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Batu Khan
Batu Khan , d. 1255, Mongol leader; a grandson of Jenghiz Khan. In 1235 Batu became commander of the Mongol army assigned to the conquest of Europe; his chief general was Subutai. Batu crossed the Volga, sending part of his force to Bulgaria but most of it to Russia. By 1240 he had Moscow and Kiev i...
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Sarai
Sarai , former city, S European Russia, near present-day Volgograd. Founded in 1241 by Batu Khan, it was (13th-15th cent.) the capital of the Tatar Golden Horde , to which the Russians paid tribute for more than 200 years. The city declined after Czar Ivan III threw off the Tatar yoke in 1480.
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Empire of the Golden Horde
Empire of the Golden Horde Mongol state comprising most of Russia, given as an appanage to Jenghiz Khan's oldest son, Juchi, and actually conquered and founded in the mid-13th cent. by Juchi's son, Batu Khan , after the Mongol or Tatar (see Tatars ) conquest of Russia. The name was derived from t...
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Vladimir
Vladimir , city (1989 pop. 350,000), capital of Vladimir region, W central European Russia, on the Klyazma River. A rail junction, it has industries producing machinery, chemicals, cotton textiles, and plastics. Tourism is also important. Founded in the early 12th cent. by Vladimir II of Kiev, it wa...
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Tatars
Tatars or Tartars , Turkic-speaking peoples living primarily in Russia. They number about 5.5 million and are largely Sunni Muslims. The name is derived from Tata or Dada, a Mongolian tribe that inhabited present NE Mongolia in the 5th cent. First used to describe the peoples that overran parts ...
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Mongols
Mongols , Asian people, numbering about 6 million and distributed mainly in the Republic of Mongolia, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China, and Kalmykia and the Buryat Republic of Russia. Traditionally the Mongols were a predominantly pastoral people, following their herds of horses, cattl...
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Turks
Turks term applied in its wider meaning to the Turkic-speaking peoples of Turkey, Russia, Central Asia, Xinjiang in China (Chinese Turkistan), Azerbaijan and the Caucasus, Iran, and Afghanistan. They total about 125 million, and they are distributed from E Siberia to the Balkans. The wide differenc...
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Frederick II
Frederick II 1194-1250, Holy Roman emperor (1220-50) and German king (1212-20), king of Sicily (1197-1250), and king of Jerusalem (1229-50), son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and of Constance , heiress of Sicily.
Rivalry for the German Crown
In 1196, Henry VI secured the election as G...
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Russia
Russia officially the Russian Federation, Rus. Rossiya, republic (2005 est. pop. 143,420,000), 6,591,100 sq mi (17,070,949 sq km). The country is bounded by Norway and Finland in the northwest; by Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine in the west; by Georgia and Azerbaijan in the southwest; a...
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