Central Asia · Timur and the khanates
Eastern Chagatai Khanate
Moghulistan, unified khanate, 1347–1462/1487
"Eastern Chagatai Khanate" is the term Chinese historiography uses for Moghulistan — the breakaway eastern half of the Chagatai Khanate, called "Moghulistan" ("Land of the Moghuls") in Persian and Soviet historiography because its nomadic Mongols preserved their steppe identity long after the western Chagatayids had been Turkified and sedentarized. The khans themselves styled their state Mongghul Uls.
- Existed
- Moghulistan, unified khanate, 1347–1462/1487
- Shown on the map
- 1492–1511
- Peak area
- 303k km²
- Region
- Central Asia
Overview and identity
"Eastern Chagatai Khanate" is the term Chinese historiography uses for Moghulistan — the breakaway eastern half of the Chagatai Khanate, called "Moghulistan" ("Land of the Moghuls") in Persian and Soviet historiography because its nomadic Mongols preserved their steppe identity long after the western Chagatayids had been Turkified and sedentarized. The khans themselves styled their state Mongghul Uls. Founded in 1347 with its capital at Almaliq in the Ili valley, the unified khanate lasted until it fragmented in 1462, with a partial reunification under Yunus Khan (d. 1487); its listed peak extent of roughly 303,000 km² reflects the core nomadic khanate of the late 15th–early 16th century, bounded by the Karatau mountains, Lake Balkhash, and the Tian Shan.
Origins and ethnolinguistic background
The state was created when the Dughlat amirs — the dominant Mongol tribe of the eastern regions — raised the Chagatayid Tughlugh Timur to the throne in 1347. The Moghuls were a confederation of Turkic tribes of Jetisu (Üysün, Dughlat) and Desht-i Kipchak (Qipchaq, Qangli) and Mongolic and other tribes from the Mongolian plateau (Barlas, Jalayir, Kereit, Naiman, and others). Initially Middle Mongol-speaking and Tengrist/shamanist, they Turkified over time (Vasily Bartold noted indications that some Moghuls still spoke Mongolian into the early 16th century) and adopted the Chagatai (Turki) language. Tughlugh Timur's conversion to Islam in 1354, with a claimed 160,000 followers, began the Islamization of the khanate; by the mid-15th century the Moghuls were considered largely Muslim, and the khans adopted the sharia in place of the Mongol Yassa.
Chronology and major rulers
Tughlugh Timur (1347–1363) invaded Transoxiana twice (1360, 1361), temporarily reuniting the Chagatai realm, but the Moghuls were expelled by Amir Husayn and Timur. Tughlugh's son Ilyas Khoja was likely killed in 1368 by the Dughlat usurper Qamar-ud-Din, whose coup provoked near-constant civil war; Timur launched at least five expeditions into Moghulistan against him. A Chagatayid restoration came with Khizr Khoja (enthroned by the Dughlats in the 1380s), who married his sister to Timur and led a holy war against the Buddhist Uyghur polity of Turfan-Qocho, converting it to Islam. Uwais Khan (1418–1428) fought losing wars with the Oirats (twice captured by Esen Tayishi); Esen Buqa II (1429–1462) raided the Timurids. After Esen Buqa's death in 1462, the Dughlat amirs split between his son Dost Muhammad and his brother Yunus Khan, the Timurid-backed rival. Yunus (r. 1462–1487) reunited the khanate after Dost Muhammad's death in 1469, defeated the Uzbeks, maintained good relations with the Kazakhs and Timurids, and captured Tashkent (1484).
Territory, economy, and structure
Moghulistan proper was the steppe between Shash, Balkhash, and the Tian Shan, with the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) ruled indirectly through Dughlat amirs and Naqshbandi Sufi authorities until 1514; towns declined under nomadic rule. Wealth came from Ming-dynasty caravan trade, on which the Moghul rulers levied zakat, in exchange for what the Ming regarded as tributary status.
Decline and relationship to later states
After Yunus Khan's death, his sons divided the realm: Ahmad Alaq took the east (the Turpan Khanate, i.e. "Eastern Moghulistan" in the narrow sense) while Mahmud Khan took the west (Tashkent-based "Western Moghulistan"). Their defeat by Muhammad Shaybani in 1503 and Mahmud's execution in 1508 destroyed the steppe khanate; the remnant authority passed to Sultan Said Khan's Yarkent Khanate (1514) in the Tarim Basin and to Kyrgyz and Kazakh tribes on the steppe.
Legacy
Moghulistan is the crucial link between the Mongol Empire and the Muslim polities of early modern Xinjiang; its historian, Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat's Tarikh-i Rashidi, is the principal primary source. Its lands are today divided among China (Xinjiang), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Common questions
- What was the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?
- "Eastern Chagatai Khanate" is the term Chinese historiography uses for Moghulistan — the breakaway eastern half of the Chagatai Khanate, called "Moghulistan" ("Land of the Moghuls") in Persian and Soviet historiography because its nomadic Mongols preserved their steppe identity long after the western Chagatayids had been Turkified and sedentarized. The khans themselves styled their state Mongghul Uls.
- When did the Eastern Chagatai Khanate exist?
- The Eastern Chagatai Khanate existed Moghulistan, unified khanate, 1347–1462/1487. On this map it is drawn 1492–1511.
- How large was the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate covered about 303,000 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 Eastern Chagatai Khanate?
- Moghulistan proper was the steppe between Shash, Balkhash, and the Tian Shan, with the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) ruled indirectly through Dughlat amirs and Naqshbandi Sufi authorities until 1514; towns declined under nomadic rule. Wealth came from Ming-dynasty caravan trade, on which the Moghul rulers levied zakat, in exchange for what the Ming regarded as tributary status.
- Who ruled the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?
- Tughlugh Timur (1347–1363) invaded Transoxiana twice (1360, 1361), temporarily reuniting the Chagatai realm, but the Moghuls were expelled by Amir Husayn and Timur. Tughlugh's son Ilyas Khoja was likely killed in 1368 by the Dughlat usurper Qamar-ud-Din, whose coup provoked near-constant civil war; Timur launched at least five expeditions into Moghulistan against him.
- How did the Eastern Chagatai Khanate end?
- After Yunus Khan's death, his sons divided the realm: Ahmad Alaq took the east (the Turpan Khanate, i.e. "Eastern Moghulistan" in the narrow sense) while Mahmud Khan took the west (Tashkent-based "Western Moghulistan"). Their defeat by Muhammad Shaybani in 1503 and Mahmud's execution in 1508 destroyed the steppe khanate; the remnant authority passed to Sultan Said Khan's Yarkent Khanate (1514) in the Tarim Basin and to Kyrgyz and Kazakh tribes on the steppe.
- Why does the Eastern Chagatai Khanate still matter?
- Moghulistan is the crucial link between the Mongol Empire and the Muslim polities of early modern Xinjiang; its historian, Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat's Tarikh-i Rashidi, is the principal primary source. Its lands are today divided among China (Xinjiang), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Sources
Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.
- Wikipedia: Moghulistan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moghulistan
- Wikipedia: Yarkent Khanate en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkent_Khanate
This entry was written from the sources above and last updated .
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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