Ilkhanate
The
Ilkhanate, also spelled
Il-khanate or
Il Khanate (سلسله ایلخانی), was one of the four divisions within the
Mongol Empire. It was centered in the land of
Persia (
Iran) and also included present-day
Iraq,
Afghanistan,
Azerbaijan and western
Pakistan. It was based, originally, on
Genghis Khan's campaigns in the
Khwarezmid Empire in
1219-
1224, and the continual expansion of Mongol presence under the commands of
Chormagan,
Baiju, and
Eljigidei.
The founder of the Ilkhanate dynasty was
Hulegu Khan, grandson of
Genghis Khan and brother of
Mongke 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." His expedition, however, was halted in
Palestine by a stinging defeat at the
Battle of Ain Jalut at the hands of the
Mamluks of Egypt.
After the battle, Hulagu returned to the Persian heartland and established his dynasty. The succession thereafter continued through his family line. The term il-Khan means "subordinate
khan" and refers to their initial deference to Mongke as grand khan and ultimate sovereign of the entire empire. Hulagu's descendents ruled Persia for the next eighty years, beginning as shamanists, then Buddhists and ultimately converting to Islam under
Ghazan. However, the Il-khans 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 Mughulistan and the
Blue Horde of
Batu threatened the Il-khanate in the Caucasus and Transoxiana, preventing expansion westward. Even under Hülegü's reign, the Ilkhanate was engaged in open warfare in the Caucasus with the Mongols in the Russian steppes.
Under the harsh reign of the succeeding emperors after
Hulegu, the
Muslim majority were oppressed under the Buddhist emperors, who encouraged the flourishment of
Tibetan Buddhism and
Nestorianism. However, with the conversion of
Ghazan to
Islam, Islam rose once again, and their Buddhist and Christian counterparts were severely harassed. This pattern continued under his brother
Öljeitü, whose magnificent tomb in
Soltaniyeh remains the best known monument of Ilkhanid rule in Persia.
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. The last of the obscure Il-khan pretenders was assassinated in
1353.
Timur the Lame 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.
*
Hülegü (1256-1265)
*
Abaqa (1265-1282)
*
Ahmad Tegüder (1282-1284)
*
Arghun (1284-1291)
*
Gaykhatu (1291-1295)
*
Baydu (1295)
*
Mahmud Ghazan (1295-1304)
*
Muhammad Öljeytü (1304-1316)
*
Abu Sa'id Bahadur (1316-1335)
*
Arpa Ke'ün (1335-1336)
Fragmentation. The regional states established during the disintegration of the Il-khanate raised their own candidates as claimants.*
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) (non-dynastic 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)
*
Ilkhani *
Full list of Iranian Kingdoms*
Sarbadars, the famous political movement of the Il-Khanid era of Persia.
*
Ilkhanids Dynasty Mongolian dynasty
*
Encylopedia Iranica. Contains more information on the Il-Khanate.
* C.E. Bosworth,
The New Islamic Dynasties, New York, 1996.
* R. Amitai-Preiss:
Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War 1260-1281. Cambridge, 1995
