The Khanate of the Ilkhans

The Khanate of the Ilkhans, also known as the Ilkhanate, was a major division of the Mongol Empire established in the 13th century in Persia (modern-day Iran). Founded by Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, the Ilkhanate played a crucial role in connecting the Mongol world with the Islamic and Persian cultural spheres. The Ilkhans ruled from 1256 to 1335, blending Mongol military traditions with Persian administrative systems, and gradually converted to Islam, which deeply influenced their governance and art. The Ilkhanate’s reign marked a transformative period of cultural exchange, architectural development, and trade expansion along the Silk Road, linking East Asia with the Middle East and Europe.

The Khanate of the Ilkhans (1265 – 1335)

The Khanate of the Ilkhans

Introduction

The Khanate of the Ilkhans, or Ilkhanate, was one of the four major successor states of the vast Mongol Empire, established in the mid-13th century by Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. Centered in Persia (modern-day Iran), the Ilkhanate extended its influence across Iraq, the Caucasus, and parts of Anatolia, creating a vital link between the Mongol East and the Islamic West. Initially rooted in Mongol nomadic traditions, the Ilkhans gradually adopted Persian administrative practices and later embraced Islam, transforming their state into a unique cultural and political fusion of Mongol and Persian civilizations. The Ilkhanate period (1256–1335 CE) was marked by remarkable developments in art, science, architecture, and trade, as well as by the challenges of managing a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire.

Campaigned through the Middle East

Hulegu Khan (1256 – 1265), grandson of Genghis Khan and son of Tolui, served his brother Mongke (1251 – 1259), the great khan, and campaigned through the Middle East, where he whipped out the Assassins, a secret order of schismatic Shia entrenched in the mountains of Gilan province in 1256. He also destroyed the Abbasid capital of Baghdad in 1258, putting an end to the Caliphate. By 1260 Hulegu controlled parts of Armenia, Iraq, Anatolia, all of Azerbaijan, and all of Iran. Kublai Khan (1250 – 1294) had awarded his brother Hulegu the title of Ilkhan, a secondary khan who remained subordinate only to the great khan in Mongolia. This portion of the empire became known as the Khanate of the Ilkhans.

Mongol minority Ilkhan

The Ilkhans were a Mongol minority ruling over a Muslim majority; religious problems plagued the Ilkhanate for much of its existence. To begin with, Hulegu, a Nestorian Christian, who later converted to Buddhism on his deathbed, had sacked Baghdad, one of the most politically important cities in the Islamic world, an act that alienated him from his Muslim cousin Berke Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde. The conversion of the Golden Horde to Islam had presented a real problem, for the Ilkhans had initially championed Buddhism in Iraq and Iran.

Problems due to religious differences

As animosity continued to mount between the two parts of the Mongol Empire over religious differences, we see growing ties of alliance between the Muslim Golden Horde and their coreligionists, the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, against the Ilkhans. Belief transcended blood, as one part of Mongol Empire allied against another with an outside source. Faith-based civil wars consumed much of the reign of Abaga Khan (1265 – 1282). These wars were rooted in the Ilkhanate’s inappropriate treatment of their Muslim population. The Golden Horde’s alliance with the Mamluks threatened the Ilkhanate, and yet no longer could Abaga rely on the full might of centralized Mongol power; he was forced to appeal to Kublai Khan to assuage the hostilities between the Ilkhans and the Golden Horde.

Religious conflict

Much of the religious conflict during the early Ilkhanate related to doctrinal differences between Islam and the traditional Mongol way of life. The most stubborn problem for the two was the contradiction between the traditional Mongolian method of animal slaughter, which required that no blood be spilled, and the Islamic code of cleanliness, which necessitated that all blood be drained. Each side was appalled by the other’s customs. Furthermore, as practitioners of rigid monotheism, Muslims found the Mongol worship of religious images repulsive, a ritual strictly forbidden in Islam.

Deterioration of economic conditions

While spiritual troubles remained a persistent problem for the Ilkhans, the economic situation deteriorated too. Gaykhatu Khan (1291 – 1295) practically emptied the royal treasury with profligate spending. He experimented with paper money recently adopted from China to compensate for his wasteful expenditures, but overprinting resulted in massive inflation. The Ilkhans also tried to extract the maximum amount of tribute from the countryside to offset declining revenues. This led to an abuse in tax gathering, known as tax farming, in which rulers sold contracts for the collection of revenues to the highest bidder. This method of tax collection provided a strong incentive to despoil peasants.

Ilkhan Mahmud Ghazan

It was Mahmud Ghazan (1295 – 1304) who solved the Ilkhanate’s continued religious and economic problems. He was the first Ilkhan to convert to Islam, thus rehabilitating their image in the eyes of their Muslim subjects and making their rule much more acceptable. Their new public stance towards Islam moderated persistent conflict and paved the way for cultural flourishing. Ghazan patronized Ilkhanid art, scholarship, and science. Ilkhanid art reflected Chinese influence and helped contribute to Persian artistic development. In terms of scholarship, the first true history of the world was completed under the sponsorship of Mahmud Ghazan.

Scholar Rashid al-Din

Written by Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247 – 1318), the book was richly illustrated with watercolors and portraiture in the Chinese style. Through his travels in the service of the Mongols, Rashid al-Din had become perceptively aware of Ilkhanid Persia’s cosmopolitan culture. It was Rashid al-Din, a Jewish convert to Islam, who had convinced Mahmud Ghazan to adopt the faith in order to be more attuned to the beliefs of his peoples. Regarding science, the Ilkhands attempted to amass large amounts of astronomical data from China to Europe. With unprecedented accuracy, they became very good at predicting lunar eclipses. Their data was used throughout Eurasia.

Ilkhanate trade

Despite the early looting and plundering indicative of a Mongol conquest, the Ilkhans eventually reactivated the Silk Road and promoted transcontinental trade. The newfound safety of the route throughout Eurasia stimulated trade and encouraged many different kinds of cultures to come together. Ghazan attempted to reform the tax policies that had led to the maximization of taxation. Cities did revive, but the long term negative consequence of conquest continued to be felt by the peasants who suffered from prolonged violence.

Persian-Mongol fusion

Much like the Mongols in Chaghatai Central Asia, eventually Ilkhans went native too. Here we see a Persian-Mongol fusion, as they began to identify with Persian culture and speak the Persian language. As they bonded with Persia, they adopted Islam and began to promote Persian as the written language of their land.

Conclusion

The Khanate of the Ilkhans played a pivotal role in shaping the medieval history of the Middle East and Central Asia. Emerging from the Mongol conquests, it evolved into a powerful Persian-Islamic state that bridged Eastern and Western cultures. Through the Ilkhans’ adaptation of Persian administrative systems, their conversion to Islam, and their patronage of art, science, and architecture, the Ilkhanate became a center of intellectual and cultural revival. Although it eventually declined due to internal strife, economic difficulties, and the fragmentation of Mongol unity, its legacy endured through the revitalization of Persian culture, the spread of knowledge along the Silk Road, and the integration of Mongol and Islamic traditions—laying the groundwork for future empires in the region, such as the Timurid and Safavid dynasties.

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