42 chapter two
through iran to the caucasus and the cuman steppe, then back to their
point of departure beyond the syr darya.22
the conquest of the silk road from china to Khwarezm is inarguably
one of chinggis Khan’s greatest achievements. it is only to be expected that
his successors should continue his work, following the same natural chan-
nel for expansion. Batu Khan, who led the second great wave of westward
expansion, never lost sight of the Mediterranean shores as an ultimate
goal, yet circumstances prevented him from ever reaching this end.
2.1.2 The Silk Road Under the Protectorate of the Golden Horde
under the terms of chinggis Khan’s final testament, the whole of the eur-
asian steppe, stretching from Mongolia to the danube delta and the car-
pathians, was to be divided among his four sons—regardless of whether
it was already part of the empire or yet remained to be conquered. they
settled with their families and with the armies assigned to them, and
together with the local nomad populations whom they found where they
pitched their yurts, constituted the four great ulus or hordes of the Mongol
empire.23 the income from the sedentary peoples who paid tribute was
also divided—according to criteria which are not easy to reconstruct—
among the four chieftains, with the lion’s share going to the head of state
in the capital at Qara Qorum in Mongolia. the great Khan was elected by
a qurultai, the legitimising assembly of representatives from all branches
of the ruling family, and was owed unconditional allegiance: he was thus
a guarantee of mutual support and solidarity, and embodied the unity of
the empire. it was certainly a major failing of chinggis Khan’s constitu-
tion, such as it was, to have given overarching authority to such a figure:
his successors’ power proved insufficient either to oppose autonomous
tendencies in the four original ulus or to prevent the proliferation of fur-
ther hordes beyond the steppe. as founder of the state, his ideology was
shaped by deep respect for the nomad way of life,24 and the settlement
22 see spuler, Horde, pp. 11–14, and in detail Barthold, Turkestan, pp. 381–462.
23 For the territories granted to Jochi, eldest son of chinggis Khan, see the next para-
graph; the second of the heirs, chaghatai, occupied the former Qara-Khitai territories south
of lake Balkhash, while the third, Ögödei, who became great Khan, would hold the area
between the irtysh and selenga rivers. the youngest, tolui, kept their father’s lands, which
also served as the imperial court (for an overview, cf. grousset, Empire, pp. 316–319).
24 cf. his melancholy reflections on the conduct of his heirs, who had been ruined by
the pleasures of city life (d’ohsson, Histoire, i, p. 416, grousset, Empire, pp. 310–311).