The Golden Horde is a powerful medieval Turkic-Mongol state that left a noticeable mark in the history of many states and peoples of modern Eurasia. According to some historians, 2019 was a jubilee year in the history of this state. Exactly 750 years ago, in 1269, on the banks of the Talas River in the territory of the modern Zhambyl region of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a kurultai (congress, meeting) of the Mongol nobility was held, at which it was announced that the western uluses of the former Mongol Empire were independent from its center in Khanbalik (Beijing). Among these uluses was the ulus of the descendants of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, widely known in literature as the Golden Horde.
... The steppes of Eurasia, endless, stretching for many thousands of kilometers ... For tens of centuries, they splashed in the western and southern directions crowded waves of countless nomads - " shakers of the Universe": Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, "heavenly Turks", Khazars, Bulgarians, Guzes , Pechenegs, Kyrgyz, Kimaks , Kypchaks and other tribes who periodically created gigantic or “simply” very large state associations in their territorial scale .
Another unification of nomads, Genghis Khan and his heirs Genghisids in the first half of the XIII century. embarked on a long-term program of campaigns of conquest and wars. Forming a great empire, Genghis Khan divided his land into his sons. Ulus Jochi, founded in the period 1219–1224. from the original inheritance of Jochi (which arose from the conquered lands of the Yenisei Kyrgyz and the "forest peoples" of the south of Siberia in 1207-1208), constituted the western part of the state, taking into account the dependent territories, covering from the east to the west the lands from Altai to the Danube, and from the south to north - from the Aral to the Urals .
Along with the positive political and ethnic consequences, the unification of huge territories within the Jochid Empire, the disappearance of borders and customs barriers between them created the preconditions for the formation of a single economic space, which provided access to huge material resources on a much larger scale than before, and created the possibility of them accumulation. In the specific case of the Golden Horde, it was especially significant that within the framework of one socio-political system, numerous groups of people who lived in various natural zones with a wide variety of flora and fauna (deserts and semi-deserts in the south, steppes and forest-steppe, deciduous forests, Siberian taiga in the north, as well as mountains and subtropics in the Crimea and the Caucasus) and belonged to various economic and cultural types. The main part of the territory of the Golden Horde, its core, was made up of the steppes, the population of which continued to lead a nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoral life (mainly raising sheep and horses), moving from south to north in summer and in the opposite direction in winter. The number of cattle in the Horde amazed the impression of travelers: this is how the Italian Jehoshaphat Barbaro observed the continuous movement of herds for six days, occupying the entire visible space in the steppe to the horizon. At the same time, in the peripheral regions and dependent territories (Volga-Kama Bulgaria , Khorezm, Crimea, the North Caucasus, Russian principalities), the basis of the economy was settled agriculture (including on the basis of three-field and fallow), gardening (including melons ), truck farming and stall-shepherd cattle breeding. Beekeeping, fishing and hunting played an important role among the economic activities of the population. All this made the economy of the Golden Horde diversified, and, in the end, led to an unprecedented intensification of mutual exchanges between territories, especially in the Volga region, which was the central region. Of great importance for maintaining and strengthening the unity of the economic space was the fact that a common system of monetary circulation was created on a more global level on the lands subject to the Juchi ulus. This was all the more important because many territories included in the Horde did not previously have their own developed coinage. Gradually, the country's monetary system, which consisted of a number of regional mints, was increasingly unified. In the course of several monetary reforms, it was streamlined and brought to a single harmonious structure that included gold dinars, silver dirhams, and copper pools, which sought to be minted at a single weight rate.
But the Golden Horde played an even more important role than for the development of domestic trade in the development of international trade. Due to its extremely favorable geographical position, it became a junction where a number of transcontinental caravan trade routes intersected. The most important of them was the northern branch of the famous Great Silk Road, which began in China and through Eastern Turkestan, Semirechye, Khorezm, passing to the Volga region, and from there to Central Europe. Thanks to the favorable conjuncture caused by wars and instability in the Middle and Middle East, the flow of goods from China (spices, silk, cotton, precious stones, bread and slaves) poured into Europe precisely through the calmer Golden Horde. The Volga "Fur" route (from north to south), which connected the Muslim East with North-Eastern and Northern Europe and the Baltic, was not much inferior in importance to the Volga region . Also in the Golden Horde, the Black Sea-Volga paths (connecting the Black Sea region with the Lower Volga region and further through Central Asia to China and India) and the Transcaucasian (connecting the Middle East with Southeast Europe) began.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of diverse trade with the countries of Europe and Asia in the economic life of the Golden Horde. He filled the khan's treasury with trade duties, enriched all kinds of intermediaries and numerous servants. In addition, along with transit, grain, furs, leather goods, and slaves were exported in significant quantities directly from the territories under the control of the Golden Horde itself. The main export item was all kinds of cattle, which were in great demand on foreign markets in Western Europe, as well as in the Near and Middle East, where the thoroughbred Volga horses were especially valued. Many luxury items, expensive weapons, fabrics, spices, etc., were imported into the Golden Horde, the primary consumers of which were the khan's court and the nobility. By virtue of all of the above, the merchants in the Golden Horde, in accordance with the traditions laid down by Genghis Khan, were given special patronage. To encourage trade, the state tried to keep the level of customs duties low, not exceeding 3-5% of the value of goods. The order established in the empire protected the lives, honor and property of merchants, and a strong government ensured a sufficient level of security for the movement of caravans with goods.
The Golden Horde had a great influence on the trade expansion of the mid-13th - mid-14th centuries, and its economic and political rule greatly contributed to the globalization of the Old World ... After the end of the Chingizid conquests, a phenomenal trade boom transformed human society and the cultural landscape of Eurasia ...
