Middle East · Seljuks, crusaders and sultans
Ilkhanate
Khanate (Mongol successor state) · 1256 – 1335
The Ilkhanate was the southwestern khanate of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Toluid House of Hülegü and officially known to its subjects as the "Land of Iran" (Iranzamin). Its roots lay in Genghis Khan's destruction of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221) and the subsequent subjugation of Persia, the Caucasus and Anatolia by the Mongol generals Chormaqan and Baiju, who made the Seljuks of Rum and the Empire of Trebizond vassals after Köse Dağ (1243).
- Type
- Khanate (Mongol successor state)
- Existed
- 1256 – 1335
- Shown on the map
- 1294–1343
- Capital
- Maragheh (1258–1265), Tabriz (1265–1307), Soltaniyeh (1306–1335)
- Peak area
- ~3,750,000–3,900,000 km²
- Region
- Middle East
Origins & rise
The Ilkhanate was the southwestern khanate of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Toluid House of Hülegü and officially known to its subjects as the "Land of Iran" (Iranzamin). Its roots lay in Genghis Khan's destruction of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221) and the subsequent subjugation of Persia, the Caucasus and Anatolia by the Mongol generals Chormaqan and Baiju, who made the Seljuks of Rum and the Empire of Trebizond vassals after Köse Dağ (1243). In 1251 the Great Khan Möngke charged his brother Hülegü with completing the conquest of the Islamic West "as far as Egypt." Given a fifth of the entire Mongol army, Hülegü destroyed the Nizari Ismaili state at Alamut in 1256 and sacked Baghdad in 1258, extinguishing the Abbasid Caliphate — one of the epochal catastrophes of Islamic history. Proclaiming himself ilkhan ("subordinate khan") in 1258, he pushed into Syria, but Möngke's death in 1259 forced him to withdraw; the rearguard he left behind was annihilated by the Mamluks at Ain Jalut (1260), fixing the khanate's western frontier on the Euphrates.
History & key rulers
Hülegü (r. 1256–1265) simultaneously fought a bitter war with Berke's Golden Horde in the Caucasus. Abaqa (r. 1265–1282) repelled Chagatai and Golden Horde invasions but saw his armies beaten by the Mamluks at Elbistan (1277) and Homs (1281). The brief reign of the Muslim convert Tekuder (1282–1284) and the anti-Islamic reaction of Arghun (r. 1284–1291), who corresponded with the Pope and European kings seeking an anti-Mamluk alliance, revealed the regime's religious imbalance. The turning point came with Ghazan (r. 1295–1304), who converted to Islam, made it the state religion, restored the jizya on Christians and Jews, expelled or converted the Buddhists — and enacted sweeping fiscal and administrative reforms with his great vizier, the historian Rashid al-Din. Ghazan still invaded Syria, winning the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar (1299), though the Mamluks quickly recovered it. His brother Öljeitü (r. 1304–1316) conquered Gilan, built the magnificent new capital at Soltaniyeh with its celebrated domed mausoleum, and briefly embraced Shi'ism. The last effective ilkhan, Abu Sa'id (r. 1316–1335), concluded peace with the Mamluks in 1322 but was dominated by the kingmaker emir Chupan; when Abu Sa'id died heirless in 1335 — amid outbreaks of the Black Death — the khanate disintegrated within a few years into the Jalayirid, Chobanid, Muzaffarid, Inju, Sarbadar and Kartid successor states, with the last puppet khans vanishing by 1357.
Government, religion & culture
The Ilkhans ruled through a partnership of Turco-Mongol military officers and Persian ("Tajik") bureaucrats — the Juvayni family, the Jewish vizier Sa'd al-Dawla, the convert Rashid al-Din — while remaining nomadic in lifestyle, migrating between Azerbaijan and Iraq. They minted coins in the name of the Yuan Great Khan, used Chinese seals and even dragon robes, and recognized nominal Yuan suzerainty after the Mongol peace of 1304. Culturally the era was brilliant: Rashid al-Din's Jami' al-Tawarikh created a universal history; the Great Mongol Shahnameh and giant illuminated Qur'ans mark a peak of Persian book art blending Chinese and European influences; lajvardina ceramics, silk textiles (one buried with Duke Rudolf IV of Austria) and monuments like Soltaniyeh attest to the era's wealth. Persian displaced Arabic as the language of historiography.
Peak & territory
At its height (c. 1310) the khanate covered Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, eastern and central Anatolia, Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia and Pakistan — about 3.75–3.9 million km², with Anatolia alone supplying a quarter of its revenue.
Decline & legacy
The Ilkhanate's deepest legacy was ideological: its Persian bureaucrats revived the concept of a territorial "Kingship of the Land of Iran," an idea the Safavids and ultimately modern Iran inherited. It also pioneered accounting practices (the merdiban system, later adopted by the Ottomans) and opened Iran permanently to Chinese artistic influence.
Common questions
- What was the Ilkhanate?
- The Ilkhanate was the southwestern khanate of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Toluid House of Hülegü and officially known to its subjects as the "Land of Iran" (Iranzamin). Its roots lay in Genghis Khan's destruction of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221) and the subsequent subjugation of Persia, the Caucasus and Anatolia by the Mongol generals Chormaqan and Baiju, who made the Seljuks of Rum and the Empire of Trebizond vassals after Köse Dağ (1243).
- When did the Ilkhanate exist?
- The Ilkhanate existed 1256 – 1335. On this map it is drawn 1294–1343.
- What was the capital of the Ilkhanate?
- The Ilkhanate was ruled from Maragheh (1258–1265), Tabriz (1265–1307), Soltaniyeh (1306–1335).
- How large was the Ilkhanate at its height?
- At its height (c. 1310) the khanate covered Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, eastern and central Anatolia, Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia and Pakistan — about 3.75–3.9 million km², with Anatolia alone supplying a quarter of its revenue.
- Who ruled the Ilkhanate?
- Hülegü (r. 1256–1265) simultaneously fought a bitter war with Berke's Golden Horde in the Caucasus. Abaqa (r. 1265–1282) repelled Chagatai and Golden Horde invasions but saw his armies beaten by the Mamluks at Elbistan (1277) and Homs (1281).
- How did the Ilkhanate end?
- The Ilkhanate's deepest legacy was ideological: its Persian bureaucrats revived the concept of a territorial "Kingship of the Land of Iran," an idea the Safavids and ultimately modern Iran inherited. It also pioneered accounting practices (the merdiban system, later adopted by the Ottomans) and opened Iran permanently to Chinese artistic influence.
- How was the Ilkhanate governed?
- The Ilkhans ruled through a partnership of Turco-Mongol military officers and Persian ("Tajik") bureaucrats — the Juvayni family, the Jewish vizier Sa'd al-Dawla, the convert Rashid al-Din — while remaining nomadic in lifestyle, migrating between Azerbaijan and Iraq.
Sources
Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.
- Wikipedia, "Ilkhanate" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilkhanate
- Wikipedia, "Division of the Mongol Empire" (Ilkhanate section) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragmentation_of_the_Mongol_Empire
- Malek National Library and Museum (Tehran), "Ilkhanate" timeline malekmuseum.org/en/timeline
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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