سلسله ایلخانی Ilkhanate State of the Mongol Empire ← 1256–1335 →   → Ilkhanate at its greatest extent Capital Maragheh, Tabriz, and Soltaniyeh Language(s) Mongol - Official: (civil administration, court, diplomatic talks, governmental announcements, international contacts, theological discourse, court-based religious posts)[1] Chinese - Official - (educational, high court, military useage)[1] Persian - unofficial - (educational, literary, spoken by majority of public)[1] Religion Buddhism, Christianity, and then later Islam Government Monarchy Ruler  - 1256-1265 Hulagu Khan  - 1316-1335 Abu Sa'id Legislature Kurultai History  - Established 1256  - Disestablished 1335 Area  - 1310 est. 3,750,000 km2 (1,447,883 sq mi)

The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate or Il Khanate (Persian: سلسله ایلخانی, Mongolian: Ил Хан улс), was a Mongol khanate established in Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan, embraced Islam, the religion professed by most of the people living in its territories which included present-day Iran, most of Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and western Pakistan. The Ilkhanate was based, originally, on Genghis Khan's campaigns in the Khwarezmid Empire in 1219-1224, and founded by Genghis's grandson, Hulagu Khan.

[edit] Hulagu

After the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, the Mongols occupied Anatolia, and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm became a vassal of what would later become the Ilkhanate Mongols.

The founder of the Ilkhanate dynasty was Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of both Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan. Taking over from Baiju in 1255 or 1256, he had been charged with subduing the Muslim kingdoms to the west "as far as the borders of Egypt." This occupation led the Turkmens to move west into Anatolia to escape from the Mongolian tribes. He established his dynasty over the southwestern part of the Mongol Empire that stretched from Transoxiana to Syria.

Great khan Möngke's death forced Hulagu to return from the Persian heartland for the preparation of Khuriltai. His expedition towards Egypt, however, was halted in Palestine in 1260 by a major defeat at the Battle of Ain Jalut at the hands of the Mamluks of Egypt.

[edit] Early Ilkhanate

History of Iran Kings of Persia BCE Prehistory Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Kassites 16th–12th cent. Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th cent. Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Seleucid Empire 330–150 Parthian Empire 248–CE 226 CE Sassanid Empire 226–651 Patriarchal Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Alavid dynasty 864–928 Sajid dynasty 889/890–929 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 875–999 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1062 Sallarid 942–979 Ma'munids 995-1017 Ghaznavid Empire 963–1187 Ghori dynasty 1149–1212 Seljukid Empire 1037–1194 Khwarezmid dynasty 1077–1231 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dyansty 1337–1357 Sarbadars 1337–1376 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu 1378–1508 Safavid dynasty 1501–1722* Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1750 Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Qajar dynasty 1781–1925 Pahlavi dynasty 1925–1979 Interim Government 1979–1980 Islamic Republic since 1980 *or 1736 Timeline edit

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

The term il-Khan means "subordinate khan" and refers to their initial deference to Möngke Khan and his successor Great Khans of the entire empire. The Kublaids in the east retained suzerainty over the Ilkhans (obedient khans) until the end of its regime.^[2][3] Hulagu's descendants ruled Persia for the next eighty years, beginning as Shamanists, then Buddhists and ultimately converting to Islam. However, the Ilkhans remained opposed to the Mamluks (who had defeated both Mongol invaders and crusaders), but were never able to gain significant ground against them, eventually being forced to give up their plans to conquer Syria, and their stranglehold over their vassals the Sultanate of Rum and the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia. This was due to the hostility of the khanates to the north and east – the Chagatai Khanate in Moghulistan and the Golden Horde of Berke threatened the Ilkhanate in the Caucasus and Transoxiana, preventing expansion westward. Even under Hulagu's reign, the Ilkhanate was engaged in open warfare in the Caucasus with the Mongols in the Russian steppes.

Hulagu with his Christian queen Doquz Khatun.

[edit] Franco-Mongol alliance

Many attempts towards the formation of a Franco-Mongol alliance were made between the courts of Western Europe and the Mongols (primarily the Ilkhanate) in the 13th and 14th centuries, starting from around the time of the Seventh Crusade. United in their opposition to the Muslims (mainly the Mamluks), the Ilkhanate and the Europeans were still never able to satisfactorily combine their forces against their common enemy.^[4]

[edit] Conversion to Islam

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

In the period after Hulagu, the Ilkhans increasingly adopted Tibetan Buddhism. Christian powers were encouraged by what appeared to be a favoring of Nestorian Christianity but this probably went no deeper than their traditional evenhandedness.^[5] Thus the Ilkhans were markedly out of step with the Muslim majority they ruled. Ghazan, shortly before he overthrew Baydu, converted to Islam and his official favoring of Islam coincided with a marked attempt to bring the regime closer to the non-Mongol majority. Christian and Jewish subjects lost their equal status with Muslims and again had to pay the poll tax. Buddhists had the starker choice of conversion or expulsion^[6].

In foreign relations, the conversion to Islam had little to no effect and Ghazan continued to fight the Mamluks for control of Syria. But the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, which was the Mongols' only major victory over the Mamluks disproved his control over Syria, which lasted but a few months. For the most part, Ghazan's policies continued under his brother Öljeitü despite suggestions that he might begin to favor the Shi'a brand of Islam after he came under the influence of Shi'a theologians Al-Hilli and Maitham Al Bahrani.^[7] Öljeitü succeeded in conquering Gilan on the Caspian coast and his magnificent tomb in Soltaniyeh remains the best known monument of Ilkhanid rule in Persia.

[edit] Disintegration

The mausoleum of Öljaitü in Soltaniyeh.

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

[edit] Legacy

The Ilkhanate State helped to pave the way for the later Safavid dynastic state, and ultimately the modern country of Iran. Hulagu's conquests had also opened Iran to both European influence from the west and Chinese influence from the east. This, combined with patronage from his successors, would develop Iran's distinctive excellence in architecture. Under the Il Khans, Iranian historians also moved from writing in Arabic, to writing in Persian.^[8]

[edit] Ilkhanid Dynasty rulers

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

[edit] Post-Ilkhanate rulers

History of Mongolia

Before Genghis Khan

Mongol Empire

Khanates

- Chagatai Khanate

- Golden Horde

- Ilkhanate

- Yuan Dynasty

Northern Yuan

Timurid Empire

Mughal Empire

Crimean Khanate

Khanate of Sibir

Zunghar Khanate

Qing Dynasty (Mongolia during Qing)

Republic of China

Mongolian People's Republic (Outer Mongolia)

Modern Mongolia

Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia)

People's Republic of China (Inner Mongolia)

Buryat Mongolia

Kalmyk Mongolia

Hazara Mongols

Aimak Mongols

Timeline

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

• Arpa Ke'ün (1335-1336)
• Musa (1336-1337) (puppet of 'Ali Padshah of Baghdad)
• Muhammad (1336-1338) (Jalayirid puppet)
• Sati Beg (1338-1339) (Chobanid puppet)
• Sulayman (1339-1343) (Chobanid puppet, recognized by the Sarbadars 1341-1343)
• Jahan Temur (1339-1340) (Jalayirid puppet)
• Anushirwan (1343-1356) (Chobanid puppet)
• Ghazan II (1356-1357) (known only from coinage)

Claimants from eastern Persia (Khurasan):

• Togha Temür (c. 1338-1353) (recognized by the Kartids 1338-1349; by the Jalayirids 1338-1339, 1340-1344; by the Sarbadars 1338-1341, 1344, 1353)
• Luqman (1353-1388) (son of Togha Temür)

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

[edit] See also

• Full list of Iranian Kingdoms
• Sarbadars, the famous political movement of the Ilkhanid era of Persia.
• Hazaras

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links

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