Batu Khan/fro open access
The Ulus of Jochi is the land in the west of the Mongol Empire that Chinggis Khan granted to his eldest son, Jochi, in 1224. In turn, Jochi’s son Batu Khan conquered the Volga region, Russia, the Black Sea region, and the Caucasus for the Ulus, creating the largest state in medieval Europe. All the Kazakh khans can trace their ancestry back to Jochi’s descendants, and his ulus can rightly be considered the foundation of Kazakh statehood. This year, Kazakhstan celebrates the 800th anniversary of the Ulus of Jochi.