Russia and its Muslim Neighbours: 1480–1881

Abstract

Russia’s emancipation from Genghizid tutelage enabled her to diversify her relations with the outside world, including her western neighbours — the Poles, Lithuanians, Germans and Swedes. Russia still maintained her primary engagement with her eastern and southern neighbours all of whom shared a common Genghizid past. Among them were the Great Horde which represented the remnants of the Golden Horde, the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, Crimea, Siberia and Nogay. Compared to the Russian Orthodox tsars the rulers of the Great Horde and the khanates appealed to their Turkic and Islamic links with their former Genghizid suzerain. All of them claimed their rights to the Golden Horde’s succession although the real pretenders were sedentary Russia and the Kazan khanate. The rulers of the latter were convinced of their exclusive rights to succeed the Golden Horde and even attempted to force a yasak on Moscow and other former Genghizid provinces. However, the great power ambitions of the Kazan elite were not matched by the khanate’s economic and military capability. In these terms the young and expansive Russian state had considerable advantages over the declining Kazan khanate, the rulers of which were steeped in corruption and internecine strife, effectively losing interest in state matters.1