When is the Chagatai Khanate shown on the map?

The border data draws the Chagatai Khanate 1294–1462. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large was the Chagatai Khanate?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Chagatai Khanate covered about 2.5 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Central Asia · The Mongol uluses

Chagatai Khanate

drawn on the map 1294–1462

The Chagatai Khanate (Chagatai Ulus) was the Mongol khanate comprising the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants.

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Shown on the map: 1294–1462
Peak area: 2.5M km²
Region: Central Asia

Overview and identity

The Chagatai Khanate (Chagatai Ulus) was the Mongol khanate comprising the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants. Formed when Genghis divided his empire in 1226–1227, it was initially an administrative region of the Mongol Empire and became a functionally independent khanate after the empire's division in 1259; it remained nominally subject to the Great Khan until Baraq stopped obeying Kublai, and recognized only nominal Yuan suzerainty in 1303. The unified khanate lasted until its east–west split in the 1340s. Wikipedia's infobox estimates 3.4 million km² (1310/1350); this project uses a peak of 2.5 million km². At its height it stretched from the Amu Darya south of the Aral Sea to the Altai Mountains — roughly the old Qara Khitai realm — and was known to some contemporaries (Marignolli, the Catalan Atlas, Ibn Battuta) as the "Middle Empire."

Origins and ethnolinguistic background

The ruling stratum was Mongol (Borjigin, house of Chagatai) governing a largely Turkic and Iranian sedentary population. Over the 13th–14th centuries the Mongols of the ulus underwent uneven Turkification and Islamization, while Mongolian administrative traditions persisted: royal edicts were still issued in Mongolian under Tughlugh Timur and Ilyas Khoja. Middle Mongol was the dynastic/documentary language, Persian the administrative lingua franca, and the emerging Chagatai Turkic the spoken and later literary language; Arabic served religion and law.

Chronology and major rulers

Chagatai (r. 1226–1242) governed from Almaliq under Karakorum's oversight. His successors — Qara Hülegü, Yesü Möngke, Mubarak Shah (the first Muslim Chagatai khan), Alghu — were entangled in the Toluid Civil War. Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq (1266–1270) clashed with Kublai and Kaidu and died after defeat by the Ilkhan Abaqa near Herat (1270). Under the Ögedeid kingmaker Kaidu (1266–1301), Duwa (1282–1307) was enthroned; together they warred on the Yuan and raided the Delhi Sultanate. Peace with the Yuan followed in 1303. Kebek (1309–1310, 1318–1325) stabilized the state; Tarmashirin (1326–1334) converted to Islam and raided India, but was toppled by an anti-Muslim nomadic reaction. The usurper Ali-Sultan (1339–1342) persecuted Christians, ordering the killing of six Franciscans at Almaliq in 1339.

Territory, cities, government, religion

Capitals were Almaliq (Ili valley) and Qarshi; other key cities were Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashgar and Khotan. Government was a semi-elective monarchy confirmed by kurultai, remaining essentially nomadic: the Chagatai Mongols treated the cities of Transoxiana and the Tarim Basin as dependencies until the late 15th century. Religion shifted from Tengrism and Buddhism (with strong Nestorian communities) to Sunni Islam, decisively from 1326.

Decline and fall

In the 1340s the khanate split: in Transoxania Amir Qazaghan killed Qazan Khan (1346) and ruled through puppet khans; in the east the Dughlats enthroned Tughlugh Timur (1347), who briefly reunited the khanate (1360–1363). After his death Timur and Amir Husayn seized Transoxiana, and from 1363–1370 the western khanate became a Timurid dependency with figurehead khans. The eastern realm, Moghulistan, persisted until fragmenting into the Yarkent (1514–1705) and Turpan khanates; the Dzungars ended Chagatai rule in 1680–1705, though the Kumul Khanate under Chagatai's descendants survived in China until 1930.

Legacy

The khanate gave its name to the Chagatai language, the prestige Turkic literary medium of Central Asia into the 20th century, and its "Chagatai" identity underpinned later Timurid, Moghul and Mughal self-conceptions.

Common questions

What was the Chagatai Khanate?: The Chagatai Khanate (Chagatai Ulus) was the Mongol khanate comprising the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants.
When is the Chagatai Khanate shown on the map?: The border data draws the Chagatai Khanate 1294–1462. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large was the Chagatai Khanate?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Chagatai Khanate covered about 2.5 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Where was the Chagatai Khanate?: Capitals were Almaliq (Ili valley) and Qarshi; other key cities were Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashgar and Khotan. Government was a semi-elective monarchy confirmed by kurultai, remaining essentially nomadic: the Chagatai Mongols treated the cities of Transoxiana and the Tarim Basin as dependencies until the late 15th century.
Who ruled the Chagatai Khanate?: Chagatai (r. 1226–1242) governed from Almaliq under Karakorum's oversight. His successors — Qara Hülegü, Yesü Möngke, Mubarak Shah (the first Muslim Chagatai khan), Alghu — were entangled in the Toluid Civil War.
How did the Chagatai Khanate end?: In the 1340s the khanate split: in Transoxania Amir Qazaghan killed Qazan Khan (1346) and ruled through puppet khans; in the east the Dughlats enthroned Tughlugh Timur (1347), who briefly reunited the khanate (1360–1363). After his death Timur and Amir Husayn seized Transoxiana, and from 1363–1370 the western khanate became a Timurid dependency with figurehead khans.
Why does the Chagatai Khanate still matter?: The khanate gave its name to the Chagatai language, the prestige Turkic literary medium of Central Asia into the 20th century, and its "Chagatai" identity underpinned later Timurid, Moghul and Mughal self-conceptions.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Chagatai Khanate en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagatai_Khanate

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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