related to Turkish than to Mongolian.

Tuva has been in the news recently, because of Vladimir Putin's invasion of the Ukraine. Tuva, with its Mongolian past, boasts its own military tradition; and its citizens reportedly joined the Soviet Army even before the country was annexed to the Soviet Union. Because of this, volunteers from Tuva are prominent in the current Russian Army; and support for Putin's war seems to be substantial.

The current Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, is reportedly from "the region." And although this may not mean Tuva specifically, he is solicitous of Tuvan participation in the Army. Shoigu financed a statue of the Buddha that he said he hoped would "protect Tuva" and contribute to the development of Buddhism -- which seems to mean that the dominant religion in Tuva is Buddhism, rather than, as we might wonder, ʾIslâm.

The "55th Motorized Rifle Brigade," a kind of mountain division, with mostly Tuvan prersonnel, has been based in Kyzyl since 2016. This seems to have been the doing of Shoigu, who sees its presence contributing to the local economy.

Tuvans, consequently, have been killed in the Ukraine. The graves for thirteen such casualties can be counted in Kyzyl's main cemetery, with an open grave ready for more. With Putin's announcement of a "partial," but actually general, mobilization of Russian men, rewards have been offered for some recruits. One story is that a gift will be made of a "ram" to Tuvan families who volunteer a member for the army. This may tell us a lot about the economic level of people in Tuva. Most of us would not know what to do if we received a male sheep from the government.

The end of the Chaghatayids is as obscure as these other issues. Mughulistân is displaced from Transoxania by the Timurids, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs. In Sinkiang (Xīnjiāng), domains of the Turkic Uighurs took over until Manchu conquest in 1754-59.

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The Khâns of the Golden Horde
The Khâns of the Blue Horde
Batu	1227-1256
Russia conquered, 1236-1239; Europe invaded, 1239-1242; Poles & Teutonic Knights defeated at Liegnitz, Hungarians crushed at the River Sajó, April 1241; Hungary occupied, 1241-1242
Sartaq	1256-1257
Ulaghchi	1257
Berke	1257-1267
Möngke Temür	1267-1280
Töde Möngke	1280-1287
Invades Hungary, defeated, 1285-1286; invades Poland, defeated, 1287
Töle Buqa	1287-1291
Toqta	1291-1313
Muḥammad Özbeg	1313-1341
Tînî Beg	1341-1342
Jânî Beg	1342-1357
Berdi Beg	1357-1359
Period of anarchy, 1357-1380; union with White Horde, 1378
The Khâns of the Golden Horde
Toqtamısh	1377-1395, d. 1406
1378/1380, union of White Horde & Blue Horde into the Golden Horde; sacks Novgorod & Moscow, 1382; expelled from Saray by Tamerlane, 1395
Edigü	Vizir, 1395-1419
Temür Qutlugh	1395-1401
Shâdî Beg	1401-1407
Pûlâd Khân	1407-1410
Temür	1410-1412
Jalâl adDîn	1412
Karîm Berdi	1412-1414
Kebek	1414-1417
Yeremferden ?	1417-1419
Ulugh Muḥammad	1419-1420, 1427-1433
	Khân of Kazan, 1437-1445
Dawlat Berdi	1420-1422
Baraq	1422-1427
	Kazakhs, 1422-1428
Sayyid Aḥmad I	c.1433-1435
Küchük Muḥammad	c.1435-1465
Aḥmad	c.1465-1481
1480, Ivan III refuses tribute; independence of Russia
Shaykh Aḥmad	1481-1498, 1499-1502
Murtaḍâ	1481-1499
Defeated and annexed by the Khâns of the Crimea, 1502

The Khâns of the White Horde
Orda	1226-1280
Köchü	1280-1302
Buyan	1302-1309
Sâsibuqa ?	1309-1315
Ilbasan	c.1315-1320
Mubârak Khwâja	1320-1344
Chimtay	1344-1374
Urus	1374-1376
	Blue Horde, 1364-1375
Toqtaqiya	1376-1377
Temür Malik	1377
Toqtamısh	1377-1395
	1378-1395
1378, union of White Horde & Blue Horde into the Golden Horde

Josef Stalin said that his best generals were "January and February." Indeed, the great invasions of Russia by Napoleon and Hitler came to grief in great measure because of the harsh Russian winter. Napoleon lost much of his Grand Army in 1812 in a retreat from Moscow in the cold and the snow. Hitler was aware of Napoleon's failure, but he expected to conquer Russia before winter set in. However, Hitler got delayed by a campaign against Yugoslavia and then launched forces, not only towards Moscow, but against Leningrad and the Ukraine also. Thus, as the snow began to fall in 1941, the Germans had barely come within sight of Moscow. They weren't even prepared for winter. The men did not have winter clothing and the summer oil in the tanks actually froze.

In light of these events, it is chilling (as it were) to remember that the Mongols conquered Russia during the winter. The Mongols liked winter. Frozen rivers and marshes meant that they could ride right over barriers that in the spring or summer would have slowed them down. Their tough Central Asian ponies knew how to dig down through the snow to eat the frozen grass beneath. This all made for a terror unknown to the Russians before or since. What the Russians then called their Mongol conquers was the "Tartars" -- invaders come from Tartarus, the deepest part of Hell. However, this was a deliberate modification of the Persian word tâtâr, which just meant a kind of Turk, though the Mongols, of course, were not Turks. But then, as the Mongols appeared out of nowhere from the Steppe, arriving from origins far beyond the knowledge of Russians or Persians, no one really knew who they were or where they were from. To Europeans, they seemed like the Scourge of God.

Eventually, the Golden Horde weakened and broke up into the Khânates of Astrakhan, Kazan, and Crimea. Remnants of the Golden Horde passed in 1502 to the Crimea, which, as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire (as of 1475), held out the longest against Russian power. Thus, independent Hordes survived in Russia for three centuries, and the Crimea for more than two more. This original durability, far beyond the other Mongol Khânates, may be due to the fact that only the Golden Horde remained centered on the steppe. For so long as nomadic military tactics held an advantage, the Golden Horde benefited from it. The day of the nomad had to pass before the Russians gained the upper hand. Crimea survived thanks to the very non-nomadic power of the Ottomans. Russian expansion east would then not be through the steppe but in the Taiga, the dense forestland.

The map at right shows the situation in 1483. Moscow has just ceased paying tribute to the Golden Horde (1480). The successor Khanates to the Horde are already in place. As noted, the Crimea is already a vassal of the Ottomans. Although it would be the Crimean Khâns who finally overthrew the Horde, Astrakhan would acquire the lion's share of the remaining lands of the Horde. Timurids and the White Sheep (Aq Qoyunlu) Turks dominate the Middle East and Central Asia.

Note that Shiban, as a son of Jochi, originally had his own division of the Horde (an ulus, "patrimony"), as seen in the map above. When Toqtamısh moved west to unify the Golden Horde, the Shibanids expanded south and grew into the Khânate of the Özbegs or Uzbeks, perhaps named after the Khân of the Blue Horde, Muḥammad Özbeg (1313-1341). Thus, on the map of 1483, the Uzbeks have become conspicuous. Their line is given below, as their realm (and the Kazakhs) succeeded to most of Central Asia until the coming of the Russians. There was also another son of Jochi, Toqa Temür, who had descendants from who some later Khâns may have descended. This may have included the founder of the Golden Horde proper, Toqtamısh, whose parentage is uncertain.

For a long time I displayed nothing here on the descent of the White Horde or the Golden Horde. Now, however, this has been provided by a correspondent in the Netherlands, who organized information from a French genealogy site, with some reference to RootsWeb [both of which gone from the Web], where there was a discussion of the descent of Toqtamısh. I have revised some of this information, especially for the Golden Horde proper, on the basis of The New Islamic Dynasties, by Clifford Edmund Bosworth [Edinburgh University Press, 1996, p.252-254]. The Blue Horde and White Horde are shown together above at right, ending with Toqtamısh who unites them. Below are the Khâns of the Golden Horde. Some small differences of dates and names remain between the the genealogical diagrams and the tables of rulers above. I allow these to remain to indicate the certainties with the history -- one uncertainty is exactly when the Blue Horde was absorbed by Toqtamısh, variously given as 1378 and 1380. It is noteworthy that, according to Bosworth, the founders of the Khânates of Kazan and Astrakhan were rival cousins in the two Golden Horde lines descended from the Khâns of the White Horde. The Golden Horde itself, however, was ended by the unrelated Giray Khâns of the Crimea.

The Khâns of the Crimea
Ḥâjjî Giray I	1449-1456 1456-1466
Ḥaydar Giray	1456
Nûr Dawlat Giray	1466-1467, 1474-1475 1476-1478
Mengli Giray	1467-1474, 1475-1476 1478-1514
Vassals of the Ottoman Empire, 1475; conquest of Golden Horde, 1502
Muḥammad Giray I	1514-1523
Ghâzî Giray I	1523-1524
Sa'âdat Giray I	1524-1532
Islâm Giray I	1532
Ṣâḥîb Giray I	1532-1551
Dawlat Giray I	1551-1577
Muḥammad Giray II	1577-1584
Islâm Giray II	1584-1588
Ghâzî Giray II	1588-1596, 1596-1608
Fatḥ Giray I	1596
Toqtamısh Giray	1608
Salâmat Giray I	1608-1610
Muḥammad Giray III	1610, 1623-1624, 1624-1627
Jânî Beg Giray	1610-1623, 1624 1627-1635
'Inâyat Giray	1635-1637
Bahâdur Giray I	1637-1641
Muḥammad Giray IV	1641-1644, 1654-1666
Islâm Giray III	1644-1654
'Âdil Giray	1666-1671
Salîm Giray I	1671-1678, 1684-1691, 1692-1699, 1702-1704
Murâd Giray	1678-1683
Ḥâjjî Giray II	1683-1684
Sa'âdat Giray II	1691
Ṣafâ' Giray	1691-1692
Dawlat Giray II	1699-1702, 1708-1713
Ghâzî Giray III	1704-1707
Qaplan Giray I	1707-1708, 1713-1716, 1730-1736
Dawlat Giray III	1716-1717
Sa'âdat Giray III	1717-1724
Mengli Giray II	1724-1730, 1737-1740
Fatḥ Giray II	1736-1737
Salâmat Giray II	1740-1743
Salîm Giray II	1743-1748
Arslan Giray	1748-1756, 1767
Ḥalîm Giray	1756-1758
Qırım Giray	1758-1764, 1768-1769
Salîm Giray III	1764-1767, 1770-1771
Maqṣûd Giray	1767-1768, 1771-1772
Dawlat Giray IV	1769, 1775-1777
Qaplan Giray II	1769-1770
Ṣâḥîb Giray II	1772-1775
Shâhîn Giray	1777-1782, Russian vassal, 1783-1787
Bahâdur II Giray	1782-1783
1783, Russian annexation by Catharine II the Great

The Crimea would endure longer, becoming indeed the last of any of the Mongol Khânates. Its durability, however, was only due to the protection of the Ottomans. Before Russia could take the Crimea, it would have to defeat the Turks. That would not come until the 18th Century. Catherine the Great, not Ivan the Terrible, would finish off the last of the Mongols.

The connection of the Crimea to Turkey led to a significant moment in linguistic history. The Imperial Ambassador to Constantinople, Bubecq (1560-1562), took down sixty words in an unusual language spoken by informants from the Crimea. The language turned out to be Gothic. Goths had been in the Crimea since the 3rd Century AD. It is fortunate that Bubecq was curious about the language, because there is otherwise no surviving evidence of it, and there are no obvious Crimean Goths left now.

But maybe there are, obvious or not. For there comes to be another part of the story. Not Goths, but Englishmen end up part of the story of the Crimea. In 1066, England was invaded twice, first by Harald Hardråde, King of Norway, and next by William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy. Where Harald was defeated and killed at Stamford Bridge by King Harold II of England, days later, after Harold's exhausting march nearly the length of England, Duke William killed and defeated him at Hastings, thus becoming "William the Conqueror."

The Norman Conquest of England spelled the dispossession of the native Saxon nobility, including many Danes who had settled in England, who then began to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Accounts are that hundreds of ships and thousands of refugees arrived at Constantinople, what they would call "Micklegarth," i.e. the "Great City," from Old Norse.

Many of them consequently were drawn to the famous, elite Varangian Guard, τάγμα τῶν Βαράγγων, of the Emperor of the Romans. Having lost England to Normans/Vikings, Englishmen served the Empire that, at the other end of Europe, had withstood them. They would continue to do so for more than three centuries -- the first reference to Englishmen in the service of Romania was in 1080, the last in 1404 -- 324 years.

The English, however had asked the Emperor Alexius Comnenus for lands of their own. This was granted, and many of them settled at a location on the Black Sea that they then called Nova Anglia -- a "New England" very far from Plymouth Rock. There remains some confusion about where this was. Many think that this was near the mouth of the Danube (Dobruja). Other sources say it was near Nicaea or Nicomedia -- which is impossible, since Nicaea and the environs were occupied by the Seljuk Turks at the time. Our best clue comes from the sailing directions given in one account, which were that "This land lies six days' and six nights' sail across the sea to the east and northeast of Micklegarth." English names were given to cities founded there, such as "London" and "York."

We might consider where you would arrive after six days and six nights of sailing. But more direct evidence is recounted by Bettany Hughes, who tells us that Franciscan missionaries in the 13th Century found a place called the terra Saxorum in the Crimea -- just where we might get to with the sailing directions. Subsequent reports are from "Catalan navigators," over the following centuries, who describe settlements called "Susaco [Saxon or Sussex] and Londina," just as we hear about the original Nova Anglia.

But that isn't the end of it. In a Wikipedia article on Crimean Gothic, we hear that in 1780, Stanisław Bohusz Siestrzeńcewicz, the Archbishop of Mogilev in White Russia, visited the southern coast of the Crimea and Sevastopol. According to his account, he met some Tartars (Tatars) who spoke a language similar to Plattdeutsch, i.e. Low German. Their testimony was that although they were then Muslims, they had originally been Christian.

The Khâns of Astrakhan
Qâsim	1466-1490
'Abd alKarîm	1490-1504
Qasay	1504-1532
Aq Köbek	1532-1534 1541-1544
'Abd alRaḥmân	1534-1538
Shaykh Ḥaydar	1538-1541
Yaghmurchi	1544-1554
1554, Russian conquest by Ivan IV
Darwîsh 'Alî	Russian vassal, 1554-1557

Their language has generally been taken to be, as it was thought by the Archbishop, the Gothic that was attested by Busbecq two centuries earlier; but of course, if Gothic had survived that long, how much more likely is it that the language was that of the Saxons of Nova Anglia? Low German is most closely releated to Old Frisian and Old English. The English colonists in the Crimea were going to be those of the original Saxon refugees, speaking Old English, rather than the later Norman nobility, who had also joined the Varangian Guard, and who would have been speaking French or something more like Middle English -- and who would have returned to England, if they survived their service, rather than immigrating to the Crimea. Without the sort of word list provided by Busbecq, imperfect as it was itself, we may never know.

We should mark well the testimony that the "Tartars" of the Archbishops testimony, although still speaking their own langauge, and remembering their former Christianity, nevertheless had become Muslims. We might expect that, subsequently, they could well have merged wtih the general population of Crimean Tartars, especially during the long years of Ottoman suzerainty. And could not the same thing have happened with the Crimean Goths?

There are surviving Crimean Tartars. What are the chances that their population includes descendants of Goths and Englishmen? I see no reason why not. They were generally unmolested by the Russians until World War II.

At that time, Stalin became suspicious that the Tartars had collaborated with the Germans in the War -- they probably had -- so he deported all of them to Siberia. They are back now, but still rather out of place in the area. They are thus as much living fossils of history as the 16th century Gothic speakers, or the 13th century English speakers. And we can imagine that they are not at all comfortable with the annexation of the Crimea by Vladimir Putin in 2014. The Russians, who have probably learned nothing and forgotten nothing, are back.

Now that the Russians have done a full scale invasion of the Ukraine in 2022, and the Russians are not doing well, we find Crimean Tatars fighting wtih the Ukrainians, and showing their flag, shown at left here, over captured or destroyed Russian tanks. Since the Ukrainians are using infiltration and partisan tactics, one might wonder how many Tatars in the Crimea itself are involved in operations against the Russians. The Russians may be wondering also, with the precedent of Stalin beckoning.

Meanwhile, Great Britain is one of the powers that guaranteed the borders and sovereignty of the Ukraine in 1994. Since Russia violated that agreement by invading the Ukraine in 2014 and now again in 2022, Britain is involved in the current war. Might Britain have another interest? Might not Britain claim protection of the Crimean Saxons, who are now merged in the Crimean Tartars? This possibility might not occur to anyone, but I recommend it. The Russians are supposedly protecting ethnic Russians in the Ukraine. Britain can do no less with descendants of her own people. DNA testing could establish this reality.

These lists are derived entirely from The New Islamic Dynasties, by Clifford Edmund Bosworth [Edinburgh University Press, 1996, pp.252-260].

The Il Khâns
Hülegü/Hülägü	1256-1265
Middle East invaded, conquered, 1255-1260; Abbasid Caliph killed, 1258; defeat by Mamlûks, 'Ain Jalut, 1260
Abaqa	1265-1282
Aḥmad Tegüder	1282-1284
Arghûn	1284-1291
Gaykhatu	1291-1295
Baydu	1295
Maḥmûd Ghâzân	1295-1304
Muḥammad Khudâbanda Öljeytü	1304-1316
Abû Sa'îd 'Alâ' adDunyâ wa dDîn	1316-1335
Arpa Ke'ün	1335-1336
Mûsâ	1336-1337
Muḥammad	1337-1338
1338-1353, period of several rival successor states, like the Jalâyirids, followed by the Timurids

The amount of harm that the Mongol conquest did to the Middle East cannot be calculated. It was bad enough for Islâm that the Caliphate in Baghdad was destroyed, but at least a form of the Caliphate was soon continued in Cairo. The physical damage and neglect to Iraq, however, may have ruined foundations of civilization and prosperity that went back to the Sumerians. The capital of the Îlkhâns became Tabrîz. Iraq would never again be a center of great power, influence, or culture. Until the Fall of Constantinople, Cairo became the center of Islâm.

It may be that a serious effort to conquer Egypt was never launched by the Îlkhâns because the military resources of Mongolia, which had in part been directed at Europe under the Great Khân Ögedei and at the Middle East under Möngke (Hülegü's brother), were entirely drawn off by Qubilai (Hülegü's other brother) for the conquest of China. Certainly, the kind of sustained and punishing campaign that the Song had to face in China was never directed against the Mamlûks.

The Jalâyirids
Shaykh Ḥasan-i Buzurg Tâj ad-Dîn	1340-1356
Shaykh Uways	1356-1374
Ḥusayn I Jalâl ad-Dîn	1374-1382
Sulṭân Aḥmad Ghiyâth ad-Dîn	1382-1410
Shâh Walad	1410-1411
Maḥmûd	1411, 1421-1425
Uways II	1411-1421
Muḥammad	1421
Ḥusayn II	1425-1532
Conquest by Qara Qoyunlu, 1432

When the great traveller Ibn Battuta (d.1368/69) visited the Ilkhânate in 1326-1327, its power seemed well founded and unassailable. When he returned from China, between 1346 and 1349, the Khânate had already collapsed! This abrupt and astonishing revolution left a number of successor states.

The Qara Qoyunlu, or Black Sheep Turks
Bayram Khôja	Vassal of Jalayirids, 1351-1380
Qara Muḥammad	1380-1389
Independent, 1382
Qara Yûsuf	c.1390-1400, 1406-1420
Occupation by Tîmûr, 1400-1406
Iskandar	1420-1438
Jahân Shâh	1439-1467
Timurid Vassal until 1449
Ḥasan 'Alî	1467-1469
Abû Yûsuf	1469
Conquest by Aq Qoyunlu, 1469

The Jalâyirid Sulṭâns held Tabrîz, western Irân and lower Mesopotamia. The Black Sheep (Qara Qoyunlu) Turks lay just to the west, in Armenia and upper Mesopotamia. In between their domain and Trebizond were the White Sheep (Aq Qoyunlu) Turks. All were swept over, but not eliminated, by Tamerlane. As the Timurid hegemony receded, the Black Sheep Turks overthrew the Jalâyirids. It wasn't much longer, however, before the White Sheep Turks became the ultimate winner, assembling a state that stretched even into eastern Irân, the most successful of the Ilkhân successors. When they fell, it would be to an altogether new force, the Safavids, who, although Turks themselves, ushered in an Irânian, and a Shi'ite, revival.

The Aq Qoyunlu, or White Sheep Turks
Qutlugh Fakhr ad-Dîn	c.1360-1389
Aḥmad	1389-1403
Qara Yoluq 'Uthmân Fakhr ad-Dîn	1403-1435
'Alî Jalâl ad-Dîn	1435-1438
Ḥamza Nûr ad-Dîn	1438-1444
Jahângîr Mu'izz ad-Dîn	1444-1457
Uzun Ḥasan	1457-1478
Sulṭân Khalîl	1478
Ya'qûb	1478-1490
Baysonqur	1490-1493
Rustam	1493-1497
Aḥmad Gövde	1497
Alwand	Diyâr Bakr & Azerbaijan, 1497-1502, d.1504
Muḥammad	Iraq & Persia, 1497-1500
Sulṭân Murâd	Persia, 1500-1508, d.1514
Zayn al-'Âbidîn	Diyâr Bakr, 1504-1508
Ṣafawid conquest, 1508

Tamerlane was only partly Mongol and never claimed to be one. But he tended to use Mongol puppet figureheads and did create the last serious nomadic empire. A devoted Moslem, his conquests and massacres were nevertheless almost entirely directed against fellow Moslems. Poor little Georgia had to bear most of his wrath against Christians.

The Timurids
Tîmûr-i Lang Tamerlane	1370-1405
Defeats, captures & imprisons Bâyezîd, battle of Ankara, 1402
Pîr Muḥammad	1405-1407 in Kandahar
Khalîl Sulṭân	1405-1409 in Samarkand, d.1411
Shâh Rukh	1505-1409 in Khorasân, 1409-1447 in Transoxania East & West Iran
Ulugh Beg	1447-1449 in Transoxania & Khurasan
deposed and assassinated, 1449
Bâbur I	1449-1457 in Khorasân
'Abd alLaṭîf	1449-1450 in Transoxania
'Abdallâh	1450-1451
Abû Sa'îd	1451-1469 in Transoxania & Iran
Maḥmûd	1457-1459 in Khorasân
Abû Sa'îd	1459-1469 in Khorasân
Ḥusayn Bâyqarâ	1469-1506 in Khorasân
Sulṭân Aḥmad	1469-1494 in Transoxania
Maḥmûd	1494-1495 in Transoxania
Baysonqur	1495-1497 in Transoxania
Mas'ûd
Bâbur II, the Great Moghul	1498-1500, 1500-1501 in Transoxania, d.1530
'Alî	1498-1500 in Transoxania
Özbeg conquest of Transoxania & Farghâna, 1501
Badî' al-Zamân	1506-1507 in Khorasân
Özbeg/Uzbek conquest of Khorasân, 1507

Despite what must seem the superfluous slaughter and pointless terror of Tamerlane's campaigns, his was the only historic empire actually founded on the region of Transoxania and cities like Samarkand and Bukhara. This brought a period of higher culture and architecture to the area. The style of architecture, indeed, passed to the Moghuls. The splendor of the Taj Mahâl thus owes more than a little to the ferocious Tamerlane.

Noteworthy in the succession is Ulugh Beg, whose interests were more in astronomy and mathematics and than conquest or even in government. He built a gigantic naked-eye observatory in Samarkand and recorded star positions and the progress of the solar year so carefully that his results were respectfully and gratefully received in Europe. These concerns, however, distracted him from attention to more mundane matters. His short reign was disputed from the start, and he was deposed and then murdered by one of his own rebelious sons. Only later did it dawn on his successors that all this disloyalty to an exemplar of science and learning was disgraceful.

The region of Farghâna included a small Timurid principality. The Özbeg conquest of the region (1501) sent the heir, Bâbur, heading for Kabul (1514) and India (1526), where he founded the Moghul Empire.

Shibânid Özbegs/Uzbeks
Abu'l-Khayr	1438-1468
killed by Kazakhs, disintegration, 1468-1500
Muḥammad Shıbâni Shah Beg Özbeg	1500-1512
Köchkunju Muḥammad	1512-1531
Abû Sa'îd Muz.affar ad-Dîn	1531-1534
'Ubaydallâh Abû'l-Ghâzî	1534-1539
'Abdallâh I	1539-1540
'Abd al-Laṭîf	1540-1552
Nawrûz Aḥmad, Baraq	1552-1556
Pîr Muḥammad I	1556-1561
Iskandar	1561-1583
'Abdallâh II	1583-1598
'Abd al-Mu'min	1598
Pîr Muḥammad II	1598-1599
succession of Toqay Temürids

If the Timurids had been more Turkish than Mongol, they were succeeded by rulers who were at least of Mongol patrimony, the Shibânid Khâns of the Özbegs or Uzbeks -- Turkish tribes, but perhaps named after the Khân of the Blue Horde, Muḥammad Özbeg (1313-1341).

Moving first south into the lands of the old White Horde, they then displaced the Timurids in Transoxania and northern Afghanistan, in part under the pressure of the Kazakhs. Although often fragemented, the Khânate and its successors, with the Kazakhs, dominate Central Asia until the arrival of the Russian Empire. Uzbekistan, of course, is one of the successor Republics to the Soviet Union.

The Khâns of the Kazakhs are curiously missing from Bosworth's The New Islamic Dynasties. There seems to be much obscurity in their history, and the details here are from the German Wikipedia website.

Kazakhs
Koirijaq Oglun	c.1394-1422
Borrak/Boraq	1422-1428
	Golden Horde, 1422-1427
killed by Abu'l-Khayr of the Uzbeks
Girai/Karai	c.1428-1440
Jani Beg	1440-1480
independent of Uzbeks, 1456
Muryndyk	1480/88-1509/11
Qasim/Kasim	1509/11-1518
Mimash	1518-1523
Tahir	1523-1530/33
Boydas	East, 1526/38
Togim	South, 1526/38
Uziaq Ahmad	North, 1526/35
Haqq Nazar/Aq Nazak	unites horde, 1538-1575/80
Shigai	1575/80-1582
Tawakkul/Tawekel	1575/86-1598; 1586, all Kazakhs
Yesim	1598-1628
Jahangir Khan	1628-1652
Ablaigirim	1628-36; d.c.1650
vacant, 1652-1680
Tawke	1680-1715/18
Kaip	1715-1718
Bulat	1698-1731
Abu-i-Hayr	1717/28-1748

While the Kazakhs seem to originate as vassals of the Özbegs, their Khâns are initially derived from the Golden Horde. When the Özbeg Abu-l-Khayr kills the Golden Khân Boraq, his sons, after an exile in Mughulistân (Sinkiang), return to avenge themselves. This shatters the Özbegs (1468), from which the Kazakhs emerge as an independent Khânate.

The dating is unclear, but the Özbegs are pushed south to the Oxus (Amu Dar'ya) valley and the mountains to the south-east, and the Kazakhs come to dominate the steppe, the valley of the Jaxartes (Syr Dar'ya), and the mountains to the south-east of there. This is reflected in the modern map of the region, with an independent Kazakhstan north of Uzbekistan. The modern caital, Alma Ata, is far to the south-east, near the border of Kirghizia.

One complication of Kazakh history seems to be that the Horde periodically, and then permanently, splits into Lesser (west), Middle (north, east), and Elder (south) Hordes -- and evidently the Kirgiz also. These were all, of course, Turkish peoples, with initially the Mongol derived rulers.

Today the Turks of the region are distinguished, with the modern states, into Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kirgiz (in Kirghizia), and Turkmen (in Turkmenistan, south of the Oxus, an area that is mostly desert, though with the historic city of Merv, now Mary). The whole area, of course, has been characterized with the geographical expression Turkistan. In the 18th century, the Lesser and Middle Horde came under Russian influence. They were conquered by 1824. The Elder Horde and Kirgiz were conquered in 1854.

We cannot talk about Kazakhstan without mentioning the satyrical movie Borat! [2006], starring Sacha Baron Cohen as a fictional Kazakh journalist visiting the United States. As with much of Cohen's comedy, it is sometimes difficult to understand what he is doing. Thus, in many of his unscripted interviews with people, Cohen attempts to solicite anti-Semitic sentiments. When he doesn't get them, that part of the interview may end up on the cutting-room floor.

The background for that are pieces he shows about anti-Semitic festivals back in Kazakhstan. However, it is not clear how much anti-Semitism there is in Kazakhstan, where there seem to be few Jews, while we never learn that Kazakhstan is actually an overwhelmingly Muslim country. Cohen thus recoils from pinning anti-Semitism on a Muslim country, despite the fact that anti-Semitism is endemic, often through government propaganda, in many Muslim countries. The scenes where Borat is actually supposed to be home in Kazakhstan were actually shot in România.

The government of Kazakhstan was at first deeply offended by Borat!, as we might imagine; but then it was discovered that tourists wanted to visit the country just because of the movie. It would be a dilemma for any Third World country. So now the government uses "Borat" to promote tourism.

Toqay Temürids, Jânids
Jânî Muḥammad	1599-1603
Bâqî Muḥammad	1603-1605
Walî Muḥammad	1605-1611
Imâm Qulî	1611-1641
Nadhr Muḥammad	1641-1645
	Balkh only, 1645-1651
'Abd al-'Azîz	1645-1681
Ṣubḥân Qulî	1681-1702
'Ubaydallâh	1702-1711
Abu'l-Fayḍ	1711-1747
figureheads of Mangıts, 1747
'Abd al-Mu'min	1747-c.1750
'Ubaydallâh	1751-1752
Abu'l-Ghâzî	c.1758-1789

The Toqay Temürids or Jânids (from Jânî Muḥammad) were actually from the house of Astrakhan and so, again, were more Mongol than Turkish. They simply displace the Uzbek Shibânids. The domain, again, is sometimes fragmented, especially with a "lesser" Khân in Balkh (in Afghanistan). In the end, Jânids were figureheads for the Mangıts.

Mangıts of Bukhara
Muḥammad Raḥîm Atalıq	1747-1758
Dâniyâl Biy Atalıq	1758-1785
Shâh Murâd Amîr-i-Ma'ṣûm	1785-1800
Sayyid Ḥaydar Tora	1800-1826
Sayyid Ḥusayn	1826-1827
'Umar	1827
Naṣr Allâh	1827-1860
Muz.affar ad-Dîn	1860-1886
Russian conquest, 1868
'Abd al-Aḥad	1886-1910
Sayyid 'Âlim Khân	1910-1920
overthown by Bosheviks, 1920

The Mangıts were from an Uzbek tribe who became chief ministers, Atalıqs, to the Jânids. Like many other such arrangements, the power of the ministers overwhelmed and then overthrew that of their masters. The domain became the Khânate of Bukhara (Bokhara).

The arrival of the Russians reduced the power and the domain of the Khâns, but their rule, or misrule, actually continued. Nothing fundamentally changed until the Russian Revolution. A "People's Republic of Bukhara" overthrew the Khân, who went into exile in Afghanistan. Rather than tolerating local self-determination, of course, the Bolsheviks forcibly reconstituted as much of the Russian Empire as possible.

Today, however, Bukhara finds itself in an independent Uzbekistan (whose capital is Tashkent). Two other Uzbek Khântes, Khiva and Khoqand (around Tashkent), shared space with Bokhara, until similarly attached to Russia. Khoqand was abolished in 1876, while Khiva survived, like Bukhara, until 1920.

These lists (except for the Kazakh Khâns) are derived from The New Islamic Dynasties, by Clifford Edmund Bosworth [Edinburgh University Press, 1996] and the Oxford Dynasties of the World, by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1898, 2002, pp.270-276 & pp.288-292].

The last flag here will be for the state of "East Turkestan," which only exists as a government in exile. This is the Chinese province of Xīnjiāng (Sinkiang), whose predominant population are the Turkic Uighurs. This was briefly independent, 1933-1934 and 1944-1949. Since originally conquered by the Qing, the Chinese have considered it an intrinsic part of China, like Tibet, despite the absence of cultural, linguistic, or religious connection to China, and no political connection before the Qing.

Both areas are now subject to genocide and colonization by the Chinese. The international community, which condemns Israel every few minutes at the United Nations, has been curiously complacent and inactive about these crimes. This is especially striking in that the Uighurs are Muslims, who are being specifically oppressed for their religion, which the Chinese are trying to get them to abjure. Muslim countries, who again condemn Israel every few minutes at the United Nations, have generally passed on saying anything about the Chinese treatment of the Uighurs.

Similarly, there are anti-American Muslims in the United States Congress, like the ungrateful and vicious Somali refugee Ilhan Omar, who condemns the United States for "Islamophobia" -- she feels oppressed every day to be living here -- but is silent about China. Nevertheless, she gets elected and reelected by the America-hating and Jew-hating idiot voters of Minnesota. So much for "Minnesota nice."

The Chinese have not been able to conceal their use of concentration camps, which are visible from space; and their use of Uighurs for slave labor has even been exposed with leaked videos from defectors.

These are some of the worse human rights abuses on the planet at the moment. Their general toleration exposes the hypocrisy of many in international politics, from the way the lonely cause of Tibet is shunned, to the prosperous and successful American Muslims who think they are treated badly, while praising China.

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Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

4. the Oghullar of Rûm

The many successors of the Seljuks in Anatolia are

Aydın Oghulları Sarukhân Oghulları Menteshe Oghulları Germiyân Oghulları Ḥamîd Oghulları Tekke Oghulları Jândâr Oghulları Qaramân Oghulları Eretna Oghulları Dulghadır Oghulları Osmanli Oghulları

often called the , oghullar, or "sons." In modern Turkish, "son" is oğul, with a breve on the g, which means that the o is lengthened and the gu lost. Lar is the regular plural suffix. In the Turkish grammatical construction, we get the name of the domain or dynasty and then , Oghulları, "its sons." In the map above, for the year 1361, based on The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History [Colin McEvedy, 1992, p.93], we have a unique political fragmentation of both the Balkans and Anatolia. This is about the only time since the Hellenistic Age, and the last time thereafter, that Anatolia has consisted of such a small number of states, mostly Turkish but with Greeks, Armenians, and Crusaders holding on in a few places.

Every single realm on the map, except for Epirus, is covered by a separate treatment here. Thus we have Romania under the Palaeologi, Bulgaria under the Terters, Serbia, Wallachia & Moldavia, Trebizond, Hungary, the Golden Horde, Georgia, the Jalayirids, the White Sheep Turks, the Black Sheep Turks, the Mamlûks, Lesser Armenia, Cyprus, Rhodes under the Hospitallers, Achaea & the Cyclades and Naples under the Anjevians, Athens under Sicily, Crete and other places under Venice, and Chios and other places under Genoa. Epirus had recently existed under its own Despots, been attached to Romania, and then drifted out of control under local Albanian princes. It would not be strongly unified until George Castriota, or Skanderbeg, temporarily drove the Turks out between 1443 and 1463. Note that the city of Philadelphia (modern Alashehir) is an isolated possession of Romania within the Beylik of Germiyân. It held out until falling to the Ottomans in 1390.

These lists are all from Clifford Edmund Bosworth's The New Islamic Dynasties [Edinburgh University Press, 1996, pp.220-238]. McEvedy may have overlooked one small state of oghullar, and when I figure out how the map would need to be modifed, it may be added.

Aydın Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF I.ZMI.R/SMYRNA
Family of Aydın Oghlu Muḥammad Beg
Captures Ephesus, 1304
Muḥammad Beg, Mubâriz ad-Dîn Ghâzî	1308-1334
Umur I Beg, Bahâ' ad-Dîn Ghâzî	1334-1348
Captures Smyrna (I.zmir); naval defeat at Adramyttion, 1334; naval defeat by Venice & Romania, loss of harbor of Smyrna, 1344
Khiḍr	1348-c.1360
'Îsâ	c.1360-1390
Annexation by Bâyezîd I, 1390
Mûsa	1402-1403
Restoration by Tîmûr, 1402
Umur II	1402-1405
Junayd	1405-1426
Annexation by Murâd II, 1426

 
The Aydın Oghulları ("Sons of Aydin") are noteworthy because their seizure of Ephesus and Smyrna allowed for the development of a very troublesome degree of sea power, provoking two leagues of western powers to help Romania suppress it. The second league succeeded in recapturing the harbor and part of the city of Smyrna, though this only temporarily hampered the Begs. A noteworthy complication at the time was the civil war in Romania between John V Palaeologus and John VI Cantacuzenus. Cantacuzenus cultivated Turkish allies, including the Ottoman Amîr Orkhân and Umur I of Aydın.

Ṣarukhân Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF MANISA/MAGNESIA
Ṣarukhân Beg	c.1313-c.1348
Ilyâs Fakhr ad-Dîn	c.1348-1357
Isḥâq Chelebi Muz.affar ad-Dîn	1357-c.1388
Khiḍr Shâh	1388-1390, 1404-1410
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1390
Orkhan	1402-1404
restoration by Tamerlane, 1402; annexation by Meḥmed I, 1410

This was a disastrous error, since Ottoman troops were thus introduced into Europe. They stayed. The Beys of Aydın also illustrate the temporary setback suffered by the Ottomans. The defeat of Bâyezîd I by Tamerlane led to the brief reëtablishment (1402-1426) of the Aydın Oghulları.

The Ṣarukhân Oghulları ruled immediately north of Aydın, in what had been Greek Magnesia. They shared the fate of Aydın in Ottoman conquest, restoration, and conquest again. This pattern continues with most of the Oghullar below.

Menteshe Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF MILAS/MILETUS
Menteshe Beg	c.1280-c.1296
Mas'ûd	c.1396-c.1319
Orkhan Shujâ'ud-Dîn	c.1319-c.1344
Ibrâhîm	c.1344-c.1360
Musa	c.1360-1375
Muhammad, & Tâj ud-Dîn Aḥmad	c.1360-1391
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1391
Ilyâs Muz.affar ad-Dîn or Shujâ'ud-Dîn	1402-1421
restoration by Tamerlane, 1402
Layth and Aḥmad	1421-1424
annexation by Murâd II, 1424

Germiyân Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF PHRYGIA
Ya'qûb 'Alî Shîr	c.1299-c.1327
Muḥammad Chakhshadân	c.1327-c.1363
Sulaymân Shâh	c.1363-1387
Ya'qûb II Chelebi	1387-1390, 1402-1411, 1413-1428
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1390; restoration by Tamerlane, 1402; occupation by Qaramânids, 1411-1413; annexation by Murâd II, 1428

The Menteshe Oghulları, in Classical Caria and around Miletus, were immediately to the south of Aydın. Up behind all the coastal states were the Germiyân Oghulları, in the Classical Lydia and Phrygia. As with many of the Ohgullar, the Germinyân were originally a Turkish or Turkomen tribe in service to the Seljuks. Settled in the west as vassals of the Seljuks, the independent Beylik and first controlled the coast, but then was pushed back as separate states developed there.
 

Ḥamîd Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF PISIDIA
Dündâr Beg Falak ad-Dîn	c.1301-1324
Occupation by Il Khâns, 1324-1327
Khiḍr Beg	1327-1328
Isḥâq Najm ad-Dîn	1328-1344
Muṣṭafâ Muaz.affar ad-Dîn	c.1344-?
Ilyâs Ḥusâm ad-Dîn	?-c.1374
Ḥusayn Kamâl ad-Dîn	c.1374-1391
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1391

 
The Ḥamîd Oghulları began with a Seljuk vassal, Ilyâs ibn Ḥamîd. With the Seljuk collapse his two sons established adjacent Beyliks, inland in Classical

Tekke Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF PAMPHYLIA
Yûnus	1321-?
Maḥmûd	?-d.1324
Khiḍr sinan ad-Dîn	1327-c.1372
Muḥammad Mubâriz ad-Dîn	c.1372-c.1378
'Uthmân Chelebi	?-1391, 1402-1423
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1391; restoration by Tamerlane, 1402; annexation by Murâd II, 1423

Pisidia, and allong the coast in Classical Pamphylia and Lycia -- starting the Tekke Oghulları. Both states were taken by Bâyezîd, and only one was temporarily restored by Tamerlane.
 

Jândâr Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF SINOPE & PAPHLAGONIA
Yaman Jâdâr Shams ad-Dîn	1292-c.1308
Sulaymân I Shujâ'ud-Dîn	c.1308-c.1340
Ibrâhîm Ghiyâth ad-Dîn	c.1340-1345
'Âdil	1345-c.1361
Bâyazîd Kötörüm Jalâl ad-Dîn	c.1361-1384
Sulaymân II Shâh	1384-1385
Isfandiyâr Mubâriz ad-Dîn	1385-1393, 1402-1440
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1393; restoration by Tamerlane, 1402
Ibrâhîm Tâj ad-Dîn	1440-1443
Ismâ'îl Kamâl ad-Dîn	1443-1461
Qızıl Aḥmad	1461-1462
annexation by Meḥmed II, 1462

 
The domain of the Jândâr Oghulları was along the Black Sea coast, Classical Paphlagonia. They were at first vassals of the Il Khâns but became independent with their collapse.

Qaramân Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF GALATIA
Qaramân Nûr ad-Dîn or Nûra Ṣûfî	c.1256-1261
Muḥammad I Shams ad-Dîn	1261-1278
Güneri Beg	1278-1300
Maḥmud Badr ad-Dîn	1300-1307
Yakhshı	1307-c.1317
Ibrâhim I Badr ad-Dîn	c.1317-1344/49
Aḥmad Kakhr ad-Dîn	1344/49-1349
Shams ad-Dîn	1349-1352
Sylaymân	1352-1361
'Alâ'ud-Dîn	1361-1398
Conquest by Bâyezîd I, 1398
Muḥammad II	1402-1419, 1441-1423
Restoration by Tamerlane, 1402
'Alî	1419-1421, 1423-1424
Ibrâhîm II Tâj ad-Dîn	1424-1464
Isḥâq	1464-1465
Pîr Aḥmad	1464-1475
annexation by Meḥmed II, 1475

Although falling to the Ottomans, the Jândâr family nevertheless became successful serving them.

The Qaramân Oghulları were a vigorous state and stood a good chance of becoming the dominant successors of the Seljuks. They even became the heirs of the Seljuk capital of Konya (Iconium). However, they were still no match for the the Ottomans. They lost Ankara (Angora), the ancient capital of Galatia, in 1354, and fell altogether to Bâyezîd in 1398. Restored by Tamerlane, they had to go through the experience all over again.
 

Dulghadır Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF TAURUS
Qaraja ibn Dulghadır al-Malik az-Z.âhir Zayn ad-Dîn	1337-1353
Khalîl Ghars ad-Dîn	1353-1386
Sha'bân Sûlî	1386-1398
Muḥammad Nâṣir ad-Dîn	1398-1442
Sulaymân	1442-1454
Malid Arslan	1454-1465
Shâh Budaq	1465-1466, 1472-1479
Shâh Suwâr	1466-1472
Bozqurd 'Alâ'ud-Dawla	1479-1515
'Alî	1515-1521
annexation by Süleymân I, 1521

Of all the Oghullar, the Dulghadır Oghulları, sharing the Taurus with Lesser Armenia, held out the longest against the Ottomans, with help as vassals of the White Sheep Turks and the Mamlüks. Even after conquering the Mamlûks and pushing into Mesopotamia, Selim the Grim seems to have tolerated them, though they didn't last long into the reign of Süleymân the Magnicient.

Finally, we come to the Eretna Oghulları, who in 1361 controlled a large area in the north-east of the old domain of Rüm. This actually overlapped Classical Galatia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Helenopontus and put them adjacent to the Il Khân heirs, the white Sheep Turks. Their local capital was Sivas (Sebastea) and then Kayseri (Caesarea, in Cappadocia).

Eretna Oghulları BEGS (BEYS) OF SIVAS/CAPPADOCIA
Eretna 'Alâ'ud-Dîn	1336-1352
Muḥammad I Ghiyâth ad-Dîn	1352-1366
'Alî 'Alâ'ud-Dîn	1366-1380
Muḥammad II Chelebi	1380
Succession of Qâḍî Burhân ad-Dîn Oghulları, 1380
Aḥmad Qâḍî Burhân ad-Dîn	1380-1398
killed by White Sheep Turks, 1398
'Alî Zayn ad-'Âbidîn 'Alâ' ad-Dîn	1398
annexation by Bâyezîd I, 1398

The Eretna Begs were succeeded by their own Vizir, Qâḍî Burhân ad-Dîn, who founds his own, short-lived Oghullar. Killed fighting the White Sheep Turks, he was briefly followed by his son before his commanders surrendered the domain the Ottomans.

There were other Oghullar states that briefly followed the ones given here, and some earlier Seljuk domains that were for a time rivals of Rûm, but the representatives of the year 1361 certainly convey the idea of the complexity of the period, before a uniformity of Ottoman government was imposed that continues, in effect, down to the present day. The fragmentation of the Oghullar is reminiscent of the period of the Reyes de Taifas (mulûk aṭ-Ṭawâ'if) in Spain. However, none of the Spanish states was ever able to predominate, and Islamic Spain only survived against the Reconquista as long as outside power, the Almoravids and Almohads, contributed their strength. Without them, Islamic Spain collapsed. With the Oghullar, however, not only did one of them, the Ottomans, predominate, but they grew into one of the great empires of history, surviving into the 20th century.

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