The Ilkhanate: Mongol Rule and Political Fragmentation in Iran

The Ilkhanate was a Mongol-ruled state established through Hulegu’s campaigns in the 1250s. Its core lay in Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, with authority reaching into the Caucasus and Anatolia and with repeated campaigns into Syria. Hulegu’s descendants governed with growing autonomy after the wider Mongol succession crisis, while continuing to seek the Great Khan’s recognition. Unified dynastic rule ended after Abu Sa’id’s death in 1335.

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Hulegu’s campaigns and the formation of the khanate

Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of Great Khan Möngke, was sent west to expand Mongol control. His forces overcame the principal Nizari Ismaili strongholds in 1256 and captured Baghdad in 1258, killing the Abbasid caliph. They took Aleppo early in 1260. Hulegu then withdrew with much of his army to Azerbaijan, leaving Kitbuqa’s force in Syria. The Mamluks defeated it at Ain Jalut in September 1260.

Hulegu’s realm developed during the civil wars that followed Möngke’s death in 1259. The title ilkhan became associated with his dynasty, whose rulers governed the ulus, or dominion, of Hulegu. Mongol forces and officials exercised authority alongside regional rulers, including the Kartids in Herat. Autonomy from the Great Khan coexisted with continued claims to a place in the wider imperial order.

Administration, revenue and the idea of Iran

Ilkhanid rule combined Mongol military leadership with Persian administrative expertise. Mongol rulers and commanders retained a mobile, often nomadic court, while Persian officials served as viziers and administrators. Persian was widely used in government and official documents; Mongolian remained important at court and in the ruling dynasty’s records. This partnership did not make administration identical across the realm: local arrangements and the strength of Mongol control varied by region.

Revenue depended on cultivators, livestock, towns and commerce. Tax-farmers undertook to deliver agreed sums and collected revenues locally, sometimes paying an advance. Competition for funds and further demands from court and army encouraged repeated exactions. Ghazan’s later programme sought recorded assessments and tighter control over officials.

Persian officials and historians helped present Mongol rule as part of Iran’s older imperial past. The realm was called the Land of Iran, and writers connected the ruling house to earlier Iranian kingship, including the Sasanian dynasty. These ideas gave the Mongol rulers a language of territorial rule that could sit alongside their Chinggisid ancestry and ties to the wider Mongol Empire. Historians such as Rashid al-Din produced works under Ilkhanid patronage that placed Mongol history within a broader account of Iran and the wider world.

Rival khanates and the Mamluk frontier

The Ilkhanate faced pressure from other Mongol states as well as from the Mamluk Sultanate. Conflict with the Golden Horde, which ruled north of the Caucasus, began during Hulegu’s reign and continued under his successors. The two sides fought over influence in the Caucasus and adjoining regions. The Ilkhanids also faced challenges from the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia; in 1270, Abaqa defeated an invasion led by its ruler, Baraq.

To the west, the Mamluks blocked Ilkhanid efforts to establish lasting control in Syria. Abaqa’s forces suffered defeats in campaigns against them, including at Elbistan in 1277 and Homs in 1281. Ghazan’s forces won a major victory at Wadi al-Khaznadar in 1299 and briefly disrupted Mamluk control of Syria, but the Ilkhanids did not secure the region. The two powers concluded a peace agreement in 1322 under Abu Sa’id, after decades of conflict.

The Ilkhans also maintained a formal connection to the Mongol court in China, the Yuan dynasty. The Great Khan confirmed some Ilkhanid rulers and commanders, while the Ilkhans increasingly exercised political autonomy. After a general peace among the Mongol khanates in 1304, the Ilkhanids recognised the Yuan emperor’s nominal supremacy as Great Khan. Yuan-derived seals and documentary practices continued to appear in Ilkhanid administration, adapted to the needs of the western realm.

Contested succession and religious change

Succession was a recurring source of conflict. Hulegu was followed by his son Abaqa, who ruled from 1265 to 1282. After Abaqa’s death, his brother Tekuder gained the throne, but the Chinggisid elite and military factions divided over his rule and his conversion to Islam. Arghun, Abaqa’s son, overthrew Tekuder in 1284. Arghun relied on support from non-Muslim factions and sought funds for military campaigns by centralising expenditure under his viziers. The policy proved unpopular, and both viziers were eventually killed. Arghun himself died in 1291.

Religious life in the realm was diverse, and the dynasty’s policies changed over time. Buddhist and shamanic traditions persisted among Mongols, while Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian communities lived under Ilkhanid rule. Tekuder was the first Muslim Ilkhan, but he did not attempt to convert the realm. Ghazan, who took power in 1295, made Islam the state religion. His government imposed the jizya, a tax on non-Muslim subjects, and initially ordered Buddhist temples destroyed, while giving Buddhists the choice of conversion or expulsion. After the influential commander Nawruz was removed and killed in 1297, Ghazan sought to curb religious persecution and repair relations with non-Muslims.

Ghazan sought to regularise taxes, currency and weights and measures. His minister Rashid al-Din described the reforms and their success, writing as a participant in the government that promoted them. Evidence from other regions shows uneven recovery. Administrative change therefore accompanied continuing demands from court, army and provincial authorities.

After Öljaitü, his son Abu Sa’id ruled from 1316 to 1335. Powerful commanders influenced government, and conflicts within the elite affected succession and provincial power. Abu Sa’id died without a son while preparing to confront a Golden Horde threat. Leading families and commanders then supported competing claimants rather than one accepted successor.

Fragmentation after 1335

After Abu Sa’id’s death, regional commanders, governors and dynasties promoted rival claimants to the Ilkhanid throne. The title and the idea of Hulegu’s line survived among competing rulers, but no successor restored the former unity of the state. Powers including the Jalayirids and Chobanids emerged from the struggle for control of former Ilkhanid territories, while other regional states also asserted authority.

Chobanid commanders controlled Tabriz during much of the struggle after 1335. Jani Beg of the Golden Horde captured the city in 1357. The Jalayirids later established authority there, continuing competition over a major centre of the former Ilkhanid realm.

For the wider setting, see The Ilkhanate: Mongol Rule, Government and Society in Iran.