The Mongols under Genghis Khan, swept into Iran, the Caucasus, and southern Russia in 1220-22. His successors attacked Persia in 1231, Eastern Europe in 1236-41, and Iraq and the Caucasus again in 1245-53. They finally sacked Baghdad in 1258, bringing an end to the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Mongol territories were divided among the sons and grandsons of Genghis. The eldest son, Jochi, settled in Russia with his followers, the Golden Horde. This group divided into two main sections, the Blue Horde and the White Horde, led by Batu and Orda, two of the sons of Jochi. The descendents of Shayban, a third son, contested for power during the turbulent period from 1358 to 1378 and they later formed a significant Uzbek state known as the Shaybanids. The descendents of a fourth son, Togha-Timur, became rulers of the Crimea, the Giray Khans. Genghis's son Chaghatay (or Jagatai) controlled a vast area in Central Asia to the east of the Golden Horde. Another son, Tuluy, was the father of the famous Kublai Khan, ruler of China, and also of Hulagu, first of the Ilkhanid rulers of Persia. The Ilkhanid possessions included Georgia, a special region that was allowed to issue coins with Christian inscriptions and other distinctive features.

The Ilkhanid state in Persia collapsed in 1353 after two decades of turmoil. The western portion was taken over by the Black Sheep Turks and the White Sheep Turks (the Qara-Qoyunlu and Aq-Qoyunlu). The central portion (Mesopotamia and north-western Iran) went to the Jalayrids and three very minor groups, the Uyrats, the Injuyids, and the Hazaraspids of Greater Luristan ("Lur Bazurg"). The eastern portion was divided among the Muzaffarids (south-eastern Iran), the Karts of Herat (Afghanistan) and the Walids and Sarbadarids (north-eastern Iran).

At the end of the 1300's, all of these states were overrun by Timur (Tamerlane), a remarkable figure who had begun his career among the Chagatayid mongols in Central Asia. When he died (in 1404), his vast empire immediately fragmented. His descendents kept the eastern section but the western parts were dominated first by the Black Sheep Turks, then (around the mid-1400's) by the White Sheep Turks, and finally, in the 16th century, by the Safavid Shahs of Persia. Around this time, the Shaybanids became a significant force in Uzbekistan, and a resurgence was occurring among the Shirvanshahs, a group that held a remote part of the Caucasus from the 12th Century until the 16th Century, when it was overrun by the Ottomans.

TO SUMMARIZE...


Mongols

Mongol Great Khans
Golden Horde
Blue Horde
White Horde
Giray Khans
Chaghatayids
Ilkhanids
Mongols in Georgia

Successors to the Ilkhanids

Aq-Qoyunlu
Qara-Qoyunlu
Jalayrids
Uyrats
Injuyids
Hazaraspids
Muzaffarids
Walids
Karts of Herat

Later

Timurids
Safavids
Shaybanids
Shirvanshahs