8 - Overview of the relationship

Summary

The purpose of this chapter is to identify some of the basic characteristics of the relationship between the courts of China and Iran and at the same time to try to cast additional light on the underlying structures and political dynamics of the Mongolian Empire as a whole. The place to begin this exploration is with Chinggis Qan's original dispensation of territories among his sons and kin.

This consequential event, crucial to understanding the subsequent evolution of the Mongolian polity, is not extensively reported in the sources. As already noted, the earliest and most complete account is provided by Juvaynī, who wrote in the 1260s. Because of its extreme importance, this passage is quoted at length:

And when in the age of the dominion of Chinggis Qan, the area of the kingdom became vast, he assigned every one their own place of abode called a yurt. To Otchigin [Ūtakīn], who was his brother, and some other of his grandchildren he designated [territory] in the region of China [Khitāi]. To his eldest son Jochi [Tūshī] he gave [the territory] from the regions of Qayaliq and Khwārazm to the far reaches of Saqsin and Bulghār [on the Volga] and from those parts to whatever places the hooves of the Tatar horses had reached. To Chaghadai [he gave the territory extending] from the country of the Uighur to Samarqand and Bukhara and his place of residence was Quyas in the vicinity of Almaliq.The royal residence of the heir apparent, Ögödei, during his father's reign was his yurt in the region of the Emil and Qobaq [Rivers in Jungharia]. […]