Also known as Haji Tarkhan in Turkic, Astrakhan was once the capital of the Khanate of Astrakhan, one of the states that emerged in the fifteenth century as a result of the collapse of the Ulus of Jochi, or the Golden Horde. Ilya Zaytsev, a renowned orientalist, tells the story of this forgotten land situated at the crossroads of the most important trade and pilgrimage routes.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME
According to the traditional view, Haji Tarkhan was founded in the thirteenth century. ‘This city,’ wrote Ibn Battuta,1
The hajj continued to play an important role in the history of Astrakhan. The Khanate of Astrakhan had close ties with Central Asia, Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and the lands of Dasht-e Kipchak.i
BIRTH OF THE KHANATE
The Haji Tarkhan of the Golden Horde was destroyed by Timur4
The majority of the city’s inhabitants came from Turkic tribes of the Kipchak group. Ethnically and linguistically, the population was most likely quite heterogeneous, though not very large. In the middle of the sixteenth century there were about 10,000 people in Astrakhan, or a little more. In addition to Turkic speakers, Persians, Armenians, and Russians probably also lived in the city at different periods of its history. The ethnic base of the later Astrakhan Tatars were the descendants of the Old Turkic population and the Nogais. Later, the Turkic population from the Middle Volga region came to the city. It is no coincidence that until the nineteenth century, there was even a ‘Kazan quarter’ in Astrakhan, and Tatars from various regions, including the Nizhny Novgorod region and Penza region, are buried in the Muslim cemetery of Mashaikh.
The founder of the new Astrakhan, which replaced the city destroyed by Timur, was Temür Qutlugh (circa 1370–99), the son of Temür Malik, the son of Urus Khan, who controlled this area after Timur’s departure in 1396. Nogai mirzas in the sixteenth century believed that Astrakhan was ‘the royal yurt [headquarters] of Temür Qutlugh’. The connection of the city with Temür Qutlugh is highlighted not only in the works of later Tatar historians but also by Central Asian authors. His successor Shādī Beg, under whom all the former ulus of the house of Jochi were united for the last time in the history of the Golden Horde, minted coins in Astrakhan in 1402 or 1403, on which the name ‘Haji Tarkhan al-Jedid’, meaning ‘New Astrakhan’, already appears.5
The Astrakhan Khanate was established on the old appanage of Emir Haji Cherkes, who owned the city even before Temür Qutlugh, in the second half of the 1360s to the middle of the 1370s. There is no common opinion in historiography about the date the khanate was founded. Most likely, it appeared in the 1450–70s as a part of the ‘Nomagan yurt’ of the Great Horde.6
In 1508, ‘Aztorokan ambassadors’ were received in Moscow for the first time. At that time, special diplomatic documents—ambassadors' books—also appeared, recording Moscow’s relations with the newly formed state. Two books of the Sofia collection of the Russian National Library preserved an article beginning with the words ‘Tatar lands are called…’,7
It is characteristic that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III,8
The borders of the Khanate of Astrakhan in the north extended approximately to the area of modern-day Volgograd, although at some point, the Astrakhan lands may have ended even higher, near Ukek, within the boundaries of modern Saratov. In the south, the natural border was the Caspian Sea, probably along the coast to the Kuma River. In the west, it could get to the upper reaches of the Don (perhaps the Mius—‘Milk Water’ — served for some time as the border with the Crimean yurt). Most likely, on the right bank of the Volga, the Astrakhan possessions were limited to a narrow coastal strip of the river. The eastern (Nogai) border of the Astrakhan territories was in the delta of the Buzan River.
WHAT ASTRAKHANIANS BELIEVED AND THOUGHT
For the Khanate of Astrakhan, the situation was probably typical of the Golden Horde in the earlier period: the city itself was a stronghold of Islam in the state, while the steppe and surrounding areas were very poorly Islamized. During the period of independence, the Muslim clergy of the city were engaged in missionary activities in the lands east of Astrakhan, spreading and strengthening Islam and Muslim culture among the Kazakhs. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the ulema (experts in Islam) of Haji Tarkhan eradicated paganism among the Kazakhs. The Hanafi School (madhhab)9
There is no doubt that the majority of Muslims in the Lower Volga region practiced Sunni Islam, but there may have been Shi'a Muslims as well (due to the proximity of Safavid Iran). Haji Tarkhan was also familiar with Sufism.10
We do not know of any authentic Islamic manuscript from Haji Tarkhan before the city was annexed to the Russian state. It is possible that one of the Astrakhan khans, Qasim, owned the only surviving manuscript Shu'ab-i panjganah (Five Genealogies) of the third volume of Rashid al-Din’s Jāmi’ al-tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles), which was compiled between circa 1306/7–1310/11 in Mā Warāʾ an-Nahr (Transoxania) or Khorasan in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The work is devoted to the genealogy of the ruling dynasties of the ‘five nations’— the Arabs, Jews, Mongols, Franks, and Chinese. On the inside front cover, within a circle, is an inscription: ‘Extract from the Compendium of Chronicles from the collection of books of Qasim [Qasim II] Sultan, son of Sayed Ahmad Khan al-Ghazi, may the Almighty, the Holy One, greet him.’ Qasim II (1502–32) was the son of Sayed Ahmad Khan, the ruler of the Khanate of Astrakhan. Ahmet Zeki Velidi Togan suggested that the manuscript may have been given to Qasim by his friend Khan Muhammad Shaybani after the latter’s conquest of Bukhara and Samarkand in the very early sixteenth century. However, it is also possible that the manuscript was brought back to Iran by Janibek Khan after his victorious campaign and given to Qasim from the archives of Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde khans. The manuscript is now kept in the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul (catalog no. 2937) and has recently been republished in Kazan in facsimile form.
Several manuscripts by Astrakhan Muslims have survived from the Russian Astrakhan period. These include lists of purely applied religious content (a treatise on the abrogated and abrogated suras of the Koran) and manuscripts of a secular nature such as poetic diwans,11
Many literary and historical works were created in the city. The poet and prose writer Sherif Hadjitarkhani, a native of Astrakhan, wrote the work Zafername-i Vilayet-i Kazan, dedicated to the unsuccessful campaign of Russian troops against Kazan in 1550. Astrakhan also had its own historiographical traditions. Residents of Astrakhan, Baba Ali and Haji Niyaz, who provided information to the sixteenth-century Khorezm historian Utemish Haji, were educated people of their time. Haji Niyaz, apparently a merchant ‘famous for his wealth’, told Utemish Haji about the period of wars between the khans Berke (1257–66) and Hulagu (1261–65), and he also provided his own comments on the places where these events had taken place. Haji Niyaz is mentioned under the name ‘Khoneyaz’ in a letter the Moscow diplomat Kubensky wrote in October 1500. His brother Ak-Molla (‘Akhmolna’) was also an important merchant: together with other Astrakhanians, he conducted trading operations in Moscow and probably even spent some time in prison there.
It is likely that in the khanate, where they recorded episodes from the history of the Golden Horde, there probably existed a robust oral tradition connected with Astrakhan itself, which integrated the city into the general course of history. Most likely, classical works of Muslim historiography, such as the work of Rashīd al-Din,13
Classical works of Arabic and Persian literature (for example, Ferdowsi’si
SALT, STURGEON, SLAVES, AND WATERMELONS
Since the fourteenth century, Haji Tarkhan has been one of the most important trading hubs on the Lower Volga, a place through which the great caravan route connecting the Mediterranean trade with the East passed. Trade between Haji Tarkhan and the cities of northern Azerbaijan as well as with the ports of Azak (Azov) and the Black Sea was likely very active. Relations between the Lower Volga region and Haji Tarkhan, especially with Khwarazm, were also very close. Thus, it is no coincidence that at the beginning of the second quarter of the fourteenth century, a whole complex of caravanserais appeared on the Ustyurt14
Throughout its history until the Russian conquest, Haji Tarkhan was also a major center of the slave trade. Slaves were sold to the Crimea, Kazan, Central Asia, and Iran. After the city was annexed by Moscow, there was a long period of Russian slaves returning to their homeland.
The economy of Astrakhan seems to have consisted of two components: the transit trade and the export of local products. The main commodities of the Astrakhan economy were fish and salt, which were traded both with the cities on the Volga and, likely to a much lesser extent, with the countries of the Caspian basin. Salt in the vicinity of the city was extracted from lakes—the so-called deposited salt. It was scooped out of the water, dried in the sun and loaded onto carts. The salt could be preserved in lumps for a very long time, but it became thicker with time, and the block had to be broken up with axes and crowbars.
Fishing has been a longstanding activity in Haji Tarkhan. The Russian fishing terminology used in the Lower Volga region is almost entirely of Turkic origin, which indicates that Russian fishermen borrowed it ‘as is’ from the local population. Tatar vocabulary dominates, for example, in the description of the uchug device,15
Sturgeon fishing was carried out three months a year, from the end of May to the end of August. The fish was salted locally, loaded onto ships and transported up the Volga. The variety of the exported fish was apparently not very diverse, and Russian documents mention mainly the sturgeon and beluga. The terminology of fish salting in Russian is also almost entirely of Turkic origin, which suggests that during the time of the Astrakhan Khanate, fish was salted in much the same way in Haji Tarkhan. Fish was also dried and was sometimes used as a substitute for bread. In all likelihood, in the first half of the sixteenth century, fish uchugs belonged to the Astrakhanian aristocracy. The khan personally owned some of the uchugs and yeriks (channels connecting waterbodies) on the arms of the Volga delta.
In addition, bread had to be imported into Astrakhan because the city probably suffered from a constant shortage of grain. In such conditions, plagues and famines were not uncommon among the local population.
The role of animal husbandry in the economy of the Astrakhan khanate was very significant. Fazlallah Khunji Isfahani wrote that ‘many goods, fat sheep, horses, camels and other valuable goods are delivered from Haji Tarkhan’. Thus, it is no coincidence that a Tatar proverb has survived to this day: ‘In Astrakhan, a cow costs one piece of money, [and if] you leave, it costs a thousand’ (Ačtarqanda sə̂jə̂r bər aqča, kilä-kilä mə̂ŋ aqča). Gardening, horticulture, and hunting probably played a role in the khanate’s economy, but their share could not have been very large. However, in Russian proverbs of the seventeenth century, watermelons seem to be what Astrakhan is most famous for: ‘Astrakhan is famous for watermelons, while we are famous for naked buttocks’ (that is, to put it mildly, Russians are famous for the absence of pants).
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE KHAN’S POWER
As with the Kazan and Crimean khanates, Astrakhan was ruled by one family—the Jochids. They were the descendants of Jochi, Chinggis Khan's son, specifically of the lineage of Khan Temür Qutlugh. Throughout its history, the Astrakhan khanate remained in a dependent position, with overlords such as the Nogai Horde, North caucasian principalities, and the Crimean khanate. The khans often changed as a result of bloody invasions and coups with the participation of external forces.
As in other Jochid states, the second person in the khanate was the kalga (the heir to the khan, who was usually his son, brother, or nephew). The nobility consisted of sultans, oglans (ulans), beks, and murzas. According to Russian sources, there were at least 500 members of the nobility in 1554, many of whom owned appanages. There is no doubt about the existence of the qarachi institutioni
The so-called ‘black peasants’ paid taxes in both cash and kind and lived on common land. Slave labor (most likely captives of Slavic and Caucasian origin) was widely used in the household. Various sources also mention the clergy, the ‘mullahs and akhuns and seyits and abyzes’ and state that there were about 3,000 of them in the city in 1554.
We can also confidently assume that khan and kalga (kalgalyk) appanages existed in the khanate. The latter were given to the kalga only for use. The peasants living on the kalgalyk lands, as well as on the khan's lands, worked on them for a tenth part of the harvest. There is no data about beyliks in Astrakhan similar to the Crimean and Kazan records, although they likely existed. It is also probable that clergymen and teachers (hojalyk) also had their own estates. A part of the arable land in the city was probably owned by the community. Moreover, the institution of soyurghal also probably existed in Astrakhan. This referred to conditional military land ownership, the right to collect rent—previously a tax in favor of the khan—for a certain period of time.
BETWEEN CRIMEA AND MOSCOW
Astrakhan inherited its conflict with the Crimean khans from the Great Horde. Amongst the most devastating were the Crimean raids led by Mehmed I Giray in 1523 and Sahib I Giray in 1546. The second campaign was triggered by Yamghurchi Khan, who had not only seized the Astrakhan throne but had also seized a merchant caravan on its way from Kazan to the Crimea. The aggrieved merchants complained to Sahib I Giray. In the early 1520s, he had occupied the throne of Kazan, and the trade with the Crimea, so important to Kazan, was well known to him. Outraged by the behavior of the Astrakhan upstart, Sahib I Giray began to prepare a large-scale campaign against the city. As someone who lived through the events and was a close associate of the Crimean khan, Remmal Khoja wrote that full mobilization was announced for the Astrakhan incursion. The jarlig (an edict or written command) issued by the khan proclaimed that no one could stay on the ground, the whole nation or army (khalq) must put itself in combat readiness, and if there was anyone who did not stand by the khan immediately after Or Agzy (Perekop), his property would be forfeit and he would be beheaded.
The Crimean troops in the campaign numbered from 200 to 1,000 tüfenkji,i
At first, until the middle of the sixteenth century, relations between the Khanate of Astrakhan and the Grand Duchy of Moscow were friendly due to their common enemy—the Crimea. Until 1551, the Astrakhanians, who came to Moscow, appeared here with the Nogais. From 1552–57, a separate Astrakhan court in Moscow, a kind of embassy, was mentioned, but nothing is known about its location.
However, everything changed in 1552, when Moscow conquered Kazan and thought of bringing the entire Volga trade route under the Russian tsar for the first time. To justify the war, Ivan the Terrible, of course, began to enumerate all the wrongs allegedly done to him by the Astrakhanians, and also stated that Astrakhan had belonged to the Russian rulers for centuries. This was a lie. Moscow dyaks (ministers) identified Astrakhan with Tmutarakan, which had belonged to Russia since the time of the Prince of Kiev Svyatoslav I. In fact, Tmutarakan was the ancient Greek city of Hermonassa, and later Tamantarkhan of the Turkic Khaganate, located in a completely different place, specifically in the area of modern Taman.
In April 1554, a military expedition was sent from Moscow to Astrakhan: the vaivode Prince Yuri Ivanovich Pronsky-Shemyakin ‘and his companions’, numbering about 30,000 men. Haji Tarkhan was taken without a fight on 2 July as ‘there were few people in the city at that time’. Yamghurchi, who had returned after the Crimean attack, fled again. He took refuge in Tyumen in the North Caucasus because his wife was the daughter of a Kumyk ruler in Dagestan.
Khan Dervish Ali, who had previously lived in Moscow for a long time, was placed in Astrakhan. The viceroy Pyotr Turgenev was left with the khan (‘to spend the year’ as the sources say) with a small garrison. An annual tribute was imposed on Astrakhan, and the information about the amount varies. In the treaty, 1,000 rubles as money and 3,000 fish are mentioned. Another source puts the number as ‘10,000 horses per year, 200,000 sheep, 300,000 sturgeon and beluga fish’. The treaty also stipulated that in the event of Dervish Ali’s death, Astrakhan could make a direct appeal to the Grand Duke in Moscow.
Dervish Ali, however, soon began to lean toward an alliance with the Crimea. It took two more expeditions by Moscow streltsy and local Cossacks in 1555–56 to finally break the stubborn city. After approaching Haji Tarkhan in the summer of 1556, the vaivodes found no one: ‘The tsar ran away from Astarakhan, and burned the town.’
Part of the Astrakhan aristocracy managed to escape to the Crimea and the Ottoman Empire. An Astrakhan prince was captured alive by Moscow troops during the Battle of Molodi with the Crimeans on 30 July 1572. Dervish Ali’s son Mohammad lived in the Ottoman Empire in the early 1570s and was supported by the Sultan.16
Yamghurchi Khan’s supporters, who had fled first from the Crimeans and then from the Muscovites, also ended up in Istanbul. However, by this time, the last traces of the last rulers of independent Astrakhan were lost forever. Soon, the capital of this once glorious kingdom would turn into a sleepy provincial town on the outskirts of endless Muscovy and its successor, the Russian Empire.
What to read
The Travels of Ibn Bat̩t̩ūt̩a A.D. 1325–1354. Translated by H.A.R. Gibb. Vol. II. Cambridge, 1962.
Bennigsen A.1967. ‘L’expedition turque contre Astrakhan en 1569’. CMRS, vol. VIII, № 3. Paris.
Frank, Allen J. 2001. ‘Muslim Sacred History and the 1905 Revolution in a Sufi History of Astrakhan’. In Studies on Central Asian History in Honor of Yuri Bregel, edited by Devin DeWeese. Bloomington: Indiana University.
Gökbilgin, Özalp. Tarih-i Sahib Giray Han. Ankara: Atatürk Üniversitesi, 1973.
Zaytsev I. ‘Astrakhan’. In The Encyclopaedia of Islam III, edited by Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas and Everett Rowson. Boston, 2010.