Ilkhanate - Early Mongol Rule in Persia

Early Mongol Rule in Persia

When Muhammad II of Khwarezm executed the merchants dispatched by the Mongols, Genghis Khan declared war on Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty in 1219. The Mongols overran the whole empire, occupying all major cities and centers between 1219 to 1221. Persian Iraq was ravaged by the Mongol detachment under Jebe and Subedei, they left the area in ruin. Transoxiana came under the Mongol control after the invasion. The undivided area west of the Transoxiana was the inheritance of Genghis Khan's Borjigin family. Thus, families of the latter's four sons appointed their officials under the Great Khan's governors, Chin-Temür, Nussal and Korguz, there.

Muhammad's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu returned to Iran in c. 1224 after his exile in India. Rival Turkic states remained of his father's empire quickly declared their allegiance to him. He repulsed the first Mongol attempt to take Central Persia. However, Jalal ad-Din was overwhelmed and crushed by Chormaqan's army sent by the Great Khan Ögedei in 1231. During the Mongol expedition, Azerbaijan and southern Persian dynasties in Fars and Kerman voluntarily submitted to the Mongols and agreed to pay tributes. To the west, Hamadan and the rest of Persia was secured by Chormaqan. The Mongols turned their attention to Armenia and Georgia in 1234 (or 1236). They completed the conquest of the Kingdom of Georgia in 1238; however, the Mongol Empire began to attack western parts of Greater Armenia which was under the Seljuks the next year.

In 1236 Ögedei commanded to raise up Khorassan and populated Herat. The Mongol military governors mostly made their camp in Mughan plain, Azerbaijan. Realizing the danger of the Mongols, rulers of Mosul and Cilician Armenia submitted to the Great Khan. Chormaqan divided the Transcaucasia region into three districts based on military hierarchy. In Georgia, the population were temporarily divided into eight tumens. By 1237 the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia, excluding Abbasid Iraq and Ismaili strongholds, and all of Afghanistan and Kashmir.

After the battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, the Mongols under Baiju occupied Anatolia, and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Empire of Trebizond became vassals of the Mongols.

Güyük Khan abolished decrees, issued by the Mongol princes, had given orders on the revenue of districts in Persia and given also orders of exemption to others in c. 1244.

In accordance with the governor Arghun the Elder's (Arghun agha) complaint, Möngke Khan prohibited ortog-merchants and nobles to abuse relay stations, yam (route), and civilians in 1251. He ordered a new census and decreed that each man in the Mongol ruled-Middle East must pay in proportion to his property. Persia was divided between four districts under Arghun. Möngke Khan granted the Kartids authority over Herat, Jam, Bushanj, Ghor, Khaysar, Firuz-Kuh, Gharjistan, Farah, Sistan, Kabul, Tirah, and Afghanistan.