Ilkhanate

The Ilkhanate was the Mongol khanate that ruled Persia and the surrounding lands of the Middle East, one of the four successor states into which the unified Mongol Empire divided.

It was established by Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, who was dispatched westward by the great khan Möngke to extend Mongol control over the Islamic lands. Beginning his campaigns in the 1250s, Hulagu destroyed the stronghold of the Nizari Ismailis (the 'Assassins') at Alamut and then, in 1258, sacked Baghdad and executed the last Abbasid caliph, an event of profound symbolic and political significance that ended the centuries-old caliphate. From around 1256 Hulagu and his successors governed an empire centred on Iran, with capitals such as Tabriz and Maragheh, taking the title il-khan, meaning subordinate or 'lesser' khan, in nominal deference to the great khan in the east, though in practice they ruled independently. The Ilkhanate's westward expansion was checked by the Egyptian Mamluks, who defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, halting their advance into Syria and the Levant; the two powers remained rivals for decades, while the Ilkhans also feuded bitterly with their Mongol cousins of the Golden Horde over the Caucasus. The Ilkhanate is especially notable for its gradual integration into the Persian and Islamic world. Initially Buddhist and shamanist and tolerant of Christianity, the dynasty converted to Islam under Ghazan Khan around 1295, after which Ghazan, advised by the great vizier and historian Rashid al-Din, undertook sweeping fiscal, administrative, and agricultural reforms. The period was a brilliant one for Persian art, historiography, astronomy, and architecture, blending Mongol, Persian, and Chinese influences. The khanate declined rapidly after the death of Abu Sa'id in 1335, who left no clear heir; the realm fragmented into competing successor dynasties such as the Jalayirids, Chobanids, and others, ending unified Ilkhanid rule over Persia.

Key figures