Concept

Ilkhanate

Overview

The Ilkhanate, Il-khanate, Elkhanate or El-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans/El-Khans (or Ilkhanids/Elkhanids; Persian: ایلخانان, romanized: Ēlxānān), and known to the Mongols as Hülegü Ulus (lit. 'people / state of Hülegü'). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known as the Land of Iran (Ērān-zamīn) or simply Iran. It was established after Hülegü, the son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan, inherited the West Asian and Central Asian part of the Mongol Empire after his brother Möngke Khan died in 1259.

The Ilkhanate's core territory was situated in what is now the countries of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. At its greatest extent, the Ilkhanate also included parts of modern Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Dagestan (Russia). Later Ilkhanid rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, converted to Islam. In the 1330s, the Ilkhanate was ravaged by the Black Death. The last Ilkhan, Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, died in 1335, after which the Ilkhanate disintegrated.

The State of the Ilkhanate was known as the Ulus of Hülegü to the Mongols during that time, as their territory was derived from one of uluses allocated to Genghis (Chinggis) Khan's descendants. The Ilkhanid rulers, although of non-Iranian origin, tried to advertise their authority by tying themselves to the Iranian past, and they recruited historians to present the Mongols as heirs to the Sasanian Empire (224–651). Native intellectuals interested in their own history interpreted the unification by the Mongols as a revival of their long-lost dynastic tradition, and the concept of "Land of Iran" (Ērān-zamīn) was considered an important ideology and was further developed by the later Safavid Empire (1501–1736). Similarly to the development in China under the Yuan dynasty, the revival of the concept of territorial unity, although not intended by the Mongols, became a lasting legacy of Mongol rule in Iran.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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In this country there are the ruins of Grecian cities, and some Genoese monuments still subsisting in the midst of desolation and savagery. The Kan is called Emperor by his own subjects, but in spite of this grand title he is a mere slave to the Porte. The fact that they have Ottoman blood in their veins, and the right they have to the Turkish Empire on the extinction of the race of the Sultan, make their family…
Voltaire, Voltaire's history of Charles XII, king of Sweden
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Above these in a direction towards the East dwell other Scythians, who have revolted from the Royal Scythians and so have come to this region.
Herodotus, The History of Herodotus — Volume 1
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The military governors of provinces or groups of provinces, who are called Tuchuns, govern despotically in defiance of Peking, and commit depredations on the inhabitants of the districts over which they rule. They intercept the revenue, except the portions collected and administered by foreigners, such as the salt tax. They are nominally appointed by Peking, but in practice depend only upon the favour of the…
Bertrand Russell, The Problem of China
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Philosophers who discussed Ilkhanate

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Yuan dynasty

Place in the tradition

Part of Illuminationism.

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