Nogai Horde

Nogai Horde
← 1440s–1634 →
Approximate territory of Nogai Horde in the end of XV century.
Capital	Saray-Jük
Language(s)	Kypchak languages
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	Renaissance
- Established	1440s
- Conquered by the Tsardom of Russia	1634

The Nogai Horde was a confederation of about eighteen Turkic and Mongol tribes that occupied the Pontic-Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghits constituted a core of the Horde. In the thirteenth century the Golden Horde commander Nogai (Nogai Khan) formed an army of the Manghits joined by numerous Turkic tribes. A century later the Nogais were led by Edigu, a commander of Manghit origin, who founded the Nogai ruling dynasty.^[1]

Society

Sigismund von Herberstein places 'Nagayske Tartare (the "Nogai Tatars") on the lower Volga in his 1549 map

There were two groups of Nogais: those north of the Caspian Sea under their own Bey (leader), and those north of the Black Sea nominally subject to the Crimean Khan. The first group was broken up circa 1632 by the Kalmyks. The second shared the fate of the Khanate of Crimea.

Nogai language was a form of Kypchak Turkic, the same language group as that of the neighboring Kazakhs, Bashkirs and Crimean and Kazan Tatars. Their religion was Muslim, but religious institutions were weakly developed.^{[citation needed]}

They were pastoral nomads grazing sheep, horses, and camels. Outside goods were obtained by trade (mostly horses and slaves), raiding, and tribute. There were some subject peasants along the Yaik river. One of the main sources of income for the Nogais was raiding for slaves, who were sold in Crimea and Bukhara. Hunting, fishing, caravan taxation, and seasonal agricultural migration also played a role although it is poorly documented.

The basic social unit was the semi-autonomous ulus or band. Aristocrats were called mirza. The ruler of the Nogais was the Bey. The capital or winter camp was at Saraychik, a caravan town on the lower Yaik. From 1537 the second in rank was the Nureddin, usually the Bey's son or younger brother and expected successor. The Nureddin held the right bank along the Volga. From the 1560s there was a second Nureddin, a sort of a war chief. Third in rank was the Keikuvat, who held the Emba. Political organization was fluid and much depended on personal prestige since as nomads, the Nogai subjects could simply move away from a leader who was disliked. Ambassadors and merchants were regularly beaten and robbed. Stealing horses, looked down upon in many cultures, was an important part of social and economic life on the steppe. Beys and Mirzas would often declare themselves vassals of some outside power, but such declarations had little meaning.

Circa 1557 the Nogay nureddin Kazy Mirza quarreled with Ismael Beg and founded the Lesser Nogai Horde on the steppe of the North Caucasus. The Nogais north of the Caspian were thereafter called the Great Nogai Horde. In the early seventeenth century The Great Nogai Horde broke down further under the onslaught of the Kalmyks.^[2]

The Nogais north of the Black Sea were nominally subject to the Crimean Khan rather than the Nogai Bey. They were divided into the following groups: Budjak (from the Danube to the Dniester), Yedisan (from the Dniester to the Bug), Jamboyluk (Bug to Crimea), Yedickul (north of Crimea) and Kuban. In particular, the Yedisans are mentioned as a distinct group, and in various locations.

History

Decline of the Golden Horde

• 1299 Nogai Khan, the Mongol ruler for whom the Nogais were named
• 1406-1419 Edigu, another subject and king-maker, founds Nogai dynasty
• 1438 Kazan Khanate founded
• 1441 Crimean Khanate founded
• 1452 Kasimov 'khanate' founded. Beginning of Russian rule over Turkic Muslims
• 1465 or 1480 Kazakh Khanate founded
• 1466 Astrakhan Khanate founded
• 1466 At this point the Golden Horde was left with only the steppe nomads, Sarai and some control over the caravan trade. The name "Great Horde" appears some time after this.
• 1470s Nogais hostile to Great Horde
• 1475 Ottomans take Kaffa from Genoese
• 1480-1519 Moscow and Crimea allied against Horde and Lithuania
• 1480 Ugra standoff: Horde fails in attack on Moscow. Approximate start of Russian independence from Tatars
• 1481 Nogais kill Khan of the Great Horde in battle
• 1502 Crimeans destroy remnant of Golden Horde. Sarai destroyed

Independence

• c1509 Nogais move into lands vacated by Great Horde
• 1519 end of Moscow-Crimean alliance
• 1521 Nogais, driven west by the Kazakhs, cross Volga and attack Astrakhan
• 1521 Crimea (50-60,000 horsemen) and Kazan attack Muscovy. Moscow besieged
• c1522 Kazakhs capture Nogai capital
• 1523 Crimea briefly takes Astrakhan, but its army and Khan are destroyed by the Nogais.
• 1547-1584 Ivan the Terrible Czar of Russia
• 1552 Kazan annexed by Russia. Nogais lose tribute
• c1550-60 Disorder. Moscow backs unpopular Ismael Bey. Ataulskaya Horde formed on the Emba
• 1556 Famine
• 1556 Astrakhan annexed by Russia. Nogais lose tribute
• 1557 Mirza Kazy crosses Volga and founds Small Horde along the Kuban
• 1567-1571 Russian fort on the on Terek, south of Nogais.
• 1569 Ottomans and Crimeans with Small Horde fail to take Astrakhan
• 1570s Kazakh pressure shifts Nogai trade away from Central Asia toward Moscow
• 1571 Russo-Crimean War (1571) Crimean-Nogai attack on Moscow. 100,000 horsemen. Moscow burned
• 1572 second raid fails
• 1580/81 or 1577: Saraichick destroyed by renegade Cossacks
• 1582/83 Russian peace with Sweden and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• 1580s New Russian forts on the Volga
• 1588 many Nogais move to Don. Very destructive fighting between Big and Small Hordes
• 1592 Crimean raid on Moscow frontier. Many captives
• 1598 Moscow pushes fortifications south
• 1600 Moscow 'appoints' a Nogai beg for the first time. Civil war among Nogais

Decline

• 1500-1850 Russian population expands southward and occupies forest-steppe and steppe. This is poorly documented
• 1613-1643 Kalmyks, warlike Buddhist Mongols, move west from Dzungaria and occupy area from the Don to the Emba. Some eastern Nogais join Kazakhs and Karakalpaks. Others stay as Kalmyk subjects. Others cross the Volga southwest to the Kuban or west across Don, both groups becoming subjects of Crimea
• 1619 Isterek Bey dies. Civil war. Status of Beyship uncertain after this
• 1633 last Crimean-Nogai raid to reach the Oka^[3]
• 1634 major defeat of Nogais by Kalmyks
• 1643 Kalmyks pushed back from Astrakhan
• 1672 Kalmyks, Russians and Cossacks besiege Azov
• 1693 Kalmyks attack Nogais, as agents of Russia
• 1711 20474 Kalmyks and 4,100 Russians attack Kuban. They kill 11,460 Nogais, drown 5,060 others and return with 2,000 camels, 39,200 horses, 190,000 cattle, 220,000 sheep and 22,100 human captives, of whom only 700 were adult males. On the way home they meet and defeat a returning Nogai war party and free 2,000 Russian captives.^[4]
• 1720s 15,000 Nogai 'tents' flee Kalmyks for Kuban.
• 1736-39 Russians temporarily hold Azov
• 1770 Yedisans ally with Russia, blocking land route from Balkans to Crimea
• 1771 Trans-Volga Kalmyks exodus back to Dzungaria
• 1772 many Crimean Nogais accept Russian protection
• 1774 Crimea a Russian vassal
• 1783 Crimea annexed by Russia, many Nogais move from lower Dnieper to Kuban

During the next 150 years, Black Sea grain ports assist massive southward expansion of Russian agriculture and population.

• c1860 Several hundred thousand Muslims migrate from Russian to Ottoman empire
• 1900s Nogai District in Daghestan
• 2002 Nogai population: 90,700
• 2007 Nogai District formed in Karachayevo-Cherkessia

Partial List of Beys and Mirzas

• TEMIR (1480): at Ugra standoff, 1481: assassinated Ahmed Khan.
• Musa Mirza (-1506): said to have 17 sons, among them:
  • SHEIDIAK (1521): defeated Astrakhan Khanate 1551: near Urgench
  • MAMAY (-1549): Murdered the Crimean khan in 1523. 1530s: near Yaik, then near Kazan.
  • YOSUF (1549-55): (on Yaik, anti-Moscow) circa 1535: near Kazan. 1549: helped Moscow against Kazan. 1551: near Yaik, broke with Moscow, claimed to have 300,000 horsemen and 8 sons. circa 1552: dissuaded from raid on Moscow. 1555: murdered by Araslan Mirza.
  • ISMAEL (1555-64) (on Volga, pro-Moscow) 1551: near Astrakhan. 1554: helped to take Astrakhan. 1555: sent 20,000 horses to Moscow 1555: Beg. 1556-57: Yosuf's sons (especially Yunus) seized his property. 1558: abandoned and starved, sent across Volga to buy food. 1560: tried to attack Crimea, blocked by Kazy Mirza
• SÜÜNBIKE, daughter of Yosuf, widow of Kazan Khan, Moscow's captive
• ARSLAN Mirza, son of Kuchum, killed Yosuf, Keikuvat under Ismael
• KAZY Mirza (-1577): son of Mamay. 1551: near Jaxartes. 1555: Nureddin under Ismael. circa 1557: broke with Ismael when Ismael appoints Tin Ahmed his successor. Fled to Kuban, founding Small Horde. 1577: killed in war with Kabardians
• TIN AHMED (1564–79): 1577 said to support raids on Moscow
• URUS (1579–90): 1581 with Crimean Tatars attacked Moscow's frontiers. Killed in battle against the Small Horde
• UR MAMED (1590–97)
• TIN MAMED (1597–1600)
• ISTEREK (1600–18): 1600: was installed by Russians at Astrakhan. 1613: was attacked by Kalmyks, fled to Caucasus, then Azov Sea region. Swear allegiance to both Russians and Turks, then made alliance with Poland, and received ambassadors from Persia, refused to be vassal of Crimea. 1616: was attacked by Crimea, sought Russian protection at Astrakhan. 1618: died under questionable circumstances
• KANAY (1622–1634)^[5]

See also

• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

Notes

1. ^ Khodarkovsky, Russia's Steppe Frontier p. 9
2. ^ Khodarkovsky - Russia's Steppe Frontier p. 11
3. ^ Sunderland, p26
4. ^ Khodarkovsky, Where Two Worlds Meet, p149
5. ^ Khodarkovsky (2004)

References

• Khodarkovsky, Michael "Russia's Steppe Frontier', 2004

• Related books by Willard Sunderland (Taming the Wild Field), Alan W Fisher (Crimean Tatars), Martha Brill Olcott (Volga Tatars) and Khodarkovsky (1987 'Where Two Worlds Met", on Kalmucks) can be found on Amazon.com and elsewhere.