khanate

khanate The region ruled by a khan (a Mongol or Turkic supreme tribal leader elevated by the support of his warriors). On GENGHIS KHAN's death in 1227 his empire was divided into four parts, each ruled by one of his descendants. By the mid-13th century the MONGOL empire consisted of four khanates; the khanate of the Western Kipchaks (the GOLDEN HORDE); the khanate of Persia, whose ruler was called the Il-khan; the khanate of Turkistan (the White Horde of the Eastern Kipchaks), and the khanate of the Khakhan in East Asia. The three khans were subject to the Khakhan (the Great Khan), but were generally resentful in their relations with him. After the death of KUBLAI KHAN (1294) the Khakhan's authority was nominal. In 1368 the Mongols were driven out of China and by c.1500 all four khanates had disappeared. A number of lesser khanates emerged; the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, the Crimea, Khiva, Bukhara, Tashkent, Samarkand, and Kokand. These long presented a threat to the communities surrounding them. One by one all were absorbed by Russia. The last to fall was Kokand (1876).