THE ULUS OF JOCHI: THE LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF THE FIRST STEPPE EMPIRE

It could refer not only to an administrative center, but also to the location where, along with the ruler, merchants, artisans, and others would settle temporarily. One hypothesis suggests that the name may have been linked to the golden decoration of the khans’ tents, such as those of Batu Khan and Uzbek Khan. Later, the term was consolidated in Western sources as the Golden Horde. Aq-Orda originally meant 'the Great Orda' or 'the Main Orda' and initially referred to the eastern seat of power, located in the territory of present-day Kazakhstan.

The basis of the Horde’s economy was livestock herding. However, by this time, most of the population had shifted from a purely nomadic lifestyle to semi-nomadic farming, and trade remained the primary source of state revenue. Livestock was taxed at just 1 per cent of the herd, while trade was initially taxed at 10 per cent before being reduced to 3 per cent of the turnover. Importantly, this 3 per cent served as the primary source of treasury income.

One of the significant innovations made by the Golden Horde was the abolition of internal customs barriers. Trade routes from Crimea to China were open to caravans without obstruction, stimulating rapid commercial expansion and strengthening the state’s economy through the uniform 3 per cent tax. Merchants were issued a special document known as the tañbaiThe tañba, the word originating from Turkic languages, was a stamped or sealed certificate confirming that a merchant had paid the trade tax, and which granted them safe passage along trade routes. . After paying the tax in Crimea and receiving this document, a trader could move freely as far as China without facing repeated levies. This system effectively served as a prototype of the modern unified customs space.

Another innovation made in the steppe was the introduction of paper money. This was not an invention by the Golden Horde itself, but part of the broader practice of the Mongol Empire. However, in this region, the system proved especially effective. For example, in the Ulus of ChagataiiThe Ulus of Chagatai was the state ruled by Chagatai, the second son of Chinggis Khan, encompassing Central Asia, attempts to introduce paper currency had failed: excessive issuance and disregard for basic economic principles led people to lose trust in the notes and resist using them in any meaningful way. In the Golden Horde, by contrast, the state guaranteed the exchange of paper money for its equivalent at any place within the empire.

Under Uzbek KhaniUzbek Khan (reigned from 1313–1341) was one of the most powerful rulers of the Golden Horde, known for strengthening the state and officially adopting Islam as the state religion, a system of compensation was put in place: if a merchant was robbed within the territory of the Golden Horde, the state reimbursed the loss and then recovered the amount from the bandits. This arrangement was an early prototype of a state-backed insurance system. Another notable feature was the legal order: the same court system was used for all, regardless of social status, estate, or religion. For its time, this represented a remarkably progressive practice.

Here’s an intriguing detail: the elite of the Golden Horde spent their summers in SaraishyqiSaraishyq was a medieval city on the Ural River (located in present-day western Kazakhstan), which served as a seasonal political and economic center of the Golden Horde and its surrounding lands, an area with rich pastures and rivers abundant in fish. During this period, cities flourished, many serving as the seasonal residences of the khans. The aristocracy of the Ulus of Jochi preserved the tradition of seasonal migration: in the winter, the khans resided in cities, while in the summer, they moved their headquarters closer to rivers or grazing lands. This lifestyle, duly noted by Arab chroniclers, underscored the nomadic heritage of the ruling elite.

One of these summer encampments gave rise to the city of Gülstan al-Jadid (or New Gulistan, which meant 'New Rose Garden'), which became a gathering place for merchants and artisans. At times, the orda moved to Saraishyq (meaning ‘Little Sarai’iThe Sarai was the capital or administrative center of the Golden Horde where the khan resided and state affairs were conducted. ), from which the city later took its name. Such cities functioned as the khans’ summer headquarters.

Contrary to popular cinematic stereotypes, the cities of the Golden Horde did not have brick fortresses with high walls in every settlement. Cities had no clear boundaries: they gradually blended into the surrounding suburbs, while the center clustered around madrasas, mosques, bazaars, and palaces.

Fortresses were built only in border settlements. For example, the Siberian city of Qyzyl-Tura on the Irtysh River had three lines of defensive walls, but on the inside were ordinary yurts as it was purely a military outpost—the same applied to Derbent.

The inner areas of unfortified towns are the most difficult to study: without defensive walls, it is challenging for archaeologists to determine the exact boundaries of these communities and to understand where urban development ended and the outskirts began.

Why do we put so much emphasis on the role of the Ulus of Jochi? This is because the foundations of modern Kazakh culture were formed from the time of Berke KhaniBerke Khan was the grandson of Chinggis Khan and ruler of the Golden Horde (1257–1266), known for adopting Islam and consolidating the khanate’s power up to the era of Uzbek Khan. This was when a distinct Turkic-Muslim culture began to take shape. Although the ancestors of the Kazakhs—the ancient Turks and Kipchaks—were already well-known in history, it was during the period of the dominion of Ulus of Jochi that all the key characteristics and symbols of the Kazakh ethnos and culture were consolidated.

This period holds a special place in the traditional historical consciousness of the Kazakhs. For example, the legend of Alash KhaniAlash Khan is a legendary figure in Kazakh folklore, who is often associated with the origins of the Kazakh people and linked to Chinggis Khan in traditional narratives is connected with the great Chinggis Khan himself, and the famous küiiA küi is a traditional instrumental composition in Kazakh music, typically performed on the dombyra, often conveying stories, emotions, or historical events Aqsaq Qulan honors the story of Jochi Khan's death. Aqsaq Qulan commemorates the death of Jochi Khan. Stories about the dombyra and the poet KetbūğaiKetbūğa was an influential general and statesman in the Mongol Empire. Though originally from the Naiman tribe, he is also revered in Kazakh tradition as a skilled poet and composer also date back to this time.

We can confidently say that the roots of the Kazakh people trace back to the Ulus of Jochi, with Khan KenesaryiKhan Kenesary was the last ruler of the Kazakh Khanate (1841–1847), and he is remembered as a symbol of resistance against Russian imperial expansion being remembered as its last ruler. In fact, in the Kazakh political tradition, it is natural to consider Kenesary the final heir of the Ulus of Jochi. The key difference, however, is that the Golden Horde was a classical empire, whereas the Kazakh Khanate rejected the concept of the empire. The Kazakh Khanate occupied a smaller territory and was an ethnically unified state. For this reason, the Kazakh people are justified in calling themselves its direct heirs. This legacy, however, is shared equally by the Bashkirs, Tatars, Uzbeks, and other nomadic peoples.

Some researchers note that it is incorrect to describe EdigeiEdige (c. 1352–1419) was a powerful emir of the Golden Horde, military leader, and statesman. His descendants became rulers of the Nogai Horde. In oral epics, he is celebrated as a heroic figure for several Turkic peoples, who was an emir of the Golden Horde and whose descendants later led the Nogai Horde, solely as a ‘Kazakh batyr’. As a hero of epic tradition, he may be portrayed as a Kazakh warrior, but the historical Edige is a figure familiar to modern Central Asians. There are, of course, many such shared historical personalities, and to claim that Edige was Kazakh and served only the Kazakhs is a prime example of ethnocentrism. The histories of the Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, and Bashkirs are deeply intertwined, very often forming part of a single, interconnected story.

During the Soviet period, each autonomous republic sought to 'create' its own history, which gave rise to the notion that every nation had to have its own singular ‘forefather’. Thus, the Kazakhs were ‘assigned’ the Ak Orda, the Nogais were given the Nogai HordeiThe Nogai Horde was a confederation of nomadic Turkic tribes in the North Caucasus and Caspian steppe, emerging in the fifteenth century and lasting until the seventeenth century. It was formed from the remnants of the Golden Horde, and the Uzbeks had the Khanate of the Nomadic Uzbeks. After 1991, however, some began to assert, ‘No, our origins begin with Timur.iEmir Timur was a fourteenth-century Central Asian conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire, known for his military campaigns across Eurasia’ Yet this, too, is a simplification since the peoples across Central Asia were constantly uniting, dividing, and intermingling. Therefore, it is misleading to say: ‘This figure is the ancestor of this one people alone.’ We share a single root: in antiquity the Turks, and later, the Golden Horde.

The word qazaqiQazaq was originally a social term for a free person who left their clan or ruler, not an ethnic or national designation appears from the thirteenth century, but at that time, it had only a social meaning.

For example, after Muhammad ShaybaniiMuhammad Shaybani (1451–1510) was a prominent Central Asian ruler and military leader who founded the Shaybanid dynasty in Transoxiana lost his throne, he wrote about himself: 'I became a qazaq.' This indicates that initially, the term qazaq did not denote a nation, but a social group. Later, it became established in general usage and was even applied to khans and sultans. When Kerei and JanibekiKerei and Janibek were the founders of the Kazakh Khanate who led a faction of nomads to break away from Abu’l-Khayr’s rule in the fifteenth century rose against Abu’l-KhayriAbu’l-Khayr was the khan of the Uzbek Khanate (1412–1468), whose authority was challenged by Kerei and Janibek and left his orda, they were called ‘qazaq sultans’. Eventually, the designation evolved into ‘qazaq khans’.

Until the nineteenth century, some sultans would say: 'I am not a qazaq, I am a töre.’ In such cases, they replaced the word qazaq with alash. That is to say, the term alash, which in Turkic traditions meant ‘people’ or ‘tribe’, was used as a collective name for all Kazakh clans and served as a self-designation of the Kazakhs (and at times, more broadly, of Turkic confederations) alongside the ethnonym qazaq. Hence, the expressions alty alash (six alash) and üsh alash (three alash). The word alash also appears in the works of Qadyrgali Jalayir, and it was clearly a political term.

Thus, qazaq was a social term, özbek a cultural-historical one, and alash a political one. Alikhan Bökeykhan applied the word alash not to an ethnicity, but to a nation. Personally, the word alash feels closer to me than Kazakhstani. Alash meant the citizens of the Kazakh Khanate. The word qazaq as an ethnic name became firmly established only between the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. Gradually, we all began calling each other qazaqs.

This is only part of an interview with Yerkin Abil about the Golden Horde. The full version is available on our YouTube channel Qalam Tarih: