A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

112 A history of Inner Asia
in the west, where some princes and territories of the Chaghatayid ulus
deferred to his authority.He even managed to convene a quriltay, probably
in 1269 on the Talas, where the princes and chieftains of both the
Chaghatayid and Ögedeyid branches acclaimed him as qaghan.He
fared less well in the east, however, although his expeditions several times
reached Mongolia; the fact that this had little effect on Qubilay’s and his
grandson and successor Temür Öljeytü’s (1294–1307) solid rule in
China reveals how wide the chasm between the nomadic warrior chieftain
and the first two Mongol qaghans who were now also emperors of
China had become.The latter now had the formidable resources of
their populous realm at their disposal, while they still possessed much
of the Mongol military prowess and knowhow.Qaydu’s yet another
attempt to seize Qaraqorum ended in defeat, and he died while retreating,
probably in 1303.
With Qaydu’s death, the ulus of the Ögedeyids definitively disappeared,
its components having been absorbed by the Chaghatayids,
Juchids, and Toluyids (the Yüan).This was ironical, considering the
Ögedeyids’ promising beginnings with their eponym as the first Great
Khan and successor of Genghis Khan.The event also signified the final
apportionment and stabilization of the Mongol empire.It now consisted
of four basic units ruled by descendants of three Genghisid branches: (1)
the Toluyid Yüan empire of China, which also comprised the ancestral
lands of Mongolia, but with Beijing instead of Qaraqorum as the
capital; (2) the domain of the Chaghatayids, which consisted of
Transoxania, Semireche, and Sinkiang; its khans still clung to their
nomadic ways and mostly lived in the valley of the Ili, while holding
their annual quriltays in the vicinity of the city of Almaliq; (3) the
domain of the Juchids, known to Muslim historians as the Khanate of
Kipchak; it consisted of two principal uluses: that of the Batuids (later
known to Europeans as the Golden Horde), and that of the Ordayids,
besides some smaller appanages such as that of the Shibanids and that
of the Toqay-Timurids; and (4) the Toluyid Ilkhanid realm of Persia,
Iraq, and eastern Anatolia.
Chaghatay died in 1242, and was succeeded by his grandson Qara
Hülegü (1241–47 and, briefly, 1252).Thus began a new stage in Central
Asia’s history, that of the Chaghatayid dynasty.Its duration and effect
are too complex for an adequate account here, but certain salient features
can be brought out.Khwarazm did not form part of “Ulus
Chaghatay,” but fell to “Ulus Juchi,” Batu’s and his successors’ fiefdom